Page 61 of Embattled Ever After

The phone rang beside him. “Lost and Found Investigative Service.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. “Duncan?”

For a moment he thought the soft voice on the other end of the line was Alex, but that was just his mind playing tricks. “Hey, Lora.”

“Is Shannon around? I thought of something I needed to ask her.”

“Uh, well, Shannon is at St. Joseph Hospital.”

Lora gasped and he filled her in on everything that had happened.

“Okay, I’m heading over there,” she told him finally.

“Not sure you’ll be able to do much, but go ahead. Chad went over with John. I’ll be over in a bit.”

They hung up and Duncan was left with a quiet office again. From what John had told him the babies were okay, but they wanted to keep her for observation. Twins were higher risk than single pregnancies, so the hospital would rather be safe than sorry.

John had to be ready to eat nails. He didn’t like hospital situations on the best of days. And Shannon being in danger was the worst thing that could happen to him.

The phone rang again and he answered it with the same greeting.

“Oh, hey Duncan.”

Duncan sat up straight in the chair, his hips screaming at the roughness of the motion. “Alex?”

“Yes, I was looking for Shannon.”

He blinked and swallowed down the disappointment. Of course. “She can’t answer right now.”

Something must have come through in his voice because hers sharpened. “Is she all right? What’s happened? Not the babies…”

“No,” he assured her quickly. “The babies are fine right now. Shannon was involved in a traffic accident. I don’t think she’s too injured, but they are checking her out.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. He cleared his throat. “How are you doing?”

For some reason the silence got even more weighty. “I’m fine,” she whispered, but he could have sworn he heard tears in her voice. “I have to go.”

Duncan cringed, wishing he knew what to say or do to make things right between them again. “Alex, I miss you.”

I love you.

“I miss you too,” she whispered, then hung up.

Duncan stared at the receiver in his hand for a long time, wishing he could rewind time. He hung up slowly, wondering how on earth he could get his life back on track.

Alex’s heartbroken voice tugged at him, and he felt like an ass for being the one to screw everything up. If she were right here in front of him, there would be no way he could stay away from her. The thought of cupping her face in his hands and resting his mouth on hers, the scent of her shampoo, the warmth of her hand in his, was enough to make his chest ache.

So, how did he fix this mess? This fog he’d been wandering around in wasn’t like him and he needed to get back to living. If he broke it down to the basics, he wanted to see Alex again. Hell, he wantedheragain.

Kids? Sighing, he took a minute to really think about having a baby. Yes, there was the hassle and expense, but there was also the chance to pass along his family heritage. The thought of Alex, round withhischild, made him hard.

Yes, the responsibility would be long-lasting, but it wouldn’t be any different than what he was already doing. He’d made long term investments of so much more than just money in this company. Without Lost and Found, many people would struggle. He already had a huge amount of responsibility. He’d just had longer to get used to it.

When he thought about the men in his immediate circle—his dad, brothers, Preston, Chad, Zeke, Grif—they’d all taken to fatherhood like they’d been born for the job. They loved it. He could see it in their expressions every time he watched them interact with their kids. Chad had told him just before Christmas how much he loved Mercy. Duncan blinked as the snippet of conversation came back to him.

Chad and Shannon had been paging through a catalog resting on Shannon’s desk. She’d been pointing things out, and Chad had been snapping pictures with his smart phone.

They’d both looked up at him, grinning, as he crossed the office. Chad held the catalog out for Duncan to look at. “Did you have one of these when you were a kid?”

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