Page 41 of Tulips and Lost Time

And Kane Bishop is nothing if not the epitome of a mismatched cover not representing the heart inside.

“She’s her own human being, Lenaghan. This is who she is, and this is what she looks like. Are you gonna look her in the eye and tell her she’s doing it wrong?”

“No.” I tip powder into the water and re-fasten the lid. “She’s beautiful exactly the way she is.”

“Would you change her, then?” He’s biased because he married a Lenaghan, then he created one that looks just like mine. “Would you swap her out for something else?”

I pinch the bottle nipple closed to avoid liquid spraying the counter and cupboards, then I turn and study my sweet baby, shaking my hand to mix her meal. “No. I’m not giving her up for anything.”

“So there you have it. Maybe you think it’s unfair, because Kari did all the hard work. But I assure you, if she heard you questioning this, she’d smack you upside the head for it.” He holds her in one arm and reaches out with the other hand. “Can I give her the bottle? I’ve missed her.”

“Sure.” I place it in his palm and head over to the dining table instead, a long yawn wracking my frame and bringing tears to the corners of my eyes. Pulling out a wooden chair and gritting my teeth when the legs scrape along the floor, I flop down and set my elbows on the tabletop, my face in my hands. “She’s supposed to be here with us, Bish.” I force my eyes open and my head around until I catch him swaying with a tiny baby in his arms. “This wasn’t the plan.”

“Sometimes plans change.” He places the nipple between Billy’s lips and grins when she guzzles instantly. “It’s not fair. It wasn’t what she wanted. And it sure as shit wasn’t nice that the universe wanted to punish you. None of that is your fault, though.”

“I feel like a shit dad on top of it all,” I groan, “because Billy’s here. She’s safe. Strong. Beautiful. She was allowed to come home, but instead of celebrating how amazing she is, I’m being a dick and thinking about all the things I don’t have.”

“Makes you human. You love someone enough to marry them, Lenaghan, you’re gonna miss them when they’re not here with you.”

“What would you have done if it was Jess?” Emotion balls in my throat, strangling me until I’m not sure I have the strength to stand again. “You’re married to the love of your life. She’s pregnant. Glowing and beautiful. Approaching full term with your babies. And then you just…” I exhale the welling, venomous poison bubbling along my esophagus. “Some asshole runs a red light and destroys every happy plan you ever made.”

“Well, personally, I would destroy his every happy plan.” Deadly serious, he glances across in the shadows and meets my eyes with a black stare. “He didn’t run it because he was momentarily distracted, Luc. He wasn’t tired from working hard. It wasn’t even a cellphone that had his attention, though that would also be a fucking crime. This asshole was drunk. Plain and simple. And it wasn’t his first rodeo. He’s been in and out of prison his whole life for far worse crimes. He gets out after the last stint, moves back into his trailer and drives around drunk every few days on his way to the liquor store to stock up on more. Sometimes the cops see him. Sometimes they don’t.”

“You have a lot of information about these people that I don’t.”

“Because Kari is my family. Because these babies are my family.” He taps Billy’s nose with the tip of his pinky finger. “I make it my business to research this stuff. And then I watch. When the time is right and you’re feeling up to it, I’d be happy to drive you over there and show you how I take care of my family.”

My eyes narrow, my brows pinching in suspicion. “Take care of them, how?”

He smirks. “Until you’re ready to ride with me, you don’t get the details. That’s just smart business.”

11

LUC

TIME TO PAY THE PIPER

“Luca!” A door slams, startling me from my sleep as I shove up in bed and process Marcus’ enraged voice tearing through my house. Remembering Kari on my lips, her hand on my chest, and my fingers in her hair, my soul shrivels up.

The end is here.

“Luc!” Marcus calls again. I don’t know where the rest of my family is. Why is no one intervening? Why do they so willingly step aside and allow me to be murdered by my own best friend? “Hey! Are you in bed?”

Yes. Fuck. Alone.

Thank god.

I look to my right to make a hundred percent certain I haven’t had a stroke over night and brought Kari to my bed. But there’s no one else here with me. No one whose presence would make my inevitable death exponentially more painful.

“Luc!”

“I’m up here.” I pull my sheet up and shuffle back on the bed until I can rest against the headboard. Then I rub my eyes and spy the clock on my bedside table. It’s barely seven in the damn morning. “What the hell, Marcus? I’m on night shift tonight.”

He stomps through the door, swinging it open without knocking and skidding to a stop on the threshold to look me up and down. He hasn’t changed a lot from when he was twelve. His hair is still midnight black, his eyes, green. The chiseled lines of his cheekbones and jaw have become more angular. And his right hook… more powerful. But all in all, he’s still mostly the same tall, broad-shouldered soldier who stands in front of Kari every second of every day.

“What?”

He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t dive over my bed and pound my face in for kissing his sister. He doesn’t even appear to be overly angry, which is a welcome relief.

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