"I'm sorry, Lucinda. I guess we didn't realize what time you’d be here."
"Well, I texted you both."
My patience was beginning to wear thin. Neither Nick nor I had been checking our messages religiously lately, because there were so many of them. So many kind well-wishers sending messages congratulating us on the twins that we'd turned off our ringers and were simply trying to get through the day.
It was then that I noticed that Nick’s phone was sitting on my hospital tray next to mine. He'd been so tired that he left his phone behind. I'd have to remember to text Dynassy and let her know to tell him so he wouldn't worry about where he left it.
Before Lucinda and I could talk much further, the physical therapist came and asked me to do a quick walk around the floor. I must have looked less than thrilled at the prospect of a turn around the maternity ward because she tried to sweeten the deal.
"We can go see the babies,” the physical therapist cajoled. The nurses had told me it was important for C-section patients to get up and move around.
I turned to Lucinda. “I'm sorry. Do you mind if I…?”
“Not at all. Please do what you need to do, and don't worry about me.”
So I got up, the physical therapist gave me an additional gown so that my front and back were covered, I slipped on a pair of shoes, and we started out the door and down the hall. Getting up was the worst part. Once I got up and moving things felt better. My belly still ached dully, but it was nothing like the sharp fire that sliced across my abdomen every time I got up.
When I got back to the room, Lucinda and her production crew were gone.
I gingerly climbed back into bed. Once the pain subsided, I lifted up a little more to pull my tray toward me so I could use my phone to text Dynassy to tell her Nick had left his phone up here.
I’d just pulled the tray in front of me when Nick’s phone vibrated on the tray. Instinctively, I picked it up. Across the locked screen was the first part of a message.
Pepper: When are you coming over? Lonely and missing your cock. Take care of baby mamma and get your ass back here. What…
After that—the message cut off. Gripped by the cold fingers of betrayal I slid my finger across the screen, wanting to read more, but dreading what I was going to see with every fiber of my body.
The screen asked for a passcode and taunted me with its keypad.
I had no idea what Nick’s passcode was. I tried his birthday. That didn’t work. I tried the twins recent birth date. That didn’t work.
Of course, it didn’t work, because what kind of cheater used his children’s birthday for his passcode?
I lay back and told myself to breathe.
But my breaths were ragged and uneven. I picked up the phone and dialed my mother.
“Mom, I need you to go get the two car seats and come pick me up at the hospital first thing in the morning.”
“Okay, sweetie, but is everything all right? You don’t sound too good.”
“I’m not, but I will be better once I get out of here.”
“Want me to come now?”
“No. In the morning is fine. Just get a good night’s sleep. We may need to do some driving tomorrow.”
“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re worrying me, honey.”
“The babies and I are fine, Mom. I just made a mistake, that’s all. Nothing that can’t be fixed.”
“Does this have to do with Nick?”
I could feel the tears come, but I shoved them down. “I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, okay?”
“All right. Just call me back if you need me, and I can be right over there.”
“I will.”
I stared at the wall. This was my worst nightmare coming true. And at a time when I was the most vulnerable. Now we weren’t just talking about me and my relationship with Nick. This was now going to affect four people instead of two, and it was exactly what I was afraid would happen.
I had been right to be suspicious of his awful neighbor Pepper. What a fool I’d been to ignore my women's intuition on this one. When Pepper came over and knew where everything was, acting like she owned the place, I should have known it was because she wanted to own the place. With Nick. But no, I had been too trusting, too willing to believe Nick when he said there was nothing going on between them. And if he was carrying on with Pepper, who knew what he was doing with women in cities all over the country. The man traveled eight months of the year. Temptation in every city. How had I convinced myself he was part of the 1% of athletes and rock stars who didn’t cheat?
Oh, and that bitch was supposed to be throwing me a party? I felt nauseated, like a complete fool, and the tears were beginning to well up again when Lucinda walked through the door.
Instinctively, I brushed my tears away, not wanting the shark to smell blood in the water.
"Hey, I thought you'd left. Where are the cameras?"
"Oh, they just did a shoot with me and the babies for a quick promo then they left. But I wanted to come back and say goodbye to you when it was just us."
"That was nice of you."
"You look like something's bothering you. Postpartum depression?"
"No. I just found out something disturbing."
"What’s that?"
"Nothing." The last thing I wanted to do was open up to her about this.
“Does it have to do with Nick?”
"No," I lied, my tears got away from me and spilled down my cheeks.
"What did he do now?"
I don't know what made me say it, I should've known better. I did know better, but the combination of postpartum hormones, pain and exhaustion combined to help me fall completely apart. "He's cheating on me!" I wailed.
"I was afraid that would happen," she sighed.
"What do you mean?" Had this been going on for a while, and I didn't know about it?
"Eden, you have to know that a man in Nick's position is not going to be faithful. There are simply too many temptations in the world."
"I know that," I snapped. "But he said wouldn't, and I was stupid enough to believe him."
"Yeah, that wasn’t very smart. A few extracurriculars are simply to be expected with a man like Nick."
Something inside me snapped, and all I felt was rage. I wanted to reach out and strangle Lucinda, but the pain in my stomach stopped me. "And that's okay with you?" I spat. "It's okay with you to raise a son who doesn't believe in fidelity. I guess you’re teaching Leo the same thing. That they are not required to control themselves or commit themselves to something bigger than their momentary urges."
Lucinda's eyes widened. "I hardly see how this is my fault. You said yourself that you were stupid. I haven’t done anything."
"I dragged myself to the edge of the bed, sitting up even though it hurt. "No, you are the one who cheated on your husband with my father, who was also married at the time, destroying two families!"
"How dare you make such an accusation?" She raised her chin, daring me to continue.
"The only thing I was stupid about was falling in love with any son of yours. My mother told me about what kind of person you really are, and clearly you've trained your children to be the same way. I feel sorry for anyone who loves any member of the Barnes family."
"What destroyed our families was a plane crash, Eden. My relationship with your father had nothing to do with that."
I was seriously thinking about wrapping my fingers around her neck and squeezing really hard, but I was a mother now so I said, "I want you to get out of my room right now. You are not allowed to see my babies anymore. Do you understand me?"
"But…" She stared at me open-mouthed. I couldn't believe it. I’d rendered her speechless.
Before she could do anything else, I reached over and used the nurse call button.
"Yes?"
"Please send security to escort this person from my room and make sure she does not see my children on the way out."
"Ma'am, is there a problem in there?�
�
"Yes, there's definitely a problem. Please send security in here."
Lucinda stood up and made her way to the door. "That won’t be necessary. You may kick me out of your room, Eden, but you will not keep me from my grandchildren."
“We’ll see about that. Your son and I aren’t married. He's going to have to prove he's the father of my children if you want to get anywhere near them. Now get the hell out of my room."
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Nick
Turns out I did need to sleep. After a fifteen-hour snoozefest, I woke up to find Dynassy standing over me.
“Get up, I’ve been waiting all morning. I want to go see the babies.”
Ever since the babies have been born Dynassy dubbed herself their favorite aunt and ensconced herself in one of my guest rooms in my Fresno house. The night before, I'd been so exhausted that I finally just came home and crashed.
After such a long sleep I was beginning to feel human again. I knew sleep was a luxury most new parents didn't get, so I considered myself lucky and steeled for the sleepless nights to come. Hopefully, the docs would let us bring the babies home today or tomorrow, and we could get settled in at home.
Lucinda had offered us a baby nurse, a service Eden had initially rejected. But now that she’d had a C-section, which was considered major surgery, she’d reconsidered. It would be extremely difficult for her to get up and down to take care of the babies, so she finally acquiesced and agreed to consider at least meeting the baby nurse.
I hoped the woman would be able to come to the hospital today, and I was looking forward to meeting this lady who made it her job to take care of newborns and their mommies. I knew that Eden could do anything she put her mind to, but I really wanted her to be able to rest, and while I planned to be home most of the time during the next few weeks, this lady’s help would be invaluable. On the drive over to the hospital I asked Dynassy, "So have you met this baby nurse mom’s been talking about?"
She looked at me like I’d lost my mind. "What’s a baby nurse?"
Dynassy had never shown much interest in babies or children. That is, until Albert and Annabelle had been born, and then she suddenly showed a sweet protective side that was kinda cute.
"Never mind. What have you been up to?"
“Well, I got into a little trouble from when I was in Austin the other day.”
“What did you do?”
“Apparently, I stepped over a homeless guy and someone has a video of it.”
“There are a lot of homeless people on the streets there. That doesn’t sound too bad. It’s not your fault he’s homeless.”
“I know, but I guess I said something about ‘why doesn’t he get a job?’”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. I didn’t mean it to be insensitive. I was genuinely asking my friend. I don’t understand a lot of stuff, and Mom always taught us to ask when we don’t know something. But I was just thinking—nobody wants to live on the street, right? So I was just asking why he didn’t have a job.”
“It’s not that simple, though.”
She blew out a loud breath. “I know that now, but anyway, the video has gone viral and I look like a complete asshole. So Mom and I are in damage control mode now.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sorry, sis.”
“Oh, and yesterday it came out the guy is a vet, so now I’m an even bigger villain.”
“A vet? Wow, you really know how to step in shit, don’t you?”
“Shut up.” She punched me in the arm, but I barely felt it. “I really didn’t mean anything by it. I’ll do some sort of event for veterans or something. I really am grateful to them.”
“Maybe do something that can get those guys jobs. Ever think of that?” My mother was always thinking of the photo op, rather than doing long-term good.
“That’s a great idea. What would we do without you, Nick?”
I smiled. It was nice to be home, spending time with my family. I was really looking forward to the off-season.
It was a short trip to the hospital, and when we got there Dynassy insisted on going to the gift shop first. I made the mistake of walking in with her, but I could see this was going to be a long shopping expedition. Even though the gift shop was the size of a doctor's exam room, my sister would be in there for a good twenty minutes.
"I'm going on up, room 1603, okay? I'll see you up there."
"Okay,” she called over her shoulder, though I'm not sure she really heard me.
In the elevator, I daydreamed about teaching Albert and Annabelle how to dribble, how to shoot the basketball, how to swim. Pictured them blowing out their first birthday candle, their beautiful mother watching over proudly. Mother’s Day was next weekend, and I wanted to do something special for Eden. Maybe Dynassy would help me plan something nice. I felt such a sense of fulfillment. All this time I’d thought basketball was the most important thing in the world, but family was what life is really all about.
When I walked into Eden’s room, I was surprised to find it empty. I waited a few minutes then went to the nurses’ station to ask where Eden was.
A nurse I'd never seen before said, "She checked out already. I believe she left a note for you." She searched the nurses’ station and when she returned, she handed me a note.
Confused, I stumbled back to the room where Eden had been. The sheets were still rumpled from her sleeping in them. Where had she gone? I read as I walked, and with each step, the joy drained from my body.
Dear Nick,
I’m sorry, but we can’t be together, pretending to be a family. I can’t raise our babies in an environment where their father cheats on their mother. My father did that, and I suffered for it. I don’t want to do the same to our children. Hopefully, in the future, we can find a way to parent the twins together, but for now I need some time and space to figure things out.
Please respect those needs and don’t try to find me.
I will be in touch soon.
~Eden
As I read the note, I felt the blood draining from my face. I sank down onto the empty hospital bed, my chest tightening.
Why would she say that? Why would she do this to us?
Yesterday, we were happier than we’d ever been. We even said so to each other, but now she was leaving me and taking our children with her?
My brain was ready to explode, and my heart felt like it was bleeding all over the floor.
Something had changed, and I had to find out what it was. What had given her the idea that I would cheat on her? Ever since Eden came back into my life, I hadn’t even looked at another woman. They had simply ceased to exist for me. Eden was everything I could ask for in a partner. She was kind, funny, brilliant, of course beautiful, the mother of my children, and she knew me better than anyone ever had. Or at least I thought she did.
Clearly, I was mistaken about that last one.
I was still trying to process what had happened when Dynassy walked in.
Her face was flushed, and she was babbling something about the gift shop.
"So, I wanted to get them each one of these adorable stuffed animals, but in a different color, but they didn't have a pink and a blue one. They only had two blue so I thought maybe I should get a different one for Annabelle. But then I got confused because the lady said they might be choking hazards for babies. But it's not like they're going to really play with it now anyway so I went ahead and got these, but I got a lamb for Annabelle because it was lavender and the blue one for Albert. I hope that's okay. What do you think?"
She held out a blue stuffed hippo and a lavender stuffed lamb.
“They’re gone.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Eden left. She thinks I’m cheating on her. She doesn’t want me around her or our babies. She’s left the hospital and taken them with her, and she doesn’t want me to know where she’s gone.”
“Why does she t
hink you cheated on her?”
“I have no idea.”
“Did you?”
“No, of course not. She means everything to me. Her and our babies—they’re my world. I was ready to miss the last couple of games to be with them. Take a fine, deal with whatever.”
“And that would have hurt you going for the scoring title, huh?”
I nodded.
“I don’t understand why she would do this. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“She didn’t leave you any clues as to where she went?”
“None. Here, read it.” I handed her the note.
After she finished reading it, she looked up. “Let me see what I can find out. Where are you going to be?”
“I guess I’ll go home.”
“Something’s not right here. Let me see if I can get to the bottom of this.” Dynassy checked her phone. “Oh crap. Have you seen this from Mom?”
“What? No. I’m ignoring Mom.”
Dynassy scrolled down her screen. “Apparently Mom came to see Eden and you and the babies last night. She’s pissed, by the way, that you weren’t here to greet her.”
“I don’t fucking care.”
“Didn’t think you did, but it sounds like she and Eden got in a big fight, and Eden kicked her out of her room. Said she wasn’t allowed to see the babies until you proved you were the babies’ father and had some kind of court order.”
“Shit.” What the hell had happened up here while I’d been asleep?
And where the hell was my phone?
“Hey, can you call my phone? I think I’ve lost it,” I asked Dynassy, even though a lost phone was the least of my problems.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Nick
Clank! The ball rattled against the rim then bounced off.
I was in the backyard shooting the basketball when Dynassy come outside to talk with me.
“Hey, big brother.”
“Hey.” I threw up another shot. An airball this time.
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. My shooting’s going about like my life.”
The Barnes Family Romances: (Books 1-3) Page 17