by V Vee
The room was perfect for Eddie and me at that moment as I undressed and climbed in behind him, then started to wash him. Making sure to take extra care and time with his hands, so he could see me washing away the proverbial blood he saw staining his palms and holding him accountable for justifiably taking the life of a proven pedophile. I watched carefully as his shoulders lowered more and more, the tenseness in his shoulders easing away.
It took some time, but before long, Eddie was swaying on his feet, peace settling on his features. I again assisted him from being inside the shower stall, and after drying us both off, I took his hand and led him back to the bed. I handed him a pair of boxer briefs and pajamas. I ignored his look of confusion, as I pulled on a pair of my most comfortable set of maternity pajamas. Then, leaving my husband behind, I headed into Ashley’s room.
I knelt beside her bed and brushed a hand over her curls gently. When she opened her eyes, I smiled at her gently.
“Mommy?” She said my name in sleepy confusion.
“Come on, baby girl. You’re going to sleep with me and Daddy tonight. He needs to remember how much you love him,” I told her.
Ashley didn’t hesitate, she swung her legs out of bed immediately and headed out of the room, after saying five words that filled my heart with gladness.
“Of course I love Daddy.”
I followed her from the room and found her in bed, taking up the middle spot, her arms wrapped around Eddie’s neck as he held her close, his body shuddering as he sobbed quietly. Ashley looked at me over her shoulder and I simply kissed her forehead. Without needing to be told anything more she turned back to her father and kissed his forehead as well.
“I love you, Daddy. Thank you for being my hero.”
And that was all that needed to be said.
Chapter Nine
Eddie
Steele Family Home
Baltimore, MD
When I woke up the next morning, refreshed and feeling a bit as if the tears I shed the night before had cleansed a bit of the inky blackness which had contaminated my soul, I was alone in bed. I sat up, looking around for my wife and daughter, and not seeing them for a minute, just a brief moment, I got scared. Fear was a pungent cologne permeating my skin like a mist. However, Ashley’s laughter rose through the air from downstairs and it made me smile.
They’re still here. Still alive.
I wasn’t sure why I’d suddenly developed this unhealthy fear of my daughter, wife, and unborn sons dying on me. I knew who the fuck I was. Knew what I was capable of.
Knew who had my back.
And yet, an uneasy feeling had gripped hold of my mind, and I dressed quickly needing to see with my own two eyes that my girls were okay.
When I stepped into the kitchen, the sight that greeted me stole my breath for a second.
Heaven stood at the counter, mixing ingredients into a bowl, while Ashley knelt on a barstool next to her, pouring in flour, some of which was smeared on her and her mother’s face. They were laughing, standing in the middle of a mess, and yet they were beautiful to me.
And they were mine.
Just like that, the anxiety I had been feeling, the fear, the uncertainty, evaporated in a puff of smoke. I was solid in the knowledge that I wouldn’t let anything happen to them. I would go to my grave protecting my wife, my daughter, my sons, and any other children we had. They were the most important people in the world to me. And I would take my last breath knowing I’d done my duty making them happy, giving them a stable home and family life, and protecting them to the best of my ability.
Feeling better about it all, I walked over to Heaven and tugged her into my body, placing a kiss against her temple. When she glanced at me, a smile on her lips and a question in her eyes, I merely winked at her.
“Daddy! We’re making banana and chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, and Mommy is also making Oatmeal, Macadamia Nut, and Cranberries cookies for lunch!” Ashley said excitedly.
“And are you helping her?” I asked, picking up my little girl, chuckling when she let out a squeal and a giggle.
“Yes! Daddy put me down! I have to pour the cranberries!” Ashley said with a wide grin.
I gave her a mock frown. “But what if I don’t want to put you down?”
Ashley rolled her eyes and gave a huge sigh, making Heaven and I both laugh at her antics. My little girl spent seven years of her life not knowing about me, not being around me, but once I showed up, she was all in. Just like I was. It was absolutely love at first sight for me. She was the sunshine in my life.
Ashley lifted her oatmeal and cranberries covered hands to my face and stared at me intently, her face very grave. I wanted to laugh. So hard, but I could tell that my little girl was trying to be serious, so I fixed my face in order to match her same energy.
“Daddy, I have to spend time with Mommy this morning, but I will spend time with you as soon as we finish the cookies, okay?”
I flicked my gaze up to my wife’s face and found Heaven with a hand covering her mouth as she tried to stop herself from collapsing into laughter. I nodded and stared down into Ashley’s face.
“Promise?”
Ashley kissed my nose. “Promise.”
And even though the entire conversation was hilarious and ridiculous, my heart flipped over in my chest, squeezed, and a lump rose in my throat. I kissed Ashley’s forehead and placed her back on the stool she’d been occupying.
“Okay.”
Ashley turned back to what she was doing, while Heaven lifted a hand to stroke my cheek for just a minute, before she returned her focus to Ashley and what they were cooking.
Feeling immensely blessed, I headed out the door to go and check the mail. With everything that had been going on, I’d forgotten to do it, and Heaven had simply looked at me, down at her very pregnant belly, then back up at me.
Message received.
Chuckling, I stepped out onto the front porch and waved at my neighbors across the street who were returning from shopping. I didn’t know who they were, exactly. We’d introduced ourselves when they’d moved in, and I know Heaven had gotten information from them about how they’d met and how long they’d been together, and I knew it was “so sweet,” but like, really? All I cared about was that they weren’t criminals—or the type of criminals I would have an issue with—and that they didn’t bother us. I didn’t foresee them being an issue, however.
He was a tall guy, taller than me, and extremely built. He was kind of scary, which, considering who I hung out with, the fact that I’d served in the Marines, and who was in my extended family, that was saying something. With his black hair which hung to below his shoulders, eyes that were such a dark green they almost looked black, the tattoos which covered most of his body, especially the big dragon one which wrapped around his waist and up his neck, and the fact he always wore leather, and usually rode a motorcycle, I’d completely understood why Heaven had initially stepped closer to me when we’d gone over to introduce ourselves.
But it was his contrast to her which was the biggest surprise. He was easily 6’6”, and she couldn’t be any taller than 5’7”. He was all muscle, whereas she was what my wife called: FCD: Fluffy, Curvy, & Delicious. With skin the color of dark espresso, she was a stark contrast to his very pale skin. Her hair was natural, but cut short, barely enough to fit into a tiny ponytail at the top of her head, and that’s how she always wore her hair. He dressed like a biker, and she was always dressed in a business suit or a cocktail dress.
They were a study of opposites attracting, and yet, I think there were only five couples I knew of who were as happy as they were: Andrew and Kyra, Parker and Logan, Rachel and Ryan, Kynan and Ava, and Heaven and me.
Although, I’d have to say Heaven and I won hands down.
I watched as they headed inside their house, their four dogs barking excitedly from within, and his hand on her lower back, her tiny baby bulge leading the way.
At the mailbox, I tugged open the
tiny door and winced at all of the envelopes stuffed inside.
Damn. I really needed to check it more often.
I stood next to the trash can that we always left either at the curb or at the side of the house—okay, trash was my job, so I always had it sitting next to the mailbox, two birds, one stone—lifted the top, and began to sort through it all.
Bill, bill, advertisement, bill, wedding invitation, bill, advertisement, bill, bill, Ashley’s progress report card, PTA announcement, magazine, magazine, bill, bill, Ebony™, Essence™, Car and Driver™, Men’s Health™, bill, church flyer, bill, package for Heaven, playdate invitation for Ashley, bill, Department of Treasury check, bill, a manila envelope addressed to m—
I stopped and stared down at the envelope. I knew what was in there. I’d already received it once before, but I knew a lot of the other men in Clan McCarthy had received multiple envelopes. Each one was worse than the last one. Some only had photos. Some had pictures and letters. Some had videos…
I had a video.
I grit my teeth and turned for the house. I’d go through the rest of the mail later.
Heaven and Ashley were still in the kitchen when I came back in, I threw a glance at Heaven before I continued on to my home office. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me, then headed straight over to my computer. Opening the CD/DVD-Rom drive I placed the disc inside and sat down to watch a creepy, voyeuristic video of Heaven and I having sex. And while it wasn’t a video, it was a slideshow of pictures. And yep, there was Heaven…
But that wasn’t me.
And it wasn’t even Zander.
Who. The. Fuck was that?
I looked closer and what I saw sent fury roaring through me.
“LOGAN!”
Chapter Ten
Heaven
Parker & Logan’s Home
Baltimore, MD
I thanked Parker silently as she handed me a mug of steaming tea, my hands still shaking after my argument with Eddie. Ashley was outside playing with her cousins, Logan had grabbed his coat, muttering curses beneath his breath, and stomped out of the house over half an hour before, leaving me with his beautiful, understanding wife. My sister-in-law had always been understanding. Sweet. Almost motherly. It was something I was always grateful for.
Especially now.
“Okay, tell me what happened,” Parker directed. “You were slightly incoherent before, even though I got the gist of things.”
I took a deep breath and remembered the events which had sent me running to my sister-in-law’s place rather than to my own sister.
Two Hours Ago
I looked up when Eddie came back into the house from checking the mail. His face was as dark as a thundercloud and I could only assume that it had something to do with all the envelopes in his hand. Some of them were blue, one was pink and… oh shit. Was that a red envelope? What the hell had we forgotten to pay?
Being an adult and paying bills sucked.
I knew that Eddie would talk to me about everything later on that night, after we’d put Ashley to bed, but the scowl on his face still worried me a bit.
How much did I spend on that manicure and pedicure the other day? I wondered to myself.
“Mommy? Is Daddy okay?” Ashley asked, her concern making me glance down at her. I gave her a big, reassuring smile.
“Oh, honey, Daddy’s fine. He just doesn’t like bills,” I reassured her.
“Why not? My teacher, Mr. Jeffs said that the gov’a’ment passed bills that helped a lot of people.” Ashley lowered her eyebrows in confusion, and I chuckled.
“Different kind of bill, baby. No, these are grown folk’s bills. It’s when we have to pay for stuff, usually every month, so we can live and be happy and healthy. Like paying for gas, for the car, for your internet, for the electricity so you have lights and I can cook…”
“Ohhh. You mean Daddy doesn’t like being a big person?” Ashley asked.
“Not when he has to pay bills, no,” I answered. I don’t like it either.
We’d just returned to finishing up the last batch of cookies, placing the last cookie sheet in the oven when Eddie’s roar of anger made both of us jump, and look in the direction of his office. Ashley climbed down off her stool quickly and hid behind me for a minute, before she pushed her body in front of me, pressing me back until I stood in front of the drawer where we put the knives.
“Ashley? What are you doing?” I asked softly.
“I have to protect you and my brothers,” she answered, sounding as if the answer to that should have been obvious.
“Ashley, no. I’m the adult. I’m your mom, that’s not how this goes…” I trailed off when Eddie stomped into the kitchen, holding a sheaf of papers in his hand.
“Logan? My brother? My goddamn brother? How could you?”
I stared at him in confusion.
“Wh-what are you talking about?” I questioned him.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Heaven,” he said, tossing the pictures in my direction. I pushed Ashley behind me so that they didn’t hit her and glanced down at the images on the floor. What I saw caused me to gasp, and I spun around to put my hand over Ashley’s eyes.
“Is she even mine?” Eddie growled and I narrowed my eyes at him. I walked Ashley to the edge of the kitchen, ignoring him for the moment. Once there, I removed my hand and smiled down at her, hoping she couldn’t see the tears that threatened.
“Go pack a bag, baby. We’re going to have a sleepover at your Aunt Parker and Uncle Logan’s house,” I told her. I heard Eddie’s snort behind me but chose to focus on getting Ashley out of the room so that I could address his ridiculous accusation. I waited until she’d gone upstairs, after throwing the both of us looks of confusion and fear, before I swung around at pointed at him.
“You are an asshole,” I hissed.
“What do—”
I shook my head and slashed my hand through the air. “No. You threw around your baseless accusations, now allow me the courtesy of letting me speak and confront my accusers.” I took a breath and flicked a glance at the scattered photos. “I’m guessing that those came from someone who wants you to believe that I cheated on you with your brother, or that I cheated on Zander with him, but you know, in your heart of hearts, that there is no way I would do that. Not to you. Not to Parker. Hell, I wouldn’t do that to myself. I have slept with two men, two, in my entire life. And one who, most of the time, didn’t ask for my consent, he simply raped me.”
I saw the wince that covered Eddie’s face, but I wasn’t done with him just yet.
“I’m also sure that had you taken a minute, just one goddamn minute to breathe, to just fucking breathe and think rationally, you would have noticed the difference in lighting, shading, and the subtle, but still very apparent, the difference in depths on the pictures,” I told him.
Eddie frowned. “What?”
I pointed down at the images on the floor. “The woman in that picture has one hand that is a darker shade of brown than the other. Parker and I are two different colors. I am darker than her. The hand actually wrapped around Logan, the legs around his waist, the skin around the lips kissing him, and sucking his cock? They are lighter, much lighter than mine.”
I watched as Eddie squatted down and picked up the photos, looking through them, cursing softly.
“Hmm… I’m guessing you just saw that tattoo on the ass of the woman Logan is fucking? Yeah… you’ve seen my entire body, where and why would I have a tattoo that says Parker & Logan on my ass?”
Eddie stood up and took a step in my direction. I backed up and held up my hand.
“Baby, I—”
I shook my head. “Save it. I can’t believe you would think I would cheat on you.”
“You cheated on Zander with me.”
I stared at him in surprise.
“What the fuck did you just say to me?”
“I mean…”
“Fuck you, Eddie.”
And with that, I
grabbed Ashley, who had come back downstairs with her bookbag bulging with clothes, toys, and her tablet, no doubt, and left.
“Wow… what an asshole,” Parker breathed, her eyes narrowed. “I mean, I knew Eddie could be jealous and kind of irrational, he’s been that way for as long as I’ve known him, but c’mon. You guys are married. And so are Logan and me.” She shook her head. “And when I got those pictures, I laughed and simply showed them to Logan.”
I frowned and stared at my sister-in-law in confusion. “You got them too?”
Parker nodded, waving her hand. “Oh yeah. Everyone in the clan has been getting pictures and videos of their partners either naked and in some part of the house where they should have been alone, or ones that make it seem as if they’re cheating on their partners. No one believes it, of course, but it’s causing a bit of a stir.” She peered at me intently.
“I would have thought you knew about it. What with Eddie being in the first wave of guys to get them.”
I shook my head. “No… No. He didn’t tell me.”
Why wouldn’t he tell me?
“It’s probably because you’re pregnant and you guys were shot at,” Parker reasoned.
“Y-yeah… but still—” I sighed sadly. “He should have told me. I mean, it explains a bit more why he’s been so on edge. So emotional and irrational, but…”
“No excuse,” Parker and I said simultaneously.
I looked around the room, taking in the sight of the large flat-screen television, the bookshelves, the pictures on the mantle, the coffee table covered with magazines, Parker’s grading papers, and coloring books, the kids’ toys in the corner, and the dogs’ toys right in front of the fireplace. Parker and Logan’s home looked lived in. Cozy. The way I’d always imagined my house with Eddie would look when the boys got a little older.
I wonder if we’ll ever get back to having that, I thought to myself.
