Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles)

by Lee, Kimball

  “Well yeah, it’s a big deal, here’s this little person who’s a part of you, and you want to give him every good thing the world has to offer,” Charlotte said, and as she stared down the hallway she saw that Finn was walking toward them holding a baby. “What’s going on my love, is that Lizzie’s baby?”

  “Yes, and it seems that he’s West’s baby, as well,” Finn said, handing the baby to West, then holding up the birth certificate for him to see. “I don’t think you’ll be seeing your baby’s mother in court tomorrow, I’m sure she’s already crossed the border into Mexico. Congratulations West, you have a son.”

  *

  Alexander Bly’s children were preparing to enter the world by scheduled C-section two floors above the room where Amanda and JP were showing off baby Jack.

  “He’s great and he’s big, are all babies that size?” Bly asked, he was pacing the floor, his hand wouldn’t stop pushing the wayward strands from his forehead.

  “No, he’s insanely big and I promise you, the twins together will probably weigh what he does. Could you be any more nervous, Alex? How is Maddie, is she ready for the big event?” Amanda asked her brother. She laughed when he turned red and looked the other way as she held Jack to her breast to feed him. “Is Maddie going to breast-feed? It might be difficult with twins, but it’s so good for them.”

  “Maddie is handing over the babies to me and her mother and two nurses, then she’s going to a spa as soon as the doctor says she can travel. Don’t get me started, I thought new mothers talked about diaper rash and sleepless nights. She’s talking about a tummy tuck and a breast lift, and how soon she can send the twins off to boarding school in Switzerland,” Bly said, with a little too much venom in his voice. “I’d better go check on her, I’m sure there will be hell to pay because I disappeared for a minute. Amanda, take care of that big boy, and JP, you take care of my sister or you’ll answer to me.” He stopped at the door and looked at Amanda, “You look like an angel Amanda, it does my heart good to see you so happy. I’ll stop by later and let you know how the twins are doing… are you expecting any visitors?”

  “She was here when Jack was born, but I won’t see her again until I go home. Go to your wife, Alex, this is the day you’ve been waiting for,” Amanda said, then she looked at JP and shook her head in resignation as soon as Bly left the room.

  The twins were healthy and as blonde as Maddie and Bly felt his heart nearly burst with joy when he held them. He and Maddie argued over names when the nurse asked them to fill out the birth certificates. Mia Genevieve was born first, and Bly wanted to name her Evangeline, but Maddie wouldn’t hear of it. Holden Alexander was the second born, and Bly insisted on naming him after his late father, Holden Bly.

  They filled his life, Holden and Mia, they made Bly look forward to waking up in the morning and coming home every night. They astounded him with their cooing and gurgling every time he held them, and the way they studied him so intently, blinking and trying to focus on his face. The nannies kept them in separate beds, but Bly loved to put them in one crib together. They seemed happiest that way, aware of each other’s presence. If they were crying they stopped as soon as they lay next to each other.

  Sometimes he would lie on the floor of their nursery, on the plush new carpet, with the twins beside him. He talked as if they could understand every word he said, and he told them all about his plans for their future. He would never send them away to school, he wanted them near him. They would be a family, and if Maddie wanted to be a part of it, that was fine. If not, he would give his son and daughter two parents worth of love, and as Charlotte said, his life would be completed in them.

  Chapter Seven

  “I have an appointment this morning, do you want to meet afterwards for lunch,” Charlotte asked Finn as she was getting dressed. It was two days before Christmas and her gynecologist had agreed to see her, even on such short notice.

  “A doctor’s appointment,” he asked, “leaning over her as she sat at her antique dressing putting on lipstick.

  “How do you always know everything?” she asked, “are you psychic or something?”

  “I’m extremely familiar with my love’s body, and I notice when it changes, I pay attention,” he said, kissing her neck, and then straightening his tie.

  “Is that part of your love for me, or part of your SEAL training, noticing every little thing?” she asked, and smiled at his reflection in the mirror.

  “Both,” he said, “what time is your appointment? I’ll try to get there in time to hear the doctor say the magic words. Last Christmas wasn’t the best, I think this one is going to be great.”

  *

  When Finn walked into his office, the young man JP had hired to handle the front desk handed him a stack of messages. Finn leafed through them and to his great irritation, the first one was from Bly. It said he wanted Finn to know that he was terribly sorry, but Maddie had need of Billy Kipling’s services for the day. Finn looked at his watch and decided to cancel his clients for the morning and meet Charlotte at the doctor’s office. He dialed her number, but her phone went straight to voice mail, which probably meant she was already with the doctor.

  *

  “Well Charlotte, you are definitely pregnant!” Dr. Adler said, “About ten weeks along, I’d say, congratulations. We’ll do a sonogram to pinpoint your exact due date, I’ll have my nurse set it up.”

  “Thank you, I need to call my husband, he’ll want to be with me for the first sonogram. Can we schedule it for right after the holidays? Thank you a million times, Dr. Adler, this is the best Christmas present you can imagine,” Charlotte said, and she was so excited that she could barely sit still.

  “I’m very happy for you, Charlotte, I’ll see you in a couple of weeks then,” the doctor said, and left the room with a smile.

  Charlotte was on cloud nine as she dressed, she couldn’t wait to tell Finn. She wished he could’ve been with her to hear the news, but it didn’t matter how he found out. All that mattered was that their baby was growing inside her. If she had to lock herself inside her house for the next six months to make sure it was born safely, that’s what she would do.

  She walked to her car in the parking garage and dialed Finn’s number as she searched through her purse to find her keys. She sat behind the wheel of her new Tahoe just as Finn answered, “where are you my love, do you have good news?” he asked, and she grinned at the excitement in his voice.

  Before she could answer, a hand closed around her throat and the phone fell to the ground.

  “Sweet, sweet Charlotte,” Bennet Sommerfeld said, holding a knife against her cheek, “You and I are going to have such an adventure!”

  He covered her mouth with duct-tape before she could scream, then dragged her out of the car and pushed her into the back seat. He taped her hands behind her back and crushed the phone with the heel of his shoe. As he drove out of the parking garage he told her to lie down and stay quiet and she would live, otherwise he would slit her throat slowly while he fucked her.

  As Charlotte lay on the seat there was a barrage of loud pops and glass showered all around her. The Tahoe hit a concrete barricade and Bennet slumped forward. Her door swung open and she looked up into Finn’s eyes, he lifted her out of the ruined car and tore the tape from her mouth in one swift movement.

  “Ouch!” she said, and he looked stricken for a moment, then she smiled.

  Bennet Sommerfeld moaned in the front seat and Finn cut the tape from her hands with a small knife. Then he dragged Bennet out of the Tahoe and let him fall to the ground, bleeding from the chest as police sirens began to sound close by.

  “Is he dying?” Charlotte asked, looking down at the man who would have ruined or ended her life.

  “No, just a shot to the shoulder, the bullet probably went straight through,” Finn said, and he kicked the shit out of Bennet as he lay moaning. “He’s going to prison and he can have all the sex he wants when he gets there. His girlfriend will be named Bu
bba, not Charlotte, but he’ll get used to it.”

  “You saved me, but you were a little late for the doctor’s appointment,” Charlotte said, wrapping her arms around his neck and smiling up at him.

  “So we’re having a baby?” Finn asked, holding Charlotte so tightly against him she could barely breathe.

  “Yes, my love, we’re having a baby,” she said, and they smiled and kissed as the police gathered and called for an ambulance.

  Charlotte turned to look at her new SUV with its shattered windshield and dozen bullet holes.

  “You know, Finnegan, we have nothing but bad luck with cars, I’ll bet this means we’re going to have to find a new insurance company!”

  ONE YEAR LATER…

  “Dammit Amanda, you swore to me that Bly wouldn’t be here!” Charlotte hissed when she spotted Billy Kipling among the guests at Jack’s first birthday party.

  “Settle down sister, he’s not coming. If you’ll notice there are two nannies and Billy Kipling to guard the little prince and princess. Alex is in the middle of his own huge fucking disaster at the moment, he doesn’t have time for pony rides and balloon-artist clowns,” Amanda said, settling onto a chaise lounge on the patio with her six-week-old daughter at her breast.

  “What huge disaster? By the way, I’m all for breast feeding, but could you partially cover that porn-star sized boob please?” Charlotte said as she sat with her own daughter on a quilt she’d spread on the ground.

  “It totally turns JP on to see my breasts in public, he’s such a freak, I love it. We went from sex once in a blue-moon to filming ourselves fucking nonstop after Jack was born.”

  “Well I can see that since your daughter was born ten months after you gave birth the first time. That’s kind of trashy, you know, but little Ava is precious,” Charlotte said, and she smiled as Amanda rolled her eyes. Amanda and JP were acting like newlyweds, and JP had certainly mended his wandering ways since Jack was born and Lizzie disappeared. She wasn’t sure which incident had caused his change of heart; she was just glad the old JP was back and all was well.

  “That is kind of bad isn’t it? Shame on us, are your mommy and daddy too trailer park for you, sweet Ava? Yes, we did the nasty before we were supposed to and I got pregnant, but guess what? I’d have contortionist sex with my husband here and now if he asked me to. I don’t know why I ever stopped wanting sex in the first place... look at my man, fuck! I’d hand you this baby, strip him naked and suck his dick in front of all these people….” Amanda said before Charlotte cut her off midsentence.

  “Please, there are children present, we need to clean up our filthy language and maybe not have sex in public for the kid’s sake.”

  “Oh yeah, like a five month old and a six week old really give a shit. You don’t care what we’re saying do you, Hadley? No, not at all, and let me tell you something about your mommy and daddy, if they filmed their sexy encounters they could make a fortune in the porn industry,” Amanda said, and Charlotte laughed with her because it was just so damned true.

  “Are you finished having babies?” Amanda asked Charlotte, as she moved Ava to her shoulder and covered her breast, “I assure that I’m all done, JP had a vasectomy the week after I found out I was pregnant with Ava. You’ll notice I didn’t take any chances with our nannie either, did you get a chance to meet Irma?”

  “Yes, the nannie who looks like Shrek was a clever move, I doubt that you could find a French maid’s uniform to fit her! No more babies for me either, my family is complete. Listen, Finn and I are going to Pass Christian for the first two weeks in June and we want you, JP and the kids to come with us. We’ve decided to close the bed and breakfast for a couple of weeks every year so we can have our family vacation and celebrate birthdays there,” Charlotte said, shading her eyes and watching JP and Finn as JP settled Atticus onto the Shetland pony.

  “Hey, look Mommy! Atticus loves riding the pony, he’s a true bronc-rider,” JP called to Charlotte as he held her son on the saddle while the pony plodded around in a circle.

  “That’s great, especially since he’s the only kid at this party who is old enough for a pony ride,” Charlotte said and reached for her camera to take pictures, then she saw that Finn was already filming their son.

  “Hey, maybe Hadley wants to ride the pony with her brother,” Finn said, stopping to scoop his daughter up. He held her out in front of him talking to her with such a look of pure joy on his face, Charlotte’s heart felt ready to burst.

  After Hadley had ridden with her brother for a few laps, Finn gathered both of them up. JP rescued Jack from his very old, very unattractive nannie, and the two men walked together laughing and talking and sharing tales about their babies.

  Amanda and Charlotte watched their husbands, both of them sexy and strong and at the mercy of their beloved children.

  “The Pass Christian trip is a definite yes, the Gulf water is so warm, the kids will be in heaven, count us in. Man, Angelina Jolie better watch out,” Amanda said, “just look at your daughter, and you thought a baby girl wouldn’t be lucky enough to have Finn’s scrumptious mouth. Damn, you’d better find a good convent to put that girl in when she hits puberty.”

  “She looks like Finn, doesn’t she? His eyes, his mouth, she doesn’t look like me at all, thank God. I think you’re right, she is going to be a serious beauty, and I have to tell you, she has all of us wrapped around her little finger. Atticus is already such a good big brother, he lets her have his toys and now that she’s taking a bottle he wants to feed her. He’s two and a half and he already watches out for Hadley,” Charlotte said and wiped away a tear, and she and Amanda smiled at what a big softy she’d become.

  “Your son looks like his father too, but as promised, it’s our dirty little secret, so we won’t go there,” Amanda said. “So aren’t you dying to hear the biggest news in San Diego? The roaring scandalous divorce of Alexander Bly and his pregnant wife?”

  “What the…?” Charlotte moved to the end of Amanda’s chaise lounge, she was truly shocked. “Maddie is willing to forgo her monthly plastic surgery appointments to have another baby? Why on earth are they getting a divorce if she’s pregnant?”

  “According to Alex, they haven’t had sex in over a year, so evidently his wife went the Evangeline way of getting pregnant. My mother fucked around and had me, and Maddie fucked around big time with her ex, that dick-head photographer, Spencer Beck. Now the two of them intend to take my brother to court to get a huge chunk of his money. Alex is willing to pay her more than she deserves, but she has to give up custody of the twins. It’s a complete Jerry Springer mud-slinging disaster, and you know Alex, he hates to be in the public eye. So he’s paying her off, and her cosmetically enhanced ass is moving to Los Angeles,” Amanda said, tilting her head and waiting for Charlotte’s reaction.

  “Wow, not good, I thought Maddie really loved him. I can’t believe she betrayed him with Spencer Beck, I mean seriously, how can he possibly compare to Bly?” Charlotte said, then she blushed as Amanda gave her a questioning look.

  “You still love my brother, don’t you? I don’t think I’ll ever understand you, Charlotte,” Amanda said, shaking her head in disbelief.

  “Sometimes I wish I could trade lives with you Amanda, my life is so much more complicated than it seems,” Charlotte said, and she looked out to the lawn where Finn was feeding birthday cake to Atticus. He held Hadley in his lap and Atticus swiped a tiny finger in the icing and stuck it in the baby’s mouth. “I’ll be right back, can a five month old have cake icing? Finn, don’t let her eat that!” she called out.

  Two nannies wandered over holding Mia and Holden Bly, and Mia reached out her little hand and patted Atticus on the head. The younger nannie stared at Atticus, and Finn motioned for Charlotte to come take Hadley. He whisked Atti away, saying it was time for his nap. Charlotte followed him to the car and watched him as he strapped both babies into their seats without saying a word.

  “I’ll take them to my Mum’s for
a nap, then I’ll meet you at the house in a while. You have your car and I have a few phone calls to make concerning Bennet Sommerfeld’s parole hearing,” he said, kissing Charlotte then putting the car in gear.

  She leaned down to the open car window and placed her hand over his on the steering wheel. “I think we should go back to Surrey… to live, you know, we could be near Jude and Keller. Or to Pass Christian, we’ll close the bed and breakfast and move into the house. My dad would be thrilled to have us nearby.”

  “We’ll see,” he said, and his eyes narrowed as he looked off into the distance. “No one is going to change who we are as a family. Don’t even worry about it, my love, I’ll see you at home.”

  *

  As Charlotte walked toward the house, her mind was on fire with the terrible weight of deceit, and she literally ran into Billy Kipling.

  “Charlotte, I wondered if we’d run into each other, and now we have,” he said, and gave her a quick hug before they backed away from each other.

  “Sorry about that Billy, how are you? How’s your little girl getting along, do you see her often?” Charlotte asked, and as before she was struck by the intensity of his grass-green eyes.

  “Yeah, she’s great and so cute and smart, you know? I fly out to Kansas one weekend a month and I have to say, she loves me like crazy. It’s the coolest thing, being a parent, right?” he said and Charlotte could tell he had baby fever as bad as any parent.

  “Do you have pictures, what’s her name? She’s about the same age as Atticus isn’t she?”

  “Of course I have lots of pictures,” he grinned as he scrolled through his phone and showed her a little girl with light brown hair and his startling green eyes. “Her name is Vivi, and she lights up my life. Her birthday is May twenty-eighth, so she’ll be three in the spring.

  “That’s Atti’s birthday, they were born on the same day, how cool is that? Well I’m glad it’s worked out for you to be in her life, will you bring her out here for a visit sometime?”