Chapter Nine
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Briley sat straight up in bed, wide awake. She was bolt upright, her nerves jangling, listening hard for whatever had woken her. But all was quiet.
She glanced at the clock on the bedside table, saw that it was just before five in the evening, which meant that Dux and Drake would be home from work any minute. She lay down again, hoping that sleep would return, but it had fled. Despite having crashed into bed just two hours earlier, she was as wired as if she had drunk too much caffeine, so she knew that she was up for the foreseeable future.
Briley sighed, and got to her feet. She’d check on the babies and then head down to the kitchen to make a mug of green tea, maybe have dinner with Dux and Drake. She’d feed Hannah and Joe, and crawl back into bed… this time with her desperately sexy men curled up next to her, all around her.
She pulled on her favorite ratty bathrobe, then wandered down the hall in a daze of tiredness. As a first-time Mom she had zero measuring stick or experience in terms of caring for ten-day-old infants, but she guessed that whatever was the norm, twins doubled it. That went for joy, love… and exhaustion.
Dux and Drake were amazing, of course, getting up with her in the night, then going to work in the garage all day. They’d taken off a few days each, but two babies also meant double the costs and the bills – and so their income was mandatory. Thank goodness Briley had decent medical coverage from her job at Rose Terraces Nursing Home, along with another three weeks of paid leave. She and the twins were still deciding if she’d take more time at home after that – she’d be unpaid, of course, which she wasn’t thrilled about – or if the three of them would take it in turns to stay home with Hannah and Joe. Juggle work hours and home hours, make it work the way that millions of other people did.
She knew that the men had money saved up, and so did she, of course… but the whole idea of giving up one-third of the household income and dipping into their savings felt risky to her. Things like health insurance, and a bigger vehicle, and school costs, and maybe college, were all dancing around in her head, making her good and tense about money.
The twins told her that her only focus was on loving the babies, getting enough rest, and physically recovering from the birth just over a week before. It had gone incredibly smoothly and fast – especially since twins often brought complications – and she knew that she was lucky. Tired, still bleeding a bit, with a stomach that hadn’t deflated even ten days after the birth, sure. But mostly recovered, with two beautiful, healthy babies, and two sexy, strong men as partners and fathers.
So life was pretty damn good, actually.
Briley got to the guest bedroom that was now a nursery, and paused in the doorway. She saw that neither baby was in their crib, and she smiled. Obviously Dux and Drake were home a bit early and they’d come and taken Hannah and Joe downstairs while she’d slept. That was probably what had woken her up, now that she thought about it: she’d probably heard them heading downstairs, undoubtedly chatting away to the hungry, cooing babies.
She walked down the stairs, across the living room and glanced at the mountains through the enormous window. This was the view that had decided her on this house, and she hadn’t tired of its breathtaking beauty yet. Briley didn’t think that she ever would.
Down the long hallway to the kitchen, which was weirdly quiet. Puzzled, she went in and looked around, but it was empty. She checked the fridge and saw that there were still seven bottles of her pumped breast milk – the same number as when she’d fed the twins and then staggered off to bed two hours earlier.
Briley stood in the middle of the kitchen, her dishevelled blonde head cocked, listening to the house. But there was utter silence and stillness, and as she stood there in the hush, she knew that she was alone.
That was when she heard the front door open, heard Dux and Drake coming in. Relieved, thinking that they’d taken the babies with them on an errand or maybe just a quick walk, she hurried down the hallway again, eager to see Hannah and Joe. It had only been a couple of hours since she’d laid them down for a nap, but she was feeling anxious in a way that she didn’t really understand, and she needed to get eyes on them. It felt imperative.
Later, much later, when she was able to think clearly again, she’d wonder if that feeling was maternal intuition. If she’d somehow known that something was very, very wrong, even when there was no real reason for her to think that. But in this moment, she felt what she assumed was the vague uneasiness of a new mother, and she entered the living room in a rush. Then stopped dead, her heart dead in her chest.
Dux and Drake were standing next to the door, stripping off their heavy coats and talking about what to make for dinner, wondering if they had enough ice cream for dessert. They were carefree and gorgeous, talking about nothing of real consequence, as if everything was totally and completely fine and normal.
Except that nothing was totally and completely fine or normal; she didn’t understand what the fuck was happening here, but she knew that her world was seconds away from collapsing.
Briley leaned against the wall for support, suddenly unable to take a proper breath. Despite her not uttering a single syllable, Dux and Drake turned as one to look at her. Their handsome faces wore identical taken aback expressions, their astonishing Arctic-blue eyes were startled. They took in her hair standing on end, the bathrobe, the shaky breaths. But what really alarmed them was the look on her face: Briley was paper-white, her trembling lips bloodless, her beautiful green eyes wide and unfocused.
They crossed the living room at a run.
“Babe,” Dux said as he reached her, his hands gripping hers. “What happened?”
“Briley.” Drake rested his hand on her lower back, felt her trembling. “Is it the babies?”
“Where –” She blinked hard, forced her frozen mouth to form words. “Where are they?”
“Who?” Dux asked, steering her over to the sofa. “Where’s who?”
“Hannah and Joe.”
“They’re upstairs,” Drake said, clearly perplexed. “Right?”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?” Dux asked.
“I mean, I went to the nursery to get them, but the cribs are empty.”
The men exchanged glances, did that unnerving silent communication thing. Without a word, Drake stayed on the sofa with her while Dux headed towards the stairs.
“OK, darlin’,” Drake said gently. “When did you last get any sleep?”
She was fixedly watching Dux’s legs disappearing up the steps two at a time, and barely heard the question. “What?”
“Sleep.” He pushed her hair back. “Remember yesterday, when you were sure that there was a fire in the kitchen, but it was just a really vivid dream?”
“Ummm.” She forced herself to pull it together. “Yes.”
“So lack of sleep can make the brain go a bit weird. Are you sure that you saw the cribs empty?”
“I –” Suddenly she felt confused, then hopeful. Maybe she was so exhausted that she was imagining things? “Maybe?”
Then Dux was tearing down the stairs at top speed, shouting for his brother to call the police. Briley looked at his stricken, panicked face and knew that she wasn’t imagining anything .
The babies were gone.