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My heart thudded. “People were watching us?”
“I don’t know for sure. But West is going to fight it, and we’re going to help. After we find Wyatt and Avery, of course.”
Avery and Wyatt were missing, partly because of me. Because I’d had a secret relationship with their father, his in-laws might’ve found out, and they’d use it against him.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. All of my happy, shiny dreams from less than an hour ago vanished.
Yet again I’d hurt someone I loved. And not just West but his kids as well.
This had to be the universe telling me that happy endings really weren’t for me after all.
But I would process all of that later. Right now, all that mattered was finding Avery and Wyatt.
Opening my eyes, I turned and said, “As I get dressed, tell me what they’re doing to find the twins.”
Abby sat down on my bed. “The whole family is searching our land. I wanted to ask Katie and Amber to help, but right now, West doesn’t want it going beyond the family. I did say I’d search here and ask for your help, and he didn’t object. So if you can think of where to look for them, where they might hide, please tell me. The evenings and nights can be cool now, and…”
And the thought of two little kids out in it, probably without blankets or a way to stay warm, could be dangerous.
No.We’d find them. We had to.
As I got dressed, I shared my best guesses of where they might hide on my property. And by the time I was finished, Abby and I had a game plan and split up. I jogged to check the outbuildings first, hoping and wishing that Avery and Wyatt would be somewhere easy to find.
But as the day wore on, and eventually the sun sank behind the hills, the twins were still missing.
I hadn’t seen West at all today, hadn’t even received a text reply, but I hoped he was holding up.
This was my fault, all my fault, for ignoring my guilt and trying to go after some happiness. And if anything happened to his kids, I’d never forgive myself.
ChapterForty
Weston
As the last rays of daylight faded, I was torn between shouting, crying, and wanting to hit something. I still hadn’t found Avery and Wyatt, and it was getting harder and harder to keep my panic under control.
The words from their note still echoed inside my head:
Daddy,
We heard you talking about how Grandma and Grandpa wanted to take us away. But we won’t go, we won’t. So we’re going to run away for now. Don’t worry, we’ll be safe. Wyatt and I have planned to do something like this for a long, long time. Our grandparents always said they wanted to send you away from us, and we wanted to be ready.
But we want to live with you, Daddy. Until they promise to let us, we’re going to stay away.
Love,
Avery and Wyatt
PS—I’m sorry we stole money and took your credit card from your wallet. I know it’s wrong, but we’ll pay it back. I promise.
The fact my kids had a runaway backup plan at all made me even angrier at my in-laws and their crusade to try to raise seemingly perfect, boring, shallow creatures their friends would approve of. Once I found Avery and Wyatt, I’d let them know in no uncertain terms that we’d fight. Even if I had to ask my brother Nolan for money to get better lawyers, I’d fucking do it.
Because nothing meant more to me than my kids.
My cell phone rang. I saw it was Abby and answered, “Did you find them?”
“Emmy and Max King found them inside the Kings’ stables, in one of the empty stalls. And don’t worry, they’re fine.”
I closed my eyes in relief. “They’re still there?”
