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He pressed a kiss to my temple and cursed, “Fuck, sugar, your skin is like ice.”
He pulled his coat off and wrapped it around me, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. Until he mentioned it, I didn’t realize how cold it was.
“Kit Kat?” Conrad said.
Jackson whirled on him. “You’ve done enough damage to your daughter, both of them, and your son to last a fucking lifetime. Don’t contact her again because if you do, you won’t like what happens.”
“Goes to show what you know, boy. She came here. I didn’t contact her,” Conrad said. His voice laced with venom.
Jackson stepped between me and Conrad, advancing on him as he did. “She wouldn’t be here if you could take a fucking hint and leave us all the fuck alone.”
But Conrad shoved Jackson away, yelling, “You don’t get to tell me whether or not I can see or speak to my child!”
The security team flooded the backyard, putting themselves between Conrad and Jackson. Conrad fought to get to Jackson, who backed me up, putting a least ten feet of distance between us.
I walked around Jackson, taking his hand in mine. I stopped behind Hayden and Declan, who were holding Conrad back. I laid my hand on Hayden’s shoulder, then Declan, letting them know I was there.
I stared up at my father, if he could be called that, and repeated what I said to him moments ago. “I told you—I was going to say what I wanted to say, and then you would fuck off. I meant it. I’ve said my piece. Now, you’re dead to me. I don’t want to speak to you. I don’t want to see you. I will forget your name and your existence when I walk out the door, and I won’t ever look back.”
“Kit Kat,” Conrad croaked through the tears streaming down his face.
“Just stop. I’m over ignoring the crap you and Roxy have done to me. I won’t bottle up my emotions and pain anymore. I refuse to put on a happy face and repress trauma so that we can have a relationship. I am finished with you both.”
I turned and walked toward the house, doing just as I promised. I never once glanced behind me. Not even when Hayden, who earlier today was advocating for me to mend fences, said, “Do not ever call me again. You do not deserve that woman as adaughter. You don’t even deserve to breathe the air she does or share the ground she walks on.”
I heard Hayden’s heavy footfalls following mine and Jackson’s back toward the house. But after a few feet, he stopped. “If I find out you’re pumping my dad for information, Jackson, Declan, and I will be back here for a return visit.”
“Hayden…”
“Fuck you, old man. You’re dead to us.”
Twenty-Six
Jackson
I woke up with my face buried in Katie’s hair. It was Christmas Eve. My first with my darlin’ girl and what I hoped was just the first of a lifetime.
When we’d fallen asleep the night before, she’d been curled around my side with her head on my shoulder. She’d drifted off, talking about the babies and our upcoming trip with Morgan and Charlotte. Sometime in the night, we must’ve rolled over because I was spooned around her when my eyes popped open.
I savored the quiet as my brain reminded me a year from now, we’d crave quiet moments like this. As much as I’d hoped to have several years with Katie to myself, I was growing more excited by the day about being a daddy.
Katie murmured in her sleep, wiggling deeper into my embrace. Her new position brought the clock on Katie’s side of the bed into view. I groaned under my breath.
As much as I hated to leave her, I really had to get up. Especially if I didn’t want her to know what the fuck I was doing today. Katie needed rest. Dr. Sarah said so. Plus, I wanted to surprise her tonight.
I pecked her on the back of the head, tucking the blankets around her as I rolled out of bed and headed to the shower. While I rushed through getting ready, as quietly as a mouse, I thanked whatever higher power gave me Katie and some amazing uncles—Liam, especially after the last almost two months.
The day after getting the test results, we called Liam about the list of doctors he’d given Katie. He surprised us when he said he’d made an appointment for us already. Katie was pissed.
Liam explained, “Dr. Sarah Winifred is the perfect fit for the two of you. Her experience with multiple births alone was enough to convince me. It’s her volunteer work at the local sexual assault center, where she works closely with survivors, that tipped the scale.”
Liam continued, “I called her, spoke to her vaguely, of course, explaining your situation. I asked if it was possible for her to see a patient privately. She agreed immediately. Her office is closed on the twenty-third, but she will meet the two of you there with a singular nurse to maintain your privacy until you’re ready to out yourselves to the world.”
The wait for the appointment drove me nuts. Yesterday, when we met with her, we realized Liam had made the perfect call for us.
Dr. Winifred, a no-nonsense lady who instructed us to call her Sarah, pressed what looked like a microphone to Katie’s belly. She had explained everything step by step, so I was positive she’d said what it was, but I was so fucking far out of my element that things went in one ear and out the other.
Whoosh, whoosh. Whoosh, whoosh. Whoosh, whoosh. Whoosh, whoosh.
