AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How dare you?” I hissed, but he cut me off.
“Please Maddie. I get that you’re pissed with us, and you should be, but we never stopped caring about you. We just want to keep the two of you safe, and you will be if you come with me. Your husband has no idea who I am, who any of us are. He won’t have a clue where you are. It will give you time to heal and Willow time to get over what she’s been through. You don’t have to like us. Be as mad as you need to be, but please let us give you somewhere safe to stay,” he pleaded.
I knew he was right. Frank wouldn’t want what had happened getting out, so that meant Edward would be looking for us. Nico would be the first person he’d think we’d go to. I looked over at Willow again, looking so peaceful as she slept. I knew I had to do what was best for her. She had to come before everything, especially my own petty grievances for things that happened over a decade ago.
“I don’t want to make things worse for her,” I sighed. “I have already put her through so much. Moving to a new city, and a new home, it’s going to be a lot.”
“We’ll take care of her. We’ll make her a room in the house that’s all hers. We’ll ensure she has everything she needs and we can have people come to visit that she knows, like Nico and his sister, to make it more familiar. I can get referrals for a child psychologist if you think that would help. We can give her whatever she needs. Whatever you all need.”
“If I come with you, then it’s for her, and for my baby. It doesn’t mean I forgive any of you. I’m not sure I can ever forgive you,” I explained.
“Just give us a chance. When we’re together and you’re ready we can tell you the whole story. I know it won’t fix everything, but if you can just understand why we had to leave.”
“Fine. I definitely want an explanation,” I replied with a nod.
“So you’ll come with me, back to New Jersey?” he asked hopefully.
“Yes, for Willow’s sake, but it’s just temporary until I can work out what to do next. But you should know, I don’t have anything, Hunter. No money. I doubt I’ll even be able to get our clothes from the house. This is it. This is us. A woman who is pretty heavily pregnant and fucked in the head. A child who is likely emotionally scarred, and a stuffed lion. I hope you know what you’re taking on,” I questioned.
“You’re ours, Maddie. I know you’re mad at us, but please believe me when I tell you that we have loved you every minute of every day we have been apart. That makes Willow and that little one inside you, ours too. Let us do this. Let us take care of you and in return, you can try and help us piece ourselves back together too.” I knew when he told me they loved me, he meant as family, but it was hard not to let my heart flutter at hearing the words I had wanted them all to say to me so many times as a teenager, lusting after the four of them. Somewhere in my heart I had loved them just as fiercely through all of the time we had been apart. They had always been with me in my heart and in my thoughts.
“I’m not yours. Maybe once I was, back when I loved and trusted you all more than anyone or anything in my entire life. Not anymore, though,” I told him firmly.
“All we ask is the chance to win back that love and trust you once had in us. We’ll prove we deserve it again, Maddie. Just give us the chance,” he almost begged.
“I don’t know that you can,” I whispered. “But we’ll come with you,” I added, giving in. “If Nico can get the restraining order so I don’t get arrested for kidnapping, we’ll come with you.”
“You won’t regret it, Maddie. Everything’s going to get better now, I promise,” he told me, just as I’d told my daughter a few hours before. I had to make sure neither of us were lying, for Willow’s sake. I wasn’t sure I could ever forgive them, but deep down I knew I wanted to.Damn my traitorous heart!The years I spent with Edward may have hardened it, but deep inside there would always be a soft spot for the boys I once loved. Still loved. Would always love.
***
Willow and I were discharged from the hospital late the next morning. Hunter had cancelled his flight, which had booked for early that morning, and rescheduled it for the next day, when hopefully we’d be able to go with him.
Nico had taken us back to the Milite building, sure we’d be safest there for now. Two floors of the building were turned into several luxury apartments where some of the employees, including Nico, lived. The building was secure, so I did feel safe there. We were staying in the apartment beside Nico’s for the night with Hunter. Nico had been out to buy us both a few changes of clothes and a pair of sneakers each, as well as underwear and pajamas, so we were both now showered and dressed, feeling much more human.
“No silly!” Willow cried as I walked into the living room to find Hunter and Nico both sat on the floor with her, playing with a huge bucket of plastic animals Nico had picked up when he was shopping. “That’s a king penguin! He doesn’t live in the savannah! He lives in the tarctic!” she announced, outraged as Hunter tried to put a penguin in the African Savannah it looked like she was setting up.
“Silly Hunter! Don’t you know anything?” Nico teased as he laughed his ass off.
“Everything okay in here?” I asked as a smile spread across my face. I was just so relieved to see Willow smiling. I couldn’t even feel bitter that it seemed to be Hunter who had made it happen.
“Mommy! Did you see what Nic-Nic gots for me?” she asked excitedly. “We’re making the Savannah, but then I gots to make the ‘tarctic so Hunter can see where the penguins live!” she explained.
“That’s great, peanut. I’ll come and take a look in just a second,” I assured her. I had been trying hard to avoid Hunter as much as possible and I intended to continue in that vein. I needed to stay angry with him, because the minute I wasn’t, I knew I’d crumble and be nice to him, and he didn’t deserve that. The truth was that, no matter how mad I was with them for leaving me, I also still cared for and missed them just as much.
“Mommy wait!” she cried, making me pause as she got to her feet and ran over to me. She put her hands to her mouth like she needed to tell me a secret, so I got down onto my knees so she could reach my ear.
“What’s wrong, honey?” I asked.
“I checked,” she whispered in my ear. “I asked him cos his name is ‘Hunter’ and I had to be sure, but he promised me he’s not a hunter really, not like that mean man on the movie,” she assured me.
I laughed out loud when I realized she thought Hunter could actually be a hunter just like the villain onTarzan, one of her favorite movies.
“Good work, peanut,” I laughed. “But you’re right, Hunter is not a hunter. That’s just his name and mommy has known him a really long time. He wouldn’t hurt any animals,” I promised her.
“Or us? He won’t hurt us either, will he?” she asked as she looked back to Hunter, then up to me with huge, fear filled eyes. I looked to the guys as tears filled my own eyes, a lump forming in my throat.
“No Willow,” I answered tearfully as I pulled her into my arms and held her tight. “Hunter will never hurt us. We’re going to live with him and his brothers for a little while and we’ll be safe there, okay?” No matter how pissed I was with them, I knew them enough to know that was true. No amount of time could change who they were deep down. I was sure they were good men, just as I had always known they were good boys years before.
