Chapter 25
Delilah woke up to the scent of coffee coming from the kitchen, but the house was quiet. She looked over to McKenzie”s crib. Her baby girl was awake and staring at her.
”Well, good morning, sunshine,” Delilah said.
She picked McKenzie up, snuggling her daughter close to her body. After nursing her, Delilah carried her into the kitchen and poured herself some coffee. Ben had that meeting with Marlana this morning, and Delilah didn”t know how long it would go.
She lay on the floor next to McKenzie in the living room. She got up when she heard the sound of a car in the driveway, expecting Ben.
Instead, she saw her own car, followed by a black SUV. A man with dark blond hair got out of her car, and she recognized him as one of the shifters she had met at the bar. Fraze. He swung her keys in his hand as he approached the front door, and then he knocked.
Delilah opened the door. ”Hi, Fraze.”
”Hello, Delilah.” His gray eyes crinkled as he smiled. “I have brought back your chariot, good as new.”
”Thank you so much,” Delilah said, taking her keys from him. ”Do you want to come in for a cup of coffee?”
He gave her a regretful shake of the head. ”Thanks, but no. My buddy Rafe is waiting in the other car.”
”Well, some other time, then,” she said. She hoped it were true. She wouldn”t say this to Fraze, but it would probably mean the world to Ben if Fraze and Gracie would forgive him.
”Oh, hey,” Fraze said. ”I could go grab Rafe if you want some help packing your stuff.”
”Packing?” Then it dawned on her. Right. The danger was over, and she could leave. In the peacefulness of the morning, she had forgotten all about it.
Fraze was still waiting for her response.
”Oh, no thanks,” she said. ”I don”t have much and it should be easy enough.”
They said their goodbyes and Fraze trotted out to the waiting SUV.
Delilah went back inside. McKenzie looked up at her with bright blue-green eyes.
Packing. Delilah should be packing. Ben hadn”t told her to stay. Ben hadn”t asked her to stay. He hadn”t even brought up the idea. No doubt he wanted Delilah and McKenzie out of his hair. She wondered just how relieved he’d been when he’d found her knife and chased away the problem.
Her heart sat heavily in her chest as she picked McKenzie up and brought her to the bedroom. She placed McKenzie in her crib and started packing up their clothes. They’d spread out over the course of their time here, and Delilah went over the room a second time to make sure she hadn’t missed anything.
A pile of laundry sat on one of the cushy chairs in the living room. It was mostly McKenzie’s stuff, some of Delilah’s. She gathered it in her arms and noticed one of Ben’s t-shirts.
Fuck it, he’d never notice. The shirt was coming with her. She didn’t give it a second thought.
There was a lot more baby gear when she added the gifts from McKenzie’s grandparents. Still, Delilah got everything out to the car. She wondered if she should wait around for Ben to come back. It would be better to say goodbye in person. More polite. His meeting had gone on awfully long, though. Maybe he was staying away on purpose because he wanted to avoid a dramatic farewell.
She went back through the house, McKenzie over her shoulder, checking for anything she might have missed. There was one thing left—McKenzie”s crib. Delilah was afraid to take it apart herself—she didn”t want to lose any pieces, and she knew she wouldn”t be able to get it back together without the directions, which she had thrown out after she”d first assembled the monstrosity.
She found a notepad and a pen in the kitchen and sat down at the table to write Ben a note. Tears filled her eyes several times as she wrote. She impatiently wiped them away. McKenzie fussed, too, making it harder for Delilah to compose her thoughts. Finally, Delilah got through the note and left it in the center of the table. She dropped her key on top of the paper, then took McKenzie and exited the house.