LITMIR.BIZ

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his chest and there didn’t seem to be a damn thing he could do about it.

      Sadie scooted closer to them, reaching out to fix a sliding pink barrette in one of the twins’ soft, wispy hair.

      “This one is Wendy,” she said, dropping a kiss on the girl’s nose.

      “Wenne!” the toddler repeated with a gleeful shriek. She put her father’s hat on and the Stetson completely swallowed her head. Her giggle was as soft as a summer wind.

      “Wendy has freckles on her nose.”

      “Nose!”

      Smiling, Sadie captured the returning twin and swooped her up into her lap. She kissed the top of the child’s head and met Rick’s eyes when she said, “This one is Gail.”

      Another surprise in a morning full of them.

      His heart, which he would have sworn had already been ripped in two, shredded even further as he looked down at the smiling child on Sadie’s lap. He actually felt a sharp sting of tears in his eyes and swiped one hand across his face to rid himself of them. Only then did he trust himself to look at Sadie again. “You named her for my mother.”

      “Yes,” she said as the little girl opened the storybook and started “reading” to herself.

      “Doggie and a bug and running and …”

      Her commentary went on, but Rick hardly heard the mumble of disjointed words and phrases. He was caught in the moment. Struggling hard for the rigid self-control he had always been able to count on.

      But he would challenge any man to walk into a situation like this one and not be shaken right down to the bone.

      “Gail has a dimple in her left cheek that Wendy doesn’t have.” She smoothed one hand over her daughter’s hair. “And Gail’s hair is straighter than Wendy’s. When you get to know them, you’ll see other differences, too. Their personalities are wildly different.”

      “Sadie …”

      “Wendy is the adventurer. She was getting into things the minute she could crawl,” Sadie said, her words coming faster and faster, as if she didn’t want to give Rick a chance to say anything. “Gail is the cuddler. Nothing she likes better than curling up on your lap with a book. But she’s no pushover, either. She holds her own with her sister and, honestly, the two of them are so stubborn that sometimes …”

      “Sadie,” he said, his voice deeper, more commanding.

      She blew out a breath and slowly lifted her eyes to his. “I know what you’re going to say.”

      “Oh, I don’t think you can even guess what I want to say,” he told her, anger rippling just beneath the surface of his voice.

      “Let me explain, all right?”

      “Can’t wait to hear it,” he assured her, though Rick knew there was absolutely nothing she could say that would make what she had done okay.

      He’d been cheated out of his daughter’s lives.

      Wendy pushed his hat off her head and left him for her mother. Both girls were in Sadie’s lap as she read them a story. Their laughter filled his heart even as he struggled with the fury he felt toward their mother.

      As he watched her with them, he saw a completely different Sadie than the one he knew. He’d always seen her as an untouchable princess. Born and raised to be the perfect southern lady. Until their one night together, he would have been willing to bet that Sadie Price had never done a damn thing that was even remotely undignified.

      Yet here she was now, on the floor, cuddling with two babies like she didn’t have a care in the world.

      “Daddy! Story!” Wendy reached out a tiny hand to him and Rick’s aching heart did a flip-flop in his chest. He would have his answers, he promised himself. But for now, he wanted to make up for lost time. He wanted to be with his children.

      And the woman who had kept them from him.

      He moved in closer, taking Wendy onto his lap and the four of them became a unit while Sadie’s voice wove threads of family around them.

      An hour later, the girls were asleep and Sadie and Rick stepped into the hall. She was so tense she was half afraid her spine might snap.

      “You just leave them alone up here?” Rick asked as Sadie quietly closed the door behind her.

      “There’s a baby monitor in the room with receivers downstairs and in my room. I can hear everything that goes on in there.”

      He nodded and gripped the brim of his hat so tightly his knuckles went white. Sadie could feel anger radiating from him and the worst part was she couldn’t blame him for any of it. What man wouldn’t be furious to suddenly be faced with the fact that he was a father and hadn’t been told about it?

      “I think it’s time you and I had that talk,” Rick said, taking hold of her elbow to steer her down the hall and away from their daughters’ bedroom.

      “Let’s go downstairs, then,” Sadie said, pulling free of his grip. Yes, he had a right to be angry, but she wasn’t going to be bullied. Not by anyone. Never again.

      She walked ahead of him, head held high, and took the stairs at a brisk clip. Once downstairs, she turned and walked into the family living room. “Have a seat. I’m going to ask Hannah for some iced tea. Do you want anything?”

      “Just answers.”

      “You’ll get them.” He wouldn’t like them, she thought as she walked through the house to the kitchen. But she couldn’t help that. What was done was done and they’d just have to go forward from here.

      In the cavernous kitchen, Hannah was sitting at a table with a cup of tea and a plate of cookies. “Miss Sadie. Did you want something?”

      “Just some iced tea please, Hannah. And some of those cookies if you’ve got extra.”

      Hannah grinned. “With those two little angels in the house? I always have spare cookies. You just go on out to the front room. I’ll bring it along.”

      Sadie turned for the door, then stopped as Hannah asked, “Is your friend still here? Would he like some as well?”

      “Yes, thanks Hannah. Tea for both of us.” As she walked back to the living room, Sadie told herself giving Rick something cold to drink, whether he wanted it or not, might just help cool him off.

      Back in the living room, she found him standing at the bank of windows overlooking the front lawn. The pink flamingos looked so silly, she almost smiled. Until Rick turned to give her a glare that could have brought snow to Dallas.

      “Start talking,” he said thickly, tossing his hat to the nearest chair.

      “It’s a long story.”

      “Cut to the part where you give birth to my children and don’t bother to tell me.”

      “Rick, it’s just not that simple.”

      “Sure it is. Lies aren’t complicated. It’s living with them that makes things tough.” He shoved both hands into his jeans pockets. “Though you’ve managed to do it just fine for nearly three years.”

      Sunlight streamed into the room and lay across glossy wood floors. Scatter rugs dropped splotches of color in the room and the oversize sofas and chairs gave a cozy feel in spite of the chill she was feeling from Rick. This had always been her favorite room in her family’s home. Though now, she had the feeling she would never again walk into it without seeing Rick’s accusatory stare.

      Sighing, she bent to the baby monitor sitting on a side table and turned up the volume. Then she walked to him and stopped in a patch of sunlight, hoping the warmth would ease some of the cold she was feeling. Rick stood his ground, as immovable as a mountain. He was tall and broad and, right now, he looked like fury personified. His brown eyes flashed with banked

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