Page 78 of Found By You

“Come on, I’ll take you,” I say, holding her hand and leading us inside. She opts to use the downstairs bathroom to avoid the stairs. “I’ll wait in the kitchen for you. Maybe steal a few peanut butter cookies for the ride home.” I wink.

She smiles. “See if there’s any pie left. Cassidy said she bought two—one for me.”

“You got it.”

I head into the kitchen, where Lily and Grandma Judy are standing beside the island. My father’s perched on a stool—flat-out hiding. I grip his shoulder as I pass by. “Hiding out, Pop?” I chuckle, grabbing a Ziploc bag to properly steal these cookies.

My father laughs huskily. “Damn right, I am. I figured you and Butch would’ve been in here with me hours ago.”

Lily shakes her head. “You’ll be paying for not going out there to join the party later. Mom’s already made a few comments under her breath.”

My father waves her off. “She’ll live.”

“And how are you and Maci doing, dear?” Grandma Judy asks me.

“We’re doing great,” I say, loading up a dozen cookies in the baggie and tossing them on top of the untouched peanut butter pie that has a sticky note on top with Maci’s name on it.

“Did you kids move everything into the house yet?” my father asks. “Your mother said y’all were transitioning.”

Almost. “We’re working on it.”

“Good for you, Duke.” Grandma Judy nods sternly. “I wasn’t sure about this Maci-girl in the beginning, but your mother assures me she’s a good replacement for Rachel.”

“Grandma.” Lily gapes in shock—not that it’s a surprising statement coming from her. Gran has always been nasty when it comes down to her morals.

“No one’s replacing anyone,” I bite out.

My grandmother stands a little straighter, her features stoning at my hard tone. “I only hope the poor girl knows she has big shoes to fill. Rachel was a lovely woman. But I suppose replacing her and the baby you lost with Maci and her bastard child is God’s way of picking up the pieces.”

Motherfu—

“Christ, Judy.” Pop shakes his head.

My jaw tightens. You can’t tear your grandmother’s fucking head off, I tell myself repeatedly…even if the urge is still there. Who the hell told her anyhow? I snatch the pie and cookies and turn to leave when my heart drops to the pit of my stomach.

Maci’s standing in the hall, fresh tears glimmering in her emerald eyes, and her expression is…devastated.

My mind races back to everything she could’ve heard from my bitch of a grandmother, and my world stops when she puts a protective hand over her belly and a hand over her mouth before darting back into the bathroom.

No. No. No—Fuck!

Twenty-Three.

Maci

“Babe, open the door.” Duke bangs on the bathroom door for the tenth time, and my heart breaks into a million pieces.

I’m a replacement…again. My baby girl is a replacement.

It all makes sense now. Why Butch was so concerned in the beginning. I thought he was just being overprotective of his brother, that he was worried since this is the first relationship he’s been in since his wife died, but it wasn’t that at all.

Rachel was pregnant.

Is that why Duke was all over me? Worrying about me, taking care of me? He said I was his…me and my baby.

He rebuilt everything he had—everything he lost.

We’re replacements.

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