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“Now I’m jealous of my son too.”
Braxton grabs Liam’s baby swing and stops his movement before laying a loud kiss on his forehead. “Have you been good for Daddy?”
“Swing!” he says.
Maddox wastes no time before wrapping his arms around his wife, kissing the side of her head as she relaxes in his embrace.
“Missed you,” he whispers.
“Missed you more.”
“I missed you too, by the way,” I butt in after giving Liam another couple of pushes.
Braxton shoves out of her husband’s arms, as if suddenly remembering that I’m here too. She rushes toward me and squeezes me so tight my next exhale is strained.
I open my mouth to tell her to relax a bit when she says, “Don’t complain about how tight I’m squeezing you. I’m tired and just want to hug you, okay?”
I press my lips together and nod, rubbing her back. Maddox stares at her from the spot she left him, affection gleaming in his eyes.
A few moments later, we pull apart, and Braxton scoops Liam up out of the swing, giving him a hug before plopping him down on the grass. He takes off instantly, headed for the sandbox.
“If he sticks sand down his diaper again, you’re cleaning him up this time,” she tells Maddox.
“How about we rock, paper, scissors for sand duty?” he counters.
Braxton replies, but the sound of my phone ringing distracts me from paying attention. My stomach fills with dread when I read the name on my screen.
I step away from them and answer the call, forcing a greeting up my throat. “Hey, Jackson.”
“Cooper, how are you?”
Jackson is the divorce lawyer my father put me in contact with. He’s a long-time friend of my father’s lawyer and supposedly one of the best in Vancouver. If anything, that knowledge only makes me feel sicker.
“I’m doing fine,” I reply.
“Great. Is now a good time to talk, or should I call back later?”
“Now is fine.”Or never.
“Alright. Well, first, I want to apologize for how long it’s taken me to get back to you. I was away on business in London and only got back yesterday.”
Small world. “That’s fine. No worries.”
There are shuffling noises in the background and then tapping, like he’s typing on a keyboard. “Alright. Well, I wanted to ask you more about the logistics of your marriage. You said it happened in Ireland?”
“Yes. Dublin.”
“And you followed all of the laws there beforehand?”
Ice water slooshes through my veins, chilling me to the bone. “What laws?”
A long pause. More typing. “It’s a bit different to elope in other countries than it would be to elope in, let’s say, Vegas, for example. There are different rules we have to play by in those cases. In Ireland, you have to notify the registry three months prior of an intended wedding. It’s not much of an elopement, really, but for those who just want to get married somewhere foreign by themselves, it works well enough. I only ask because I’m having trouble accessing a marriage license.”
Panic threatens to close my throat, my breath thinning. I cough in an attempt to open it back up, but it only draws the attention of Maddox and Braxton instead. Dox’s eyes grow wide as he stares at me, most likely taking in how terrified I must look. My grip on the phone grows weak as my palms begin to sweat.
“I have a photo of a marriage certificate on my phone. I found it the morning after,” I wheeze.
“Okay, would you mind sending it to me?”
