Chapter 36
Penny
‘Ican’t believe you moved here,” I tell Kate as a group of us walk through the San Diego Zoo.
It’s been a month since the shooting, and I’m all healed up. To say the last four weeks have been a whirlwind would be an understatement. I’ve had numerous doctor's appointments for both my shoulder and pregnancy, and we’ve been dealing with the fallout from Brad’s crimes.
“I’m so happy to be near my nieces. I can’t wait to spoil the shit out of them,” Kate says.
After everything that happened, Kate told us she didn’t want to be across the country anymore.
She wanted to be near family. She pulled the trigger on moving a few towns over just a couple of weeks ago and decided that she’s going to start her own event planning business here, straying away from the family hotel chain.
Her father was extremely supportive of her decision, instantly bragging that both of his children were entrepreneurs in their own right.
A far cry from how he used to treat Declan and Kate in their youth, according to them.
I call it a win, though. You can’t fault a man who is willing to change, who is evolving into someone better, and that’s exactly what Phillip is doing with his kids.
“Who says this is a girl?” I ask, rubbing my stomach.
“Oh, it’s a girl alright. Trust me. I know these things.” She winks at me.
I’m giving her shit, but my gut says the same thing.
Declan and I decided to wait until the twenty-week mark to find out the gender of our baby, and although I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl, I wouldn’t mind watching Declan become a full-blown girl dad.
“How are you doing, baby?” Declan sidles up next to me and wraps his arm around my waist, cradling my now-visible baby bump.
“Are you talking to the bean or me?” I ask with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
“Both,” he says as he plants a chaste kiss on my lips and rubs his hand over the swell of my stomach.
“God, could you two be any sweeter?” Kate asks, her tone laced with mock disgust. “It’s seriously annoying.”
“Just wait until we find you a man,” Jordan tells her.
Kate scoffs. “Oh no no no. I don’t do love.”
I blink a few times at her admission because, what? Kate is one of the most beautiful people on the inside and out, and she doesn’t do love? That doesn’t seem possible.
“Anyways,” Kate continues, “I’m helping my little pink princess with her wedding, but I think you and Declan should do one too.
Or at least a vowel renewal. Because I can’t believe you denied my niece the chance to be a flower girl.
” She shakes her head and looks at where Autumn is pulling Phillip through a crowd of people, talking animatedly while showing him the lions.
Kate is helping Jordan plan her wedding, which is set for the middle of September. In fact, Lucas and Jordan decided to make it for the one-year anniversary of when they first met at the coffee shop.
Talk about disgustingly sweet.
Kate and Jordan became fast friends when I hosted girls' night a few days after Kate showed up in town. She wouldn’t take no for an answer from Jordan, stating that she would do it for free as long as Jordan would think about possibly moving into doing wedding photography for any future clients.
“Kate,” Declan growls. I turn to see why Declan is angry at her but before I do, I catch Kate winking at him.
“So, when do you guys move in?” Lucas asks, interrupting the moment before I can read into Kate and Declan’s interaction.
That’s another thing we’ve been busy with.
Declan and I bought a house. We decided after we got home from the hospital that we wanted to finally live together.
Our apartments are too small, considering our family is expanding, so we started looking for houses in the area.
We closed on a four-bedroom house just two days ago, and it’s only a block from Lucas and Jordan and within walking distance of our businesses.
“Three weeks. We got a shorter escrow period because the family that lived there has already moved out.”
“That’s amaz–”
“Daddy, can we take a picture in front of the elephants with grandpa Phillip this time?”
Everyone stops to look at my daughter.
This is the first time Autumn has called Declan daddy, and the first time she’s called Phillip grandpa.
I look at Declan, and there’s shock written all over his face. It takes him a moment to school his features before saying, “Of course, baby girl.”
When I look at Phillip, I swear I see a tear in his eye, but he looks away for a brief second before I can tell for sure.
After we asked Autumn at the hospital if it would be okay for Declan to be her dad, she hasn’t said a word about it since.
She could have taken the next ten years to say it for all Declan cared.
But now that it’s out there in the world, I can tell it’s affecting him on a visceral level.
And it seems it’s the same for Phillip. He’s been coming down here every weekend, making up for lost time, and Autumn has taken a liking to him.
She loves bossing him around, and he lets her, even going as far as letting her paint his nails.
So, I know this is just as much of a monumental moment to him as it is to Declan.
“Are we all crying?” Kate asks as we watch Declan stand next to his dad and put Autumn on his shoulders.
“Yup,” Jordan says and wipes at her cheeks.
I didn’t even realize it, but my cheeks are wet too.
I wipe at the stray tears and plant a genuine smile on my face.
I don’t know if I’ve ever been this happy in all my life.
The only times I can compare it to are when Autumn was born and when I married Declan.
Having my family safe and happy is all I’ve ever wanted and even though nothing in life is perfect, this comes pretty damn close.
All of us rally together, and I ask a sweet couple if they can take a group picture of us.
“Where are your mom and dad?” Kate asks just as we are about to take the photo.
“I’m not sure. They said they would be here soon but that was an hour ago.”
We take the group photo, and Declan keeps Autumn on his shoulders as we continue through the zoo.
Half an half-hour passes before my mom calls me and tells me they’re here, finding us a few minutes later.
“Where were you guys?” I ask.
My mom has a grim expression on her face. “We were with Wren.”
My eyes widen.
We went back to the hospital to visit her and her sister and called her every day.
It didn’t register with me when I hired her at Beach Brew that she lived all the way out in Fallbrook.
Her commute every day was an hour and a half round trip, but she never once complained.
When I really think about it, Wren never divulged too much information about her life period.
She kind of reminds me of Jordan in that way, which worries me because Jordan was keeping secrets, and I’m pretty sure Wren is too.
Her sister was discharged a week after they woke her up from the medically induced coma, and my parents have been going to her house as much as they can to help her out with everything.
“Wren and her sister are going to lose the house.”
My eyes widen in shock. “What do you mean?”
My mom shakes her head. “Their mother left them in shambles financially. I was helping Wren sort through the bills in their mother's office, and we found a foreclosure notice that was post-dated two months ago. I called the bank, and the girls have less than thirty days to be out of the house.”
“How is that possible?”
“I’m not sure. But Wren didn’t seem surprised, just defeated.”
“Is there anything we can do? We can pay the debt.”
“I told her as much, but she said no, that it was better this way. She said she was going to look for an apartment closer to Daybreak, so she didn’t have to drive so far. And since it’s summer, her sister will have an easy school transition.”
What a mess. I can’t imagine losing my mother and then being responsible for my kid sister. Not a moment too soon, an idea pops into my head. “They can stay in my apartment. We’ll be fully moved out in a few weeks.”
My mom nods in thought. “That’s actually a really good idea, honey. I’ll tell her.”
“Don’t take no for an answer. I’ll keep paying the rent too.”
“But you and Declan will have a mortgage.”
My mom still doesn’t know about Declan’s money, and I think he wants to keep it that way, at least for a while.
“I know,” I tell her, “But I deposited the check the Elias’s originally gave me for Autumn, and I put half of it away for a rainy day. And I think this is that rainy day. She needs help, mom.”
My mom lets out a proud sigh. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do.”
~ ~ ~
Declan holds a sleeping Autumn as we climb the steps to our apartments. When we get to my door, there’s an official-looking envelope taped to it.
“What is that?” Declan asks.
I pull it down and unlock the door.
My brows furrow. “I’m not sure,” I say, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.
We religiously lock the entrance door at the bottom of the steps and the only other people who have access are my parents.
“I’ll put Autumn to bed, and we can look at it.”
I nod my head and follow Declan to Autumn's room, where he gently places her in the bed and tucks her in, placing a kiss on her temple and whispering in her ear.
He starts to walk away when Autumn’s sleepy voice says, “I love you too, daddy.”
“Does your heart feel like it’s exploding when she calls you mommy?” he asks once we reach the living room.
He pulls me down on the couch, and I curl my feet to the side while leaning my head on his shoulder.
“Pretty much,” I tell him honestly.
“I never thought hearing her call me daddy would affect me this much. My heart feels so full right now.”
I smile and look up at him. His love for me and my daughter is something I’ve only dreamed of.
Before I met Declan, I wasn’t sure I was ever going to find ‘the one,’ but fate had other ideas.
It’s weird to think that even if Declan and I had never found each other on that dating app, we would have met anyway.
I’m not sure if it would have ended up this way between us, but I can’t deny that our relationship is completely serendipitous.
I truly believe everything happens for a reason, and I know in my heart that Declan and I were meant to be.
“Let’s open the letter,” I tell him and grab the white envelope from the coffee table.
When I pull out the single sheet of paper, a check falls into my hands.
“What the hell,” Declan says as he grabs it and takes a look.
My eyes widen at the number on the check, and I immediately start to read the handwritten letter aloud.
“Dear Mr. and Mrs. Young, I apologize for everything my son put you through. I won’t be contacting you again, but know that if you ever need anything, anything at all, please contact me.
No matter how big or small it is. I owe you.
And congratulations on your new baby. Please use the money to spoil my granddaughter and her sibling. ”
Declan takes the letter from me, and I take the check from him. It’s a twenty-thousand-dollar check, signed by the senator herself.
“Well, that was… thoughtful,” Declan says as he places the letter on the coffee table.
“A little weird, no?”
“It’s weird that she called herself Autumn’s grandmother.”
We haven’t heard from Mary-Catherine since the incident with Brad.
She managed to keep the kidnapping and attempted murder under wraps, and Brad ended up agreeing to a plea deal.
A very quiet plea deal. We didn’t want any of the media coverage that comes with the senator’s position, so everyone agreed that he would serve fifteen years in a minimum-security prison for his crimes.
I think the senator was fed up with Brad’s antics because his lawyer, or hers, agreed on the spot.
In that agreement, he had to sign over his parental rights to Declan and also agree to never contact me or my family again.
It’s a win for us, and I hope we never have to deal with those two in the future.
I nod my head in agreement. “Yeah. But it sounds like she doesn’t want anything to do with us, and it would be a shame not to spend that money on the girls.”
“Girls, plural?” Declan asks.
I move to straddle his lap, and his hands immediately find my hips.
“Yeah. Girls. You’re definitely going to be a girl dad.”
I move my hips just slightly, rubbing myself along the length of his zipper.
Since finding out we were pregnant, I’ve been a sex fiend.
It’s been difficult with my shoulder to figure out the safest positions, but we’ve made it work…
multiple times a day. And now that I’m officially out of my sling, I’m more than ready to play around.
“What if it’s a boy?” he asks, helping me move my hips.
I shrug my shoulders and move my lips next to his ear, licking the shell as I say, “Then we’ll just keep trying for another girl.”
His growl is straight-up feral as he flips me onto my back and hovers over me. “Don’t think I won’t keep you knocked up until we have a full sports team of both boys and girls.”
I look into his yellow-green eyes and smile. “Oh, I’m counting on it.”