Page 68 of Single Mom's Firemen

27

Halle

Every minute that I spend with Eric, Chase, and Wyatt is sheer bliss.

We make love. We talk for hours on end. We laugh. We even enjoy the silence together, never needing to fill it with anything. When the kids are home, the Danson brothers turn into the perfect fathers. Caring, patient, playful. Luna and Sammy adore them. I’m genuinely in awe of these men and of how much more wonderful my life is because of them.

But the threat of Harriet Nash and the war she’s itching to wage against me in court continues to cast a dark cloud over everything. There’s also Colby, still free and running around, doing God knows what awful things to soothe his whims and his bruised ego, plotting to hurt me again, most likely. A future with the Dansons is uncertain, not because we don’t want it, but because of the chaos and uncertainty that surrounds us. The four of us are trying so hard to be positive, to focus on staying together. It all boils down to what happens with Colby whether we’ll make it or not.

And I still haven’t told them about the baby. I’m not going to be able to hide it much longer and the more I put it off, the more I risk the guys reacting in anger at me for keeping it from them.

“Mama, can we feed the duckies?” Luna asks, drawing me back into the present.

“Here, baby,” I give Luna a plastic container I packed from home, filled with a mixture of nuts, seeds, fruit, and carrot pieces. I knew we’d be visiting the ducks today so I figured we’d best be prepared. “Don’t give them all of it in one go, okay? Drop bits and pieces on the ground and let them help themselves.”

“Mama, duckies!” Sammy exclaims, cheerfully waving his hands when one of the chicks comes closer.

I can’t help but laugh as I watch Luna share the fruits and seeds with her baby brother. “Bits and pieces,” she tells him in a stern tone. “Okay, Sammy?”

“Okay.”

He sounds disappointed, but once he gets the gist of it, this quickly becomes the best day of his life. Seated on a park bench nearby, I keep my eyes on them. It’s as if I’m watching the greatest movie of all time—Sammy and Luna sitting in the grass, plastic toys scattered around them as they gingerly place pieces of fruit and tiny handfuls of nuts and seeds for the puffy yellow ducklings to pick and choose from. The mother duck comes closer, the sun accentuating the metallic colors in her feathers. Soon enough, she starts nibbling on a carrot piece while the chicks enjoy pieces of apple and watermelon.

Sammy decides to taste the watermelon too.

“Quality control,” I giggle to myself.

Luna cheers when one of the ducklings jumps into her lap.

“Mama, look!” she says.

“Don’t move,” I laugh lightly, “unless you wanna scare her away. She’s just curious.”

“How do you know it’s a girl?” Luna asks.

“It’s just a guess.”

Sammy frowns. “It’s a boy.”

“Either way, it’s a cute baby duck,” I say.

“Mama, Grandma’s coming,” Luna says.

The tone of my daughter’s voice has my muscles suddenly tight with unpleasant tension. I look at Luna, noticing the subtle frown in her cute eyebrows and the concern in her smoky blue eyes, then follow her gaze to see Harriet casually walking toward us.

“Oh, fuck,” I whisper, my stomach suddenly dropping. “Luna, stay with your brother and don’t move an inch, okay?”

“Okay, Mama.”

I get up from my bench and stiffen my back, raising my chin as Harriet spots us and picks up speed. Dressed in a matching emerald and gold velvet tracksuit, her greying hair pulled under a white ballcap, she could come across as a rather elegant mall-walker. Her gold bracelets and wristwatch jingle with every movement, an insidious smile stretched across her tanned face.

“Good morning, Helena. I’m so glad I ran into you,” Harriet says, her voice as sweet as honey. It’s not enough to mask the poison of her soul, though. I wouldn’t trust this woman with anything. Hell, I wouldn’t even turn my back on her, literally, because she might stab me in it, just for kicks. “Oh, and look at my grandchildren, they are growing up so fast!”

“What the hell are you doing here, Harriet?” I ask, my tone clipped. I glance around, looking for the unmarked SUV containing two armed police officers that are supposed to be on our detail. Not wanting her to catch on that we’re not alone, I quickly return my attention to her.

“Take it down a notch, I’m not looking to start a fight,” she replies, her fake joy dissipating as she realizes that her charming act will never again work on me. “I was just out on a walk when I saw you.”

“Bullshit,” I hiss, making sure my kids didn’t hear me. “You don’t live anywhere near here. So. What do you want, Harriet?”

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