Chapter Twenty
Tabitha
“TABBY, HAVE YOU SEEN MY car keys?” my husband yells from the mudroom leading into the kitchen from our garage. I sip my coffee, trying and failing not to giggle. Brandon is frantically running through the house trying to find the keys that are currently sitting on the kitchen island right in front of me. They are definitely not lost, or even hard to find.
I clear my throat and straighten my face. “Honey, I found them,” I shout after a couple of minutes, before quickly bringing my cup back up to my lips for another sip, hoping the cup will hide the smile that refuses to remain hidden. He barges into the kitchen and halts quickly when he sees the keys sitting on the granite surface in plain, easy sight. I can’t stop the giggle when his ears turn a little pink from realizing he was freaking out over nothing.
He looks up at me and a grin graces his face. He leaves the keys, comes over, and wraps me up into his arms. He buries his face in my hair and breathes in my scent. “You think it’s funny, watching me run around like a chicken with my head cut off?” he growls into my neck before placing a playful bite. I squirm away, set my empty cup on the counter behind me, and wrap my arms around his neck. “That better have been decaf,” he says before placing his lips against mine. I try not to roll my eyes, as I swoon slightly from the kiss.
“I am allowed to have a cup of real coffee once in a while, but yes, it was decaf,” I respond. This time I do roll my eyes, and I make a show of it. This earns me a chuckle from Brandon.
“Good. Wouldn’t want our little guy to come into the world all hopped up on caffeine.” He rubs his hands around my swollen stomach. Four more weeks and our son, who has yet to be named, will be born. We wanted to meet him before we stuck him with a name that would forever be attached to him.
Brandon is now on his knees, kissing and talking to my stomach, and our son is currently doing backflips in response. Brandon chuckles then stares up at me with an overwhelming look in his eyes. I can see, as well as feel, the love pouring from his gaze. It almost makes me weak in the knees. Brandon was the boy I never saw coming.
I place my hand over Brandon’s and smile, just as he topples over from the force of a very excited four-and-a-half-year-old. “Daddy! Daddy! Guess what?” our daughter, Mattie, says as she climbs on top of her stepfather.
“What, pumpkin?” my husband asks.
“Mommy said we get to bring you and papa lunch at the station today!” She’s completely in awe of Brandon, and it makes my heart melt every time I see them together.
After being told about Mathew, I thought I was going to lose the baby too, with the amount of blood I’d lost when I fell, but she was never in any real danger. She was born healthy, happy and strong. She was our bright shining light at the end of the tunnel. I named her after Mathew, the best I could, so that she could always have a piece of him with her through her identity. Being a young single mom wasn’t that difficult, because I had the support of my parents and friends. I managed to finish school, and I earned a degree in teaching.
Mattie’s never met Mathew’s mom, because she refuses to claim her as her granddaughter, but with my parents, Phil, and Sherriff Kane, Mattie never lost love in the grandparents department. I still mail photos and updates from time to time, but there’s never a response back.
Brandon was something I never expected. I’ve never regretted my decision to marry him. He’s exactly everything I could ever hope for in a happily ever after. I still miss Mathew, but Brandon takes the hurt way. He’s something different, but equally as wonderful. Beth and I would spend hours following him around as little girls. We would come up with plans to make him marry me, so Beth and I could be sisters. The three of us would then live together and live our very own fairy tale. Then Mathew came around and my feelings changed. My heart became Mathew’s, and Brandon became more like an older brother. He was one of my closest friends. We never crossed the line, or blurred any boundaries, but we did have moments when he was the only person I could turn to. Brandon could have been my best friend, if his little sister didn’t already hold the title. He was just Brandon. My Brandon. I had no idea he felt more, or that I could have been hurting him by keeping him in the friend zone. He kept his true feelings hidden so well, I was completely clueless. Shifting from friends to lovers was almost flawless, even when I fought it, it came so easy.
Brandon easily filled the role of daddy to our daughter. Not long after we got married he adopted her, but we decided against changing her last name. Instead, we hyphenated it into Summers-Kane, out of respect to both of her fathers. Brandon was the one to suggest it, and it made my sappy butt cry. He’s the kindest man I’ve ever met and proves how lucky I truly am that he’s mine. He’s way out of my league, but that just gives me our entire lives to deserve him.
Brandon is as close to perfect.
After Mathew, I never thought I could move on, and I still haven’t completely. I am in love with two men. It’s not fair, but Brandon understands this, and he would never fault me for it.
He’s a sexy unicorn in uniform, and he’s all mine.
Tiny arms wrap themselves around my massive middle. “Mommy, you hear that?” she asks.
“What, sweetheart?” I ask, a little distracted. I run my fingers through her silky blond hair.
“Daddy said I could ride in the back of his car!”
I look up at Brandon’s amused smirk and roll my eyes. “I don’t think so.”
Brandon is shaking, trying to hold his laughter in, and Mattie looks confused and slightly disappointed.
“Only bad guys sit back there, sweetie, and you’re never going to be a bad guy,” I explain to our daughter.
I shoot a look over at my husband. “Not to mention how gross and germy it must be back there.” I speak directly at him.
He grabs his keys and badge and plants a kiss on the top of our girl’s head, then places one on my lips.
“What else do you have planned this morning?” he asks.
“We are going over to spend time with Beth and the new babies. She sounded exhausted on the phone earlier. The twins are teething, and neither she nor Steve got any sleep last night. I figured Mattie and I could play with the babies, while Beth took a little nap.”
He smiles and kisses me again. After Mathew’s funeral John drifted away from the rest of the group. He and Beth broke up, which presented the opportunity for her and Steve to grow even closer. They both fought their attraction the best they could, her more than him, but in the end, they failed. Miserably. True love doesn’t take no for an answer. They fell hard and passionately for each other. It was a really fun thing to witness because of how stubborn they both are. Experiencing it as an outsider was something nobody will ever forget.
“Just don’t wear yourself out, okay?” he says with concern etched across his face.
I roll my eyes at his overprotective concern then flash him a smile.
“I guess I will see you girls at lunch, then. I love you.” He turns and walks out the front door.
I can hear him whistle and his keys jingling all the way to his truck.
I quickly finish dressing Mattie and feed her breakfast, and we head over to my best friend’s house to rescue her from going crazy, or dying from sleep deprivation.
It’s been a pretty eventful morning. The twins spent the morning lying around on a blanket on the floor while Mattie cooed at their every move, while Beth snored away in the next room. When I showed up, the look on Beth’s face was priceless. She looked at me like I was sent from God. I had to suppress a giggle toward her overly dramatic nature, because she looked like she was about to break. When noon came around, Beth woke looking fully charged, and I set out to make lunch so Mattie and I could take it to Brandon and his father, Hank, at the police station. Once it was wrapped up. I hugged the babies, kissed Beth on the cheek, and moved to put Mattie’s sneakers on so we could head up to the station. I bend to tie my little girl’s shoes, smiling at how lucky my life has become despite all the heartache that brought me here.