Page 12 of The Prince's Secret Twins

“That’s Ophelia Drazir,” one of the other mothers whispered. “She had a miscarriage recently,” another added inan undertone. “She has a daughter, but they were hoping for a boy this time.”

Tila nodded in understanding. When she’d first discovered that she was pregnant, Tila had been devastated. Motherhood hadn’t been on her radar. She’d been having too much fun with her career and Joran as an intense lover, plus all of the fun activities she and her friends would get up to.

But as soon as she’d accepted her pregnancy, the need to protect her baby – she hadn’t known she was carrying twins at the time – had been intense. The bond between mother and fetus, for her, had been instantaneous. So, Tila could understand the heartache of losing a pregnancy.

Shifting the stroller back and forth to keep her boys settled, she smiled gently at the woman. Thankfully, the conversation with the other mothers continued and the awkward moment ended. After only thirty minutes, her boys started to get cranky.

Tila sighed and stood up. “I’d better head home. I suspect that one, or both, of these little guys is hungry.”

The mothers all urged Tila to come out to the playground more often. As she returned to her house, Tila made a mental note to get out of the house every day. She was still exhausted and every part of her body ached, but she felt better now that she’d gotten a bit of sunshine as well as connecting with other mothers.

“Tila, what’s going on at your house?” Hamza, Fatima’s thirty year old son asked, rushing up to her. The man was about forty pounds overweight and bent at the waist, bracing his hands on his thighs as he fought to catch his breath. “There are…people…,” gasp, “ at your house!”

Tila didn’t like him. He was nosy and more than a little creepy. He worked in his mother’s basement, doing some sort of tech work, but Tila suspected that he spent most of his time playing video games. Plus, he seemed to know far too much about what was going on at her house.

She tried to smile politely, but she had to back up a step since Hamza absolutely reeked of body odor. Had she smelled that bad before her shower? Goodness, she hoped not!

“It’s okay, Hamza,” she told the man, trying to sound soothing and in control. Tila didn’t need Hamza telling Fatima about how frazzled the new mom was. “The ladies are cleaning. Nothing to be afraid of,” she soothed.

He straightened, his face scrunched up in confusion. “But…you’re a woman!”

Tila blinked, not sure where he was going with that comment. “Yes,” she agreed, maintaining her soothing tone. “I’m aware.”

Hamza flushed and fisted his hands on his hips. “My mother says that the sign of a good woman is when she can keep a house clean, have dinner on the table, and raise children with good manners.” He gestured behind him towards her house. “You are a woman. You should be in there, cleaning things up yourself.”

Tila couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes. “Thank you for your unasked-for opinion, Hamza. If you’ll excuse me, I need to be on my way.” Tila gritted her teeth and pushed her stroller around him and continued towards her home, thinking darkly that a visit from Joran would straighten Hamza out.

Unfortunately, tears formed in her eyes before she could stop them. Joran was gone. Again. He’d said he’d be back, but could she trust him?

No, she couldn’t put her faith in a man who had abandoned her so brutally when she’d needed him most. Tila noticed the men and women were coming out of her house, mops and buckets in tow. Joran had done this. Plus, he’d sent her food, actual,realfood instead of whatever convenient junk food was in her cabinets.

That was something, she told herself. Still, she didn’t understand his late night meetings. Before she’d gotten pregnant, Tila had enjoyed the excitement of never knowing when Joran would show up. It had kept her on her toes and added spice to her days.

Now, not knowing if Joran would show up or not left her…angry. And resentful.

Chapter 6

Joran paced across his office, running his hands through his hair in frustration. He needed to get back to Tila and his sons! He needed to bring them here to the palace, where he could protect them. He’d had food delivered and arranged for a cleaning service to do a deep clean of her house, but that was nothing. It wasn’t enough. He needed to be there, helping her. Who was going to hold the babies while she ate? How was she going to get some proper sleep? With two babies on different schedules, Tila needed another set of hands. She needed to sleep more than an hour at a time. She needed a full night’s rest.

He couldn’t give her that from here! Damn those midnight raids to get information! He was done with them! He was a father now and his future wife needed him to help and protect her and their sons!

“What’s wrong?”

The deep voice of his younger brother startled him. Joran spun around, glaring as Raj walked into his office and flopped into one of the leather chairs, propping his feet up on the coffee table.

“What do you want?” Joran growled.

Raj’s eyebrows lifted at the harsh response. “I want to know what’s wrong with you. You’re acting like a caged animal.”

Joran knew that he needed to tell his brothers the truth. And yet, it felt a bit…wrong…to explain anything. Still, he had to warn his brothers. He just…wanted to be with his babies and Tila.

And yet, he needed to prepare his brothers for what was to come. “I have two sons.”

Raj’s feet dropped to the floor with a thud. A long, shocked silence followed.

Joran stared at his brother as Raj shook his head and pulled his phone from his pocket. A moment later, he said, “You need to come into Joran’s office. It’s an emergency.”

Then he ended the call.

---