“I think I got it.” He does the sign for milk and raises his eyebrows.
“That’s good,” I say, impressed he remembered the sign. “I know you are asking a question about milk, but without an accompanying sign, I’m not sure if you’re asking me if I want it or if I have it. We’ll get to that another day. Today I’m going to show you the alphabet. I also have a ton of books you can borrow if you ever want to practice on your own.”
“I know,” he says, stretching his back as if in pain. “I carried them up here a few days ago.”
I laugh. “See, you used body language to get your point across. That’s good. Body language is how you make one sign different just by how dramatically you sign it. For instance, the sign ‘mad’ can also mean ‘really mad’ or ‘furious’ based on bigger gestures and more emphatic body movements. And the difference between ‘happy’ and ‘ecstatic’ would be demonstrated by the amount of joy in your expression when you sign the word ‘happy’.”
Ellie pulls a pen off the coffee table and puts it in her mouth. I take it from her. “No,” I say, closing two fingers to my thumb as I shake my head back and forth and give her a hard stare.
Kyle mimics my sign until he gets it right.
I spend the next half hour teaching him all the letters of the alphabet. Sometimes I have to manipulate his fingers into the proper position. Whenever I touch him, he looks at my face, as if my touch is doing something to him that he can’t quite figure out.
“What’s the sign for ‘friend’?” he asks, at the end of our lesson.
I show him and he signs it back to me. He signs it back to me using crystal clear facial expressions to get his point across. Facial expressions that tell me he’s sorry, but a friend is all he’s willing to be.
The kitchen timer goes off and Kyle hops up to take the Lasagna out of the oven for me. Then he sets the table. Then he gets the salad I made out of the fridge and slices the hot bread, putting it into a basket before he carries it all to the dining room.
I walk into the kitchen and perch on a barstool, mesmerized by watching a man serve me dinner.
He notices me as I regard him. “What was it like with him?” he asks, reading the expression on my face.
I put Ellie in her highchair and grab a few jars of baby food. Then I sit at the table as Kyle dishes me out some dinner. “Pretty much the opposite of this,” I say.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it,” he says.
I take a bite of salad, contemplating what or how much to tell him. The first night I was here, he heard the gist of it. He knows Grant hurt me. But that’s not what he’s asking me now.
“He wasn’t always a monster,” I tell him. “In fact, he was pretty charming in the beginning. We met on spring break in Myrtle Beach when I was nineteen and he was twenty-five. I was a sophomore at the University of Maryland and he was on vacation with a few of his policeman friends.”
I turn my attention to Ellie to give her a few bites. “Yummy carrots,” I say and sign, watching Kyle mimic the gesture in my periphery.
“We hit it off right from the start, spending the entire week together. I remember my friends were so mad at me for going off with this random guy who I didn’t even know. But he made me feel special.” I sigh, berating myself for being so gullible. “My mom didn’t bring home the best role models,” I tell him. “Her boyfriends and husbands treated her terribly. And they treated me like I didn’t even exist. So, when Grant swooped in and made me feel like the most special girl on the planet, I fell for him instantly.
“After I went back to school, he sent me love letters every week. He came to visit me for long weekends in the summer. The next fall, he started flying me to Chicago over my school breaks. He was always giving me gifts,” —I bow my head in shame— “and I was all too eager to show him my appreciation.
“I was young and naïve. I didn’t even realize a cop shouldn’t be able to afford such things. Not an honest cop, anyway. And then when my mom died junior year, he stepped up and paid for me to finish college. He even paid some expenses for Caden, who had earned a baseball scholarship, but was still in need of spending money. Grant took care of everything when I had nothing.”
Kyle puts his fork down in disgust. I think he gets where this is going. “Jesus, Lexi, and then I went and paid for your hospital stay.” He runs his hands through his hair. “When did you realize he wasn’t who you thought he was?”
“When I graduated, there was no home for me to go back to. Mom’s fourth husband, the one she was married to when she died, sold their house and moved away. So, when Grant proposed and asked me to move to Chicago to live with him, it seemed the right thing to do. And it was great for a while. He told me to take my time, plan the wedding, get used to the city before I ran out and got a job. So, I did what he asked.” I shake my head at myself and how stupid I was back then. “I always did what he asked. Right up until a month after our wedding when he found out I’d lined up some job interviews. He didn’t want me to get a job. I told him it was my life and I needed something for myself, apart from him. He didn’t like that very much, so he made sure I couldn’t go to the interviews.”
“How did he make sure, Lexi?” Kyle asks, his hand balling into a fist.
“He said nobody would hire a woman with a messed-up face.”
Kyle violently pushes his chair away from the table. He gets up, walks to the kitchen, and throws his plate into the sink. “Fuck!” he yells, facing the other direction as he braces his arms against the counter.
He takes a few deep breaths before turning around. “By then, you felt like you were trapped.”
I nod. “It took me another two years to build up the courage to leave him.” I look down at my daughter. “It was Ellie. She’s what gave me the courage to leave. I’m not sure I would have if it weren’t for her.”
“I have to ask,” he says, looking curiously at me. “Were you and Grant trying to have a baby?”
I shake my head. “No. In fact, I was pretty opposed to it, which wasn’t a problem considering he didn’t want me to ‘ruin my body’ with a pregnancy.” I look over at Ellie as she mashes a few Cheerios into her mouth. “It was my own fault, getting pregnant. I used to swim a lot at the local YMCA and I ended up with a bad ear infection. I stupidly didn’t use backup birth control. I didn’t even think about it.”
Kyle looks annoyed. “Your doctor should have warned you that antibiotics can reduce the effectiveness of the pill.”
“Yeah, I realize that now.” I laugh.
“And you’re sure he doesn’t know about you being pregnant?”
I shrug. “I don’t see how he could. I left the day I found out.”
He grabs a beer from the fridge and sits back down at the table. “I’m sorry I ruined dinner,” he says. “Thank you so much for cooking. Lasagna is my favorite.”
“I know,” I say, spooning more carrots into Ellie’s mouth. “Mallory told me.”
“She did, did she?” he asks with a crooked smile.
“She told me a lot of things about you,” I goad.
“Really?” His eyebrows shoot up. “Such as?”
I wipe Ellie’s face as I say and sign, “All done.” Then I get up and take my dishes to the sink. “A girl’s gotta have some secrets, Kyle.”
Chapter Forty-four
“Lexi!” Charlie screams, pulling me into her penthouse after she opens the door. “Get in here, Piper has some great news.”
I’m dragged to the sofa where all the girls are sitting, and I put Ellie down where Mallory’s daughter, Kiera, is playing.
“What is it?” I ask.
“We’ve set a date,” Piper says, excitedly. “May 14th.” She looks over at her fiancé, Mason. “He’s finally going to make an honest woman out of me.”
Mason tips his beer at his bride-to-be. “Don’t let her fool you, Lexi. I’ve been trying to get her to set a date for three years.”
“There was never a good time. Someone w
as always having a baby, filming a movie, or out of the country,” Piper says.
“Congratulations,” I say. “That’s only two months away. Is that enough time to plan a wedding?”
Baylor, Skylar and Piper all share a look. “You don’t know our mother,” Baylor says. “When Jan Mitchell puts her mind to it, she can make anything happen.”
They start to share stories of the three of them growing up in Maple Creek, Connecticut. It sounds like they had an incredible childhood. I look over at Ellie and watch her play with Kiera. Then I watch Gracie and Caitlyn toddle into the room. Everyone calls them ‘the twins,’ because Skylar and Baylor had them only days apart. Then I watch Charlie’s son, Eli, follow around two rambunctious five-year-old girls—Jordyn, Baylor’s daughter, and Hailey, Mason’s daughter with his ex-girlfriend. Aaron, Skylar’s four-year-old son, sits perched next to her, paging through a book. The only one missing is Maddox, Baylor’s oldest. He’s away at church camp with his youth group while school is on spring break.
The love and life in this penthouse is amazing. This is what I want for Ellie. I want her growing up with family, friends . . . siblings.
Piper sits down next to me. “I’d love it if you would agree to be a bridesmaid,” she says. “And I promise I’m not just saying that because every other woman here will be.”
“Me?” I look at her in disbelief.
I had friends in college. Good friends, even. But no one who would have asked me to be in their wedding. No one I even asked to be in mine. Probably because Grant wanted to keep it small and local. In fact, the only guest in attendance who was there for me was my brother. Just another way Grant was able to manipulate me.
“Of course,” she says. “Will you?”
I look over at Mason and realize what it would entail. He’s the quarterback for the Giants. I shake my head. “I would like nothing more, Piper. But I can’t. Your wedding will probably be covered by the news. Maybe even ESPN. And pictures will be plastered all over. I’m really flattered that you asked, but I’m going to have to settle for being part of the crowd if that’s okay with you.”
She nods in complete understanding. She’s not one to push. She knows we all have our reasons for why we do things. I know this because just yesterday, she brought Hailey over for lunch and told me her own horrific story. The two of us are bound by similar experiences. Mine, from a man with whom I shared a bed. Hers, from total strangers.
“Will you help me plan it?” she asks.
“I’d be honored, Piper.”
Charlie calls the adults over for dinner as the babysitter they hired rounds up all the kids and herds them into the theater room to watch the latest Disney movie. Mallory and I carry our girls back after them and get them situated with some toys on a blanket in the corner.
By the time I make it out to the dinner table, they are already deep in conversation. About me, apparently.
Ethan and Kyle are discussing ways for me to file for divorce and get full custody of Ellie.
“Are you guys crazy?” I ask them. “What is it about ‘he could sue me for custody’ that you don’t understand? I took his baby away. Without his consent. He would have a solid case against me.” I look at Kyle in anger. “You promised you wouldn’t contact him.”
“I won’t, Lexi. I would never do that without your okay. We’re just tossing around ideas here. When Grant came to the hospital, he said you had something he couldn’t get from anyone else. Do you think he was talking about the ring?”
I shrug. “I suppose he could have been. But he never fussed too much over the jewelry after he gave it to me. After he got his way. Anyway, if he came looking for me in New York because he found out I sold the ring, the idea that he needs to get it from me is kind of a moot point. I’m more concerned that he was talking about Ellie. That he somehow knows I had a child.”
“How could he know?” Mallory asks. “Didn’t you say you ran away the day you found out?”
I nod. “Yes. And I took the pregnancy test and all the packaging with me. I didn’t see a doctor until I got to New York.”
“Boobs,” Gavin says, and all heads turn to him.
Baylor’s jaw drops. “You’ll have to excuse my husband,” she says. “He left his manners down in the building lobby.”
Gavin laughs, grabbing his wife’s hand. “When you were pregnant, your boobs got bigger almost immediately. Hell, when you got pregnant with Caitlyn, I was the one who told you to take a test, remember?”
“Oh, my God, you’re right,” Baylor says. She turns to me. “Maybe he suspected.”
“No,” I say. “No way.” Then I think about how Grant loved my boobs. He loved to show them off in tight dresses. He didn’t want me wearing bras around the house. He was always touching them. Palming them. Studying them.
Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit.
Maybe he did know. “That’s all the more reason to keep him from finding me. If he’s trying to find me because he knows about Ellie, that means he’s after her.” I look at Kyle. “You said it yourself, I have something nobody else can give him.”
“You realize you’ll be a prisoner of circumstance, don’t you?” Ethan asks. “You’ll never be able to get a passport, or any identification for that matter. You’ll never be able to marry. You won’t even be able to enroll Ellie in school.”
“I’ll homeschool,” I say. “And marriage is overrated.”
“Ethan,” Charlie says. “With all your connections, couldn’t you conjure up a new identity for the two of them? Say, Elizabeth and Ellie Smith? I’ve seen some pretty authentic-looking documents pass through our offices before.”
Mallory’s husband, Chad, points his fork at me. “You know, we have some pretty realistic identification for some of the characters I’ve portrayed. I wonder if I could find out who does that for the studio.” He turns to Gavin. “Gavin? Maybe you can put out feelers, too.”
“Sure. I could do that.”
“See?” Charlie says. “Problem solved. We’ll just have to get used to calling you Elizabeth again.”
“Nobody’s calling her Elizabeth,” Kyle insists. “We’re going to figure this out. We just need time.” He sighs and runs those large hands through his hair. “Hiding away forever is no way to live, Lexi. You’ll be looking over your shoulder your whole life.”
For a second, I wonder if he’s worried that I’ll overstay my welcome.
“Given the choice, I don’t really fancy living in hiding either,” I say. “But wouldn’t you all do anything you had to do to protect your children? What if there was even a small chance one of them could be taken away?”
“She’s right, guys,” Skylar says, glancing back towards the theater room where her own two kids are safe and sound. “She can’t risk it. The guy is a cop. A corrupt one. And he’s probably got a lot of other dirty cops in his pocket. Maybe even dirty politicians. You guys might have connections, but my guess is that he does, too.”
A lot of heads nod in agreement.
Kyle blows out a long breath. “Okay. We’ll all try to figure out how to get you some identification. But you’ll still need escorts when you leave the building. I don’t want you and Ellie walking around the city.”
“I walked around the city for six months without being found, you know,” I remind him. “Before I had Ellie.”
“That was before Grant knew for sure that you were here. Now he knows. Now that he traced the ring back to New York City.”
“I’ve got wigs,” Mallory says. “Remember the wigs you sent to me, Chad, when we first started dating?”
I wrap a piece of my hair around my finger. “Maybe I should have stuck with red.”
“No,” Kyle says, his eyes burning into mine. “You definitely shouldn’t have stuck with red.”
In my periphery, I see Baylor elbow Skylar in the ribs as they watch Kyle look at me.
His eyes, the way they look at me. Follow me. His words may say one thing, but if I were deaf, I’d think his actions, h
is expressions, were saying something entirely different.
Chapter Forty-five
By the time we get back to Kyle’s apartment, it’s late. He heads straight for his room and I go put Ellie down for the night before I take a shower. As the warm water flows down my body, I think back on this evening. I would have loved to accept Piper’s invitation to be a part of her wedding. How I long for that normalcy in my life. Will I ever be able to do things like that without thinking about the ramifications?
For almost a week now, I’ve been Lexi again. And it’s been great. I feel like I can finally be myself. Around them. Around him. And a small part of me, deep down inside, wants to go along with them and file for divorce and full custody. But the very large part—the part that owns my heart—is not willing to take even the smallest chance that Ellie could be taken from me.
I comb through my wet hair and put on my tank top and undies before I pad back down the hallway to my bedroom. When I reach the doorway, I stop. My breath hitches when I see what’s inside. Kyle is rocking Ellie.
And he’s shirtless.
His head is resting against the rocking chair and his eyes are closed as he glides back and forth. He’s completely unaware that I’m standing here staring at him.
I’ve never seen him without a shirt before. And even though he’s mostly covered by Ellie, I can clearly see the outline of his abs, the strong lines of his chest, the low dip of his lounge pants. Oh, my God.
I can feel my nipples pebble under the thin material of my shirt and all of a sudden, I’m reminded of my lack of clothing. I start to cross the room to get my robe when I hear his softly spoken words.
The Stone Brothers: A Complete Romance Series (3-Book Box Set) Page 82
