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She wasn’t snarly and combative now, but I knew she wasn’t giving up on getting custody of the kids. Losing Annalise was going to hurt their case considerably, though. I was sorry it had happened, but hoping that it would lead to the judge doing the right thing and returning custody of the kids to Wes and me.
Annalise asked to ride on Wes’s shoulders, and as he swung her up there, she said, “That was two weeks, right? You guys are coming back home now?”
I smiled up at her. “That’s right.”
“Yay!” She threw her arms in the air and cheered.
Wes put her down when we got to the minivan and he fished the keys from his pocket.
“Uncle Wes has a new car,” Annalise said, clapping. “It’s beautiful!”
Wes gave me a look, shaking his head.
“I’m never buying a minivan,” he said under his breath.
“You so are,” I told him, laughing. “Might as well get some white knee socks and white sneakers, too.”
“Shit,” he said softly, looking at me. “There’s no car seat in the rental.”
“Can we have one of the guys at the house bring us Ben’s car?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ll ask Lars,” he said, taking out his phone.
“His name is Thor,” Annalise said, giving Wes an admonishing look.
I bent down and hugged her again, then kissed each of her cheeks several times. Lauren had told me so many times that she loved her kids so much she sometimes thought she’d burst—that it was a love like no other.
And now, I knew what she meant. I felt it, too. And I was never, ever going back to a life without this love.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Wes
Chaos. The next few hours were absolute fucking chaos. The women, from Hadley to Susan to Tori, started to cry as soon as we walked into the house with Annalise. Once they started to cry, Benny seemed to think it was his job in life to join them, and he did it louder and more vigorously than anyone else. By the time we got him settled down, everyone heard the story about how Nash found Annalise, and the police finally left. I was wiped out. I did order pizza for everyone, though, to thank my teammates and several neighbors that had all joined in the search.
Annalise fell asleep with a slice of pizza in her hand and Hadley got up to carry her upstairs before Susan could move. I wasn’t sure if she was going to force the issue of a bath or just put her to bed, but Hadley and I had no plans to go anywhere tonight. Once we’d told Patrick and Susan we were sleeping in the guest room until the hearing next week, they’d quietly excused themselves and gone to bed. It was probably better that way, since I had a lot I wanted to say to them, but I wouldn’t do it in front of our friends and neighbors. I wouldn’t say anything in front of Annalise either.
I needed to know what had happened, though. How, why, what, all the details. Not just because they fucked up, but also because I’d need the information so I could make sure it didn’t happen again. Annalise was smart and headstrong, so this type of behavior didn’t necessarily surprise me, but it wasn’t a risk we could take in the future. She couldn’t just leave the house when she was being punished for something, and the more I understood about why it happened the better I would be at preventing it. At least that’s what I told myself. Maybe I really just wanted to make Patrick and Susan admit they were dumbasses who couldn’t take care of our kids.
Our kids.
Mine and Hadley’s.
Ours.
Us.
“We’re going to take off,” Drew said, startling me back to the present as he and Nina got up.
I shook his hand. “Thanks again,” I told him. “We really appreciate you rallying the troops to help out.”
“That’s what friends do.” He nodded and took Nina’s hand as they headed out.
The other guys followed suit and within fifteen minutes, the house was quiet except for Benny cooing from his high chair. I’d put him there as I’d cleaned up the kitchen and I scooped him up before heading upstairs. I heard Hadley reading to Annalise in her room and opted not to interrupt because if I brought Benny in there, it would take forever to get them to settle down again. Annalise had probably woken up in the tub and now was having trouble settling down. Benny was probably overtired and overexcited too, but after a week away from him, I brought him into the guest room with me so I could spend a little time with him.
I stretched out on the bed and plopped Benny on his stomach on my chest. He pretended to crawl, sticking his butt up in the air and wiggling it. Then he gave me a toothless grin and I laughed. He had Ben’s dark hair and Lauren’s light eyes, which made me equal parts nostalgic and sad. I’d see Ben and Lauren in their children’s faces forever, and while I was happy for their memory to live on, it was heartbreaking to think they wouldn’t remember their parents at all.
