“She loved him. She left with him one day while she was outside the compound, passing out tracts. More than once. I wasterrified for her. It was a miracle that, until then, no one had found out.” Bliss’s voice cracked. “A few months later, she told me she was pregnant.”
Winnie whispered softly. “Oh no.”
Bliss nodded. “He tried to rescue her, her Graceless. He came to the compound over and over.”
Connor’s hands curled into fists.
“Then one day… he stopped coming. I tried to contact him for her. She was under lock and key.” Bliss’s eyes filled with tears. “They told everyone he died. Ha! Only the most gullible or willfully ignorant believed that lie.”
Silence fell.
Winnie shook her head. “They killed him.”
Bliss wiped her eyes. “Phoebe was terrified something would happen to her babies. You know the Society had to be worried about his family snooping around. She was afraid they might see the babies as a liability. Phoebe, too, for that matter. So, she signed a paper.”
Connor frowned. “What kind of paper?”
“One that gave me legal guardianship of her babies if anything happened to her.”
Winnie whispered. “Oh, Bliss… did they kill her too?”
Bliss’s voice became dull, emotionless. “She didn’t survive childbirth. Or at least, that was their story. I don’t really know what happened.”
The room went still.
“I took the twins. And have loved them as my own ever since.” A sudden fierceness came over her demeanor. “No, not as my own. As far as I’m concerned, they are my own.”
Connor hugged her closer, rubbing her shoulder. “We know, baby, we know.” His reassurance calmed her enough to continue. This part was going to be really hard. “Then I found out I was pregnant.”
Connor went rigid, but he didn’t withdraw his arm.
“I tried to hide it.” Her voice shook. “But my father found out when I was six months along.”
Connor’s voice dropped dangerously. “What did he do?”
Bliss stared at the floor. “He beat me.”
She’s said too much. Connor jumped from the sofa so fast that it shifted back. “How bad?” he growled.
Bliss whispered. “It took two weeks to recover.”
Reid swore, but Connor looked like he was going to break something. “I will kill him.”
“Connor.”
Bliss grabbed his arm, pulling him back down on the sofa. He was shaking with fury. She rubbed his thigh, still trying desperately to keep Nori asleep. “We’re okay. Nori and I are fine. Besides, we really don’t want to wake Nori right now, and if you get too upset, it might scare the other kids.”
Connor breathed deeply, clearly trying to calm down. Rolling his neck, he said, “Okay. Okay… I’m okay.”
Bliss doubted that seriously.
Winnie wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Is that everything?”
Bliss shook her head slowly. “Almost.”
She looked at Connor. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
“I’m okay, babygirl. It’ll be alright. That damn fucking fucker of a father won’t be, but yes, for now I’m fine.”
