AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’s a few inches shorter than my five-four and thankfully doesn’t weigh that much, letting me keep her upright as her eyes flutter in confusion. Her hand lifts towards her head and I slide a hand around her, helping her the rest of the way up the steps. I push the button to automatically open the doors for the office and walk in with her, calling out to the receptionist for help as her eyes begin to flutter again.
Dr. Miller and a nurse hurry out the door, their eyes widening when they spot the woman with me.
Twenty minutes later, I’m fighting tears of my own as the woman’s mother-in-law hugs me tightly. It’s been a while since I’ve been hugged, not since before my mom died and all the hormones rushing through me simply makes it worse.
“I don’t know what we would have done if something happened to Maddie or the baby,” Annie says, giving me another hug. “If you knew my son…Maddie’s his whole world and he was already upset he couldn’t make it to the appointment with her.”
“Thankfully it didn’t,” Maddie states, squeezing my hand with a smile at me. “Jesse’s not going to leave my side most likely once he gets home, but I won’t mind. I’m so sorry for freaking you out, Eden. I wasn’t even thinking when I started up the steps.”
“My mom had low iron when she was pregnant and passed out once. There was only one step into the house though, so she was fine,” I tell them, glad that it doesn’t seem to be an issue for me right now. I can’t imagine something like that happening, especially not with the babies to look after at home. “I’m glad you’re okay. I don’t mean to rush, but I need to get home. The sitter’s going to be anxious to leave.”
“You have a baby at home?” Maddie asks and I don’t quite know how to say it, so I don’t sound so pathetic other than to just say it.
“My brothers and sister,” I explain. “Mom was pregnant with multiples, six months ago we were hit by a driver not paying attention to the traffic lights, and she didn’t make it. They were able to save the babies though so now, I’m their guardian. They came home from the NICU three months ago and are all healthy. Sawyer has some hearing loss in one ear we’ll need to watch, and Emma’s vision is lower, so she has cute little glasses, but that’s pretty much it.”
“I’m so sorry sweetheart,” Annie says, giving me another hug making me tear up again. “If you need anything, you give us a call,” she adds, taking out a piece of paper, writing down a list of numbers. “Even if it’s just a sitter to get some time for yourself, you call us. We have lots of practice with babies in our family and a lot of hands to help out. Our youngest girls babysit for the older one’s kids on the weekends quite often, so you just call us if you need help.”
I nod, my throat tight and after Annie insists on it, I write down the address of the apartment and give her my number in return, before heading home.
It’s not until later that night that the thoughts come back to me, rolling through my brain making it impossible to sleep. I know the only option is to find the twins’ father, pray he’ll help us enough so we can stay in the apartment, but it’s bound to be another dreadful humiliation to turn up at the health club, to find him.
What if he’s not from here?
The new thought fills me with dread, and I rush to the bathroom, throwing up before having a good cry at the idea of never finding him. The changing room he was in wasn’t like the one Mom and I had used as plus ones at the health club last year. That one was large, and yes, I know it was a woman’s changing room, but the one my gorgeous man was using only had like eight or nine lockers total in it. It also wasn’t the one that Alan had gone into that day we were there, so it may have simply been a changing area for temporary guests.
The thoughts keep swirling until River wakes, hungry, and it sends me through feeding all four, exhausted by the time Tucker falls back to sleep. I get a couple hours before the morning rush around the apartment complex wakes me, leaving me bleary eyed and exhausted. Something that continues through the following week, until my world falls apart with a knock on the door.
It’s barely nine a.m., the babies crying, each wanting something or other, and I open the door with Emma in my arms. The apartment manager gives me a glare hearing her screams of pain, and I slip the teether back into her mouth, hoping the cold of it will help her inflamed gums.
“Can I help you?” I ask when he continues to glare at me.
“I warned you last month about the noise, Eden. Due to the noise complaints, you’re being evicted. You have three days to vacate the premises for violation of your lease.”
“What?!” splutters from me, my jaw dropping further as he slaps an eviction notice on the door, before handing me a copy of it. “You can’t be serious! This is bullshit.”
“I told you if you couldn’t keep them quiet, this would happen,” the ass retorts. “No one wants to listen to screaming babies all fucking day. You have three days to get out, whatever’s left becomes our property, and if you don’t vacate, I will have the cops come to remove you. What do you think that’ll look like to CPS?” he tacks on, and I want to hit the bastard, want to scream, and shout, but I bite my tongue, trying to keep the emotions from overwhelming me.
Tears prickle against my eyes and I shut them, only opening them back when Carl lets out a grunt. My eyes widen a hint seeing a huge man glaring down at him. He’s got to be taller than even the hunk that stole my sanity and left me with babies which I didn’t think was possible to find. I mean, my man was about a foot taller than I was, and it felt so good to be in his arms. Made me feel safe and protected, and I wish he were here right now, making me feel that again.
“Threaten her again, and you’ll regret it,” the giant warns Carl, shoving him to the side before he comes straight towards me.
I step back, holding Emma tighter as worry races through me. The black anger on the giant’s face falls and it’s replaced with a gentle smile that turns even softer when he looks down at Emma. I bite the inside of my lips, unsure of what’s going on as he looks back up at me in what seems like recognition. I’ve never met this man in my life but he’s definitely not acting like it.
He’s handsome, for sure, but whereas my man also had dark brown hair that felt so good under my fingers, this stranger is clean shaven while my man had short scruff all over his face. It scraped against my skin as he kissed me breathless, and left a hint of redness behind I enjoyed, even if it was entirely crazy.
“You must be Eden,” he says, making my brows lift a hint more. “I’m Jesse. Jesse Cartwright, Maddie’s husband,” he adds and this time my eyes widen in shock. “I just got back to town Sunday and Maddie finally told me what happened. She made Mom promise not to say anything until I was home rather than in another state dealing with a building site collapse with my sister Julie. I got your address from Mom to come see you, thank you,” he states, his voice choking up a bit which doesn’t help me one hint with all the hormones rushing through me.
“Maddie is everything to me and she loves our kids to pieces. If something had happened to the baby she’d have been devastated, and if something had happened to her…I wouldn’t be able to breathe, let alone live without her. Family is everything to me and you saved mine,” he adds just making it worse.
I want what he and Maddie have—with my mystery man as crazy as it might make me. It was so easy to see how much Maddie loved her husband, how happy she was with him, and seeing Jesse now, there’s no doubt it’s reciprocated entirely. My heart pangs with longing, wondering what it would be like to have even a tenth of what I see in Jesse’s eyes, can hear in his voice when he talks about Maddie, be directed at me from my man.
“I…I didn’t…” I can’t really explain it because I honestly wasn’t consciously doing anything that day.
“Mom said your mother had something similar happen when she was pregnant, explained you lost her when your sister and brother were born,” he adds giving me a smile as Emma gnaws on the teether. “Maddie always has issues with her iron while pregnant, it’s why I insist someone goes with her when she’s out, but we’d gotten the call about the site issue just before the appointment that day and I barely got hold of Mom before we were in the air. Maddie didn’t think anything about going by herself, and I know you likely didn’t when helping her as well. But whether or not you realize it, you saved our entire family, and it seems you could use some help now.”
“I…” The tears I’ve been fighting start to fall, and before I know it, Jesse’s ushered me inside, sitting me down on the couch, getting most of the story from me. I leave out the fact that not only am I pregnant, but it’s twins, and that I don’t know the father of my babies, along with who the quadruplet’s father is, and that whole mess. Then end with the fact that my landlord just evicted us.
“One, if the noise complaints are specifically about the babies crying, it’s illegal to evict you because of it. The only possible option he’d have is to try and evoke occupancy rules, but since it’s a two-bedroom apartment, five people shouldn’t be over occupancy,” Jesse says, calming me slightly. “I’ll have our lawyer look over this but I’m certain you can file a discrimination suit against him. As for staying here and fighting it, I have to warn you that he’s not likely to stop.”
