Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles) (10 page)

The minute Finn stepped into the freight elevator he could hear the baby crying as if something was terribly wrong. It sent a chill up his spine, and a dozen scenarios raced through his mind, all of them bad. The door to the loft was standing open and he rushed in expecting to find Lizzie dead of an overdose or something even more horrific. On the bed was a large mound covered by a pile of blankets and he began to sweat. The crying came from somewhere under the pile. He tore the blankets away and the baby boy lay surrounded by pillows, his face red with fury as he screamed. Finn picked him up and examined him quickly and the baby gulped and whimpered and then quieted. Finn talked soothingly to him as he checked every room in the loft, Lizzie wasn’t there and all her belongings were gone. He went into the kitchen to make the baby a bottle, and taped to the refrigerator was a birth certificate with a post-it note stuck to it. Finn held it in his hand and read the note, it said, “Sorry baby, but I can’t go to prison. Give him to his father.”

*

JP arrived at the hospital just in time for his son to make his grand entrance into the world. Charlotte had been holding Amanda’s hand and she moved aside to let JP take her place. When they handed the baby to him he felt his heart swell so that there was no room left in it for anything other than his beautiful wife and baby Jack.

“He’s so cool, wow, this is like… Amanda, just look at this great looking kid!” JP said, and Amanda’s smile lit up the whole room.

“He’s huge! And I’m madly in love with him, and with his father,” Amanda said, kissing JP as he laid the baby next to her. “I’m going to need a lot of help with him John Paul, so you’d better pull yourself together. Oh, he’s so perfect, he’s gorgeous… my God, how much does he weigh?”

“Nine pounds, fifteen ounces,” a nurse announced, “he is definitely a big boy! Okay, Mommy and Daddy give him a kiss and I’ll get him cleaned up and then he’s all yours.”

“JP, oh, he’s so cute, congratulations,” Charlotte said, and JP caught her in a huge bear hug and began to cry. “Yep, I knew you’d fall hard, your life is so about to change, buddy!” She said as they gathered around Amanda for a group hug. The three of them laughed and cried, and talked nonstop about Jack, as if he were the first and only baby that had ever been born.

West and JP had driven straight from the airport to the birthing center and now West tapped lightly on the door. JP was so beside himself that he tearfully hugged West and invited him to come in and join the celebration.

Charlotte stepped back and watched JP telling West about the baby, his hand held Amanda’s and didn’t let go. He was like a kid with a sugar rush, he couldn’t stop talking about his son and kissing his wife.

When West stepped away, he gave Charlotte a peck on the cheek and he looked so out of his element among the talk of labor pains and babies that she had to laugh.

“Come with me,” she said, looping her arm through his, “let’s get a cup of coffee and leave the happy family alone for a while.”

“Sounds good,” he said, as they walked down the hall toward the cafeteria, “that was intense, I’ve never seen a brand new baby. Do all parents get that excited?”

“Well yeah, it’s a big deal, here’s this little person who’s a part of you, and you want to give him every good thing the world has to offer,” Charlotte said, and as she stared down the hallway she saw that Finn was walking toward them holding a baby. “What’s going on my love, is that Lizzie’s baby?”

“Yes, and it seems that he’s West’s baby, as well,” Finn said, handing the baby to West, then holding up the birth certificate for him to see. “I don’t think you’ll be seeing your baby’s mother in court tomorrow, I’m sure she’s already crossed the border into Mexico. Congratulations West, you have a son.”

*

Alexander Bly’s children were preparing to enter the world by scheduled C-section two floors above the room where Amanda and JP were showing off baby Jack.

“He’s great and he’s big, are all babies that size?” Bly asked, he was pacing the floor, his hand wouldn’t stop pushing the wayward strands from his forehead.

“No, he’s insanely big and I promise you, the twins together will probably weigh what he does. Could you be any more nervous, Alex? How is Maddie, is she ready for the big event?” Amanda asked her brother. She laughed when he turned red and looked the other way as she held Jack to her breast to feed him. “Is Maddie going to breast-feed? It might be difficult with twins, but it’s so good for them.”

“Maddie is handing over the babies to me and her mother and two nurses, then she’s going to a spa as soon as the doctor says she can travel. Don’t get me started, I thought new mothers talked about diaper rash and sleepless nights. She’s talking about a tummy tuck and a breast lift, and how soon she can send the twins off to boarding school in Switzerland,” Bly said, with a little too much venom in his voice. “I’d better go check on her, I’m sure there will be hell to pay because I disappeared for a minute. Amanda, take care of that big boy, and JP, you take care of my sister or you’ll answer to me.” He stopped at the door and looked at Amanda, “You look like an angel Amanda, it does my heart good to see you so happy. I’ll stop by later and let you know how the twins are doing… are you expecting any visitors?”

“She was here when Jack was born, but I won’t see her again until I go home. Go to your wife, Alex, this is the day you’ve been waiting for,” Amanda said, then she looked at JP and shook her head in resignation as soon as Bly left the room.

The twins were healthy and as blonde as Maddie and Bly felt his heart nearly burst with joy when he held them. He and Maddie argued over names when the nurse asked them to fill out the birth certificates. Mia Genevieve was born first, and Bly wanted to name her Evangeline, but Maddie wouldn’t hear of it. Holden Alexander was the second born, and Bly insisted on naming him after his late father, Holden Bly.

They filled his life, Holden and Mia, they made Bly look forward to waking up in the morning and coming home every night. They astounded him with their cooing and gurgling every time he held them, and the way they studied him so intently, blinking and trying to focus on his face. The nannies kept them in separate beds, but Bly loved to put them in one crib together. They seemed happiest that way, aware of each other’s presence. If they were crying they stopped as soon as they lay next to each other.

Sometimes he would lie on the floor of their nursery, on the plush new carpet, with the twins beside him. He talked as if they could understand every word he said, and he told them all about his plans for their future. He would never send them away to school, he wanted them near him. They would be a family, and if Maddie wanted to be a part of it, that was fine. If not, he would give his son and daughter two parents worth of love, and as Charlotte said, his life would be completed in them.

Chapter Seven

“I have an appointment this morning, do you want to meet afterwards for lunch,” Charlotte asked Finn as she was getting dressed. It was two days before Christmas and her gynecologist had agreed to see her, even on such short notice.

“A doctor’s appointment,” he asked, “leaning over her as she sat at her antique dressing putting on lipstick.

“How do you always know everything?” she asked, “are you psychic or something?”

“I’m extremely familiar with my love’s body, and I notice when it changes, I pay attention,” he said, kissing her neck, and then straightening his tie.

“Is that part of your love for me, or part of your SEAL training, noticing every little thing?” she asked, and smiled at his reflection in the mirror.

“Both,” he said, “what time is your appointment? I’ll try to get there in time to hear the doctor say the magic words. Last Christmas wasn’t the best, I think this one is going to be great.”

*

When Finn walked into his office, the young man JP had hired to handle the front desk handed him a stack of messages. Finn leafed through them and to his great irritation, the first one was from Bly. It said he wanted Finn to know that he was terribly sorry, but Maddie had need of Billy Kipling’s services for the day. Finn looked at his watch and decided to cancel his clients for the morning and meet Charlotte at the doctor’s office. He dialed her number, but her phone went straight to voice mail, which probably meant she was already with the doctor.

*

“Well Charlotte, you are definitely pregnant!” Dr. Adler said, “About ten weeks along, I’d say, congratulations. We’ll do a sonogram to pinpoint your exact due date, I’ll have my nurse set it up.”

“Thank you, I need to call my husband, he’ll want to be with me for the first sonogram. Can we schedule it for right after the holidays? Thank you a million times, Dr. Adler, this is the best Christmas present you can imagine,” Charlotte said, and she was so excited that she could barely sit still.

“I’m very happy for you, Charlotte, I’ll see you in a couple of weeks then,” the doctor said, and left the room with a smile.

Charlotte was on cloud nine as she dressed, she couldn’t wait to tell Finn. She wished he could’ve been with her to hear the news, but it didn’t matter how he found out. All that mattered was that their baby was growing inside her. If she had to lock herself inside her house for the next six months to make sure it was born safely, that’s what she would do.

She walked to her car in the parking garage and dialed Finn’s number as she searched through her purse to find her keys. She sat behind the wheel of her new Tahoe just as Finn answered, “where are you my love, do you have good news?” he asked, and she grinned at the excitement in his voice.

Before she could answer, a hand closed around her throat and the phone fell to the ground.

“Sweet, sweet Charlotte,” Bennet Sommerfeld said, holding a knife against her cheek, “You and I are going to have such an adventure!”

He covered her mouth with duct-tape before she could scream, then dragged her out of the car and pushed her into the back seat. He taped her hands behind her back and crushed the phone with the heel of his shoe. As he drove out of the parking garage he told her to lie down and stay quiet and she would live, otherwise he would slit her throat slowly while he fucked her.

As Charlotte lay on the seat there was a barrage of loud pops and glass showered all around her. The Tahoe hit a concrete barricade and Bennet slumped forward. Her door swung open and she looked up into Finn’s eyes, he lifted her out of the ruined car and tore the tape from her mouth in one swift movement.

“Ouch!” she said, and he looked stricken for a moment, then she smiled.

Bennet Sommerfeld moaned in the front seat and Finn cut the tape from her hands with a small knife. Then he dragged Bennet out of the Tahoe and let him fall to the ground, bleeding from the chest as police sirens began to sound close by.

“Is he dying?” Charlotte asked, looking down at the man who would have ruined or ended her life.

“No, just a shot to the shoulder, the bullet probably went straight through,” Finn said, and he kicked the shit out of Bennet as he lay moaning. “He’s going to prison and he can have all the sex he wants when he gets there. His girlfriend will be named Bubba, not Charlotte, but he’ll get used to it.”

“You saved me, but you were a little late for the doctor’s appointment,” Charlotte said, wrapping her arms around his neck and smiling up at him.

“So we’re having a baby?” Finn asked, holding Charlotte so tightly against him she could barely breathe.

“Yes, my love, we’re having a baby,” she said, and they smiled and kissed as the police gathered and called for an ambulance.

Charlotte turned to look at her new SUV with its shattered windshield and dozen bullet holes.

“You know, Finnegan, we have nothing but bad luck with cars, I’ll bet this means we’re going to have to find a new insurance company!”

ONE YEAR LATER
…

“Dammit Amanda, you swore to me that Bly wouldn’t be here!” Charlotte hissed when she spotted Billy Kipling among the guests at Jack’s first birthday party.

“Settle down sister, he’s not coming. If you’ll notice there are two nannies and Billy Kipling to guard the little prince and princess. Alex is in the middle of his own huge fucking disaster at the moment, he doesn’t have time for pony rides and balloon-artist clowns,” Amanda said, settling onto a chaise lounge on the patio with her six-week-old daughter at her breast.

“What huge disaster? By the way, I’m all for breast feeding, but could you partially cover that porn-star sized boob please?” Charlotte said as she sat with her own daughter on a quilt she’d spread on the ground.

“It totally turns JP on to see my breasts in public, he’s such a freak, I love it. We went from sex once in a blue-moon to filming ourselves fucking nonstop after Jack was born.”

“Well I can see that since your daughter was born ten months after you gave birth the first time. That’s kind of trashy, you know, but little Ava is precious,” Charlotte said, and she smiled as Amanda rolled her eyes. Amanda and JP were acting like newlyweds, and JP had certainly mended his wandering ways since Jack was born and Lizzie disappeared. She wasn’t sure which incident had caused his change of heart; she was just glad the old JP was back and all was well.

“That is kind of bad isn’t it? Shame on us, are your mommy and daddy too trailer park for you, sweet Ava? Yes, we did the nasty before we were supposed to and I got pregnant, but guess what? I’d have contortionist sex with my husband here and now if he asked me to. I don’t know why I ever stopped wanting sex in the first place... look at my man, fuck! I’d hand you this baby, strip him naked and suck his dick in front of all these people….” Amanda said before Charlotte cut her off midsentence.