Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
Owen had brought Laura home from Adam’s wedding at ten o’clock. She’d wanted to stick it out until midnight, but he could see that she was exhausted and had talked her into coming home to bed.
While she slept in his arms, their busy babies played a soccer game in her belly.
Owen smiled in the dark each time a little foot or elbow connected with his body and wondered how she could be sleeping through the party they were having.
She’d been incredibly tired as the third trimester got under way, which was why they’d been arguing over the Christmas gift she’d given him—tickets to Anguilla for Evan and Grace’s wedding.
Laura had cleared the travel with Victoria and David, and insisted they had to be there when his best friend and her cousin got married.
Owen disagreed, preferring to stay home where they’d be close to her doctor and midwife in the event of any problem.
They were at a standoff, with Laura insisting they were going and he insisting they weren’t.
The rare disagreement was working on his already frazzled nerves as he waited to see if his father would call again.
It had been more than ten days since the last call, and Owen wondered if he’d missed the opportunity by ignoring the first two calls.
They’d spent a lot of time with his mom and Charlie over the holidays, and seeing how happy they were together made Owen determined to do what he could to win her freedom from her nightmare of a marriage.
But the bastard had yet to call again. Why didn’t he call? It wasn’t like Owen could call him in prison. No, he was forced to wait for Mark to make the next move, which only added to his anxiety.
Between the ongoing argument with Laura and the stress of waiting to see if his father would call, Owen knew there was no chance he’d sleep tonight.
He disentangled from Laura, who’d reached for him in her sleep out of habit, and settled her on the pillow next to his.
Sweeping her hair back from her face, he kissed her cheek and stared down at her for a long moment, wishing he could make her see his side of their debate.
After what’d happened to Maddie when she had Hailey and then Janey with PJ, he was terrified of something going wrong for Laura and the babies.
The last place they ought to be eight weeks before her due date was in the Caribbean for a wedding, but she was determined to go, to have a last hurrah before the babies came and upended their peaceful existence.
Owen retrieved his cell phone from Laura’s bedside table, took his guitar and went downstairs to the sitting room off the lobby where he wouldn’t bother anyone by playing at two in the morning.
Closing the door behind him, he lit a fire and settled into the armless chair that was his favorite place to practice.
Thank God for the music that had always been there for him, transporting him to another world where troubles didn’t exist. He’d taught himself to play at twelve on a flea market guitar with bad strings.
That guitar had opened up a whole new world to him, one that he still ran to whenever life got to be too much for him.
He was lost in the music when Laura slid her arms around him from behind. Owen wasn’t surprised to realize he’d been there for ninety minutes by then.
“I woke up and you weren’t there,” she said. “I was worried.”
“Sorry. Couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to bother you.”
She kissed the back of his neck. “What’s keeping you awake?”
“Lots of stuff.”
“The trip?”
“For one thing.”
“Can I say something about that?”
“Something you haven’t already said?”
Smiling, she came around to sit on the footstool in front of him, which was when he noticed the baby monitor she held in her hand so they could hear Holden if he woke up.
“We’ve had such a crazy year, O, between Holden’s birth, renovating the hotel, your dad’s trial, the wedding and the twins on the way.
I want us to have a wonderful time away from it all before the babies come.
Your mom and Charlie are thrilled to have Holden for a week, and we know he’ll be in very good hands with them.
Please. I just want out of here for a week, and I really want to go to my cousin’s wedding—and I want you to be there, too.
Evan is your best friend. He can’t get married without you.
And,” she added, waggling her brows, “a whole week alone in Anguilla.”
“Alone with your whole family and all our friends.”
“With our own room to flee to any time we want.”
“I’m worried something will happen while we’re away.”
“If it does, we’ll deal with it. I’m not being frivolous with my safety or that of the babies, Owen. I have clearance from my doctor and midwife. We are still within the range where it’s safe to travel. I really, really want to go, but not if it’s going to keep you awake at night with anxiety.”
He put down the guitar and reached for her, bringing her onto his lap. “That’s not the only thing keeping me awake.”
“Your father and that freaking phone call, too.”
“Yeah.”
“I hate him for doing this to you.”
“I hate him for a lot of reasons, and then I feel guilty for hating my own father.”
“He’s given you plenty of reasons to feel that way.”
“Still…”
“I know.”
“So a whole week alone in the Caribbean, huh?” Owen asked, desperate to talk about anything other than his father.
“That’s what I’m offering.”
“It would take a stronger man than I am to turn down an offer like that from you.”
“Yes?” she asked, her face alight with giddy excitement that made him smile. If she was happy, he was, too.
“We can go, but you’d better not let anything happen to you or our babies.”
“I won’t. I promise.” She kissed his lips and then his neck again. “Come upstairs. I’ve got another offer you won’t be able to refuse.”
Owen laughed as his body reacted to her blatant come-on. “I don’t know what I ever did without you, Laura Lawry. I was in a funk when I came down here, and then you showed up and made everything better.”
“I seem to recall you doing the same for me once upon a time.” She got up and held out her hand to him.
Owen took her hand and brought his guitar with him when he followed her upstairs to their apartment.
They looked in on Holden, who was sleeping with his arms thrown over his head and his covers kicked off as usual.
Laura covered him while Owen stashed his guitar on the stand in the corner of the living room.
They met in the bedroom, where Laura treated him to the pleasure of watching her remove her nightgown, revealing a rounded belly and breasts made large by pregnancy. He thought she was, quite simply, the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on.
“Don’t look too close,” she said, suddenly shy after revealing herself to him.
Owen pulled off his T-shirt and went to her, running his hands over her abundant curves. “Don’t ever tell me not to look at what’s mine. And there will never be a time when I don’t think you’re perfect.”
“You’re blinded by love.”
“Maybe so,” he said, resting his hand over the babies, “but I hope you know I mean it. I look at you, and I just see everything.”
“Me, too,” she whispered, drawing him down to her for a kiss.
Owen wrapped his arms around her and fell into the kiss, drowning in the sweet comfort he always found with her.
He was so fully engaged with her that he almost missed the sound of his phone ringing in the pocket of his pajama pants.
Withdrawing from the kiss, Owen kept one arm around her as he retrieved the phone.
A quick glance showed a Virginia number on the screen.
“Give me the phone, Owen. I’ve got this.”
“Thank you, honey, but I’ll do it.” Her love had given him the strength to face anything, even his monster of a father.
He took the call and accepted the collect charges. Owen sat on the bed, and Laura put her nightgown back on and sat next to him. He held the phone so she could hear, too.
“Finally,” Mark Lawry said in a low growl that immediately put Owen on guard. Nothing good had ever followed that particular tone of voice.
“What do you want?” Owen asked.
“I wanted you to pick up the goddamned phone when I called you.”
“Why would you think I have anything at all to say to you?”
“Maybe it’s time you did some listening rather than talking. There are things you don’t know.”
“If you’re going to tell me some sob story that you think will change how I feel about you, then you’re wasting my time—and yours.”
“It’s not a story. It’s the truth. I… I was knocked around by my old man. I never knew anything else. They’ve got me going to court-ordered counseling here, and the guy got me to tell him that. He said I needed to tell my kids so they’d understand why I am the way I am.”
Stunned by the confession from a man who’d never once admitted to weakness of any kind, Owen tried to wrap his brain around what he was hearing.