Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 74379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
My heart wasn’t in the explanation, though.
No, it was upstairs with my own children who were, as of right now, stable. However, they couldn’t have any visitors. The doctor said if all went well through the night that we would be able to visit in the morning during regular visiting hours.
“Can you give me any more information?” Detective Cree asked.
I shook my head.
“You’re free to go, then.” He gestured to the door with a flick of his hand. “I’m going to question Caria.”
I didn’t give one flying fuck what she said. The cameras in the stairwell disproved any wrongdoing on Krisney’s part, and the damning evidence of Caria walking out of the maternity floor with a bag that just happened to have two newborn babies in it was effectively going to put her away for quite a long fucking time.
Though, she could possibly be paralyzed from the waist down, so there was that, too.
And I couldn’t find it in me to care.
“Let’s go,” I said, holding out my hand for Krisney.
She placed her hand in mine, and together we walked out of the hospital.
***
Two hours, and hundreds of questions later, Krisney and I were sitting on the couch in my living room.
“We need to order some baby stuff,” I found myself saying.
Krisney shook her head, and I looked at her. “I don’t want to get anything. I want to…wait.”
“Krisney…”
“If they…if they don’t make it…I don’t want the reminder that they didn’t.”
I didn’t have anything to say to that.
I couldn’t come up with anything that would make her feel better, because she was right.
Getting baby stuff meant that they were coming home, and there was a slight possibility that they wouldn’t make it.
They were so young.
So, so young.
“Okay,” I murmured.
“That’s stupid,” Dante said.
I blinked, surprised to find him standing in my kitchen doorway.
“You’re already writing them off,” Dante continued as if we’d argued with him. “They’re Hails. Fucking fighters. Don’t write them off. They’re gonna be here. They’re gonna come home, and then you’ll feel stupid because you should’ve started to buy shit for them and didn’t.”
“Can I hold her?” Krisney asked.
Dante didn’t hesitate.
Where he did with the rest of us, me included, he handed Mary right over to Krisney as if he’d been doing it from day one.
Dante had always had a soft spot for Krisney.
They’d bonded over ice cream one day and had a special connection ever since.
I didn’t understand it and never pretended to.
“She’s gotten so big from the last pictures you sent me,” Krisney murmured, surprising the shit out of me.
“He’s sent you pictures?”
Krisney frowned. “Yeah, he has. Why?”
I looked over to Dante to see that his expression was entirely closed off.
Whatever.
I sighed and rubbed my hands over my eyes.
“You’re getting baby shit.” He paused. “And I went through your woods with a few friends. Found two more traps. Don’t think there are any more, but I’ll spend some time out there every once in a while, to make sure.”
On that, we were agreed.
I’d already gone out there myself and did a sweep of the area after Pepé had died. I had planned on doing it again myself every spare chance I had, but then Caria carried out her plan to rid me of my pesky family. So, if Dante was offering to head out there again to look around, I’d take him up on it.
I never, not ever, wanted to see that expression on Krisney’s face again.
I didn’t want to ever see her hurt again.
“Speaking of that old place,” Dante continued as if we’d had this discussion hundreds of times.
I immediately shook my head. I didn’t want Dante to say anything more. Not yet, anyway.
“Where was Rafe?” I asked.
“Rafe had a little accident last night,” Dante said, looking away.
“What kind of accident?” I questioned, tensing.
“The kind where he’s incapacitated at the moment.”
“What?”
Dante looked away.
“Dante,” I growled. “What have you gotten yourself involved in?”
Dante grimaced. “It’ll be okay.”
Call me crazy, but I didn’t fucking believe him.
Chapter 23
I like to have my cake and eat it, too. I also like to have your cake and eat it, too.
-Krisney to Reed
Reed
During the days, I spent half of them at work, half of them in the NICU, and my nights working on my secret project.
It was a bonus that my brothers were helping, too.
The progress we were making meant that we might have a new house to bring our children to rather than bringing them to my place, and I was honestly quite excited by the prospect.
It’d been four weeks since the day that our children had a setback, but ever since, we hadn’t had anything else go wrong on their end. They were thriving.
And today, we were finally, finally going to hold our children without the eight thousand cords and tubes attached to them.
As of eight this morning, they graduated from the endotracheal tube and the CPAP, which forced air down their windpipes into their lungs, to just a nasal cannula. The next step would be them breathing without any assistance.