Chapter 13 – Meggie
Later that afternoon, Meggie walked into the dining room, greeted her sons, brushed her lips over her husband’s and took her seat to his right.
She’d texted everyone and told them, they’d have an early dinner.
She hadn’t seen Christopher since this morning when he’d left for the club, so she hadn’t had a chance to tell him about her changed plans.
Another reason for the early meal. She’d make her announcement to all the boys at once.
“MOM!”
Startled by Axel’s yell, Meggie leaned forward to see him.
He sat in the very last chair. Since Jana, Bishop, and Kaia’s additions to the household, the seating arrangements had changed.
In the scheme of things, the new lineup was inconsequential, but it also symbolized all the many changes over the last year.
Axel unceremoniously shaken.
“What’s the matter, Mom?” Even before she turned to him and saw the look on his face, she heard the suspicion in his tone. “Why are you so dispracted?”
“Distracted,” Meggie corrected, her offhanded response not helping. She turned to him, pretending Rebel and Rule’s empty seats didn’t upset her. “I’m fine. I-I just lost something.”
It wasn’t a lie. She’d been so proud of herself, keeping track of not only the pills but her dedication to taking them.
“What’d you lose?” Axel asked, sliding into Rebel’s empty seat. “Maybe my men and me can help you look.”
“Here, baby.” Christopher held out the platter of bacon and sausages. Breakfast for dinner was easy and always a winner. “Fix your plate, then tell Axel.”
Grabbing the platter, Meggie handed it to Axel. “I’m not hungry.” She reminded herself her problems could wait. Her carelessness wasn’t her daughter’s fault, and Rebel needed her. “I’ll eat at the airport.”
Silence followed, the type brought on by shock and disbelief before reality sank in, and everyone spoke at once.
“You promised you wouldn’t leave, Mom,” Axel cried.
“Where are you going?” CJ asked. “Can I come?”
“Airport?” Christopher echoed. “What the fuck you mean? Airport?”
“I’m taking Rebel and Gunner to LA,” she said calmly.
“No,” Christopher barked. “You fuckin’ said you was thinkin’ about a girls’ trip. And the last fuckin’ time I checked, Gunner got a fuckin’ cock.”
“He does,” Meggie confirmed. “But you lost him when I left a couple of weeks ago.”
“I ain’t lost that lil’ motherfucker, baby. I just ain’t knew where the fuck he was. But it wasn’t like he was in the fuckin’ wilderness. I knew he was at some motherfucker’s house.”
“Were you one hundred percent sure of his whereabouts?” Meggie demanded.
“You shouldn’t be alone in LA,” Diesel said before Christopher got over his outrage. “Traffic is a nightmare and that isn’t our stronghold. I’ll come with you.”
Meggie glared at him and made a snap decision. “No, you aren’t. Kaia’s coming with us. He can drive us around and help me with Gunner while I see to Rebel.”
“No!” Christopher, CJ, and Diesel chorused as if they really had a say. Clearly, they thought they did.
Meggie knew otherwise.
Axel nudged his head against her, tears streaming down his cheeks, and sniffling as if his heart had broken. “Don’t go, Mom. Please,” he sobbed. “You might not come back.”
Sliding her seat back, Meggie tugged Axel onto her lap and hugged him.
“I’m not angry with you, your brothers, or your daddy.
Reb needs me, Axel. She needs my full attention.
I also want to see Rule. Talking to him over the telephone isn’t the same as seeing him.
If he were closer, I could visit him more. So could Rebel.”
As long as Rule wanted to see her. On second thought, close proximity would be harder on Rebel than the distance. At the moment, there was an excuse for why Rule couldn’t see her. But if he couldn’t see her because of his mental state or just because he didn’t want to, that would hurt Rebel worse.
“Did Rebel leave the party early because she missed Rule?” Diesel asked, knowing why she left better than anyone else.
“Shut up,” Meggie snapped as Axel slid from her lap and returned to his seat. “Before I stab you. You know exactly why Rebel left, Diesel Caldwell.”
Christopher lifted his brows and pointed his fork at Diesel. “You wanna stab this motherfucker?”
“She told you?” Diesel choked.
Meggie growled, ready to launch herself across the table, and beat that idiot to a pulp.
“What the fuck you did, assfuck?” Christopher demanded on cue, glaring at Diesel.
“Maybe I can talk to her, Meggie,” Jana offered.
Diesel winced, a moron who wanted to die at Christopher’s hands.
Instead of either beating or stabbing Diesel, Meggie wrestled her temper under control and focused on Jana. “Would you like to come to LA with us, Jana?”
Hope flickered in Jana’s eyes. “LA?”
“Rebel couldn’t shop properly on Rodeo Drive the last time we were there. I’ll get you your own room if you’d like,” Meggie offered. “You’ll finally get a wardrobe.”
“You’d take me shopping for expensive clothes?” Jana squeaked. “Me?”
“Yes,” Meggie said. “Of course. You’re going to be a part of the family.”
Jana looked at Diesel. “May I go?”
Meggie pressed her lips together. She didn’t want to interfere and tell Jana she needed to stand up to Diesel, though she foresaw the outcome. Diesel didn’t want her and Rebel to leave. He definitely wouldn’t agree to Jana going, too. Not when she gave him so much control.
“No, you may not,” Diesel responded, just as Meggie knew he would. “If Aunt Meggie wanted your input, she wouldn’t go so far away.”
“I won’t interfere.” A horrified expression settled into Jana’s face and she looked at Meggie. “Are you leaving because I’m here?”
“Of course not, love,” Meggie answered without hesitation. “I’ll allow no one to run Rebel or me from our home.”
She meant to diffuse the situation, but it set Christopher off.
“You’re a lyin’ lil’ pain-in-the-ass motherfucker,” he roared. “You runnin’ to LA cuz of us, Megan.”
“Watch your fuckin’ tone, Dad,” Axel warned.
“Dad’s rightfully upset, Ax,” CJ said.
“Exactly,” Diesel added.
“I’m going to LA to see my son, Rebel’s twin, and to take her shopping,” Meggie said, in no mood for all the pushback.
She understood why they were worried, but why wouldn’t they believe she wasn’t angry?
That she wanted to help Rebel without interruption and for her to feel at ease without fear of being overheard?
“Mom, take Ax,” Ryder said. “He’ll be so sad if you leave him.”
“You should take us, too,” Ransom said morosely, “but I know you really can’t ‘cause of Reb.”
“Megan, the DNA tests scheduled for Wednesday evening.” Christopher’s anger slipped away and his desperation crept in. “This is Sunday. You ain’t able to leave—”
“We’re leaving tonight, Christopher,” Meggie said softly. “We’ll see Rule tomorrow, shop on Tuesday, and come home Wednesday. I promise you this is just for our daughter.”
“Cuz of Diesel?”
She didn’t want Diesel dead; she just wanted him maimed. Since she didn’t think Christopher had that type of self-control, she decided to fudge the truth until she returned.
“They had an argument,” she said, sidling another glare at Diesel. “She’s very upset and she’s been through enough. This situation, added to what happened with Rule and what Ryan did to her, has put her in a very bad place.”
“Megan—”
“Do you think I’m a liar, my love?”
“Fuck no!” Christopher spat. “Show me the motherfucker that put that in your head and—”
“You,” she interrupted. “If you don’t believe that I’m not angry and I’m only leaving to help Rebel and to see Rule, then you must think I’m a liar.”
“Megan, baby, I love you so fuckin’ much. I ain’t…without you my life nothin’. I’ll do anyfuckinthing I gotta to keep you. As long as you love me and want me, I can fuckin’ deal with anything.”
“I love you, Christopher. You’re stuck with me for all eternity. Abusing me or cheating on me is the only way you’ll ever lose me.”
“For no other reason?” he asked carefully.
“Those are two major reasons,” she said. “Aside from abusing our kids, there’s no other reason. You can be a little careless with them if I’m not around, but you aren’t mean and abusive.”
“I love my children,” he said.
“I know.” She shoved some hair behind her ear. “I still can’t find my pills.”
“You sure you ain’t run out and forgot to get more, baby?”
“No,” Meggie said. “I checked my phone.” Which led her to another realization.
Her alerts to remind her to take her pills were gone.
She didn’t remember setting an expiration date, though it was possible she had because she’d planned to get the surgery until Christopher talked her out of it.
However, she did mark her drugstore runs.
“I’d just gotten a new prescription. I thought I put it with the pack that was almost used. That was just four or five days ago.”
Shifting in his seat, Christopher sipped water, then smiled. “Ain’t nothin’ but a thing, Megan. If a new baby your destiny, then nothin’ I say stoppin’ it.”
An uncomfortable silence fell in the room. Diesel shifted and CJ squinted.
Christopher grabbed Meggie’s hand and kissed the back of it. “I love you so fuckin’ much.”
“I love you, too. On top of everything else we discussed earlier, now I’m also worried about Rebel. I’m also always so sick during my pregnancies. And…I-I hate to bring this up, but both Jo and I almost died.”
“But you ain’t, baby,” Christopher said gruffly, kissing her hand again.
“Yeah, Jo got health issues, but she still one of the lucky ones. You survived, too. You want your final pregnancy to be happy memories and you wanted a new baby before you turned forty. Timin’ might not be right, but I ain’t gonna be upset if you got another kid in you.
” He smiled, his expression sweet and tender. “Eat, Megan. Or are you about to hurl?”
“I’m not nauseated,” she said, his words spinning in her head, convincing her that he was the culprit. “Where are my pills, you big jerk?”