Page 94 of Happenstance
He’d hold his niece and do a bit of the typical baby cooing, but when it came to his nephew, he’d glare down at the baby in his arms. The weird part was, I swear Weston glared back at him.
“Well,” Parker said, looking at Nan and Ava, “You two can leave.”
“Hey!” they both cried out in unison.
“Nope. don’t care,” Parker shook his head and scooped the babies out of their arms, “I want to spend time with my family, get out.”
Nan huffed, but obliged, gathering her purse and kissing my cheek before she walked out. Ava was a little harder to shoo away. She argued and stamped her foot a couple times before she eventually gave in, promising she’d be back tomorrow. Which I didn’t doubt. Ava Whitely sure loved those babies, which was a little scary. Chuckling to myself, I watched her shake her blonde head, stick her chin up in the air, and prance out.
“You didn’t have to tell them to leave.”
Parker placed the twins in their bassinet and nodded at the door. “Someone else is waiting to see you.”
I looked at the door in time to see Harper come in. My heart lifted as she threw her arms around me. She was gone on a trip with her dad and I hadn’t seen her in two weeks. And after what Parker told me about Luke, I really needed to. Her gentle smile and warm gaze reminded me what true friendship felt like. Yes, I had Riley and Shelby, but Harper was my person, and she always would be.
I tucked my face into her neck and sobbed, “I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” she sobbed back. “I can’t believe you had the babies.”
“I can’t believe it either.”
We sat there for awhile, catching up on everything. Well, I didn’t tell her about the kidnapping and beating. There was no need to worry Harper when everything was dealt with. I did tell her about my father though. I hated keeping secrets from her, and Nikolai was making an effort, so he was probably going to be in my life from now on. Plus, it was kind of hard to hide the armed guard.
The whole mafia thing gave Harper another reason to be jumpy.. though she did seem extra twitchy today. Maybe it was because Sean had graduated and would be going off to college soon? Graduation was something else I’d missed. I wanted to watch Parker get his diploma, but he didn’t even go. Stubborn jerk wouldn’t leave my side. Just like he refused to go to college until I could. Bastard used the ‘our family has to stick together’ excuse on me.
I don’t know how long Harper and I chatted. Time seemed to just pass by as we cooed over the twins and chatted away. Before we knew it, Harper’s dad was walking into the room.
“Hey Pumpkin, you ready?”
Harper was standing over the bassinet staring down at the twins. “Look at how cute they are.”
Ned Callaghan nodded a greeting at Parker, and strode across the room to peek in on the sleeping infants. My blood turned to ice cold when his lips curved up, baring a gold tooth.
“Remember to keep your mouth shut, Doll.” The ogre smiled down at me, moonlight glinting off his gold tooth. “No one would believe you anyway.”
Oh my god!
“Aw,” Ned cooed at my kids as I fought to pull in a breath. “Look at their cute little faces.”
I could feel his hands on me as clear as if it was happening now. His fingers digging into my skin as he held me down and used me hard.
“Baby,” Parker’s brows knit together with the concern on his face. “Are you okay?”
I wanted to tell him. My mouth even opened to do so, but I couldn’t choke out the words. I just kept staring at Harper standing next to her dad. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled. A big, genuine, smile like she used to. Before her mother ran off and Mason started tormenting her. Ned was all Harper had. How could I take that away from her?
“Lana,” Parker called out with a little more urgency.
I swallowed down my pain and forced a smile on my face. “I’m fine.”
Apparently he didn’t believe me. “Are you sure?”
Looking over at Ned with his hand on Harper’s shoulder, I nodded. “Yeah, I’m just a little tired.”
Truth was, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever sleep again.
Epilogue
Parker
