Читать книгу Twins For Christmas - Amanda Renee - Страница 11
ОглавлениеNoah had spent the majority of his afternoon getting to know Ramblewood while attempting to plan his next move. The town wasn’t much different from his hometown of Aurora, Oregon. It was quaint and tidy. The kind of small town where everyone knew everyone else and children grew up, married and had children of their own. He still hadn’t decided what he would do if Cheyenne and Charlotte were his children. Take them back to Aurora and raise them? Or allow them to stay in Ramblewood with Hannah, if she was their guardian? He didn’t know for certain.
Being a helicopter-logging pilot made him a very methodical man, so he began with what he already knew. He steadied his nerves and drove to the ranch turnoff Hannah had taken that morning. As he approached the entrance, he stepped on the accelerator, speeding past it. Why was he so nervous? If he was correct, he had a legal right to his children. At least he thought he did.
He checked the rearview mirror and slowed down to make a U-turn so he could head back toward Hannah’s...if she even lived down that road. She could have been visiting someone. It could lead to another road, too.
As soon as he drove off the blacktop, clouds of dust engulfed the car. Within seconds, he spotted her truck in the front yard. Relief eased the tension from his neck and shoulders only to be replaced with a bout of nerves bigger than the state of Texas. He pulled in behind the pickup, stepped from the car and looked up at the two-story white clapboard farmhouse.
Noah assumed the home had been beautiful in its day. Now large sheets of paint were peeling from the siding as if trying to escape. The bare wood rail running the entire length of the expansive front porch along with the recently stripped and sanded floorboards told him it was a work in progress. Despite the repair, the house needed serious help.
The front screen door swung wide and Hannah appeared. Her coppery waves were twisted into a casual bun. Paint had splattered her faded jeans and gray T-shirt. “Can I help you?”
“I hope so.” Noah jammed his hands in his pockets.
Hannah walked to the top of the stairs, shielding the sun from her eyes. “Oh, my God. It’s you.”
Noah didn’t know if he should be thankful or scared that she recognized him. He opened his mouth to respond when two tiny faces appeared in the front door. Leaning to the right, he attempted to look past Hannah. She quickly glanced over her shoulder and shooed the girls inside.
“I thought you two were asleep on the sunporch.” The screen door bounced against the door frame behind her. “I need to talk to this man for a minute and it’s your naptime. You had a busy morning at Nanny’s. When you wake up, we’ll play.” Hannah disappeared, leaving Noah to wonder who Nanny was. It was his understanding he was the twins’ only living relative.
Hannah reappeared a few minutes later. “I didn’t want them to hear our conversation. They should sleep for a good hour or two.” She eased the door open cautiously. “How did you find us?”
“I was in College Station and saw Lauren’s obituary.” Noah stood at the bottom of the porch stairs, gazing up at her. “I’m truly sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.” She nibbled nervously on her bottom lip. “She tried to find you.”
“I think that answers my next question.” Noah swallowed hard. He gripped the car keys so tight they dug into his palm. “Am I their—”
Hannah stepped outside but remained within listening distance of the doorway. “Yes, you are.”
And there it was. The answer had come much easier and faster than he’d imagined and he didn’t know what to do with the information.
“I’m their father.” The full impact of the words hit him once he said them aloud. He thought his legs would give out. He turned and sat on the steps, attempting to maintain steady breaths.
Hannah sat down beside him. “I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re feeling, but the girls have been through a lot. I will answer any questions you have, but I’m begging you, don’t push this issue with them right now. Give them a chance to get to know you before announcing who you are.”
Noah shifted on the stairs to face her. “Can I see them?”
Hannah nodded. Her eyes were glassy, but she didn’t shed a tear. “Lauren would have loved to have seen this day.” She rose and motioned for him to follow her inside. “I’m sure this is a surprise, but if it’s any consolation, she did try to find you.”
“I wish she hadn’t run out on me the way she did. I would have liked to have gotten to know her better.” As set as he was in bachelor life, there had been something special about Lauren. He’d been disappointed she hadn’t left behind a phone number. And he’d searched the room, too, probably harder than he should have after such a brief encounter. At first, he thought a scrap of paper could have fallen off the dresser or the table, then possibly behind the bed. He’d searched until checkout time, and then he had no choice but to leave Lauren and their night together behind.
“She was embarrassed.” Her hand lightly rested on his forearm. “Instantly falling in bed with someone wasn’t Lauren’s style. She was the ‘sweet tea on the front porch, date a few times before a first kiss’ kind of girl. Then you happened. Her life was just beginning and she didn’t want anything serious. She regretted her decision.”
Noah appreciated Hannah’s honesty. Inside the house, he followed her through rooms in various stages of disrepair. “Pardon the mess. I’m in the middle of renovating.”
He appreciated a work in progress, but practically every area was under construction. And he wasn’t sure how that made him feel. Were his daughters safe here? The baby gates gave him some sense of security, but this uneasiness was unfamiliar to him. When they reached the sunroom on the back of the house, Hannah blocked his way forward.
“I’m sure you’re anxious to get to know them, but I’m serious when I say I don’t want them to know who you are yet.” She kept her voice low. “They’re still looking for Lauren. They know she’s gone, but they also know she’s in town and keep asking to see her at the cemetery. I’ve tried to explain it to them. So has my mom and Abby—she’s my sister-in-law. The social worker in Boston explained it will take a while for them to adjust.”
Noah adored the way Hannah protected his children. His children. That was going to take some getting used to.
Hannah stared up at him, as if trying to read his mind. He was all too aware of their physical closeness. At six foot three, he stood a solid eight inches taller, if not slightly more. Her crystal-blue eyes were the clearest he’d ever seen of any eye color.
She was pretty, even with messy hair and paint-splattered clothes.
She inhaled deeply, sadness replacing her curious expression. She climbed over the baby gate into the large sunroom. It was spotless, freshly painted sunny yellow. Crisp white curtains framed the windows that overlooked a long row of horse stables and a riding area. There were four horses in one corral and two miniatures in another. In the distance, he saw more horses and dark soil-covered fields. He hadn’t realized her property was this extensive. It was deceiving from the front.
Noah zeroed in on the two sleeping figures curled up together on the white, slip-covered sofa at the far end of the room. He hadn’t anticipated that it would physically hurt to see them. There were two little lives less than fifteen feet away that he had helped create. Hannah reached out to wake them.
“Don’t.” His whisper cracked in the silence. “Let them sleep. I need to process this.”
“There’s a lot of that going around.” A bittersweet smile graced her lips. “Would you like to sit down?” She gestured to a pair of oversized beanbag chairs on the carpeted floor. “This is their playroom.”
Noah sank into a chair, letting it envelop him. He chuckled, unable to remember when he’d last sat in something so ridiculously comfortable and fun. They remained silent for a few minutes, watching the twins sleep. His nerves began to fade as the girls’ rhythmic breathing relaxed him. He may have known Lauren for only one night, but her face had been ingrained in his memory. Where the girls had his eyes, they had her dark hair and rounded nose. All children were beautiful, but Noah felt as if his were extra special.
“I know they look identical, but they’re fraternal twins,” Hannah said. “Cheyenne is an inch taller than Charlotte. And Charlotte has a tiny birthmark under her left eye.”
One of the girls stirred and sat upright before he had a chance to ask any of the millions of questions swirling through his brain. As Hannah rose, the little girl climbed off the sofa and toddled to them. “Charlotte, this is a friend of your mommy’s. His name is Noah and he came to meet you.”
Charlotte’s sleepy eyes blinked at him, still waking up from her nap. He had been right. Their irises were rimmed in black, the same as his were. “Go see Mommy?”
Hannah sucked her lips inward and looked toward the ceiling before answering. “Maybe tomorrow. You’ve already been twice today.”
Charlotte reached for Noah’s outstretched leg and pulled herself onto his lap. He held his breath. This little person was his child. His child was touching him. He stared down at her. She had little bits and pieces of him floating around inside her. It was a miracle—she was a miracle. And he couldn’t wrap his head around it.
“It’s okay to breathe, you know.” Hannah smiled warmly at the two of them.
He wanted to hug her for welcoming him into her home and allowing him to be there. He wanted to hug his daughter, but he didn’t know what was appropriate and what wasn’t. It felt surreal and natural at the same time.
“So this is what twenty-one months feels like.” Charlotte played with the silver cross around his neck. “They’re smaller than I th—” Noah shook his head. “I don’t know how big I thought they would be. I’m still overwhelmed by this. I can’t even begin to imagine what they were like when they were born. I don’t even know when that was.”
“Valentine’s Day. Which couldn’t have been more appropriate considering Lauren called them the greatest loves of her life.” A faraway look overshadowed Hannah’s smile. “They were good-sized babies for twins. I was in the delivery room when they were born. Charlotte was 7 lbs. 2 oz. and Cheyenne was 7 lbs. 6 oz. Between my parents and me, we have a ton of pictures.” She began to speak, then cut herself short. Tears filled her eyes. “Um, my mom and I weren’t able to take much from her house in Boston when we picked up the girls the other day. The company she worked for has someone packing her belongings and sending them to me. When they arrive, I’d be happy to share them with you. I think it’s important the children keep her memory alive, although at this age, how much can they possibly remember? Excuse me.”
Hannah stood and climbed over the baby gate, disappearing down the hall. Tiny fingers touched the side of his face, rubbing the rough stubble. She giggled loudly, waking Cheyenne on the other side of the room. When Hannah reappeared, two pint-size angels were playfully attacking him with their stuffed animals.
“I apologize.” She rejoined them in the sunroom. “Lauren’s dea—Her not being around any longer still doesn’t seem real.”
“Neither does this.” Noah smiled down at his daughters happily playing on his chest. “Did you and Lauren grow up together?”
“Play gently, Cheyenne,” Hannah said to the bouncing toddler. “We met in college and became best friends. Lauren didn’t have any family, so she came home with me on weekends, holidays and summer break. My parents thought of her as one of their own, so even though I was only a part of her life for six and a half years, she felt like a sister.” She scooted closer to the girls on the floor. “The twins strengthened the bond with my family even further. They call my parents Nanny and Grandpop.”
Now Noah understood who Nanny was. “When did Lauren move to Boston?”
“September.” Hannah stared into the distance. “Her leaving was hard...for all of us. My mom watched the girls during the day while Lauren went to work. Let me tell you—” she smiled, visibly fighting back tears “—my mom loved every second of it. These two have her—heck, all of us—wrapped around their fingers. But then it happened.” She sighed as the joy she’d expressed only a moment before slid from her face. “A pharmaceutical company in Boston offered Lauren a research scientist position. She was a biochemist—I don’t know if you knew that or not. Anyway, the job had incredible medical benefits, plus on-site day care and a relocation allowance. She would have been foolish to turn it down. Their new life had so much promise and it was hard to do anything other than wish them well.”
“How did it—” Noah didn’t want to say the words in front of the girls.
“How did it happen?” Hannah’s brows rose. “She hit a patch of ice on the way home from work. It was no one’s fault. Just a cruel twist of fate.”
Noah felt the need to comfort her in some way but didn’t know how. I’m sorry didn’t seem like enough.
“In case you don’t have plans for tomorrow...” Hannah hesitated. “You’re welcome to join us for Thanksgiving at my parents’ house. It’s loud and crowded, but it’s a lot of fun and there will be many people sharing stories about Lauren.”
Thanksgiving had always been him, a couple of the guys and football. He’d been raised by an incredible single mom. She spent her holidays serving food to the homeless in a Portland soup kitchen but had always found time to make a special Thanksgiving breakfast for just the two of them. She never included whomever she was dating at the time. Not that any of them had paid him much attention anyway. And he never knew his dad or his dad’s side of the family. It was their special tradition and this was the first year he’d miss it. “I’d love to. Thank you.”
He looked down at his daughters. Hovering multimillion-dollar helicopters above the tree line with two-hundred-foot logs swinging from a cable beneath him had always given him an adrenaline rush, but it was nothing compared to this.
* * *
HANNAH WAS NERVOUS Thanksgiving morning, which was ridiculous because she had no business being nervous about sitting down to a family dinner with the father of her best friend’s children. While she had to admit he was attractive—if you were into the tall, sandy-blond, mouthwatering Chris Hemsworth type—she didn’t have time to fawn over him. Or any man, for that matter. The clock was counting down to her next home inspection.
Hannah closed the door on the grain room in the stables. After feeding and turning out her own four horses and the thirteen boarders, she still had to muck the stalls and collect the eggs from the henhouse.
While everyone else slept off their food coma tonight, she’d be working on her house. And she still needed to find time to exercise her horse Restless for their barrel racing competition on Saturday. The prize money would about cover the cost of the raw materials necessary to pass inspection.
Ironically, the house probably would have passed a couple of months ago. It had needed some serious TLC, but she hadn’t begun pulling everything apart until after Lauren left. She’d had the luxury of time on her side, or so she’d thought. She had started one project after another before completing any of them. Truth be told, she had felt a bit unsettled without Lauren and the girls around. Her concentration outside of the rodeo arena had been next to zero and having a multitude of unfinished home repairs hadn’t mattered as much as they did now. She knew she’d eventually get to them. Now she didn’t have a choice.
Her brother had been able to round up some friends willing to help her meet the social worker’s deadline. She’d have to figure out a way to repay them afterward. Generosity was one thing, but she refused to take advantage of everyone’s kindness.
For a small ranch, chores took up the majority of the day. By the time she finished, she had just enough time for a quick shower before leaving for her parents’ house. She climbed the back stairs and hesitated at the door. For a split second, she swore she saw Lauren through the window, sitting at the kitchen table feeding the girls. Her chest ached when she realized it was only Abby.
Her sister-in-law had stopped over early to help her get the girls dressed and ready the same way Hannah had helped Lauren with the girls for the first nineteen months of their lives. It had been easier then. They’d rented an apartment in the center of town after college until Hannah purchased the small ranch in April. Lauren and the girls had moved in until they’d headed to Massachusetts two months ago. She wondered how Lauren had managed in Boston by herself. She had never complained, saying each day was a blessing. She had seen the beauty and grace in the simplest of things, whereas Hannah had always questioned everything.
Thanksgiving was a casual affair at the Tanner household. She threw on a pair of jeans, an ivory draped top and her favorite pair of Old Gringo boots, which Lauren had given her last Christmas. She quickly applied a little mascara and a slick of gloss over her lips on the way out the door.
She’d given Noah the address of her parents’ ranch. Back in their heyday, her parents had been sheep wool farmers. She asked him to meet them there around noon, and as she unfastened the twins’ car seat buckles, he drove toward her along the main ranch road. “Let me help you,” Noah said as he stepped from his car.
His arm brushed against hers as he reached into the cab and lifted Cheyenne out of her seat. Hannah shook off the tingling sensation it created, reminding herself of the Girlfriend’s Golden Rule—never lust after or date your best friend’s ex. Hannah gasped. The unexpected thought sucked the breath from her lungs. Any tingle from Noah would be completely inappropriate. She couldn’t betray Lauren. She wouldn’t.
“You look nice, by the way.” Noah’s voice snapped her to attention.
His casual comments didn’t help matters. “Thank you.” Every minute she spent around Noah, she understood Lauren’s attraction to him more. Granted the man would be in her life forever because of the girls, but it didn’t mean it was a one-way pass to a relationship.
“Are children their age permitted to ride in the front seat of the truck?”
His question knocked her off-kilter. She didn’t appreciate the insinuation she was illegally toting the kids around. “I assure you it’s quite legal. If a pickup truck doesn’t have an extended cab, children can ride up front if they are in an appropriate car seat or safety harness.” Hannah had read the manuals. She knew the rules. She’d even had the police department install the seats. There was no doubt in her mind the children were safe. Her truck wasn’t ideal, but she couldn’t afford a more child-friendly vehicle right now.
“Whoa, I didn’t mean to offend you.” Noah hip-checked the truck door closed once the twins were out. “Although I can see why you would be. I’m sorry. I guess I’m being overly protective. I mean, that’s what I’m supposed to do, right? That’s a fatherly thing.”
Hannah tried not to laugh at his explanation. He really was new to this. “I’m the one who should apologize. You’re asking the right questions. I’d be worried if you weren’t. This is old hat to us Charlotte and Cheyenne veterans.” She tugged at the bottom of Charlotte’s dress where it had caught in her white stockings. Not that those would last more than an hour the way the kids played. “For the record, I haven’t told anyone who you are yet. I mentioned I was bringing someone to dinner and figured we could tell them together. But again I ask you, please be careful what you say in front of the twins.”
Noah leaned closer to Hannah so the girls wouldn’t overhear. “I’m their father. You do plan on allowing me to tell them sometime soon, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course.” Hannah had the sinking feeling the next sixteen and a half years would be much harder than she’d imagined. He’d probably ask for a visitation schedule. She wasn’t ready for any overnight visits to his house and neither were the girls. “I’ve spent almost every day of their lives with them. I know what’s best. Trust me.”
Hannah introduced Noah to all sixteen members of her family—newly enlarged courtesy of her brother Clay’s marriage to Abby.
Once the girls were playing safely out of earshot, Hannah gathered her parents, brother and sister-in law together in the kitchen.
“I have something to tell you,” Hannah began. Her stomach clenched. “Noah isn’t just a friend of mine. He’s Charlotte and Cheyenne’s biological father.”
“Heaven help us.” Hannah’s mother reached for the counter to steady herself. “What does this mean?”
“It doesn’t mean anything yet.” Hannah spoke before Noah had a chance to respond. “The girls don’t know and we need to take this day by day.”
Noah excused himself, and for a brief second, Hannah wondered if he was making a break for it. From the outside looking in, she could see how her clan could be a tad intimidating.
“Why didn’t you call me as soon as Noah made contact with you?” Clay demanded. “I need to run him through the system and make sure he’s legit. I assume you’re going to schedule a paternity test. Taking this man at his word isn’t smart or safe.”
Hannah reeled from her brother’s onslaught of questions and demands. It was the downside to having a private investigator in the family. “I’m quite certain he’ll want a paternity test. But I’m positive he’s the father. He was the only person Lauren had been with during that time. As for a background check, I’m fine with it. I don’t think he needs to know, though.”
“Where does he even live?” Clay asked. “And what are his intentions with the twins?”
“I don’t know.” Lauren and Noah hadn’t spent much of their night together talking. And Hannah hadn’t thought to ask during his visit yesterday afternoon. “He met Lauren in College Station and he learned of her death there, too, so I’m assuming he lives somewhere in that vicinity.” It wasn’t next door, but three and a half hours away would allow him to visit on weekends. Maybe after a while she’d even be willing to make up a guest room for him so he could spend more time with his daughters.
Clay rolled his eyes. “My naive little sister, things aren’t always as they appear on the surface. What’s his last name? I’ll have one of my associates begin working on it.”
Hannah hadn’t remembered him mentioning a last name. She groaned inwardly. “I have no idea. I took him at his word.” Maybe she had more of Lauren in her than she thought.
“I’ll handle it. Until we know more about him, you should limit his time with the twins and make sure someone else is there when he’s around.” Clay enveloped her in a hug.
“I know this is hard, kiddo.” Hannah’s father joined them. “We’ll help you through it any way we can. Clay’s right, though. Until we know more about him, you need to keep your distance. At the very least, have one of us there with you.”
They rejoined the rest of the family as Noah reappeared bearing a bouquet for her mother and a couple of bottles of wine for her father. Her parents appreciated the sweet gesture. Something Lauren used to say came to mind: “You can’t fake sincerity.” Hannah had always argued that fact, until yesterday. Noah seemed genuinely enamored with his daughters, which was what Lauren had always hoped for. She had always vowed to find him one day.
By the end of dinner, Clay had grilled Noah more than a steak on a barbecue. His last name was Knight...as in shining armor. Lauren would have howled at that. And his first name was William. But there had been so many Williams in his kindergarten class he’d asked the teacher to use his middle name instead. He went by Noah from then on. That explained why Clay hadn’t been able to locate a pilot named Noah when Lauren asked him to find the father of her unborn babies. His job as a helicopter-logging pilot sounded as cool as it did dangerous.
“Aren’t you concerned with deforestation?” Hannah’s father, Gage, asked.
“Heli-logging actually works in harmony with the environment. Instead of scarring the hillside by dragging the logs out or building new roads to transport them, I’m able to lift a telephone pole–sized log straight up.”
“So you’re not creating huge sections of missing trees?” Abby asked.
“No, we’re not clear-cutting,” Noah continued. “We’re also eliminating the soil erosion that can arise from traditional logging.” Noah reached across the table for the salt and pepper shakers and placed them in front of his plate. “Heli-logging thins the forest and opens it up by creating wide spaces between the trees.” He moved the shakers apart from one another to demonstrate. “You’re always hearing about forest fire devastation. A fire will whip through a thinned forest and rarely burn a tree because it remains on the ground. When a forest hasn’t been managed—” he moved the shakers closer together “—there are felled trees and overgrowth providing fuel that concentrates and intensifies the heat on the ground.” He placed his silverware and napkin around and between the shakers. “The fire doesn’t have a chance to flash through as it does in a managed forest. It’s never a matter of if there will be a forest fire, it’s when. Heli-logging helps control the burn before it begins. That’s just one aspect of the job.”
“I never knew any of that existed.” Fern offered him more sweet potatoes. “Your life definitely sounds interesting.”
Charlotte and Cheyenne had insisted on sitting next to him at the table and Hannah wondered if they instinctively knew he was their father.
What had surprised Hannah most was that he lived two thousand miles away in Oregon. She and the girls definitely wouldn’t be seeing him as much as she’d anticipated. That unsettled her. A weekly visitation schedule would be better for the girls. How could they bond with him if they were together only a few times a year?
“Noah,” her father said. “I don’t know what your plans are for the rest of the evening, but we have a tradition of cutting down a live Christmas tree and decorating it on Thanksgiving. We’d love to have you join us, since you’re the expert logger.”
Noah laughed. “I’d be honored, sir. But my team does most of the cutting on the ground. I’m more of a removal man. Hopefully you don’t choose a tree large enough for me to bring in one of my Chinook helicopters.”
Hannah hadn’t expected to enjoy decorating the tree when the men returned. She’d made up her mind earlier that she would duck out just after they left on their tree expedition. It was too painful without her best friend there. Her family’s high spirits kept the mood elevated even though everyone felt Lauren’s absence. The girls had fallen asleep shortly after they’d brought the boxes of decorations down from the attic. Thankfully, her mother had kept their cribs after Lauren left for Boston. They’d return to their old routine of staying with Nanny during the day once Hannah went back to work at the rodeo school. Her job had graciously given her time off while she settled the house and the girls’ routine.
“These were Lauren’s.” Her mother carefully unwrapped the tissue paper–covered ornaments. “I had promised to send them to her once she’d settled in. Now I will pass them directly on to her daughters.”
Noah sat on the couch beside her mother and wrapped a supportive arm around her shoulders. “I’ll make sure they’re the first ornaments the girls hang every year, and I’ll even send you pictures.”
“Excuse me?” Hannah stared at Noah. “You make it sound as if Charlotte and Cheyenne will be with you.”
Noah looked around the room and stood. “Where else would they be? I’m their father.”
“And I’m their legal guardian.” Hannah took a step toward him. “Father or not, Lauren named me in her will, not you.”
“Only because she didn’t know where to find me,” Noah countered. “You even said she’d been looking for me.”
“She may have been looking for you, but she had no intention of handing her children over to you. You have no legal claim to them.”
“I will once I take a paternity test, which I’ve scheduled for tomorrow at Grace General Hospital.”
“You did what?” Hannah couldn’t believe what was happening. He honestly expected to take the girls away from her and her family? “Who do you think you are, coming into my home, my parents’ home, and announcing your plans to rip Charlotte and Cheyenne from the only family they’ve ever known?” Her pulse quickened and the room began to spin. He couldn’t take them. She refused to consent to it. She grabbed hold of her brother’s arm for support.
Clay stepped between them. “Noah, I think you should leave.”
“I don’t understand.” Noah held up his hands. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve seen your house and you’re clearly struggling financially. I don’t want my daughters to be a burden. Plus, we have a lot of time to make up for.”
“First of all, a social worker has already completed a home inspection and I’m well aware of what needs to be done to my house. And second, I may not make as much as you, but those children will never be a burden to me. We won’t be millionaires, but we will survive.”
“I don’t want my daughters to just survive. I want them to thrive and I can provide that for them.”
Hannah felt a shiver down to the bone. “A few hours ago you wondered if asking questions regarding their safety was the fatherly thing to do. You don’t have experience with these children. There’s no way in hell you’re getting those girls.”
“I understand your attachment to them.” Noah spoke with controlled firmness. “I would never cut you out of their lives. That wouldn’t be fair to them or you. But I am their biological father, and you can’t keep me from raising them. You’re more than welcome to visit anytime you’d like, but those girls are coming home with me.”
Clay grabbed Noah by the collar and ushered him to the door. “Until you have a court order saying otherwise, stay away from my sister and my family.” He pushed him through the door and slammed it shut behind him.
“Oh, my God.” Fern began to cry. “Does he have a chance of getting the girls?”
Clay glared down at his sister. “You need to prepare yourself for the fight of your life.” He gripped Hannah’s shoulders. “Maybe I can uncover something to use against him in court. Call Avery. You need an attorney to help you fight this. If a paternity test proves he’s their biological father, a judge can sever your claim to them, despite Lauren’s will.”
This must be a cruel joke. Charlotte and Cheyenne were a part of her as if they were her own flesh and blood. She’d already lost her best friend—she refused to lose the girls, too. She felt a steely grip squeeze her heart. Lauren. She never would have wanted this.
