Worth the Wait(65)

“Aww, that’s so cute!”

“And he told me he was going to propose one day, and that I was going to say yes. I never saw this coming, Lizzy. I swear, I never thought I’d ever meet a man who loved me the way he does, let alone love my kids so fiercely. He actually told me that, even though they weren’t his by blood, Cameron and Callie were his kids in every way that matters.”

“Oh, my God,” she breathed, her bright green eyes misting over with tears. She quickly reached across the table and grabbed my hands in hers. “Sweetie, I’m so damn happy for you. You deserve someone who makes you happy like that. You’re such an amazing person. I can’t tell you how excited I am for you and those rugrats.”

“I love you,” I told her, feeling myself starting to choke up a little. “I love all of you. Moving here was the best decision I ever made.”

“We all love you, too, sweetie. You’re one of us, you and those kiddos. You’re family.”

I gave her a watery smile before brushing a few stray tears from my cheeks. “Speaking of kiddos, I need to go get them from daycare. I’ll see you at Luke and Emmy’s tomorrow.”

Emmy and Matthew had been released from the hospital earlier in the day, and there was going to be a small welcome home party for the new mommy and baby. Luke had been absolutely beside himself, so excited to get his family back under their roof. Poor Emmy had actually called Savannah earlier, complaining about how he was trying to order the hospital staff around like they were at some five-star resort. She said that if he tried to tell one more nurse how to do their job properly before finally just trying to take over and do it himself, she was afraid they were going to mutiny and they’d kick him out for good. He even went so far as to try and tell Emmy how to breastfeed. That ended in her telling him that unless he grew boobs to nourish their child with, he could keep his damn mouth shut or she’d shut it for him. I was pretty sure there was also the threat of never letting Luke near her boobs ever again if he didn’t shut the hell up.

“See you there, babe. Have a great night.”

“You, too.”

I made my way to the break room and grabbed my purse from the lockers Lizzy had put in for us. As I headed out to the staff parking lot back behind the building, I pulled my cell phone from my purse to check for any messages. There were several missed calls from an unknown number. Dread began to set in as I scrolled through my missed calls. There were ten in all, all made within the last few hours. The only people who had my number were the people I’d met in Cloverleaf. I made sure to get a new phone and number after leaving Lance, so whoever had been calling over and over wasn’t someone I was in regular contact with.

Fear twisted my stomach into knots at the thought of who it could be. There were no voicemails or texts, but I had only ever known one person to call so incessantly. And the thought that he had somehow gotten my number caused bile to rise in my throat as panic set in.

No, it couldn’t be. He had no way of getting my new number. Lance didn’t know where we were. We were safe in Cloverleaf…we had to be. But no matter how much I kept repeating that to myself, my gut was saying otherwise. A sense of foreboding was blanketing me, telling me my time was up.

The crunch of gravel behind me had me spinning around in fright, a sob breaking free at the sight of him standing just feet away.

“Hello, Mackenzie. Have you missed me?”

No. No, no, no, no, no!

“W-what are you doing here, Lance?” I choked out, so many emotions bombarding me all at once. But the one that stood at the forefront was anger—anger that he’d found me, anger that he’d come to ruin my perfect little world.

“I’ve come to get back what’s mine. You and the kids have been gone long enough. It’s time to come home.”

The man was delusional if he thought for one second that I was just going to walk away from my new life, the life I’d built for my babies, just because he’d told me to. I wasn’t the same weak, scared little woman I was before I left him.

“How did you find me?” I demanded.

The sound of his laugh was so sinister. “You stupid cow. You really thought I didn’t know where you’ve been hiding all along? I’ve known about this little piece-of-shit town since I met you.”

Oh, God. I was going to be sick.

“That’s right. Public records, baby. Your father still owns that shack your grandmother died in. It only took me a matter of hours to track you down. There isn’t a place on this fucking planet where you can hide from me. The only reason you’ve been here for so long is because I’ve allowed it. I’ve been enjoying my freedom while you’ve been fucking that stupid hillbilly. But now I’m done playing around. I want what’s mine. You and those kids are mine.”