Page 14 of Always Right

“What are their names?”

Reality set in.

Giving something a name makes it yours to keep.

My Nana’s words echoed in my head as he waited, waited for their names and if I told him, they would be his, too. I fought it with all my might, hoped I could keep them to myself but as I found their eyes looking up at Derek with curiosity...with love...I realized I couldn’t hurt them. I couldn’t hurt him.

“Annabella and Isabelle.”

A flicker of realization set in; his shoulders relaxed.

It was like breathing air into his lungs.

“Annabella after my grandmother and Isabelle after...after...”

“My mother. You named one of them after my mother.”

If he had any doubts left, I'd just erased every single one of them. I'd opened the door to their lives and in the process to mine, signing up for a lifetime of heartache. My knees went weak at the thought of seeing him every day, but his resolve was there.

Derek wasn't going anywhere.

"I'm going to leave, Hannah." He leaned down, touching each girl's face with a tender caress. "But I'll be back tomorrow, and the next day and the next until you let me be a part of their lives. And I hope...for your sanity and mine, that you can eventually forgive me for hurting you."

He walked away then and I stood like an idiot, staring at my daughters, their innocent eyes adjusting to my face as I gazed at them. An arm surrounded my shoulders and pulled me into a soft embrace.

"It's going to be okay."

Usually when Evie said it, she believed it.

This time...I could tell even she wasn't sure.

Chapter 6

Hannah

It was Nathan’s turn to close the gallery, and yet there I was, sitting in the chair and staring up at the ceiling fan, as if the answers to my...situation, would drop from the sky. Or the ceiling. Whichever. I just needed answers. Solutions. I wished I didn’t care, but that wasn’t possible for me. Usually work would be my distraction but this time, there was nothing that could tear my mind from the life I was now living.

For a moment I envied my mother. She never cared. She was detached from her emotions, from us for that matter, so I didn’t think she ever felt this type of pain. She never wondered if she was hurting us.

I couldn’t do that to them. My girls were innocent in all of this...and despite how much Derek had hurt me, I couldn’t keep him away from his daughters. He loved them. I knew he did.

The door of the office opened quietly, the chatter from the display area filling the room temporarily. I didn’t look at him to know that he was there, but when Nathan didn’t speak, curiosity got the best of me.

Nathan leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. I knew what he wanted to say, and he wasn’t one to mince his words so I braced myself for the shots he would take.

“Just spit it out already,” I muttered, shutting my laptop.

Nathan sighed. “Have you talked to him since?”

“Talked to who?”

Another exasperated sigh left his lips.

“Derek. The father of your children. The person you’re avoiding. The person you say you hate but—"

I raised my hand, stopping him.

“Well, you’re acting like you don’t know so I was trying to make it clear who I was referring to.”

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