2. New life

Lilian POV

"Excuse me, lady. I would like to know how much this flower costs,” a smiling five-year-old girl with beautiful light eyes asked me, pointing to a bunch of red flowers in one of the rustic vases on the shelves of the flower shop.

I smiled big at her, my heart melting with love. "Aw...! You are such a lovely girl. You don't need to pay, I'll offer you the flower,” I said, taking the bouquet of red roses and giving it to her, who returned the gesture with a big smile.

“Thank you, beautiful lady. I'm going to offer these flowers to my Mommy because I love her so much,” she said, still smiling, extending her hand to me, and offering me the roses.

“Aw… thank you, my little angel. You are so lovely." I took the flowers and kissed her on the forehead, caressing her light hair. My little daughter was adorable and so kind, sometimes I wish she never grew up so I could always have her so cute and loving for me.

She and her two brothers were the triplets I had after my marriage. After my divorce from Jensen Grimes five years ago, after he rejected me even though I was pregnant, I didn't give up on my dream of being a mother and decided to keep the pregnancy, to then give birth to a triplet of such beauty and adorableness. Two of them were boys named Rory and Ryan, and one girl named Ruby. They were loves of my life.

They were all charming and obedient children that I was raising alone, since their father didn't even know they existed. At first, I even thought about telling Jensen that I had given birth to those adorable children, but his harsh words on the day he rejected my pregnancy made my heart clench in anguish. He had rejected me, not just me, but the babies I carried in my womb, so he clearly didn't want anything to do with the children.

So I decided to give my all to be an exemplary mother to my children. I moved away from the big city and went to live in a cozy little town in the countryside, where I would have good air to breathe, good neighbors, and my babies could grow up safely. I opened my flower shop to be able to support my babies and everything was going well, despite the sadness I sometimes felt about the wound my ex-husband had left in my heart, my children made me smile and made me happy.

That afternoon, my children had returned from the nearby school, and they all decided to help me with the flower shop.

“You don’t have to stay here working with mom. Go to the garden and play,” I told the three of them.

They shook their heads. “No, no, we want to help Mommy first, and then we’ll play,” they said, making me smile with love for them. They were little, but they liked and cared about me so much.

So now the two boys were outside the little flower shop, calling customers, and Ruby, my beautiful princess, was helping me put together the bouquets for the orders.

“When I grow up, I want to be like you, Mommy,” the girl said, her eyes full of pride in me.

“Oh, my angel. I feel flattered." I stroked her soft blonde hair.

“Next weekend, are we going to the mall in Richmond, Mom?” She asked as she arranged the flowers. “Aunt April said you need to go out a little, or you won’t get a boyfriend.”

"Oh my God! April said that to you?” I asked her in surprise. April was my best friend. When I moved to Rustburg, I met her, and she was a completely nice person to me and has helped me in several moments since then.

My babies had known her their entire lives, so they were very close to her. She had a wonderful heart and was always there when I needed her most.

“Uhm, she said it, yes,” Ruby confirmed.

“Ugh, April has to stop putting these thoughts into your heads,” I replied with a sigh.

"Mommy. What if Aunt April is right? To tell you the truth, Rory and Ryan are on a secret mission to find you a boyfriend,” she said, giggling.

"Oh my God! You are impossible.” I shook my head no, although with a smile on my lips.

It was actually understandable why my best friend and my kids wanted me to hang out with a guy and have some fun so much. Since I divorced my ex-husband, I have never been interested in relationships. Perhaps because of past traumas, sometimes I found myself thinking about what my life would be like if I opened my heart to someone new, but the fear that everything would go wrong again made me retreat.

It wasn't worth having my heart hurt again, my triplets already filled me with love and happiness, and I was happy just taking care of them.

“Maybe one day Mommy's Prince Charming will appear,” I commented to my daughter, and she gave me a big smile.

At that moment, Sadie, the boys' babysitter, entered the flower shop. My children were not fussy or messy, but they were three children of the same age, and it was difficult for me to keep my eyes on them while serving customers in the shop, so I hired Sadie, a nice young girl, to help me with them.

Since the two boys were there in front of the flower shop on a mission to help me by making funny advertisements, I had asked Sadie to keep an eye on them, as my boys were still too young to be left unsupervised. And now Sadie was walking into the flower shop with a worried look on her face as she searched for something with her eyes.

“Sadie? Where are the boys?" I asked when I saw she was alone.

“Aren’t they in here?” She asked confused.

"They're not," Ruby replied, shaking her head.

"What happened?" I asked, already worried, approaching the nanny with apprehensive steps.

“I just went to pee and when I came back they weren't there anymore,” she explained with a shrug.

"What? What do you mean?" Was she saying the boys were gone? But they weren't the kind of kids who strayed from home like that. I left the flower shop hurriedly, looking for them in my surroundings. The front of the flower shop was the same as always, with beautiful flowers placed in beautiful vases. There were some pamphlets left on a bench, pamphlets that the boys, together with the nanny, were giving them to anyone passing by the flower shop, but now there was no sign of them there.

“Ryan! Rory! Where are you, my boys?" I called, but they didn't answer me.

“Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Lilian…” Sadie whimpered feeling guilty.

I lightly caressed her arm. “Chill, the town is small. They can't have gone very far,” I told her and walked back into the flower shop, pulling out my cell phone and quickly dialing, calling the local police.

“Miss Lilian. What a pleasant surprise, you, calling me at this time,” the police officer replied in a relaxed manner. Being a small and friendly neighborhood, almost everyone knew each other, so Officer Finn gave me his number to call whenever I needed. “Is my order ready by any chance?”

“Oh, your order is almost ready,” I replied, trying to remain calm. Finn had asked for a beautiful bouquet for his mother's birthday, who was a lovely lady who always affectionately called me her daughter-in-law, hoping that her son and I would start a relationship beyond friendship.

“That's good, I'm happy, my mom will love it,” he replied excitedly.

“I'm sure she will... but I'm calling because I need your help, Finn. The boys are gone, I can’t find them…” My voice even trailed off with so much worry. Rustburg was small and quiet, but still, we never knew when people with bad intentions might emerge.

“Holly crap! Okay, don't worry, Lilian. I'm already on my way with the patrol car. I'm pretty sure they're at the park pond playing with the ducks and doing kid things.” He laughed a little, which at another time I would have reciprocated, but now I was too nervous for that.

“I hope so… thanks, Finn,” I said and hung up the phone, running my hand through my wavy black hair.

Already feeling hyperventilating, unable to ignore the fear. I went to put on a coat and grabbed my bag, so I could go look for the boys myself, Finn would do a great job, but two people were much better than one.

My daughter held my hand. “The boys will be back, Mommy,” she said comfortingly.

I caressed her angelic face. "Yes, my angel. Everything will be fine."

It was at that moment that the bell on the flower shop's door rang, warning that the door was opening.

"Mommy! Mommy!" It was my boys calling me. Rory ran inside excitedly, while Ryan grabbed a man by the arm and pulled him inside.

“We brought you a boyfriend!” They said in unison. I gasped in shock, recognizing the man there, he recognized me too.

"Lilian..?" Jensen Grimes cooed as he saw me for the first time in five years.