CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

 

“IT’S MOSTLY SURFACE damage, some paint and a bit of new carpet and it should be fine.” Clay didn’t even knock when coming back to report on the damage in the nursery.

I was still nursing Ava when he entered the room. Two weeks ago, I would have been mortified that he’d just wandered in. With the equilibrium we’d found, I had grown to be almost comfortable with him, and it had become my habit not to hide away while I nursed the twins.

After waking with his arm wrapped around me, and the subsequent stirring of my almost-buried emotions, it had settled to being somewhere in the middle—a little awkward but not unbearably so. Regardless, I ensured I wasn’t accidentally exposing anything to him.

David was lying on the bed beside me kicking his legs and making soft gurgling sounds. I blew a raspberry at him and gave his tummy a little tickle with my fingertips. For a moment, I thought he smiled at me, but it was probably just gas.

When I caught Clay watching me, I offered him a small smile.

“They’ll need a new crib,” he said, scrubbing the back of his neck. “That one is beyond ruined.”

“We’ll have to go out tomorrow to get one. The store will be shut by now.”

“Do you think they’d let us take the one from the room at the court?”

His words brought to mind all of the special touches that he’d done to the room he’d picked when I was recovering from the bullet wound his father had inflicted. It was all lost to him now. Even I was unlikely to stay there if it was going to cause Ava issues. There was no point in it all sitting at the court not being used. I wondered whether Fiona would be offended if I bought it all back to our home.

“Maybe we shouldn’t push our luck just yet,” I said finally. Perhaps it was a better option than shopping for a new one, but we did have something else we could use in the meantime. “We bought a playpen when we got the nursery furniture. It’s in the back of the closet. It should be fine to use that for a night or two.”

He nodded and disappeared to get it. A minute later, he was back in the bedroom setting it up. “I think it’s better in here for the moment,” he said without meeting my gaze. “Because of the smoke,” he added quickly.

“I’m glad he didn’t do anything to them too,” I said, guessing at his true intention behind setting up the temporary crib in our room.

He twisted to offer me a look that told me I’d hit the nail on the head. “I’m sorry I brought him back into your life. He’s obviously been watching the house, waiting for the moment I promised—when all of his children would be here together.” He ignored the half-constructed crib and crossed to the bed, sitting opposite me.

“You don’t need to apologize for him. He chose his own actions, and you chose yours. You really came through for us today.”

“I didn’t have to though. You sure know how to fight.”

“I had a great teacher.” I smirked and then realized he didn’t know what that meant. I dropped my gaze to Ava’s lilac eyes, staring up at me as she nursed.

“I taught you, didn’t I?” he asked in a soft murmur.

With my teeth buried in my lip, I glanced back up at him. “How did you know?”

“You get this certain look whenever you talk about him.”

“You.”

He shrugged. “Whatever. All I know is Eth was right, that was a pretty badass right hook you’ve got. Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

Our eyes met.

“Again,” he said with a joking tone that hid the undercurrent of tension that seemed to be growing between us by the second. He looked away. “How’s the hand?”

“It’s still a little tender.” I chuckled. “That hurt way more than I thought it would.”

He reached across for my hand, lifting it close to his face to inspect it before pressing his lips against the swollen joints so fast and soft that I could have imagined it. “Maybe we should get it checked by a doctor?”

I shook my head and drew my hand back close to my body. His soft kiss had sent my emotions swerving off course again, and my breathing was ragged as a result. God, I want him! “I’ll be fine,” I managed.

He frowned.

“If it’s not better tomorrow, then we’ll see,” I conceded.

 

MY HAND was better the next morning, still sore but much less swollen.

It was also closed lightly around Clay’s fingers, pressing his palm against the sliver of my stomach that had been left exposed by my pajamas. Once more, his arm was draped over my waist and his face was buried in my hair. The tips of his fingers rested just beneath the band on my yoga pants. I moved slowly, not wanting to wake Clay. When I tried to shift away from him, his hold tightened. With his body flush against mine, I had to remind myself that the reaction in his body that was currently pressed against the back of my thigh was one that was natural for all men first thing in the morning and had nothing to do with me.

I tried to escape from his embrace again, but Clay just stirred sleepily with a smile on his lips. “Morning,” he croaked as he blinked in the sunlight.

“Morning,” I squeaked in response. Each time I’d woken during the night to feed the twins, he’d been wrapped around me or tucked in close beside me. It seemed whatever had been keeping us in a regular orbit around each other had collapsed in on itself, but I still didn’t know what it might mean. He made no moves to get closer to me or rekindle what we’d had, but neither did he repulse away from our nighttime embraces and keep himself carefully constrained to one side of the bed as he had up until two nights ago.

He dragged his arm across my stomach, sending the butterflies skittering around inside me, before stretching languidly. Even a few seconds later, I could feel the blistering trail left in the wake of his fingers as they’d passed across my skin, and I closed my eyes in response. He yawned as he stretched again.

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” he asked.

I had no idea. “We need to try to find a new crib, and some paint and carpet, wasn’t it?”

He nodded. “Can that wait though? Right now I want to enjoy what I’m feeling.”

“What’s that?”

“Something I haven’t felt in as long as I can remember . . .” he responded dreamily.

Neither of us mentioned that “as long as I can remember” for him wasn’t even a few months.

“And that is?” I prompted.

“Free.” He grinned. “I know technically I’ve got the punishment hanging over my head, but that’s just a formality really, isn’t it? You know Aiden better than I do; is he likely to turn back up on our doorstep and escort me away?”

“I don’t think he would. He’s a man, well, fae, of his word. But that’s a different tune to yesterday when you were desperate to be taken away.”

He frowned. The good mood he’d been in evaporated in an instant.

I hated that I’d broken whatever spell had been on him and decided to try to make it up to him. “Why don’t we have a picnic out back? We can go down to the market and get some fresh bread now that you’re allowed out of the house.”

He nodded, but his mood didn’t lift any.

“Damn, we can’t,” I said. “We’ve only got one car seat.”

I mentally added a second car seat to the list of items we needed to get. It seemed never ending. I worried our funds wouldn’t stretch quite far enough, and it was harder to commit fraud when you were stationed in the one place.

“Why don’t you take the car and get whatever you want?” I suggested, trying to give him a taste of freedom.

“Why don’t I stay here with the twins and you go?” he countered.

“I thought you might want to get out of the house.”

His gaze lifted to meet mine. “It’s fine. I’ll watch them while you go. We can still have the picnic.”

Figuring it was easier than arguing any further, I got ready and twenty minutes later was grabbing a few supplies at the Cats Whiskers Country Market. Pulling into the parking lot, I saw a black cat curled in front of one corner of the store. When I approached the door to the store, the cat opened his eyes, lifted his head, and almost appeared to nod as he meowed at me.

“Hi, Kieran,” I murmured as I passed.

When I entered the store, the first thing I noticed was that it was deserted due to the early hour of the morning. Not wanting to be away from the house for too long, I walked quickly amongst the shelves grabbing the few bits and pieces we needed for the picnic, taking extra care to grab the items I knew were Clay’s favorites. When I passed the chocolates, I had to grab a packet of the same ones he’d bought for me the last time he’d been him. I held the packet in my hand and fought back my tears.

“You could have phoned ahead,” a familiar voice said from behind me, causing me to jump. “I would have had it ready for you.”

I spun around and saw the cashier who’d served me on the day I’d first met Kieran. “It’s okay,” I said. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted until I got here.”

She smiled before glancing around from side to side, I assumed to check that we were alone. “Thank you,” she murmured.

I frowned in confusion.

“For helping Kieran with the fae. If it was purely up to the Tribunal, I think he would have been dealt a severe punishment and taken away from the boys, but your conversation swayed them and they let him go. After what happened, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you were baying for his blood. Of course, I’m glad you weren’t.”

“Kieran?” I blinked.

“My husband.”

“Laura,” I read her nametag aloud. The word sparked a memory of my conversation with Kieran a little more than two weeks earlier. “Laura? You’re Laura? But that means that you knew that I . . . That he . . .” I was speechless. It was hard enough to string together a coherent thought, let alone form it into words. “You knew Clay was missing?”

“I tried to tell you what I knew, but I couldn’t come right out with it. There were regulars in the store. I tried to get you to come back down, but you never did.”

I gathered that by regulars, she didn’t just mean customers who came often.

She dropped her gaze and grimaced. “I’m really sorry for what happened and that he helped. We should have been more careful the first time that man came in, but he drew such a striking resemblance to your partner. We didn’t think he’d be a threat.” She was talking about Troy. I couldn’t blame them for not knowing what he had done in the past.

“Well, he’s not anymore,” I assured her as we walked to the checkout together. I placed everything on the counter.

“You didn’t . . .”

I shook my head. “He attacked the fae when they were visiting us. He’s with them now.”

“And your baby?”

I grinned. “Perfect and safe. Both of them.”

“Twins?”

“Yeah.”

She beamed at me. “Congratulations, honey. It’s always wonderful with little ones. Enjoy it though; it’ll be over before you know it.”

“Yeah, I’ve already noticed how much they’ve grown.”

“If you need help outside of the fae, just know that we really are a friendly bunch around these parts. This town is well-known as a safe-haven among the higher beings.”

I wondered whether Clay knew that before we moved in. It honestly wouldn’t have surprised me if he had. It was exactly the sort of choice he’d make for me, and the sort of information he would have kept hidden just in case I was offended. Now, I couldn’t even ask him.

“And I know you have your own contacts, but if you ever need another medical opinion, especially with those special babies, Doc Galen is a Paean.” She winked.

“A what?”

“A healer of the gods.”

“I don’t know that I need anything like that.”

The bell over the door rattled and another customer walked in. I stared at them with suspicion, suddenly uncertain whether anyone I’d encountered here and places like it around town were human or not.

Laura must have caught my gaze. “It takes a bit of getting used to, but you eventually learn who is and who isn’t something else.”

“You’re not though, are you?” I didn’t even know how to ask whether she was other. I didn’t think she was. Clay certainly had never mentioned if she wasn’t.

But then he wouldn’t if he hadn’t wanted you to know he set your family up in a safe-haven for others.

She giggled. “No, I was just lucky enough to have caught hold of a dream one night.”

My thoughts turned to Clay. “I know exactly what you mean.” Lifting the groceries into my arms, I smiled in thanks. “I’ll see you next time. Maybe I’ll even phone ahead.”

 

JUST AS I was returning home, I saw Fiona and Louise heading back toward the fairy ring in the forest on the other side of our driveway. They waved goodbye before disappearing just as I stopped the car. Before I’d even killed the engine, Clay was at the passenger door to help with the groceries.

“What did they want?” I asked.

“They brought the crib from the court. Louise and Ethan told Mom about the damage, and she insisted we have it.” He said Mom as if it left an unusual taste in his mouth, rolling it around his teeth as if trying it out for the first time.

“It’s a shame they couldn’t stay for a while longer.”

“They’ll be back in the next few days.”

“How—”

“How do I know?” he asked, pushing the front door open. “Mom’s bringing a small working team out to redo the nursery.”

“How were things between you two?” Fiona hadn’t seen Clay since his return, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that she’d given up on him when he’d disappeared.

“Okay, I guess. I don’t know how things were before though. All she said was to tell you that she was wrong, whatever that means.”

I smiled secretively, pleased that she saw what I’d tried to tell her in the beginning. Memory or not, Clay was still Clay.

“There was something else too, apparently Abe contacted Ben just as Dad broke in here.”

“So they must have been in communication?”

Clay nodded. “It doesn’t surprise me. Apparently Ben had a little more success with Abe though. After finding out what happened to Dad, he’s had a bit of a turnaround and is willing to try the new way.”

“Do you think we can trust it?”

“Louise seems to think so, at the very least they’ll be able to keep a better eye on him if they know where he is.”

“And Terry?”

Clay shrugged. “I think he genuinely thought he was helping. That’s the impression I got when Dad introduced us. Besides, I don’t think that he’s really a threat.”

“How are the twins?”

“Asleep. Again. When do they grow out of that?”

I laughed. “I have no idea. Let’s just enjoy it while we can.”

We packed a sleeping Ava and David into their stroller and gathered up an old blanket before locking up the house and heading toward the forest that rimmed the back of our property.

 

I STRETCHED out on the blanket and enjoyed the peace and the sunshine of what could be one of the last almost warm days before winter began to creep in.

The picnic had been somewhat of a success. The only down point had been when Clay had mentioned that he absolutely loved the cream buns I’d bought.

“I knew you would,” I’d said with a sly grin. “They were always one of your favorites from there.”

He’d frowned and there hadn’t been any conversation for the next ten minutes.

Shortly afterward, David had woken and I’d fed him before Clay changed him and things finally settled back to normal—or at least our own personal version of it.