AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We most likely won’t be. The doctor said there’s a really high chance that we’ll lose one before the next ultrasound. So I don’t want to tell anyone. Not even my parents. I’m not going to get my hopes up when this might be the cost of surviving.”
“We can wait.” Cole kisses my nose. “And if we only have one baby, that’s still one more than we expected to have. I’ll never forget the sight of your blood.”
His words are exactly what I need to hear. Exactly what my heart needs. I didn’t even know that I was missing anything.
“This hospital sucks.” I hate wearing hospital clothes. I hate the food. I hate having the lights and the sounds and everything. Everything except the fact that Cole hasn’t left my side. “I don’t want to go back to the house. Do you think we can hire someone to clean it and pack up the whole thing?”
He’s already chuckling. “Emmett and Sori took care of that before you even woke up from surgery. Something about not wanting the blood to dry and ruin something. I dunno, I wasn’t paying attention.”
I’m tired. And since I’m not getting any of the delicious food that I’m craving, I think I want to go back to sleep. So I press the magical pain button that they gave me and wait for it to kick in.
“You haven’t asked about him yet.” Cole’s fingers dance across my stomach. “Do you want to know what happened?”
“I figure you’ll tell me when you’re ready for me to know. Either that, or you’re going to let me get the information from my dad or my brother.”
“Nope.” Cole says with a wry chuckle. “Your father will never tell you what happened. I’m absolutely sure of it. But I do know that they have it on body cam from about four different agencies, and it’s all a matter of public record. I can ask and see if we can get a copy of it. So that you can watch it when you get out.”
“Just tell me. Is he alive?” He knows what I’m asking. If Joel’s death would leave a stain on the soul of any of the men that I care about, because I know without a shadow of a doubt that any one of them would gladly put a bullet in the man’s head. Especially after the truth came out regarding what he did to Cassie. What she was hiding.
The pain.
The abuse.
The journals that he stole and hid, where she wrote about the abuse and her dreams of freedom. When she was in New York, she was finally strong enough to leave, strong enough to end things.
And he stole that freedom from her.
He almost stole Cole from me.
I can’t even imagine what would have happened if Cole hadn’t survived the accident. If he left this world without knowing that he was going to be a father or that I love him more than anything else.
“Yeah.” He sounds almost bitter about it when he finally answers. “Even though Iknowthere are places out here that we could easily get rid of a body and no one would ever find him.”
“Good.” I can’t help it. “Cassie has a message that she wants me to pass along to him, and I can’t wait to do it.”
There’s a knock at the door before I can say anything else and before Cole can express the undoubtedly negative response to me being alone with Joel at any point in the future.
“Is it a good time?” Sori sticks her head in, with a smile on her face and a bag of food in her hand. “Emmett and Laurence and I thought we’d stop in on our way to the airport. Laurence wants to see you for himself to make sure that you’re okay before we go home.”
“Hey, Sori.” Cole nods at her. “Come on in and explain to your future cousin that we have enough money to live wherever she wants to.”
“Yay.” Laurence shoves his way between his mother’s legs and bolts for me. “Auntie Caspie.” But he stops short of jumping on the bed, mostly because he can’t manage to do it on his own. “Up.”
Cole lifts him up and places him gently next to me.
“I’m not doubting you.” I roll my eyes at him. “I was just telling you that I didn’t want to live in Birch Harbor.”
“Are you moving to the city? Or are you going to try and stay closer to home? Emmett was looking at property in Boston for the new R&D division that you and the brothers all approved. I bet that would be a perfect place for you to raise your family.” She cocks her head at her husband. “Plus, we need an excuse to buy another neighborhood, I’m sure.”
“See?” Cole smiles down at me and Laurence. “We might even be able to convince Mimi to give up the city if we can get Emmett and Sori to move too.”
“I like Boston,” Emmett says nonchalantly. “Pretty much anywhere I can get my hands dirty in business sounds like a place I want to be.”
They’re still talking, but Laurence and I are tightly snuggled in together, and I can already feel him starting to snore against my chest. The pain meds have officially kicked in and I’m content to just close my eyes and let them handle the socializing while I get a few more minutes with the little boy who saved my life.
“Auntie Caspie.” His words are quiet and soft against my skin. “You safe. Not hurt anymore.”
“No, baby,” I murmur, pressing kisses against his forehead. “You saved me and made sure I got all better. I’m so sorry that I scared you, buddy.”
