Beautiful Broken Promises(24)

Hell, I thought that shit only happened during Christmastime, not in the middle of the year. Charlie split them up and ordered them to leave the store, and no one ended up getting that damn toy. As we were walking toward the door, I nudged Charlie toward the glass escalator.

“Hey, we’re already here. Let’s see if I can afford to buy Kate something,” I told him.

He chuckled and followed behind me. “She’s a baby, dude. All she wants right now is tit.” I whacked him across the chest with the back of my hand as we ascended the stairs.

At the top floor, we found a shop where kids were building teddy bears. They could be personalized with sound bytes, clothing, and even pictures. I chose a small bear that could hold a photo in the little pocket of his shirt, and I even made a sound byte that she would be able to hear when she was old enough to squeeze his foot. Charlie mocked me the entire way back to Brooklyn for that.

That night, Ash had stuck a photograph of me in a little plastic sleeve on the bear’s shirt, and we sat it on Kate’s dresser in her room without much thought. When Kate had gone missing, neither of us noticed that the bear had disappeared as well.

Seeing Kate snuggle that bear tightly caused an aggravating tear slip from my eye, but I quickly batted it away.

“Daddy?” Kate whispered. I hurriedly moved to her bedside and knelt next to her on the ground.

“Yeah, Kit Kat?”

“You aren’t going to leave are you?” she asked innocently.

“Never.”

“Cross your heart?” A huge yawn broke out with her last word.

“Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye,” I recited the old saying.

Her tired giggle made me smile. “Ew, Daddy. Don’t stick a needle in your eye.”

“Sleep, baby. I’ll be right here when you wake up.” I pulled her covers over her little body and kissed her forehead. The moment was surreal—I couldn’t believe I was actually tucking my daughter into bed tonight.





- SIX -

RAEGAN -

Lane sat on the floor and leaned up against the nightstand as Kate fell asleep holding his hand. I had to admit he was quite good with her. While he stared at her lovingly, I dug through my backpack on the dresser and lined up four different pill bottles. I really didn’t care what he thought about those, since he had already seen the huge bandage across my temple. The doctors had given me antibiotics, steroids, medication for my low blood pressure due to my injury, and also some pain meds that I hadn’t tried yet. I didn’t know if it was my injury that had made me lethargic all day or those medications, but I was ready to feel like a human again and not some walking slug.

I swallowed down the first three doses and stared longingly at the fourth. I twisted the top open, then decided against it and closed the bottle quickly. I had a burning ache on my forehead and was sure those little white pain pills would put me out of my misery. But I didn’t know how they would affect me and I felt like I needed to be on top of my game. Nothing could hinder me from taking care of Braden and Kate.

“Pain meds?” I heard Lane whisper. I nodded my head, but decided not to give him anything else. “If you need it, you should take them.”

“I’ll be fine.” I sat on the edge of the bed, unlaced and removed my shoes, and then stripped off my socks. I hated that I had to sleep in my jeans tonight, but I didn’t have any other clothes. If Lane was sticking around, there was no way in hell I was walking around in my panties.

“How does she have the bear?”

“They grabbed it with a few other nonessentials,” I whispered.

“Why does she call you Mama?” he asked. I knew it was coming, but that didn't mean I wanted to answer.

“She heard Braden call me that,” I answered simply.

“Did you try—” he started to ask.

“Of course. I tried for a very long time for her to call me Raegan. When she finally did, then Braden started calling me by first name. I couldn't have my own son not call me Mama. So I just let her. Years went by and it didn’t seem so bad. Now I realize…”

“I understand.” I wondered if he actually did, but at least he was letting the matter slide for now.

Lane stood up and pushed one arm above his head—his uninjured arm, I noticed. His entire body stretched out and I caught a glimpse of a very alluring line of muscles that extended below his waistband. He really was huge. Even when we were at the police station, Lane stood out among all of the officers. He was probably six foot, but it wasn’t his height that made him stand out. It was his body. Holy hell, his body had been sculpted into this gigantic masterpiece. I quickly turned from the tantalizing view.