Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
I took his hand and pulled him into a half hug.
“If y’all decide that you ever want to do something new and exciting, I’m sure we can make room for you in the circus,” I teased.
Banner laughed as he walked away. “My wife has been dying to go back home since we got here. Just sayin’, but there’s no way in hell she’d ever willingly leave her parents or mine for a circus.”
I waved as I watched them all head out and felt sadness well in my heart.
I’d forgotten how much I’d missed them.
Saying goodbye again felt like I was going against the way things were supposed to be.
“It’ll be okay,” Simi promised as she stepped up beside me. “We’ll visit this same exact place in about four to six months. You’ll see them again.”
I would.
Pulling her into my side, we watched my friends disappear from sight.
Only when they were all the way out of sight did I turn to the woman at my side and say, “How about we go tell your family the good news?”
“Is it?” she asked.
I threaded my fingers in her hair.
“We might’ve done this very fast,” I started. “We might’ve done the whole having babies thing a little backward, but your story is always right, no matter how it plays out. We’ll have those babies. We’ll get engaged. We’ll get married. Then maybe we’ll have more babies after that.”
Her eyes sparkled. “We will, will we?”
I nodded.
“And when do I get to meet your sister?” she asked.
I shrugged. “They’re kind of in the middle of moving right now. But you never know. She’ll hear everything, then I’m sure she’ll make an emergency appearance because she’ll be mad that I didn’t tell her everything when it happened.”
“Your friends will tell her?” I asked curiously.
“They’re blabbermouths. And all of them are friends with her on social media. One of them will let it slip. Then she’ll call, tear me a new one, and we’ll set a date for her to get here to visit.”
Mirth filled her eyes as she said, “You’re not going to take the initiative and just let her know about me? About the babies?”
“Babies?” I heard Crimson squeak from behind me. “Did I just hear you wrong?”
Simi ignored her sister as she waited for my answer.
“My sister is a little extra,” I said. “If I tell her now, she’ll be on the first plane out of Bob’s arms. He already resents me enough. If I take her now while they’re moving, he might never forgive me.”
“Babies?” Crimson repeated.
Simi sighed and turned in my arms to see her sister.
I reluctantly let her hair go as she did.
“Babies,” Simi confirmed. “As in two of them.”
Crimson’s mouth fell open. “Holy shit.”
CHAPTER 22
Live. Laugh. Lurk.
-Coffee Cup
SIMI
Two months later
The news of the sheriff came, and it wasn’t good news.
“He’s pleaded insanity.” Trig gave the bad news over the phone.
I looked at Sienna, who’d finally managed to sneak away from her husband to meet me in person.
We’d actually been talking to each other since about three days after we’d left his friends behind.
Coffey was right. His friends couldn’t keep their mouths closed.
And Sienna had found out from Autry that she was going to be an aunt. And to say that she was mad would be an understatement.
Now, months later, we were the best of friends. And she was now visiting with us at the circus and already planning on when she would come back for the birth of our twins.
“I’ll stay in the food trailer hidey-hole,” she’d told me seconds before Trig’s phone call.
Now, we were looking at Coffey, who was trying very, very hard to appear like he wasn’t losing control.
“I see,” Coffey murmured. “And what are their plans now?”
“From what I was able to gather,” Trig said very carefully, “he’s being taken to a facility later tonight. After midnight to avoid any issues.”
I wondered why he put it that way.
I didn’t wonder hours later when I woke up alone to my bed empty and cold, and a note from Coffey telling me to let Keene know he was indisposed for the day. And to lie and act like he was here when he most certainly wasn’t.
Baby,
I’m going to take care of it. I’ll be back as soon as I can. When people ask, tell them that I’m in bed sick with a stomach bug. I love you.
C.
I didn’t need to be a genius to know what was happening.
Coffey had gone to take care of a problem.
And I was all for him fixing that.
When he got home, he’d slip into the bed again and act like he’d never left it.
And I would tell him how much his silent love meant to me.
He didn’t say the words often.
He didn’t need to, though.
He proved he loved me every single day he had a bear claw waiting for me.