The little baby slept peacefully in her crib, swaddled in warm clothes and blankets, and obviously unaware of the fact that her mother was staring at her in awe. It had been exactly six days since baby Emma had been born, and still, Becca could not get enough of looking at her daughter. Most times, it was because Emma looked so cute sleeping, while at other times, Becca wanted to be sure that Emma was still breathing. She looked so still and peaceful whenever she slept. Becca knew that she was being overly sentimental, but she could hardly help herself. It felt like she could just sit all day and stare at little Emma's tiny face and never get tired of doing so. As a matter of fact, she realized, so could Toby and Sandra.“She’s as cute as a button.” Sandra sighed wistfully, coming to stand beside Becca.“I know, right? I feel like I could just stare at her forever. She'll probably be screaming her head off if she knew how creepy her mother is being.” Becca replied, every inch the prou
“Oopsie! What does Dan think he’s doing?” Sandra asked, casting a worried glance at Becca, who shrugged and looked away before speaking.“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s his house, and he can do whatever the hell he wants in it.”“Really? You’re not mad about it?”“Why would I be? He’s not my husband or boyfriend. We only shared a kiss once, and I’m not even sure that we’ll have anything to do with each other again.”“Oh, they’re coming over here,” Sandra said, turning briefly to smile at a guy who passed by.Becca wished that she could go away, but of course, she couldn’t, so she simply plastered a smile on her face and smiled at Dan who was coming over to them, his arm linked with Clarissa’s. The tiredness on his face did nothing to disguise his handsomeness, and she could see why Clarissa was all over him.“Hello, Becca, Sandra. Happy new year to you both. I believe that we haven’t seen ourselves this new year.” He said in his deep baritone.“Happy new year to you too.” T
There were a series of messages between Becca and the Peter guy, dating back to when they were still dating. Ryan wondered if he should even be going through her phone, but he needed to know. Once he started going through the phone though, he almost wished he hadn’t. Most of the messages from Peter’s end were not only sexual, but also vulgar and disrespectful, and he kept sending them, even after Ryan and Becca were married. The tone of the messages suggested that he was threatening her for some reason. Becca didn’t reply to most of them, or maybe she had deleted her replies, although that was absurd.Ryan spent over an hour going through her messages, of which there was a ton, mostly from Peter. It was now clear to Ryan that Becca did not delete her replies, but had been ignoring the man most of the time because Peter kept referring to how she was ignoring him. By the time Ryan was done, he realized two things, one of which was that he was probably the world’s greatest fool, and the
At first, Ryan couldn’t credit what he was hearing and stood there staring into Taylor’s crib as though if he stared hard enough, she was going to materialize out of thin air and appear back in her crib. He soon realized that Margie was still speaking and turned to face her. “Most of Miss Angela's things are still in her room, but she packed a suitcase, and got into her car, and drove off with poor Taylor. I know she packed a suitcase because I’ve checked her room, and her favorite big pink suitcase is missing. Taylor’s car seat is also missing, and the guard says that he saw Taylor in the car with her, but didn’t think to question her because … I mean … one can’t really blame him, after all…” Margie trailed off. “Okay … okay. We’re going to try our best to calm down, alright? Panicking is not going to solve anything. She was mad at me. We sort of broke up, so maybe she just did that to piss me off … hopefully. Get me my phone. It’s on one of the tables in my room.” “Okay, boss,” M
“Angela, what on earth do you think you’re doing? You do know that taking Taylor away with you as you did is called kidnapping, and it is a crime, don’t you?” Ryan asked, anger overcoming his fear immediately, at least for a few seconds. “Really? So tell me, what did you do? Report me to the cops? Oh, please, it’s not like I’m torturing her, or anything so drastic. She’s just fine.”“Have you fed her? Why is she crying? Look, just bring her back home right now, and I will forget that all this happened.”“Hmmm, I don’t think so. Don’t worry though, she’s in safe hands. You of all people know this better than anyone else does. We’re just taking a small vacation together and will be back before you know it.”“I doubt that that’s true,” Ryan said slowly.“Well, it is, so you can just tell the cops that this is all just a mistake and that she’s fine. See, she even stopped crying.”“Angela, look I know that you’re mad at me, but that is no reason to punish Taylor too. Okay, just tell me wh
The drive down to the police station was very tense. Ryan sat in front with the driver as they drove through the lonely streets and towards the station, while Margie sat in the back muttering prayers under her breath. Ryan had never been a religious person, but at this point, he would gladly pray for hours if it would mean that Taylor would be brought back. He had referred to her as his daughter, and he now realized that that was exactly what she was. Soon, they got to the police station, and Ryan got out of the car with the speed of lightning, heading straight into the office.The officer that was on duty when he had made his complaint was not there, but the one who was on duty now had been around then. The officer looked sleepy and glanced at Ryan a little impatiently, immediately recognizing him as the man who had come to lay a complaint earlier in the day.“We’re on your daughter’s case, sir.” The man said before Ryan got to the counter to speak.“It doesn’t seem that way to me. L
As soon as Noah saw Ryan, he got up to greet him and came over to shake Ryan’s extended hands, pumping his fists as though he was very glad to see him. Ryan shook the man’s hand warily, wondering what the hell he was up to now. After all, they weren't exactly on friendly terms.“Damn, Ryan. You look like death warmed over. One of your maids said that you are sick. What is ailing you?”“Oh, just stress, I guess, and the fact that the very people I consider my second parents are fighting me for custody of my children. Hello, Anna. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”“Hello, Ryan. You know that we would never do anything to hurt you and that is the gospel truth. We are simply doing what we think is best for our grandchildren, whom we still haven't met in person. I know you think that Angela girl walks on water, but something about her doesn't sit right with me. She seems too desperate if you ask me, and apparently, she's not quite right in the head either.” Anna said.“Yeah. My
Becca swallowed hard against the lump in her throat as she hugged Sandra tightly and then released her. As much as she tried to stop them, tears leaked from the corner of her eyes and she wiped at them impatiently, before laughing a little at herself. “Oh well, I guess I’m just a sappy, weepy old lady. Before now, I would have blamed my haywire hormones for this, but now that I have given birth, can I still use that excuse?” She asked, gratified to see that Sandra was also a little teary.“Oh, come on. Now you’re making me cry. I didn’t realize that I was going to miss you this much. Now I’m regretting why I moved so far away and thanking my stars that at least, we're still in the same city.” Sandra replied. Dan was standing beside his car, holding Alex, and shuffling from foot to foot as he waited for them to say their goodbyes. The moving company had moved the last of Sandra's stuff over to her new apartment the previous day. Dan did not look as sad as Becca had thought that he wou