He had held her through nightmares of Noel’s cruel assault. Sometimes she shot up under the weight of the memory and nearly batted him back until she knew that he was here, that he was Kane. Falling back into his arms, she slept at his side, and when her eyes fluttered open, she was happy to find that he was still with her. Kissing her quickly, Kane would make love to her again, and as he stayed inside her, he held her face and assured her that everything was fine.
Because he had a plan.
“It is our baby,” he said. “We’re sticking to that story, and I’m going to keep you… both of you…”
He touched her tummy, and Angeline curled her fingers around his touch. Maybe it was possible. They could cover up the last two months without Noel keeping count. They considered hiding her away in whispered tones, and Kane had promised that even if it came to that, he was not going to leave her alone.
Resting in his embrace, Angeline pressed her hands to his chest and listened, as he promised that soon they would put their plan into action. If she had to flee, Kane would already have staked his claim to the baby. Feeling as if the baby was his eradicated Noel’s supposed rights. Angeline felt sure that she—that they—could do this. This was their child. Noel had only gotten to her because she loved and worried for Kane. However, now he was back from the near dead, and he was taking hold of everything that should only be his.
***
“Are you ready, Angel?” he asked again.
Clenching Kane’s hand, Angeline held her breath, as Jeremy opened his door. When he saw Angeline, he hardly concealed his frown, but he still ushered them inside. As Kane sat her down, his hand brushing against her back as he sat at her side.
Angeline watched Ellen serve and tried to smile as she dished out plates of glazed chicken and grilled vegetables. When Ellen sat, Angeline picked at her food. It was an effort to choke one carrot down, and soon Ellen was back on her feet, topping the boys off with fresh wine. She nearly poured into the only empty glass, but Angeline held out her hand, shook her head, and said, “No, thank you.”
Ellen winced, her nose scrunched, as she found her way back to her seat. “What the hell does she want then?” Ellen murmured, trying to speak so that only Jeremy would hear. However, Angeline heard it, and she felt like the ultimate outsider.
Taking her hand, Kane pushed his plate aside and smiled at his brother. “Prime time we shared our news,” he said. Patting Angeline’s tummy, Kane glanced in her eyes before returning his stare to his brother. “Angel’s going to have a baby,” he said, as he gripped her hand tighter. Angeline felt no fear or pain as he took her hand, and she grew content. This was their baby. No one, not even Noel would ever take the child away from them. The only thing left to do was to be happy and hold each other close and…
And Ellen abandoned her plate and rushed into the kitchen.
“She’s… she’s upset,” Jeremy muttered.
As he stated the obvious, Angeline started to stand, but Kane kept her in place and smiled into her eyes. “I’ll see you through this, too,” he promised.
Angeline watched Jeremy move towards his wife, turning her towards him. She kept her head bowed, as Jeremy wrapped her in his arms. All day, all week, Angeline knew that this was going to be a trial by fire. They blamed her for everything, maybe rightfully so. The fact that she and Kane were together again was just another pill to swallow. Yet, they had to hope that Kane might wise up and cut her loose.
But a baby in the mix? That changed the playing field for good.
As Ellen dried her eyes, she smiled weakly at her husband and patted his cheek. Angeline did not hear the whisper that left her lips and filled Jeremy’s ear, and she focused on the feel of Kane’s arm draped across her shoulders. Ellen busied herself at the sink, as Jeremy returned, his glare fixed on Angeline as he spoke. “Kane?” he said. “Let’s say we go for a walk.”
Instead of snapping to attention, Kane slumped deeper in his chair and held Angeline tighter. “What for?” Kane challenged. “You got something to say? Say it in front of both of us.”
“You so sure?” Jeremy asked.
“Of her? Always. Can’t say the same thing about you right now.”
Jeremy bristled under his brother’s words, and as their eyes met, Kane did not recoil. Jeremy sat, cracking his knuckles as his eyes danced down Angeline’s face and settled on her lap. “How do you know it’s even yours?” Jeremy asked.
Angeline shuddered, and she felt the color leave her face as her stomach churned. Alone with Kane, Angeline was starting to believe in their lie. Sometimes, it felt like Noel had never touched her in the first place. But now, Jeremy was stepping too close to the truth, and she wondered what he would do with it.
“Because I say so, Jem,” Kane said. “And that should be enough for you.”
But as Jeremy scoffed and twisted his head, Angeline knew that it wasn’t enough. Far from it.
“Is it enough for you?” Jeremy asked. “Who’s to say she won’t flip the script and decide that your boy Noel is a better option?”
Her breaths came harder, and the force of Noel’s assault came back in full force, the rough feel of his hands, the sadness that overwhelmed her when she thought that Kane was lost. Could Jeremy really think that she would go back to that?
“Jem, you don’t---”
“You better take that back. Right now,” Angeline said softly, firmly. The brothers turned to Angeline. She pressed her fists to the table and fought the urge to pound on the surface. With her eyes blazing, she fixed her eyes on Jeremy.
“Excuse me?” Jeremy asked.
“Noel is scum,” Angeline hissed. “And I swear I’ll kill him if ever tries to touch me or my baby ever again.”
Jeremy seemed stunned into silence, and Angeline started to bask in her moment of triumph. Feeling that she had put him in his proper place, she caught a glimpse of Kane and saw him smiling. The strength of his grin gave her the courage to take it a step further. “Now is that enough, Jeremy?” she asked.
“My?” Ellen reappeared, twisting a dish rag in her hands. Jeremy was at her side, but she pushed him behind her and charged towards the table.
“What?” Angeline asked.
“You said my,” Ellen said. “Why not ours? If you’re not a lying, pill-popping whore, then why not ours?”
Dammit.
“I… of course I meant—”
“No. I’m not buying it,” said Ellen. Before Angeline knew what was happening, Ellen was at her side, yanking her from her chair.
“Hey!” Kane yelled. “Don’t touch her like that—”
“Why not, Kane?” Ellen said, as her fingers became a vice, and Angeline fought the need to cry out. She would not give Ellen the satisfaction of her pained scream, and she held her hand in the air as Kane tried to wrestle her from Ellen’s grip.
“Oh right,” Ellen said. “Wouldn’t want to hurt her baby.”
“It’s ours,” Angeline said, hoping that she wasn’t too late to correct her error.
“Just like that,” Ellen said. “He’s out for like a month, and you’re knocked up. That’s some miracle.”
Ellen looked as if she would burst into tears again, and Angeline felt a tug at her heart. Poor thing. Crying at the drop of a hat. But why?
“Do you know how long we’ve been trying?” Ellen said, her lip quivering. “And all you have to do is spread your cheap legs and voilà!”
In that moment, Angeline understood why she had run away at the sound of their announcement, and she felt guilty. One glance at Jeremy, and she saw him sharing his wife’s agony. Kane took the cue and hung his head. “Sorry, man,” he mumbled. “I didn’t know.”
Angeline’s mind worked hard to find a solution. Lillian. If anyone could help them, it was her boss.
“I… I can get you a meeting with Dr. Palmer,” she started. “She’s the best. I’m sure that she—”
“We don’t want anything from you!” Ellen yelled. Her legs went wobbly, and Jeremy caught her before she fell to the ground. Holding her close, his nostrils flared as Kane rubbed Angeline’s bruised arm.
“You alright?” Kane asked.
“I—”
“Oh, she’s just fine!” Ellen screamed through her tears. Jeremy struggled to keep her in his embrace, but his wife fought and brought her nails perilously close to Angeline’s pale face. Backing away from the threat of her swipe, Angeline fell into Kane’s waiting arms, but even the strength of his hold was nothing in the wake of Ellen’s tirade.
“She can deal and cheat and fuck like a slut. And nothing ever sticks to her. Except you, Kane.”
Pushing Angeline aside, Ellen seized Kane’s face with shaking hands. “You don’t have to do this,” Ellen pleaded. “Not for her. Kane, she’s not—”
Kane started to object when Jeremy stepped into the fray, sniffing in Angeline’s direction before he spoke. “Far from it,” Jeremy said. “Let her clean up her own mess.”
Angeline started to wilt under their attack, and she feared that it would never work. If they couldn’t get his true family on their side, what hope was there when the club put two and two together? The idea that Noel would view the baby as his sent a chill up her spine. She suddenly had visions of him making her his old lady while Kane was forced to watch. That would hurt him far more than any time in a cell, and she couldn’t do that to him. Or her child.
But even as she tried to leave, Kane’s arm enclosed her waist, and her trembling subsided when he took charge of the room. “No mess here,” Kane said. “This is my girl, and this is our kid. And if you can’t get that, fuck the both of you.”
Jeremy looked as if he was ready to pounce, but before he could make the move, Kane dragged Angeline from the friendly dinner that never was and led her back to his bike. Lifting her off the ground, she flung her arms around him and buried her face in his broad neck.
“Angel, don’t be sad,” he said.
Finding his eyes again, Angeline was struck by the sense that he would abandon his brother, his true blood, at the thought the smallest insult. However, Ellen hadn’t lied, and if their roles were reversed, Angeline knew that she would feel the same way. Ellen was longing for a baby and here was the nurse, the reason for Kane’s incarceration, about to have the baby. Of course it killed her, and maybe she was right.
“Kane…”
She saw the sacrifice in his stare. Kane had crawled through his belly on hot coals and hoped, just hoped that he would come out the other side. Now that he had made it, she was about to plunge him into a new kind of hell.
And in the end, Jeremy was right. It was her mess.
“Kane, you don’t have to—”
Kane took her hand in his and revved up of the motor, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. “No, I don’t,” he said.
Despite the show for Jeremy and Ellen, Kane had to have second thoughts. Not because he doubted what Noel had done; there was no erasing it from their minds. However, the rest of it, what was left over. It was more trouble than it was worth—than she was worth. And Angeline could handle it alone. All she had to do was take her father, leave town, and then…
“But I want to,” he said.
Without another word, Kane kissed her hair before speeding off into the unknown.