“Sounds good. Do you have any plans for today?”
“No, but I was thinking we should start buying some things for the babies.”
“Why don’t we have breakfast at the diner down the street, and then we can go shopping for the babies?”
A smile lights up my face. “Sounds perfect.”
THIRTY-TWO
“Ithink we bought everything that baby store had to offer,” Kaden teases as he takes the many bags of things we bought for the babies from the trunk of the cab that we took to get them all back home.
We decided not to take Kaden’s truck, as it’s a pain, driving around the city in the daytime, and the day was so nice, so we walked the short distance to the diner and then took a cab to the biggest and best baby store in the city.
Kaden wouldn’t let me pay for anything, and I didn’t fight him on it. They are his children, too, and I’m doing all the hard work, growing and carrying them. Also, I didn’t have the money to cover what we spent today.
“Babies require a lot of things, and we have two of them coming, so we need double of everything. And you were picking out just as much as I was, if not more,” I say on a laugh.
“True,” he agrees with a grin.
His hands are full of bags, as he won’t let me carry anything. I shut the trunk of the cab, and we cross the street, walking toward our apartment building.
We’ve just stepped up onto the curb when Kaden’s whole body stiffens.
“You okay?” I ask him, but he doesn’t respond.
So, I follow his line of sight to see a man standing in front of our building. He looks exactly like Kaden, but an older version.
My mind instantly thinks it’s his dad, but I know he’s in prison in Canada.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Kaden growls.
The man smiles, but there is nothing nice about it. He looks like a rabid dog that’s baring its teeth. “That any way to greet your father after all this time?”
This is his dad? He’s out of prison? Did Kaden know this?
By the look of utter shock and fury on his face, I’d say he had no clue, and I know he would have told me if he’d known.
“You’re no father of mine.” Kaden drops the bags of baby stuff on the ground and stalks toward him, stopping inches away. “How the fuck did you get out of prison, Gary?”
“I was a good boy, served my time, so they let me out.” He spreads his arms wide, that awful smile still on his face.
“How the fuck did you get in the country?”
His arms rest at his sides, like he’s no threat, but we know different.
“Like I said, I was a good boy,” is all he responds with.
“What do you want?” Kaden’s jaw is like granite, clenched so tightly that it could shatter at any moment.
“Maybe I just wanted to see my son.” Gary’s eyes move past Kaden to me. “This your girl?”
“Don’t fucking look at her.”
Gary’s eyes move down to my bump, and my arms instinctively cover it.
“Seems I’m gonna be a granddaddy.”
“I told you not to fucking look at her.” Kaden steps closer to him. “Babe, go on up to the apartment,” he says to me, not taking his eyes off Gary.