Page 128 of Renewal After Dark

Addie wiped the tears from Tiffany’s face. “No sad, Mommy.”

“No sad.” She forced a smile for her daughter. “All better, thanks to Addie-pooh.”

The little girl flashed a big, satisfied grin that reminded Tiffany of Blaine. People said she was another Tiffany mini-me, but at times she embodied Blaine’s smug grin to perfection.

She put Addie down to go back to playing.

“Mommy is allowed to be sad,” Maddie said.

“I know, but I gotta keep it together in front of the kids.” Tiffany wiped the remaining dampness off her face, determined to stay focused on her children, nieces and nephews, the sources of so much joy. “What’re you hearing about Abby?”

“Total bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy.”

“Damn,” Tiffany said with a gasp as Liam ran past with baby Mac. “How’s that gonna work?”

“They’re trying to figure that out now.”

“You should go hometo pack and get Liam,” Abby told Adam after he’d slept curled up to her all night in the narrow hospital bed.

He’d gone to the hotel to shower and change and had returned an hour later with breakfast sandwiches for both of them.

“I don’t want to leave you. I can ask the parents to pack for us and to bring Liam.”

“I think you should do it. You know best what we need and what Liam will want. It’s too much to ask of others, even the grandparents.”

“When I think of leaving you here, going to that damned island and not being able to get back to you if something happens… I feel like I’m having a heart attack.”

“Don’t do that.”

Adam finally cracked the smallest of grins, the few she’d seen since David and Vic had recommended the flight to the mainland.

Abby reached out to him.

He took her hand.

“This is going to be a long slog for both of us. You’re not going to be able to be here every second of the day and night. You can’t run yourself ragged worrying and not sleeping or eating right or working out. We have to manage your stress as much as mine.”

“Yours is what matters most.”

“No, Adam, that’s not true. I can’t do this without you, so please… I need you to promise me that you’ll take as good care of yourself as you are of me and Liam.”

“I hear you. And I promise.”

“If you leave now, you can grab an Uber to the ferry and be back on the last boat tonight. Call Seamus. They always save a spot for emergencies. He’ll get the car on for you.”

“Are you sure you won’t do something dramatic, like have four babies while I’m gone?”

“I’ll do everything in my power to keep that from happening. But if it does, no matter what, I’d never blame you for not being here when I was the one who sent you.”

“Okay, then,” he said with a deep sigh. “I’ll go, and I’ll be back as fast as I possibly can.”

“Kiss me and make it a good one to tide me over until you get back.”

Smiling, he leaned over the bed rail and laid a hot, sexy kiss on her.

“Now that is what I’m talking about.”

“Text me a list of what you want from the house and what I should bring for Liam, so I don’t forget anything.”

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