Page 41 of Secret Twins for the Orc

“Gracie, I know I said to come, but nowis not a good time. Just take them to Main for ice-cream for an hour or two.”

“Wait, wait, is he here right now? I didn’t see another car in the driveway.”

My bare feet hit the stairs, and I tilt my head as I sniff the air.

“Yes, he’s here, and he doesn’t know about them. I need you to get them out—”

“Get what out?” I mutter as I hit the bottom rung, my gaze locked on the two-seater stroller the woman at the door holds at an angle away from me.

Both females’ eyes snap over to me, I can feel their shocked gazes, but I can’t tear my own away from the stroller. Two sets of chubby green legs poke out, bouncing happily.

Ella makes a choked sound, and I glance at her briefly as I move around to look at the two small passengers.

“Who are…?” But my words die in my throat as I catch sight of the orc toddlers sitting placidly strapped into their seats, their smokey-sweet baby scent hitting me in the chest.

My mind blanks out, and a shiver runs down my spine.

I crouch before the toddlers.

“Ella?”

She doesn’t respond, and I can’t rip my gaze away from the kids to look at her expression. They stare up at me curiously, their huge eyes the same almost-black as mine, their skin the same shade of green as mine, their pointed little chins both matching exactly what I see every time I’m shown baby pictures of myself.

And their scent, an overwhelming mix of Ella’s smoked honey, and my own. There isn’t even a question about who they are.

I let out a long, slow breath, and look up at their mother. “You would hide my children from me?”

No emotions run through me right now. None.

“What’s that? Ice cream you say?” the other woman squeaks into the pressing silence after my words, and she begins to roll the stroller backwards and out the still open front door. “What a great idea, babies, and afterwards we can check out that diner for some food, wouldn’t that be nice…”

I can hear her continue to mutter in a nervous, high-pitched voice as she hurries away, but my eyes never leave Ella’s.

She’s staring down at me with a guilty, wide-eyed expression, her lips moving as if she wants to speak but can’t quite manage to get the words out.

“You would hide them from me?” I’m still crouched by where the stroller had been. “All this time?”

“I…I wasn’t hiding—”

I stand up abruptly, and her body startles, hands coming up to clasp at the opening of her robe.

“All this time, Ella?” I should be angry. There should be anger flowing through me at her deception, at her insultin denying me the knowledge of my children.

Children. I have two children.

But instead, my voice comes out even softer as I process this information. “You tried to send them away before I could see them. You have your friend looking after them, away from you, so that I wouldn’t find out. You…don’t want me as their…as…”

I am the father of two children.

And they’ve grown without me even once laying eyes on them.

“No, Rhokar, that isn’t how this is.” The guilt in her eyes deepens, or maybe it’s pity. When she takes a step forward, her hand reaching out towards my arm, I flinch back to avoid her touch.

“Two years,” I rasp. “Two years of pregnancy, birth, development, and growth. I’ve missed…” But then I shake my head, feeling my brows lower, and I amend the statement. “You’ve denied me two years of my own children.”

Ella’s brows mirror mine in a scrunch. “I didn’t deny you anything, Rho. After that night, I didn’t know how…how to find you.”

“It was you who chose to fuck without protection,” I say, taking another step back from her as my eyes dart all over her robed figure, as if I could find some sort of answer in her silhouette. “You who chose to reject my number. You who disappeared before my eyes even opened the next morning.”

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