a red flag. He froze long enough for the call to go to voice mail. He couldn’t talk to her. Talking would lead to seeing his daughters again. His daughters. They were no longer a concept. Even after their due date had passed, Wes had refused to think of them as tiny humans almost two thousand miles away from his new home in Ramblewood, Texas. Now he had no choice.
He had held them in his arms and they had imprinted themselves on his heart. How could he walk away and go back to life as usual? Especially when they were growing up in his hometown where every time he visited his brothers and their growing families he ran the risk of running into them. And what would happen when they got older and started driving or playing sports? He was bound to see their names in the newspaper or mentioned by a neighbor or friend. Saddle Ridge was a small town and nothing escaped anyone.
Wes stormed to the tack room. He needed to go for a ride and clear his head. The voice mail notification chimed from his back pocket. As much as he wanted to ignore it, he couldn’t. His finger hovered over the play button, praying Jade had called to say she had found Liv and everything was fine.
“Wes, it’s Jade. I know you have your phone in your hand because you posted a pic online less than five minutes ago. At least it was better than the tacky one of you in bed. Anyway, I’m calling to tell you Liv came back to the house sometime yesterday or during the night. I don’t know when or how long she stayed, but it may have been when you were here. Please call me as soon as you get this. I’m scared of how she may have reacted if she saw us together with the girls.”
* * *
WES TOOK THE front porch steps of Liv’s house two at a time. Jade opened the door and pulled him inside before he had a chance to knock. He told himself repeatedly on the drive over he was there only for Liv’s well-being. Any attachment to the girls was off-limits.
“Thank you for coming. I know this is the last place you want to be.”
Wes followed her into the small living room off the main hallway. He’d half expected to see Audra, Hadley and McKenzie when he turned the corner, instead the room looked exactly as it always had.
“It doesn’t even look like a baby, let alone three babies, lives here.”
“Exactly.” Jade paced the length of the small off-white area rug. “We were so busy feeding the girls yesterday I didn’t get a chance to show you this.” She grabbed his hand and led him down the hall to a narrow closet. The gesture was innocent enough, but her palm against his felt more intimate than a kiss. Within seconds she released him, and damned if he didn’t miss her touch already. He balled his fist, refusing to feel anything for the woman. “This is what I mean when I say Liv knew what she was doing.”
She swung the closet open and flipped on the overhead light. There were numerous neatly stacked, transparent lidded bins with index cards taped to the front of them listing each one’s contents. Baby toys, baby blankets, baby photo albums...all generically labeled.
“Why is everything in the closet?”
“These had all been in various rooms when I left a little over a month ago. Sometime between now and then, she ordered storage containers and packed everything away.”
Wes wandered around the first floor of the house, peering into each room. “I’ve never been upstairs, but nothing down here looks any different from before she got pregnant. The place was always spotless. Is it possible she took the bins out when she needed them?”
Jade shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense. Those photo albums used to be on the coffee table. She couldn’t wait to fill them. I looked inside and there are three, possibly four pages’ worth of photos. And the baby blankets...she was so proud that she’d learned how to crochet for her daughters. Those are shoved in a box too.”
“What about the nursery? Did she change anything in there?”
“No.” Jade started up the stairs, but Wes’s feet refused to follow. “Are you coming?”
“Aren’t the girls up there?”
Her shoulders sagged at the question. “So that’s it? Last night was a onetime deal and you’re never going to see them again.”
“I thought I already made that clear.” What part of not wanting to be a parent didn’t she understand? He had to set boundaries before she expected more from him. “I’m not here for them. I’m here because you said Liv came back to the house and you’re afraid she saw us together. I’m here because I’m worried about her. I’m not worried about the girls. I trust you with them.”
“How very big of you.” She closed the distance between them, her eyes blazing with anger and fear. “Hell, I’m surprised you haven’t snapped a picture of them and posted it all over the internet to see how many likes and follows you can get.”
Wes put a hand on her arm. “I know you’re upset, and I meant what I said yesterday. I’ll do whatever I can to help you find Liv. But please, don’t take it out on me. This isn’t my fault just like it isn’t your fault.”
Jade dropped her gaze. “It is our fault. We missed the signs. You taking off to Texas is no different from me flying back to LA as fast as I could. We both abandoned her.”
“We were only donors.” Wes bit back the bile he now associated with the word. “Those kids aren’t ours. And you didn’t abandon Liv. You were there when the babies were born. You helped bring them home. You’re caring for them night and day. You’re living in the same house with them. They’re the first thing you see in the morning and they’re the last thing you see at night. I don’t even have to be here to recognize you’re getting attached to them.”
“Of course I am.” Tears filled her eyes. “I never wanted to feel this way, but they’re our daughters. How can you not get attached?”
“They are your nieces, but they can’t ever be anything to me. That’s how Liv wanted it.”
Jade tried to pull from his grip, but he refused to let go. Not when she was in so much pain. Her heart beat wildly against him as he held her tight to his chest. Despite the past or the resentment he still felt toward her, he wanted nothing more than to ease the guilt she carried.
“It’s okay.” He smoothed her hair and rested his cheek against the top of her head. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll find Liv, make sure she gets the help she needs and bring her home to her children.”
“I’m scared she’s not going to be okay or that she’ll do this again.” Jade sobbed against him. “She came back, Wes. She was here, and she left. She walked away twice. How could she do that?”
Wes eased her onto the couch, summoning every ounce of strength he had not to panic. Between the abandoned triplets he’d never wanted to be involved with and Liv’s fragile emotional state, he felt the overwhelming need to protect the Scott women, even if that included Jade...the woman who had made his life pure hell.
“Tell me what happened.”
After Jade explained about the car seats she’d found earlier, he figured there was a fifty-fifty chance Liv had seen them together. Since she’d purposely kept their identities from the other, he understood how watching him and Jade with the girls might upset her.
“I’m not trying to belittle your concerns in any way, but why do you think seeing us together would push her over the edge?”
