by Lexie Davis
“Shiloh, please stop crying.” She kissed her forehead, smoothing her hair as she continued to reach with gasping cries for Brianna.
After they got the medicine, Brianna gave her the first dose immediately, hoping she’d stop crying before she made herself sick. Her face was red and blotchy tears running in rivulets, soaking her shirt. Brianna brushed them away, kissing her since she couldn’t hold her.
Finally, Shiloh quieted and dozed off in her carseat. The silence was almost as painful as the loud noise. Brianna let out a pent-up breath and closed her eyes.
When she awoke, Kaden was carrying her to their bedroom. “Where’s Shiloh?”
“Asleep.”
He sat her on her side, pulled off her shoes, and tucked her underneath the covers. He kissed her forehead, s she’d seen him do so many times to Shiloh, and cupped her cheek in his hand.
“Get some sleep, baby.”
“But,” she tried protesting but he silenced her by placing one finger against her lips.
“I’ll watch over Shiloh. Don’t worry about it.” He kissed her briefly, then left the room, turning the light off as he went.
Brianna could do nothing but close her eyes and drift into bliss.
* * * *
When Brianna awoke, it was close to ten and Kaden and Shiloh sat in the middle of the living room floor playing with a ball. She giggled and laughed as he rolled it to her. Shiloh loved this game. She did her best to throw it back to him but rolled it instead.
“She seems to be doing much better.” Brianna yawned and walked into the kitchen for a nice big mug of coffee.
“Yeah, she tried standing in her crib this morning, waiting for me to get her, and she fell over. The medicine has helped with the pain though. She’s giggled more than she’s cried this morning.”
He rolled the ball to her, and she pushed back to him, giggling. Brianna joined them, smiling at her daughter as she took a seat to watch them.
“Come on, Mommy. Don’t you want to play?” Kaden tossed the ball to Brianna, making Shiloh’s eyes grow wide.
“Hah.” She scooted behind Shiloh, opening her legs around her. She handed her the ball and helped her throw it toward Kaden. She pecked her head when it flew by him and nearly landed in the tree. “Oops.”
“Oops, my ass,” Kaden muttered, leaning back to get it. “Shiloh and I had a good game going. Don’t ruin it with stunts like that.”
He rolled the ball to the baby who giggled when she pushed it back with her foot. Brianna sat back, watching them with a huge smile on her face. Shiloh loved playing with her daddy. Just about as much as Kaden loved playing with his baby.
“Well, we need to start getting ready to go to Aunt Teresa’s if we’re going to be there by one.” Brianna stood, grabbing her coffee cup from the coffee table.”
“You’re not planning on taking her sick, are you? I mean we just got back from ER like five hours ago.” Kaden rolled the ball to Shiloh then looked up at Bree.
“Kaden, please don’t. She needs to see her family, and they all want to see her.” It seemed like every time they had something to do with her family, he didn’t want Shiloh around them, but when his family called, he was ready to go.
“Brianna, she’s sick. She has double ear infections and a low-grade temp. I don’t want you carting her around out in the cold.”
“You’re not going to tell me what I can and can’t do with my own child. I pushed her out of my uterus, so I think I damn well have the right to take her to see my family for Christmas.”
Brianna picked up Shiloh, ignoring Kaden’s annoyed look, and carried her to the nursery to get her ready. If she had to sit through four hours of his family gathering together for Christmas, Kaden deserved the same with her family. Fair was only fair.
Shiloh started crying because she missed playing with Kaden, and Brianna did her best to ignore it. They’d go, get back and she’d be perfectly fine in the comforts of her home. She dressed her in a red velvet dress and put a little bow in her hair. She’d be fine.
She carried her back to the living room where she put her in the playpen and started down the hall to get herself ready. Kaden was in the shower, door wide open so she could see everything. He made her so mad most of the time, and so hot the rest.
She stared a bit longer than necessary, until he caught her looking. He scowled, slid the shower door open, and grabbed a towel to wrap around his waist.
“Where’s Shiloh?”
“Playpen.” She took her stuff into the bathroom, closing the door in his face when he turned around to say something else.
The last thing she needed to deal with was Kaden’s bad behavior. After she showered and got ready, she opened the door to see Shiloh playing on their bed while Kaden got dressed.
“Bree, why can’t she just stay home? I gave her, her medicine, but it’s going to take a day or two until she’s back to normal again.” Kaden buttoned his royal blue shirt, leaving half of them undone to show his chest.
“Because Kaden. All you want is for her to be around your family and not mine. Well, I’m sorry my family isn’t as rich and snotty as yours, but they love her and have done nothing but be there for her ever since she was conceived. We’re going to my family’s Christmas gathering. End of discussion.”
Brianna grabbed clothes off the rack, oblivious to Kaden playing with Shiloh on the bed. She dressed, choosing a red sweater to go along with her faded jeans. She combed her hair and put a minimal amount of makeup.
“All right. Are you guys ready?”
Kaden grunted, holding Shiloh in his arms. She laid her head against his chest sucking on her hand. Brianna could tell he was pissed at her right now. That he wouldn’t look at her said it all. Normally she couldn’t get his eyes off of her, and now he was giving her the cold shoulder.
They walked to the car silently, Brianna with Shiloh’s bag and her purse and Kaden with the baby wrapped in his arms. He strapped her safely in the carseat and slid behind the wheel. Brianna climbed in beside him, unable to take the cold shoulder any longer.
“Kaden, stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Being this way. If we were expected to be at your family and she was sick you’d still be going. Why is mine different?”
“One—I wouldn’t cart my child out sick and in the cold for anything but to see the doctor. Two—Why are you picking fights with me? You’re constantly bringing up the past or you’re reminding me how much you hate my family. I get the picture, Bree. You don’t have to keep shoving it in my face when you don’t get your way. And last, I never once thought of your family lesser than mine. Not in any way, so you can stop throwing that in my face while you’re at it.”
Merging with traffic, he pulled onto the interstate. Shiloh slept soundly in the backseat making it clear she was feeling all that well. Yeah, she may have been playing ball with Kaden in the living room, but that didn’t mean she was well.
“Fine, you win.” Brianna crossed her arms staring out at the passing cars.
“Win what?”
“Our fight. The one I obviously am trying to pick with you.”
He reached over and slid his hand along her thigh. “Let’s just make it through Christmas.”
They arrived at Teresa’s thirty minutes before they were supposed to eat. All were happy to see her and Shiloh, but excluded Kaden as if he were a leper. Shiloh stuck to him like bubble gum, never going too far and, when she wanted to go somewhere, making sure Kaden was right there with her.
“Well, what do you know?” Teresa mumbled nudging her head toward the living room as Kaden sat with Shiloh in his lap, rocking her. “He’s not so fearful now, is he?”
“Teresa, quit it. Kaden is a great father, and Shiloh loves him to death.” Brianna grabbed a piece of turkey and stuffed it in her mouth. “She’s actually turning out to be a daddy’s girl.”
“Yeah, and he’s going to break that little girl’s heart when he decides your arranged marriage isn’t s
omething he wants to be apart of any more.”
“You know, you could at least be nice to him. He’s still the same Kaden you all used to love. He’s grown up a lot.” Brianna pushed her sleeves up and began mashing the potatoes. “We had to go to ER last night.”
“What? Why?” Regina and Teresa dropped their spatulas and waited for her response.
“Shiloh had a temperature, and we didn’t know why. She cried two hours straight with pain, and the doctor said she had double ear infections. That’s why she’s not her usual self today. Kaden tried to get me to keep her home, but I didn’t want her to miss Christmas.”
“Oh, Brianna, that poor baby.” Teresa went to the doorway, wiping her hands on her apron. “Kaden, you can lay her in Jessie’s crib if you want. Brianna said she wasn’t feeling well.”
“Uh, okay. Where’s it at?” He stood holding his little girl close to him.
“Right down the hall. Last room at the end.”
Brianna wiped her hands on a dishtowel. “I’ll show you.”
They walked in silence, Brianna leading the way. “Your family hates me.”
“They do not. They did, but I told them about how you took care of Shiloh last night, and they all think your Superman now.”
She watched as he laid Shiloh in the crib, patting her back so she’d stay asleep. Finally, when he was satisfied she’d be okay, he turned, and Brianna wrapped her arms around him. She held him for a second before speaking.
“I’m sorry, Kaden. I was just scared last night because she’d never done that before. Thank you for being there for me, for her. I’m sorry I’m bitchy and keep picking fights with you.”
His arms came around her, pulling her to him, tight. “Brianna, there’s no place else I’d rather be than with you and that little girl. The good, bad, and ugly, I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
She nodded, smiling up at him. “I promise we’ll leave after lunch. Shiloh would rest better in her own bed, or in ours.”
He kissed her nose. “Let’s go.”
True to her word, right after lunch Brianna bid her goodbyes while Kaden got Shiloh ready. Max, her cousin, helped load their presents in the car. Amazingly, the kid probably wouldn’t need toys for a few years. It’d take her at least that long to play with all the ones she received just this Christmas.
After everyone hugged them goodbye, they drove off.
Chapter Eight
As the first of the year rolled around, things started getting back to normal. Kaden worked until all hours of the night on a really big case his father had given him. Brianna went back to work and started Shiloh in a childcare facility recommended and paid for by Blair. Regina still kept her on the weekends she and Kaden had to work, but not as often as she had before.
Now that Brianna only worked one eight-hour shift at a time, she was able to have a somewhat decent life and an actual relationship with her daughter. She pulled up at the Academy for Baby Geniuses, unable to wait any longer to see Shiloh.
“Can I help you?” a lady dressed in a formal suit asked as she entered the door.
“I’m here to pick up Shiloh Riggens.” She heard Shiloh crying behind the closed doors and made her way toward the sound.
“Ma’am, you can’t go back there.”
“My child is crying. Why is my child crying?”
“Just one minute, ma’am.”
The minute turned into ten as the lady waited for her assistants to bring Shiloh to the front of the building. Shiloh’s eyes were blood red from tears, and she reached for Brianna as soon as she saw her standing there waiting. Tears fell on her cheeks as she hugged her momma tight.
“Why is she crying?”
The assistant looked at the director and smiled politely. “Shiloh wanted a toy another little boy had.”
Brianna clenched her teeth. “My child looks as if she’s been crying for hours. She doesn’t cry for hours over some little toy.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but that’s what happened. Have a nice day.” The assistant turned and headed back through the door.
Brianna kissed Shiloh, glaring at the director. Something happened, and if she ever found out what, there’d be hell to pay for hurting her baby.
She carried Shiloh to the car, situating her in the back and closed the door. She’d been on her feet long enough. It was time to go home, relax, and have fun with Shiloh.
She pulled in the drive and parked her Mazda in the garage. She had spotted an oil leak at work and needed to ask Kaden to look at it. He knew more about cars than she did.
She carried Shiloh into the house, hitting the answering machine as she sat her stuff down. Shiloh hugged her arms around Brianna’s neck as she listened to the various messages play, nothing too important.
“What do you say we get a popsicle and watch a movie?” She grabbed the banana-flavored popsicle from the freezer and settled them both on the couch. Shiloh started crying again, upset about something.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” she pulled her up seeing a faint red spot on her T-shirt. “What the…?”
She pulled Shiloh’s shirt up and a purple bruise with a set of teeth marks sat on her arm. Brianna’s temper raged, as she touched the sore spot. That’s what those women were hiding. They didn’t want to tell her some little kid bit her child. Immediately, Brianna stripped Shiloh’s cloths off, checking for any other marks that may be hidden. Sure enough, two more bite marks were on her, one on her other arm, and the other on her leg.
She grabbed the phone and dialed the childcare facility, but no one answered and she didn’t want to leave a message. So she hung up and dialed Kaden at work.
“Riggens and Riggens Attorneys at Law. How may I help you?” the lady asked when she answered the phone.
“Is Kaden Riggens available?”
“Just one moment please. May I tell him who’s calling?”
“Brianna.”
She waited, listening to crappy music while the lady took her sweet time getting Kaden on the phone. Finally he picked up, sounding more stressed than she’d ever heard him.
“Bree?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“What do you need, because I’m really busy?”
So much for “Hi, darling how are you?” “I took Shiloh to that new childcare facility today, the one your mother recommended and is paying for. And she came home with three bite marks.”
“Someone bit her?”
“Three times. She’s still whimpering in my arms right now.”
“Did you ask them about it?”
“She was crying when I went to pick her up, and I asked them then, and the assistant said she wanted a toy another child had. The director wouldn’t comment, and when I came home and found them, I tried calling them back, but no one answered.”
“Shit. Uh, is she okay? If the skin’s broken, you need to clean the wound out with soap and water—which isn’t going to be fun, but it’s better than alcohol.”
Brianna groaned. “One bled onto her shirt. It’s the one I accidentally brushed and made her cry. All three are bruised though.”
“All right. I’m going to be in a three-hour meeting so I don’t know when I’ll be able to talk to you again, but if you need me dial my cell. I’ll call you when I get out, okay?”
“Okay. I love you.” She clicked off, not even bothering to wait for him to reply. She knew he wouldn’t anyway.
She took Shiloh to her bathroom, filling the Jacuzzi tub up and adding her favorite bubble bath. She stripped her of her remaining diaper, sat her in the warm water, and grabbed some of her bath toys for her to play with.
Brianna bathed her first, taking special care with the bite marks, and then sat on one of the Jacuzzi’s steps watching her play. She splashed bubbles making cute baby noises when she splattered them all over the tub. Brianna grinned, rubbing Shiloh’s untamed curls. She would stay in the bathtub for hours, if Brianna would let her. She was born for the water, and Kaden already vowed to take her out o
n the fishing boat when she got a little older.
Brianna thought about where they’d be when Shiloh turned five. Kaden never promised to stay with her after the year they had pledged together was up, but he also didn’t say he’d leave her high and dry either. She wanted him to stay with her, honestly. Not for Shiloh’s sake, so much now, but because she loved him. She loved the stubborn, hardheaded sexy man who called her on every bluff and who held her when she was scared. She hated thinking about him leaving and hated it even more that all her family would be there saying the dreaded “I told you so”.
Kaden always said he’d never get married, never have kids, yet he’d done both with her. She wasn’t stupid enough to believe if they didn’t have a kid first, that they would have ended up married. He probably wouldn’t have even looked at her twice as a lover or girlfriend. No, she was his best friend, his confidant and the only one he trusted with even the deepest of dark secrets. She smiled thinking about how much trouble he’d have been in if she told on him so many years ago.
When the water turned cold, Brianna grabbed the fluffy pink towel and wrapped her protesting daughter in it. She kissed her cheek, making her giggle as she began drying her off. The phone rang, and she drained the water, wrapped Shiloh in her arms, and headed to the bedroom to answer it.
“Hello?” She sat Shiloh on the bed and smiled when she crawled away from her, naked, to the other side of the king-size bed.
“Brianna, this is Blair. Greg called me about the childcare facility incident. Is Shiloh all right?” Blair’s tone was nothing but a concerned grandparent checking up on her grandchild.
“Yes. She has three bite marks that have developed into purple bruises. Two on her arms and one on her leg. She seems fine though. I just got through giving her a bath, and she’s happy and giggling. I don’t think she liked that place too much, not that I could blame her. The women acted all secretive and snooty.”