Dang it.
“Mommy, why are you crying?”
All eyes sprang to me. Of course Reagan would be the one who noticed the twin drops falling down my cheeks. My sweet girl saw everything.
“They’re happy tears, Love.”
As I wiped them away, more instantly formed in their place. Between my mother’s incessant messages and worry over my father’s health, I’d surpassed my limits. Add in a new sister and the abrupt reappearance of my lost love, my emotional cup had sprung a leak. I wasn’t on the verge of crumbling to pieces, I was breaking apart at the seams. Duncan clued in to my distress. He quickly corralled the kids, suggesting they take their new cameras out back to practice taking pictures. They hesitated, looking to me for guidance. I gave them a lip-quivering smile and a nod, then breathed a sigh of relief when they took off out the side door. A moment later, I was wrapped in his embrace, safe and secure. Something I hadn’t felt in nine long years.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I corrected myself, answering honestly, “Everything. Ugh, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Before I knew what was happening, my feet left the ground and my behind was deposited onto the counter. Duncan used his hips to nudge my thighs apart, stepping between them. In this position, we were almost nose to nose, giving him the perfect vantage point to watch the next set of tears fall from my eyes. He swiped them away with his thumbs.
“Bullshit. Talk to me.”
“Watching you with our kids was a dream come true, Duncan.”
“But?”
“No buts. My mini-meltdown has to do with a bunch of family crap I’ve avoided dealing with.”
“Stuff about your sister?”
“How do you”––I smacked my palm to my forehead––“I keep forgetting you work with Waverly, but no. Shannon is definitely not the problem. The opposite. I’ve been trying to convince her to move to Huntington.”
“Then what?”
“My parents. They’re not good people.”
His head tilted to the side. “Are they the arrestable kind of not good people? Because I happen to own several pairs of handcuffs.”
I huffed out a laugh. “If only it were that simple.”
“Tell me, Sunshine. I’m right here.”
So I did, and I didn’t hold back. Duncan deserved to know how two people who professed to love me were conspiring to use our children as their own personal organ bank. How I’d been too much of a coward, running away and going radio silent, rather than confronting either ofthem. He listened to every word without interruption, closing his eyes once I finished. When they reopened, I shivered. Fury flickered like a raging wildfire behind his stone-cold gaze.
“You’re not a coward, Sloane.” The gentleness with which his fingers curved around the tops of my thighs contrasted with the venom in his tone.
“Out of everything I said,that’swhat you narrowed in on?”
“Removing our kids from a harmful situation doesn’t make you weak, and it sure as fuck doesn’t make you a coward. It makes you a great mom.”
“It’s been weeks, Duncan. I need to deal with it before my mother gets fed up with me ignoring her ten thousand calls and texts. I’m not sure what I’d do if she ended up on my doorstep.”
“I’ve got bail money.” He winked.
“You might need it, just not for me. I’m positive Finn and Joel are already making waves for our father’s company in the business world.”
Joel was my brother’s head of security. He and his wife, Noreen––who was Finn’s assistant––had worked for him almost from the inception of Lachlan Industries. Over the years, the two of them became our family. Rogan and Reagan even called them Nana and Pop.
“Good. Saves me from having to do it.”
I grinned at the same time the side door flew open, slamming against the wall. Both kids raced inside, but it was the look on their faces which had me hopping off the counter. My feet had barely touched the floor before Reagan’s little body hit mine with enough force to knock me back a step. Thankfully, Duncan was there to steady me. Her face was buried in my stomach, so I looked at Ro.
“What’s wrong? Did you see a snake?”