Desperate now to get away, he tried to go through the gate, but it was locked, and he didn’t know how to open it. His only option was to go through the house. Without making eye contact with Isabel or Zavia, he rushed through the house and out the front door. He didn’t look back before getting in his car and driving away.
Emmalyn watched from an upstairs window as Lukas’s car sped off. She crumbled to the bed, tears streaming over her cheeks. Unable to stand it any longer, she lay down on her bed and cried.
Zavia and Isabel hovered just outside the door, unsure whether they should go in or not. Zavia cracked first and went in, sitting beside Em and pulling her into an embrace. Isabel followed, stroking Emmalyn’s hair.
“He left me,” Em said between sobs. “He just walked out.”
Isabel and Zavia exchanged confused looks. Zavia shrugged her shoulders and went back to rubbing Em’s back.
“But, sweetie, you said that was what you wanted,” pointed out Isabel, gently.
“He didn’t even argue. Shouldn’t he have at least argued a little bit?” Em sounded pathetic, and she hated Lukas for it.
Both Zavia and Isabel fully understood why Emmalyn was upset, and though neither of them said anything, they were happy he didn’t argue. This pregnancy was affecting Emmalyn’s health, and she’d been so wrapped up in Lukas and his issues that she wasn’t taking care of herself. She hadn’t been putting on weight like she was supposed to, and the doctor was far more worried than Em had let on to Lukas. She’d finally told her friends about the issues she was having and the real reason she needed to get out of Charlotte. Emmalyn had developed gestational diabetes, and the resulting fatigue was causing stress on her organs. Zavia could see how everything was wearing on Emmalyn, and though she’d miss her best friend fiercely, she agreed that leaving was the best thing for her.
*
Lukas rushed around his apartment like a mad man. In the two week’s since Emmalyn had left Charlotte, he’d spent all his spare time preparing to go after her. His father, brother, and best friend were less than supportive, but he didn’t care. His whole life had just moved to Charleston, and nothing and no one was going to keep him from following.
After the sale of his and Brian’s online marketing toolset to GlobeComm, he didn’t need to worry about money. He worked with Brian to divide up their work for their next mobile launch. With Charleston and Charlotte only three hours apart, he didn’t think it would be a big issue. He’d gotten an apartment not too far from where Emmalyn was staying despite his brother’s repeated accusations of stalkerish behavior. He didn’t care. He just wanted to be near his kids—and the woman he loved.
He walked through the apartment, checking items off his mental list, then began packing things in his car. Jaxon and Brian arrived to help just as he started moving the bigger boxes into the moving trailer he’d rented.
“Jesus, Lukas. You could have waited,” Jaxon laughed. “You sure are anxious to get rejected.”
Lukas gave his brother a look that said “don’t start this again.” Jaxon held up his hands in surrender and helped his brother with the box he was carrying.
The three worked in silence, getting as much as they could into the trailer. It was a tight fit, and a lot of things were left for the big moving truck that was coming the next day.
Brian and Jaxon sat on the sofa, having pulled the last of the cold beers out of the sparse refrigerator. Lukas grabbed the one held out by Jaxon and sat down next to them.
“Remind me again why you couldn’t just have the movers do all this when they got here?” Brian took a long drink and leaned his head back on the sofa. Lukas had no idea how to pack a box, he thought to himself. “Your boxes are crazy heavy,” he whined.
“Yeah, I guess I put too much in there, but I thought that would take up less space.”
“Hmm,” Jaxon mused. “You guessed wrong.”
They were in the midst of a good laugh when Pop walked in. He took in the empty apartment and shook his head in disgust.
“So, you’re going through with this ridiculous plan of yours,” he growled angrily.
“Pop, I refuse to have this conversation with you again.”
“And what am I supposed to do? Your brother has to report back to the base in a couple of weeks.”
“You are not helpless. You’ll be fine. You were fine while I was in San Diego,” Lukas pointed out.
His father opened his mouth to disagree, but his son was right. And he was tired, tired of arguing, tired of worrying. He understood that Lukas was completely dedicated to being there for his kids, but he was an old man. Selfish as it sounded, he enjoyed having someone around to help him.
“Just tell me why you are chasing after someone who clearly doesn’t want you? She left you even after you apologized. Why put yourself through that kind of pain?”
Lukas put his beer down and walked over to his father. They’d gone around and around about this over the past two weeks. His father knew perfectly well why he was going. Lukas couldn’t understand why his father didn’t see the need for him to go after his kids, to be there for them and for the woman who was carrying them.
“I need you to really listen because we are never, ever, having this discussion again. I’m going to be where my kids are. So, Emmalyn could move a thousand times, and that’s how many times I would go. She didn’t get herself into this by herself and I’ll be damned if she’s go through this alone. She may never forgive me, and I’ll learn to live with that, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be there for her as a friend, that I won’t be there for the twins when they are born and before.”
“Lukas, I never took you for a fool.” He tried to walk around Lukas and go further into the room but Lukas blocked him.
“I love her. I have always loved her. And if wanting to make a life with the woman I love and our children makes me a fool, then that’s what I’ll be. Every. Day.”
Lukas stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him. Jaxon and Brian watched him go, but his father couldn’t bear to accept that his son was just about lost to him.
Jaxon sensed exactly what his father was thinking. And as he always did, he paid little heed to good sense and said exactly what was on his mind. “You’re wrong, Pop. Lukas isn’t a fool. He’s doing what he needs to do to keep his family together.”
“And what do you think I’m trying to do?” he snapped. “I’m trying to keep your brother from getting his heart torn to shreds.”
“Emmalyn isn’t mom. The sooner you accept that, the less likely it will be that you’ll be barred from seeing your granddaughters.”
Jaxon frowned at his father before following his brother outside.
21
Storm’s A-brewing
The hurricane hit about two weeks after Emmalyn’s arrival in Charleston. With the new job, new team, and new town, Em didn’t have much unpacked and was completely exhausted. Luckily for her, it was a Friday night, and since Zee and Isabel were in Charlotte, she didn’t have anyone to keep her up late. She’d snuggled into the sofa as the wind tossed the trees in the swamp near her apartment around like twigs. One of the grocery store cashiers who had lived in the area her whole life had assured Em that the storm would be mostly bluster—wind and rain, but not too much in the way of flooding. Emmalyn watched the buckets of water fall from the sky and wondered if old Peggy might have been wrong about this one. She had just decided to start a new movie when there was a heavy knock on the door.
“I hope they aren’t evacuating,” she thought to herself as she waddled over to the door. She reached up on tiptoe and looked through the peephole. Sure enough, a police officer was standing outside of her door. She asked him to wait a minute while she grabbed a robe and her raincoat and pulled a pair of sneakers out of the closet.
Grabbing her purse last, she opened the door, not really paying much attention to the man at the door.
She struggled to get her shoes on and announced, “I’ll just be a minute, o
fficer. I didn’t think there was supposed to be flooding.”
“Ma’am, there is no flooding. Um, do you mind coming back to the door?” he asked with uncertainty.
She had on one shoe, and her robe was buttoned incorrectly when she made it back to the door. The policeman stood there looking confused.
“Oh, I’m sorry. What’s this all about?” Em asked. There was a man behind the officer, but she couldn’t see his face under all the layers of plastic.
“I found this gentleman walking down the off-ramp, and he claims to know you. The storm is whipping up something fierce and will only get worse as the night wears on.”
“Oh,…,” Emmalyn’s voice fell off as Lukas pulled the three layers of hood off and gave her a lopsided and apologetic smile.
“Hi, Em. I hope you don’t mind me dropping in like this,” he said jokingly.
“Lukas, what the hell are you doing out in all this? It’s dangerous out there!” She couldn’t focus on anything else. The man was insane.
The cop could sense an argument brewing and didn’t want to wait around for the conclusion. “Ma’am, do you know him or not? He really shouldn’t be out on the streets in the hurricane.”
Emmalyn rolled her eyes and huffed. “Yeah, I know him. He can ride the storm out with me.”
“Fine,” the cop said testily. “Be safe.” He tipped his hat to Emmalyn and scowled at Lukas before he walked off.
“I’m sorry, Emmalyn.” He took a step towards the doorway, but Emmalyn’s growing tummy blocked his path.
“You are not tracking all that water into my apartment. Wait here.”
The door slammed in Lukas’s face. A few seconds later, Emmalyn returned with a laundry basket. She held it out to him and said, “Strip.”
He started to laugh, but there was no amusement in Emmalyn’s face. “I can’t strip on your porch. What will your neighbors say?”
“My neighbors will want to know what kind of jackass is out walking down I-526 in a hurricane and not be surprised that said jackass is now taking his wet clothes off before coming in the house.” She wagged her eyebrows at him in an effort to get him moving.
Reluctantly, he began to peel off the layers he’d put on before beginning this trek. He had thought he’d be able to beat the rain here, but the weather forecasters in Charleston were just as useless as the ones in Charlotte. Then his truck had nothing better to do than to die on him just as he was getting off the ramp.
To be honest, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do anyway. He didn’t think the rental office would be open, and he hadn’t been able to find a hotel to stay in. He sighed as he pulled his sopping wet sweatpants off and dropped them into the basket.
“Emmy, please don’t make me take anything else off. I promise to do anything you ask if you let me keep my wet drawers on.”
Emmalyn fought a laugh as she stood to one side to allow him entry into the apartment. “I’m sure I have some of your sweatpants around here somewhere. Let me go look.”
She walked into one of the bedrooms and lost the battle with her laughter. She sat on the edge the bed and had herself one the best laughs she’d had in ages. When she could focus her eyes, she found Lukas standing in the doorway staring daggers at her. She should have been able to control herself better, but the look on his face only made her laugh even harder.
“Could you point to the box I should start looking in? I’m getting cold.”
That caused Emmalyn to start laughing even harder. She was lost. He sighed and started opening the boxes labeled clothes. In the second box he searched through, he found a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt of his that he thought he’d lost years ago. He went into the bathroom to take the wet underwear off and put on the dry clothes.
Emmalyn stopped laughing enough to follow him into the bathroom. “Do they fit?”
“I don’t remember giving you this shirt. It was one of my favorites,” he said shortly.
His eyes rolled when her face turned red from the effort to control her laughing.
“I’m so sorry, Lukas, I don’t know what’s wrong with me?”
He took a good look at her face. She didn’t look any better than she had the last time he’d seen her in Charlotte. She still had bags under her eyes, and her skin still looked like Play-Doh. He’d bet she was exhausted and that was a big contributor to her punch-drunkenness.
“Have you been sleeping?”
That sobered her up. She was not about to get lectured by him. “I’ve been busy getting settled,” she defended.
He followed her down the hall. There was a room with big boxes, many with pictures of baby nursery items on them. He did a quick mental calculation. She had to be a bit over four months pregnant now. He smiled to himself. Just like his super organized, uber-prepared Emmy, he thought to himself. She hated not being prepared or not having a plan. She’d have everything a baby would need well before the babies were scheduled to appear.
She finished the tour back in the living room.
“What movie are you watching?” he asked as the lights flickered and then went completely out. “Never mind.”
Emmalyn was prepared despite what the people at the store said. She slowly felt her way to the kitchen and switched on the camping lamp she’d bought. She used that to find the flashlights she had strategically placed throughout the apartment. She grabbed the bigger of them and handed it to Lukas.
She shined the lamp on her arm. It was only six thirty, way too early to go to bed, though she thought she’d be able to fall asleep and stay asleep if she really tried. Emmalyn sighed heavily and moved to the sofa.
The blinds were still up. Watching the storm through the trees surrounding the swamp, Emmalyn was calmed by the crazy winds and rain. She’d always loved storms. Whereas most kids would cower and hide at the booming sound of a thunder clap or the blinding flash of lightning, Em loved it and couldn’t get enough. She found comfort in the violence of the storm, loved the smell of the air the next day. It was like the earth was able to reset after the temper tantrum of the storm.
Lukas sat next to her on the sofa, watching her watch the storm. He remembered how much she loved storms, although he didn’t think a category 2 hurricane should be worshiped and adored the way Em did. He was deep in his own thoughts when she finally spoke.
“What are you doing here, Lukas? I told you I wanted to start over fresh.”
“And I agree. We need to start over fresh.” He cut her off when she tried to argue with him. “Emmalyn, it’s no secret that I love you more than my life. And it’s no secret that I’ve been a raging idiot when it comes to our relationship—and our friendship. I don’t intend to ask for forgiveness. You may be right. Things may well be done between us. But I want to be a father to the baby girls you’re carrying, and I’ll follow you anywhere to be with them.”
“Lukas…,” she broke off, feeling the sting of tear behind her eyes.
“Emmalyn, I’m going to be the girls’ father no matter what happens between us. I got my own apartment. I won’t get in the way of your life. I owe you that much. But I’m asking you to please let me be there to watch my girls grow up.”
Emmalyn watched his eyes shine from unshed tears. She couldn’t deny him this, but she would make sure he understood the rules before they went any further. She grabbed his ear and yanked. Hard. “You break my babies’ hearts, and I will tear you limb from limb,” she said in a voice that left no question that she was not joking.
“That sounds fair,” was all he could say, not trusting the feral look in her eyes this time.
22
Reigniting A Spark
Over the next several weeks, Emmalyn and Lukas settled into an amiable friendship. His apartment was around the corner from hers, so he was close enough to call, but they weren’t in each other’s way. The separation from their life in Charlotte was exactly what they needed to rebuild the relationship, not that relearning how to relate to one another was smooth sailing.
Emma
lyn had grown accustomed to doing everything for herself. More than once, Lukas had caught her doing more than she should, and he’d fuss. Then she’d fuss. It was a vicious cycle.
It all came to a head one day when he showed up early to put together some furniture for the babies. Emmalyn was about six-and-a-half months pregnant and was having trouble with shoes with laces, so it never occurred to Lukas that she might have tried to do this on her own.
She opened the door in a huff, wondering why someone was at he door at eight o’clock in the morning.
Lukas stood on the other side holding exactly eight ounces of coffee, since at her last check-up, that was what the doctor said she was allowed to have. He didn’t say a word, merely handed the cup to her and waited to be granted entrance.
“I appreciate the caffeine, but why are you here so early? I didn’t think you knew what eight a.m. was.”
She stepped aside and let him in. She noticed his frown and followed his eyes to the boxes stacked up beside the counter waiting to be taken down to the dumpster.
“Well, I thought I was putting baby furniture together today, but I guess not.”
She saw the hurt in his eyes, and it raised her hackles. “I didn’t think you were actually going to be here this early, and I didn’t feel like waiting until noon for you to show up.”
“But I’m here. On time. The time you told me to be here.” Understanding hit him like a sucker punch to the gut. “But since I never show up when I say I will, why would you think I would now? Got it.”
He turned to leave. He paused with his hand on the door knob when her hand touched his shoulder.
“Lukas, I know you’re trying.”
“Well, you know, no man wants to be torn apart limb from limb.” He turned to her and tried to smile, but the light had gone out of his eyes.
Emmalyn worked her mind for something, anything she could ask him to do. She hated that she was the reason for the sadness creased on his forehead.
“I got the basic structures together, but I don’t have the hand strength to tighten stuff. Do you mind checking them? I’ll start sorting all the stuff in bags so we can put them away.”
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