Page 82 of Quadruple Daddy

“Sorry, only the mother at this time,” the woman said in a deadpan voice.

“Fine, sorry everyone, but I’ll try to keep you updated.”

I followed the woman back, who hardly said anything to me at all. She held a door open for me and we walked down a long hallway.

She used a key to unlock a door to my left, and I stepped into a room that was cold and sterile with a metal table in the middle of it.

“Am I being interrogated?” I asked.

“No, but we do have some questions for you. Just wait here.”

I had no idea what was going on or what to expect. My head was spinning as I paced the tiny room. So much waiting without any answers. I had been there for what felt like hours and still no sign of Gabe or my daughters.

There was a knock on the door and then it opened. I expected a police officer coming to ask me questions or to hold things up even longer.

I was surprised to see Gabe.

I nearly fell over the chair trying to get to him, and I was in his arms as quickly as humanly possible. He kissed the top of my head, then my lips, as tears streamed down my face.

“What’s going on, where are the girls?”

“They’re bringing them now, they just wanted to make sure they had all the facts before releasing us.”

“What happened?” I asked, staring up into his eyes.

“Apparently the cops back in St. Louis did have a lead this entire time, they recognized one of Tony’s men in the video. They couldn’t let us know—they had to go through proper channels first to get warrants and make sure everything was done by the book. They burst in and saved the day.”

“No, you saved the day,” I said. “You’re the one who saved our girls.”

“Well...” he smiled down at me. “If you want to consider me a hero, I’m not going to argue with that.”

“What about your brothers? Tony?”

“My brothers are fine; Dante is being released and Roman will be pending investigation of the shooting—Tony will not be a problem for us ever again.”

His jaw clenched and his eyes darkened, telling me all I needed to know.

Another knock on the door, and then a friendly-looking woman stepped inside with a man right behind her. And in their arms, our girls.

They made their displeasure well known, fussing and crying as the social workers handed our babies over to us.

Seeing tiny Lucy in her giant dad’s arms made me tear up all over again, but they were happy tears. I held Ari close, calming her, knowing she had clearly been through so much more than I could ever imagine.

“Mommy is so, so sorry,” I whispered as I kissed her forehead.

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Gabe reminded me. “It’s not your fault.”

The guilt was heavy on my shoulders though. I had been in the house, if I hadn’t left them in their nursery, alone, no one could have snuck in to steal them.

As if Gabe could read my mind, he replied to my thoughts. “Had you been in the room, I’m afraid of what might have happened to you. This very easily could have gone another way and not ended happy for our family,” he said.

“Do you think they would have...”I trailed off, unable to finish my question.

Gabe nodded. “They would have tried to take you too, or worse. I know my girl, you wouldn’t have gone down without a fight, which I appreciate, trust me. But these guys, they’re ruthless, Bella. And I don’t even want to imagine what could have happened. I couldn’t bear losing you.”

He leaned down and kissed me.

Another knock came, this time an officer telling us we were free to go.

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