Chapter 27

Every minute that I spend with Eric, Chase, and Wyatt is sheer bliss.

We make love. We talk for hours on end. We laugh. We even enjoy the silence together, never needing to fill it with anything. When the kids are home, the Danson brothers turn into the perfect fathers. Caring, patient, playful. Luna and Sammy adore them. I’m genuinely in awe of these men and of how much more wonderful my life is because of them.

But the threat of Harriet Nash and the war she’s itching to wage against me in court continues to cast a dark cloud over everything. There’s also Colby, still free and running around, doing God knows what awful things to soothe his whims and his bruised ego, plotting to hurt me again, most likely. A future with the Dansons is uncertain, not because we don’t want it, but because of the chaos and uncertainty that surrounds us. The four of us are trying so hard to be positive, to focus on staying together. It all boils down to what happens with Colby whether we’ll make it or not .

And I still haven’t told them about the baby. I’m not going to be able to hide it much longer and the more I put it off, the more I risk the guys reacting in anger at me for keeping it from them.

“Mama, can we feed the duckies?” Luna asks, drawing me back into the present.

“Here, baby,” I give Luna a plastic container I packed from home, filled with a mixture of nuts, seeds, fruit, and carrot pieces. I knew we’d be visiting the ducks today so I figured we’d best be prepared. “Don’t give them all of it in one go, okay? Drop bits and pieces on the ground and let them help themselves.”

“Mama, duckies!” Sammy exclaims, cheerfully waving his hands when one of the chicks comes closer.

I can’t help but laugh as I watch Luna share the fruits and seeds with her baby brother. “Bits and pieces,” she tells him in a stern tone. “Okay, Sammy?”

“Okay.”

He sounds disappointed, but once he gets the gist of it, this quickly becomes the best day of his life. Seated on a park bench nearby, I keep my eyes on them. It’s as if I’m watching the greatest movie of all time—Sammy and Luna sitting in the grass, plastic toys scattered around them as they gingerly place pieces of fruit and tiny handfuls of nuts and seeds for the puffy yellow ducklings to pick and choose from. The mother duck comes closer, the sun accentuating the metallic colors in her feathers. Soon enough, she starts nibbling on a carrot piece while the chicks enjoy pieces of apple and watermelon.

Sammy decides to taste the watermelon too .

“Quality control,” I giggle to myself.

Luna cheers when one of the ducklings jumps into her lap.

“Mama, look!” she says.

“Don’t move,” I laugh lightly, “unless you wanna scare her away. She’s just curious.”

“How do you know it’s a girl?” Luna asks.

“It’s just a guess.”

Sammy frowns. “It’s a boy.”

“Either way, it’s a cute baby duck,” I say.

“Mama, Grandma’s coming,” Luna says.

The tone of my daughter’s voice has my muscles suddenly tight with unpleasant tension. I look at Luna, noticing the subtle frown in her cute eyebrows and the concern in her smoky blue eyes, then follow her gaze to see Harriet casually walking toward us.

“Oh, fuck,” I whisper, my stomach suddenly dropping. “Luna, stay with your brother and don’t move an inch, okay?”

“Okay, Mama.”

I get up from my bench and stiffen my back, raising my chin as Harriet spots us and picks up speed. Dressed in a matching emerald and gold velvet tracksuit, her greying hair pulled under a white ballcap, she could come across as a rather elegant mall-walker. Her gold bracelets and wristwatch jingle with every movement, an insidious smile stretched across her tanned face.

“Good morning, Helena. I’m so glad I ran into you,” Harriet says, her voice as sweet as honey. It’s not enough to mask the poison of her soul, though. I wouldn’t trust this woman with anything. Hell, I wouldn’t even turn my back on her, literally, because she might stab me in it, just for kicks. “Oh, and look at my grandchildren, they are growing up so fast!”

“What the hell are you doing here, Harriet?” I ask, my tone clipped. I glance around, looking for the unmarked SUV containing two armed police officers that are supposed to be on our detail. Not wanting her to catch on that we’re not alone, I quickly return my attention to her.

“Take it down a notch, I’m not looking to start a fight,” she replies, her fake joy dissipating as she realizes that her charming act will never again work on me. “I was just out on a walk when I saw you.”

“Bullshit,” I hiss, making sure my kids didn’t hear me. “You don’t live anywhere near here. So. What do you want, Harriet?”

“As you can see, I’ve come alone.”

I look around. It doesn’t take long to notice a couple of bouncers in black tracksuits keeping a reasonable distance while persistently looking our way. “Again, bullshit,” I mutter.

“The guards don’t count,” Helen says. “A woman of my stature must have protection Helena, you know that.”

“I’m not going to ask you a third time,” I bluntly reply.

She scoffs and shakes her head in dramatic dismay. “Were you always this belligerent, Helena? I mean you no harm, for heaven’s sake. I just wanted to see my grandchildren.

”

“You mean no harm? That’s rich, coming from the woman who’s suing for the custody of my children,” I snap. “You have some nerve.”

“I had no choice, given the way you left,” she says.

I can’t help but laugh, a reaction to what I can only describe as Harriet’s delusional audacity. “I left the way I left because I didn’t have a better choice,” I reply. “You knew what your son was doing to me and you didn’t care. You blamed me and cleaned up after him every time. What was I supposed to do?”

“Let’s not dig up the past, it doesn’t do any good.”

“Oh, it’ll do me a great bit of good in court. Once they hear the excuses you consistently made for your son and the money you threw at lawyers and cops alike to keep him from facing any consequences, I think it’ll do a lot of good. Now, if you know what’s best, you’ll stay the hell away from me and my children,” I say with every bit of potency I can conjure.

I steal a glance at Sammy and Luna. To my relief, they are both still busy with the ducklings, though I notice Luna looking our way once in a while, if only for a split-second.

“I tried being nice, Helena” Harriet says with a sneer.

“You’ve never been nice a day in your life. By the way, tell your son that the next time he tries to attack me in an alley, he’ll get more than just a punch in the face.”

Harriet shakes her head. “I have no control over what Colby does. Maybe if you’d been a better wife—’

I see red and cut her off. “What? So, if I’d been a better wife, he wouldn’t have tried to burn our children and me alive? Is that what you’re trying to say?

”

“You don’t know that!” she hisses. “My son would never—”

“There’s mounting evidence against him, Harriet. Why don’t you do everyone a favor and just get him to turn himself in? I mean, seeing he’s innocent and all.”

Harriet exhales sharply, downright exasperated. “I’ve had enough of this nonsense.”

Once more, she deflects when I throw the balls back at her. She could never handle the truth about Colby, she would never take any accountability for his behavior or his wretched character. I’m too tired to keep playing these games.

“Walk away Harriet. I’ll see you in court.”

She takes an envelope out of her purse and hands it over with a perky smirk. “This is the very last chance I’m giving you to do the right thing.”

“What is this?” I ask, staring at the envelope. Harriet doesn’t answer. Instead, she patiently waits for me to rip it open. Inside, I find several printed photographs of…  “Oh, my God.”

Photographs of me and the Danson brothers. I remember that evening by the pool. It was just the four of us. Naked, in the water. Naked, in the grass. Making love under the starry sky, oblivious to the rest of the world. The fence surrounding their house is tall. There were trees blocking the view, along with the house itself. That spot by the pool was supposed to be blind, but clearly it’s not blind to someone determined to get some dirt on me. And oh, boy, did they get all the dirt they wanted.

I think I’m gonna be sick. Bile rises up to my throat, burning its way into my mouth .

Cold sweat blooms on my forehead and temples as I stare at the images, fully aware of Harriet’s satisfied grin as she watches my whole world come crashing down on me.

“I knew you’d slip up, eventually. But I certainly did not expect such a colossal fuckup on your part. Consider me impressed.”

“How did you get these?” I whisper.

“I get whatever it is that I need,” Harriet replies. “I told you not to poke the bear, dear. In my defense, I did warn you. Now, tell me, what do you think the judge will say when he looks at these? The perfect example of a fit mother, right?”

“My personal life has nothing to do with—”

“It has everything to do with how you’re raising my grandchildren,” she interjects, fury oozing from every word. “You have until the court date to decide, Helena. Either you surrender the children willingly to me, or I will present these before the judge. If you surrender the children willingly, we can at least work out a visiting schedule for you. If not, I will get full custody, and I will add a restraining order on top of that. I will not have my grandchildren’s lives destroyed by a whore like you.”

With that, she turns around and walks away. All I can do is stare at the images. What kind of a woman, she asks. I love them and they love me. I am a good mother. The Danson brothers have been kinder and sweeter to me than her son ever was. I have found happiness in their arms, as opposed to the misery her son continuously gave me.

“Mama, the ducklings are leaving,” Luna says.

I look over and see that Sammy is putting his toys away in the bag while his sister watches me with genuine concern. “

It’s okay, honey,” I reply with a weak smile. “We should leave, too.”

“Grandma Harriet made you mad.”

“Everything’s ok, honey. Come on, grab your brother, let’s go get some ice cream,” I declare, hoping it’s enough to kick their gears into motion.

Sammy agrees. “Ice cream, yes! Chocolate mint chip!”

“Absolutely,” I giggle.

But inside, I’m dying. I put the photos away, utterly disgusted. The mere sight of Harriet was enough to rattle me to the core. The stunt she pulled, however, there’s no coming back from it. She has crossed a line that should’ve never been crossed and I’ll be damned if I’ll ever let her win. There’s no way in hell that she will ever get my children.

The woman needs a one-way ticket to hell. She doesn’t belong anywhere near Luna and Sammy. Her poison would destroy them. It would forever alter their lives, and if there is one thing I cannot do, it’s allow her to win.