From Ice to Flames

by Hargrove, A. M.

  “Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you spewed those dreadful words at me. There is no us. Now leave.” She turned and walked away.

  I blew it. My only hope was the damage wasn’t irreparable. I’d stolen everything from her, and then put a fucking knife in her, and ripped her heart out. But did I stop there? Fuck no. I kept on going and even stole the puppy I gave her. I’m surprised I didn’t kick the little thing in front of her. How had I allowed myself to get so out of control? She was pregnant … with my baby for fuck’s sake. She was carrying Wiley’s sibling. The idea of what I’d done to the woman I loved made me ill. Literally.

  Ellerie said, “I think you should leave now.”

  “Yeah, I think so too, but I don’t want to.”

  “You really love her, don’t you?”

  I scowled. “Of course I love her. Why do you think I’m here?”

  Ellerie pointed to the couch. “Sit down.”

  I shuffled over to it, having lost the little energy I’d possessed earlier. She followed a few minutes later with a cup of coffee that she shoved into my hands. “I’m really angry with you.”

  “Join the crowd. I’m the biggest idiot around.”

  Ellerie nodded. “You’ll get no argument from me.”

  “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you came.”

  “She’s been so upset. I’ve been really worried about her. This is her first day back at work.”

  “Jesus.”

  “You should be calling His name because you really need Him right now.”

  I swiveled a bit so I could look Ellerie in the eye. “I know I’m an asshole, but can I at least give her Chester back?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. At this point, I can’t answer for her on anything. She’s not thinking straight.”

  I pressed a couple of fingers to my temple to ease the pounding headache. This was going to be a long day. “I understand.”

  “Why’d you do it?”

  “Did she tell you about my ex?”

  “Some.”

  I explained what happened to Wiley that day. “I was very upset about that situation and then she came over and gave me the news. I overreacted.”

  Ellerie laughed. She laughed, of all things.

  “How can you possibly laugh?”

  “Overreacted? That’s an understatement. You dropped a nuclear warhead on the poor woman.”

  “Yeah, I did. I was freaking out, thinking my ex was going to try to abduct my son. It was a huge error in judgment. All I saw was what Lydia had done to me years ago. I clearly wasn’t in my right mind.”

  Ellerie stared at me. “Clearly. You know, I understand your side of things. But I have to side with Milly. She’s my sister. You hit her below the belt with that shit about her losing her baby. And then the puppy thing. That was unforgivable.”

  I raised my hands. “Yeah, it was. I don’t blame you for taking her side. I’m on her side too. But can you give a guy any suggestions on how to get the girl back? I’m telling you I’d walk over hot coals, cut glass, lay on a bed of nails, you name it.”

  “I wish I had some. Right now, I’ve got nothing. But give me your number. If I think of anything or see she’s easing up on the situation, I’ll let you know.”

  “Thanks. If I don’t get her back, my mom is going to kill me.” And that was the honest to God truth. She would disown me forever. “And Wiley … well, he’d rather live with Milly than me so I’m not sure what I’ll do if she decides she wants nothing to do with me forever. He might adopt her and disown me too.”

  Ellerie laughed again.

  “You think I’m joking?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “Hell no. This is serious. The fact that I’m head over heels in love with your sister is the main reason I want her back, pregnant or not. But my family loves her too. My mother is so pissed off at me right now, she’ll barely utter more than one syllable. Wiley doesn’t know yet, but when he does, you may as well make up a bed in here for him.”

  “It’s difficult not to love Milly. I’ll try, but no promises. She’s her own person and I can’t heal the wounds you’ve created.”

  “This is my doing and I hope to fix it. I just need a way in.”

  “Let me work on it.”

  We were sitting there when Milly stomped back out. “Are you still here? I asked you to leave.”

  “I’m going now. But—”

  “No buts. Get out. Now.”

  The way she glowered, I wondered if I even had a remote chance of ever winning her back.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Milly

  “What the hell were you doing? Hanging out with the enemy?”

  “I’d hardly consider speaking to the father of your baby, hanging out with the enemy.”

  Too bad I didn’t have a pet dragon. I wanted to breathe fire at my sister, who was currently betraying me.

  “Ells, he destroyed me. Why were you sitting on my couch right there with him?”

  “You have a point. But he’s really sorry and so miserable.”

  I held out a hand. “Enough. I’ve had enough.” I went back to my room to finish getting ready. When I was done, I stomped back out. “I’ll be back sometime this afternoon.”

  “Wait. Can we meet for lunch?”

  “As long as you don’t mention He Who Can’t Be Named.”

  She let out a long breath. “Will you at least take Chester back?”

  “He did not try that? That butthole with a capital B. Trying to wheedle his way back in with a puppy.”

  I grabbed my bag and left. Of all the nerve. The elevator doors were closing when a large hand reached in. It was followed by a large body. I knew who it was before he even entered. He consumed the elevator and I wanted to jump out.

  “Hey.”

  I didn’t bother answering.

  “You look beautiful.”

  I stared at the wall.

  “I’m sorry.”

  I growled.

  “I know I’m a jerk.”

  I may have mumbled something like, “The worst sort.”

  “What?”

  I didn’t answer.

  “Okay. I know you hate me. But I love you, Milly. I’ll always love you.”

  I ground my teeth so hard my jaws ached. The fucker. Why, oh, why couldn’t he just shut up?

  “You’re going to look amazing when your belly gets big.”

  My eyes bulged, and I made a fist. “I was wrong about the Claytons.” Then I popped him in the gut as hard as I could. Thank God the doors opened. As far as I could tell, he was still doubled over when I stepped out. How dare he say such a thing. What woman wanted to be told that? What a fucking idiot.

  I hailed a cab. I wasn’t going to take a chance of him catching up to me. By the time I got to work, I was able to draw a normal breath into my lungs.

  Ava waved as I passed her by. I stuck my head into her office. “How is it you always get here before me?” I didn’t wait for her to answer but moved on. I had a seriously bad temper today and nobody better cross me.

  I slammed the door of my office and nearly hit Ava in the face. I had no idea she’d followed me. Not waiting for an invitation to enter, she walked in and asked, “What the hell is going on? Why are you in such a bad mood?”

  “If I wanted you to know, I would’ve told you.”

  She gaped, her mouth opening and closing. “Jeez, Milly. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “Yeah, well, you did.” After the words left my mouth, I immediately regretted them. “God, I’m sorry. It’s been a really awful morning. Actually, it was an awful week too.”

  “Need to talk about it?”

  I burst into tears.

  “I guess that’s a yes.” She hugged me as I cried and explained what happened.

  “You don’t think it was just a reaction?”

  “Not you too?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My sister is a traitor. She joined the d
ark side.”

  She chuckled. “I’m on your side, always. But maybe he was overreacting. And after he gets used to the idea, he’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t care. He didn’t have to be so utterly cruel.”

  “True, but you know how men can be such idiots.”

  I thought about that for a minute. She was right. But my heart had been shredded and I didn’t even know where to look for it anymore.

  “Is that why you’ve been out so long?”

  “Yeah. I just needed some time.”

  “I totally understand.”

  “I need to see a doctor. Any recommendations?”

  “Yes, let me text you the contact.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Milly, take some time to think this over. Your Dr. McFoxy seemed like a great guy. He made a mistake. People do that, you know.”

  “Yeah, but this one severed a vital organ. I’m still bleeding from it. He wouldn’t even let me take the puppy and his parents have Dick.”

  She nodded and left. I got her text and made an appointment for Thursday. Work was more than difficult. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I met Ellerie for lunch and she drilled me on what I would do about single parenthood. I had no idea.

  “Hudson will want to be a part of it, you know. He’s that kind of guy.”

  That was something I hadn’t thought of. When he pretty much kicked me out of his apartment, I’d left figuring I was on my own. But now that he was filled with remorse, there was no way he wouldn’t want to be in this child’s life. With a brother for an attorney, he would most likely file for joint custody. And I’m sure Paige and Rick would want to be involved too. I couldn’t in good conscience keep them away. I wasn’t that cold of a person.

  On the other hand, could I still live here, seeing him every day? That would be the cruelest type of torture. Moving back to Atlanta might be the best option for me. I’m fairly positive I could get my old job back, or something similar. I wasn’t just good at what I did. I was excellent.

  “Yeah, I know. And his brother is an attorney, so I’m screwed there.”

  “You two can work it out,” Ellerie said. She smirked.

  “What?”

  “I kind of like this.”

  “Are you kidding me?” This situation was bringing out the violent side of my personality because I wanted to punch her. I’d never considered myself a violent person before.

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  “Because now you’re forced to do something with him.”

  “Not necessarily,” I said, smirking in return.

  She sat forward in her chair. “What does that mean?” she asked, frowning.

  “I’ve decided to move back to Atlanta.”

  She leaned back. “You can’t do that.”

  “And why not?”

  “You don’t have a job.”

  “Oh, snap, Ellerie. You forgot I have connections.”

  “Oh, snap, Milly. You forgot you’re pregnant.”

  Now it was my turn to frown. I clicked my fingers. “I don’t have to disclose that, though.”

  “You mean you’d actually hide it?”

  “Why not? I could say I didn’t know.”

  “But that’s dishonest.”

  I slumped in the chair. “You’re right and I could never do that. But really, I would rather go through this with you and Mom around.”

  “You’d actually deprive Hudson of being there?”

  I pondered that for a second. “Yes. Because he never gave me a chance, Ells. And that hurt more than you’ll ever know. Besides, it would be so much easier on me having you and Mom there with me.”

  * * *

  Two days later I went to my doctor’s appointment. Dr. Laura Lynch was awesome. She congratulated me, and I cried. I told her it was an oopsie and the daddy wasn’t exactly happy.

  “I’m sorry, but maybe he’ll come around.”

  I didn’t elaborate. She didn’t need to hear my sob story and I sure didn’t need to tell it again.

  “Because of your age, you’re considered high risk.”

  “Oh, great.”

  The doctor patted my arm. “Relax. That just means we’ll be doing some testing and extra ultrasounds. We’ll do one today since you think you’re at least six weeks. Is that correct?”

  “Yes.”

  She ushered me into the room for the ultrasound and told me to strip everything from the waist down. Then she handed me a hospital gown to put on.

  “I’ll be back in a moment.”

  I quickly undressed and put that little gown on. The ties were in the back and my butt was showing, I was sure. I sat on the table with that paper on it. It was crackly and weird feeling. A few minutes later, the doctor and another woman came in. She introduced her as Donna, the ultrasound tech.

  Dr. Lynch asked me to put my feet on the little metal thingies and slide down. I wondered why she wanted me to do that when they were only going to do an ultrasound. But then Donna came at me with a long attachment that looked sort of like a dildo and inserted it into me.

  “Ooh, wasn’t expecting that,” I laughed nervously.

  Dr. Lynch said, “Yes, this is a transvaginal ultrasound, which can detect heartbeats as early as six weeks.”

  “I’m impressed.” I didn’t know what else to say. A little warning would’ve been nice.

  As soon as Donna got her groove on, I heard a thump, thump, thump. It was so fast as hard I couldn’t keep up with it.

  Donna started clicking and doing all sorts of things while Dr. Lynch kept going, “Hmm,” and, “Oooh.”

  I watched the screen, but it only looked like a bunch of nothing.

  They both grinned, a bit too conspiratorially at each other in my book.

  Then Dr. Lynch said, “Milly, I’m happy to tell you that you are indeed pregnant. It looks like you’re about seven weeks. And not only are you pregnant, you’re pregnant with twins.”

  Chapter Forty

  Hudson

  After a few weeks of trying to contact Milly, either by phone or practically knocking down her door, I was finally informed by the doorman she’d moved out in the middle of the night. The middle of the fucking night. She didn’t even have the decency to tell me goodbye, not that I had expected her to.

  Dad finally told me she had resigned her position but was working until the July event was over. He didn’t know much more than that. I went to her office and tried to see her, but she was never there. I couldn’t find her anywhere. I was seemingly up shit creek without a paddle in sight.

  “Pearson, can’t you do something?”

  “No, I’ve already told you. Without a child yet, there is nothing I can do. My hands are tied. When the baby arrives, it’s a different matter, unless …”

  “Unless what?”

  “She opts not to name you as the father.”

  “WHAT?”

  I shouted so loud Dottie hustled to shut my office door.

  “Would you calm the fuck down? You just shattered my tympanic membrane, you asshole. You can’t force her to put your name on the birth certificate, but you can ask for a DNA test.”

  “And then what?”

  “When it comes back that you’re the father, you exert your rights.”

  “And she’ll hate me even more.”

  “True, but at least you’ll have a relationship with your child. Isn’t that what you want?”

  “What I want is for the mother to love me again, and for my child to grow up with both parents in a loving home, with its brother.” How had this gone so wrong?

  “Yeah, well, good luck with that. I can’t seem to keep the same woman for more than one night. On a positive note, you’ve gotten Lydia out of your life.”

  “True. But only after she came here to the clinic and tried to wheedle money out of me again.” And then, in her anger, she mentioned that she was the one who’d persuaded Nasha to steal the drugs. “Good thing we caught that little drug ring when we
did.”

  “Yes. And I doubt you’ll hear from her again, not after the police showed up,” he said.

  While that was true, I was still drowning in my own grief over the huge loss of Milly. Dottie had called the police and they took Lydia away in handcuffs for breaking the order of protection, and for being involved in the drug theft. I had immediately called Pearson and he was on it.

  “Thanks for all your work on that. You’ve done far more than I ever asked for,” I said. I sat with my head hanging down. How was I ever going to find her in this huge city. And it freaked me out that she resigned. That meant she had plans. Serious plans. Like the kind that involved leaving. What was I going to do?

  “You would’ve done the same for me. Good luck in finding Milly.”

  He ended the call.

  The phone I was holding rang and I jumped up.

  “Yeah.”

  “Hudson.”

  “Oh, hi, Mom.”

  “Hi to you. Any word on Milly?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Hire a private investigator.”

  “I’m not going to do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “If she ever found out, she would hate me even more than she already does.”

  “You know something? You are about as smart as a rock.”

  “Gee, thanks, Mom.”

  “You’re welcome.” She hung up.

  Work was going great too with Jason added to the clinic. He hopped in and everyone loved him. I was lucky, especially since everything else in my life had hit the crapper. I’d even decided to look for another veterinarian to come in. We were taking on so many new clients, I was worried we would have to start turning potential customers away.

  Ellerie was now my Obi-Wan. If she didn’t come through, I had no other hope. Bad thing was, I had texted her and her response hadn’t left me with much hope. She’d told me that Milly had sworn her to secrecy and she wouldn’t break her oath.

  Where did that leave me? I couldn’t eat or sleep. Milly could not do this on her own. Being pregnant alone was difficult, but doing it after what she’d gone through was downright scary. I wanted to be there for her, to hold her when she was afraid, to help her get through those moments, to rub her back when it ached, to massage her feet when they were tired. How could I do that if I didn’t even know where the hell she was? And what about the baby? I wanted to see my son or daughter’s pink face and tiny fingers and toes. I had never felt so fucking helpless in my life.