Page 29 of 7+Us Makes Nine

“You do it every night. I can do it one night.”

I pushed off the doorway and went to go sit on the couch that sat in the middle of the room.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Just drinking

a beer.”

“A beer that’s almost empty. That means those kids have been down for a little while now. Did they not nap?”

“They did.”

“Were they rowdy?” I asked.

“No more than usual.”

“Then what’s bothering you? Do you want to talk about it?”

I watched Jace heave a heavy sigh before he turned his eyes to face me.

“Anya came by the house.”

My world came to a full stop the second her name flew from his lips.

“She was… emaciated,” Jace said with a sigh.

“Was she high?” I asked.

“Oh yeah. She said that all she was doing now was heroin.”

“All she was doing.”

“I didn’t even know she was doing that. I thought the issue was pills.”

“Did the kids see her?”

“Yes, but they didn’t know who they were looking at. But Dmitri knew.”

“Oh no.”

“It was bad, Catherine. Dmitri and Anya always had this special connection. This close bond that I never quite understood. He knew it was her. He stood right there on the porch and got a good look at what his mother had become,” he said.

“Why in the world did she show up here?” I asked.

“Apparently, she gave an interview today while absolutely high off her rocker that she was going to be trying to get the kids back.”

“What?” I asked.

“Yeah. My secretary called me about it this morning. I didn’t even get off the phone with him before she appeared around the corner of the house. I had to threaten on multiple occasions to call the police if she didn’t leave.”

“Jace, why didn’t you call me? I would’ve come racing back to the house to help.”

“I’m not making that a habit. This was a personal issue. A familial one. It wasn’t yours to field.”

“But it is my job to help you with your children. And I think you could’ve used it today.”

“No offense, but how could you have helped?” he asked.

---