“You’re still mine,” I whisper just above Lyla Nell’s little ear as she lies over my chest on the couch back at the house. Lemon is snuggled up next to me with Pancake and Waffles in her arms while Noah looks over Evie’s history paper.
“It’s great, Evie,” he says. “You’re a natural at this. You’re going to kill it in college. It’s just one paper after the other once you get there.”
“Don’t make it sound so fun,” Evie grunts.
“I’d rework that last paragraph,” he says. “Give it a little bit more of a punch.”
“Just the way Mayor Nash punched Jimmy Canelli?” she asks.
“Just like that,” he muses.
“Speaking of Harry…” Carlotta looks deflated. “Who knows when we’ll see him again. Now that Jimmy Canelli has a hit out on him, he’s gone into hiding.”
The sound of a crash coming from the direction of Carlotta’s bedroom goes off, followed by the sound of footfalls headed down the hall.
Noah reaches for his gun just as Mayor Nash bursts into the living room.
“You’ve got a creature in your room, Carlotta,” he bellows.
Carlotta jumps out of her seat. “You leave Fanny alone!”
“Who’s Fanny?” Lemon shouts in a panic.
Evie clucks her tongue. “Carlotta’s pet ferret, Mom. Where have you been? The best part? I can actually see this one.”
Carlotta and Evie take off calling for Fanny while Mayor Nash heads to the kitchen before emerging with a plate full of cookies.
“Sustenance.” He offers Lemon a forlorn look before heading back to where he came from.
I shake my head in his wake. “What are the mathematical probabilities of having two people in the house both with hits out on them from Jimmy Canelli?”
“Impossible.” Lemon’s shoulders ride up near her ears.
“Spill it, Lemon.”
“Lottie?” Noah’s voice hikes. “Do you know something we don’t?”
I shoot him a look. “As if it would be the first time.” I pat her knee. “What’s going on?”
“I got Jimmy Canelli to agree that if he was my father he’d put an end to that hit he has on you.”
“Lemon?” I dip my chin as I look into her beautiful eyes. “Thank you.” A moment bounces by as my heart fills with love for this woman all over again. “I’m sorry you put yourself in that position, though.”
“It begs the question…” Noah comes over and sits on the edge of the coffee table. “Is Jimmy Canelli your father?”
I shake my head and glance in the direction of Carlotta’s bedroom.
“I’ll have to find a way to tell Harry that he’s still my father—and that he can’t let on about it. Perhaps ever.”
Lyla Nell giggles in her sleep, and despite the insanity still swirling around us, she puts a smile on our faces, too.
An hour drifts by and Carlotta pops back into the room with an empty plate in her hand.
“I’ve been given strict orders to make a samich.” Carlotta scoots into the kitchen. “Don’t let me interrupt your quiet time with your new baby girl, Sexy.”
I shoot a quick look to Noah and Lemon.
“We’re going to need to straighten everyone out soon or this could get confusing.” I lean up and nod for Noah to take my place and he does as he takes the baby. “I think I’ll help Carlotta with that sandwich. You want one, Lemon?”
“Yes,” she says it with zest like only the hungry can. “That sounds amazing, thank you.”
Noah glances my way. “I’ll take two. I’ve worked up an appetite today. God knows I didn’t eat a thing yesterday.”
“You’re lucky I’m nice,” I say as I head into the kitchen and Carlotta looks up with a mouthful of lunchmeat.
“Whmauxy?” she says as she shovels another fistful of honey ham into her mouth.
“Did you take care of it?” The words growl from me because I’m not feeling so nice anymore.
Her eyes grow wide as she gives an aggressive nod.
“Good,” I say breathing a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I appreciate that. And one day soon, when your mouth isn’t occupied with a late night snack, I think we need to talk about it. With Lemon.”
“Ughnaymougee.” She nods my way.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
I head back to the living room and find Noah with his arm wrapped around Lemon, looking down at Lyla Nell while Lemon nurses her. They look like a family and they are.
“Everett.” Lemon looks back. “There is one more thing I need to tell you both.”
I come around and take a seat across from them at the coffee table.
“What is it, Lemon? I’ll get the food ready as soon as Carlotta finishes up.”
“It’s not about the food.” She blows out a breath. “That mystery woman showed up again today. She was in the alley. She kept Fern from whacking me right out of this life and into the next. She saved my life and then she took off.”
My eyes flit to the kitchen.
Carlotta didn’t handle anything. Surprise, surprise.
I’ll have to do it myself. And I think I know exactly how to do it.
Lemon went the extra mile to protect me.
And I plan on doing the same for her.
Noah
She’s mine.
I drop a kiss to Lyla Nell’s head as she sleeps in my arms in the dimly lit nursery. I’m guessing it’s somewhere north of three-thirty in the morning. I stopped looking at my phone about an hour ago. Lyla Nell has been touch-and-go all night, drifting to sleep and drifting right out of it. But I don’t mind one bit.
I look down at the sleeping angel in my arms, my daughter. Her dark hair is already lightening up, and if I’m not mistaken, it looks red at the tips. Her tiny nose, those perfect little toes, Lottie and I made this angel together, born from our love. She’s a perfect reminder of who we were, who we very much still are.
Lyla Nell’s body jerks as she smacks her lips and those dimples of hers go off, warming my heart in the process. A silent laugh rumbles through me as she does her best to pry her eyes open, but she can’t seem to do it. And I’m not sorry about it either.
“Sleep, baby girl, sleep,” I whisper as I rest my lips over her hair.
My daughter.
I can hardly believe it.
And yet when Cormack announced Everett was the father, I couldn’t find it in myself to believe that either. It was instant shock. Grief as wide and deep as the sea. A shot to the heart I wasn’t expecting. And I wasn’t. I’ve known with everything in me that Lyla Nell was mine as soon as Lottie broke the news she was expecting. And then toward the end, I waffled. I began to second-guess myself. I thought maybe I had been cocky, but instead, I was cock sure.
There are just some things in life you know on the deepest level to be true, and this was one of them for me.
I wish I knew that Lottie would rotate back to me one day. What I wouldn’t do for a sign, something, a flicker of light, a whisper in the night, anything, anything at all.
The door creaks open, ushering in a flicker of light. A whisper erupts as I look back to see Lottie with her finger pressed to her lips.