“Kendall, sweetie, why don’t you guys sit down? I’ll get you something to drink,” Dawn suggests.
Kendall doesn’t move, and neither do I. “I got you,” I murmur in her ear. She grips my shirt tighter.
I don’t know how long we stand there. Seconds, minutes, hours, days—I’ve lost complete track of time.
“Baby, you want to sit?” I ask her. She gives a slight nod so I pull away, intending on carrying her, and she latches on.
“Don’t leave me,” she cries.
Fuck me.
“Shhh, I’m not going anywhere.” Bending down, I lift her into my arms and carry her to the couch. She curls into my chest and buries her face in my neck.
I run my hands up and down her back, trying to soothe her. “Kendall, baby, I need you to help me here. There was a lot of information in that letter, and I don’t know what’s spooked you the most. Can you talk to me?”
No response.
“Hey, man, your mom’s not feeling well. I’m going to meet them and take Knox back to your place,” Mark says, his voice low.
“No.” Kendall lifts her head. “Bring him here.” She looks up at me. “Please?”
I nod to Mark. “Okay, babe, he’s going to bring Knox here.”
“I’ll go with you,” Dawn tells Mark.
I’m thankful to have a minute with just us—hopeful is more like it. Maybe I can get her to talk. “Baby, please talk to me.”
“I’m adopted,” she finally says.
“Did you already know that?” I ask her. “I mean, I know what the letter said, but was she right? Did you know?”
“Yeah, I was a baby, a newborn. My birth mother, she was just a kid. She did what was best for me, and I’ve lived an amazing life,” she says through more tears. Her voice is sad.
“Did you know you were a twin?”
“No.”
Okay, well, we’re starting to get somewhere. “That’s a shock, huh?”
“Yeah, but she was your Melissa, Ridge.”
My Melissa. “She was Knox’s mother, yes, but she was never mine, Kendall.”
“I’m finally happy, happy with a man who makes my heart skip a beat every day.” She sniffles. “And now I’m going to lose him.”
Wait, what? “Kendall, look at me.” She doesn’t. I tilt her chin up with my index finger. “How are you going to lose me?”
“Because!” she yells. “My twin sister was your one-night stand. Knox’s mom. I’ll be a constant reminder of what you lost.”
“Never,” I say, shifting her in my lap so she’s straddling me. I cup her face with my hands and make her look at me. “That’s never fucking going to happen. You are my heart, and nothing—and I mean nothing—will take me away from you. Is that what you think? That I could just stop loving you?”
“I don’t know,” she whispers, her voice giving away just how bad this is hurting her.
“There is no choice, sweet girl. I’m no longer me without you—you and Knox. You are a part of me, Kendall Dawson. She was a girl I met in a bar, and we slept together. That night resulted in the miracle that is my son. What happened to her is tragic and sad. Finding out that she’s your twin, that’s news that rocks the foundation, shakes it up a little, but it doesn’t crumble. Nothing ever will.”
She continues to look into my eyes as silent tears coat her cheeks. So I keep going, knowing I will until she understands what I’m telling her. “It’s news that is unexpected, but that’s life, right? Life is full of unexpected moments that lead you to find your way. Maybe Melissa sent you to me. Did you ever think about that? From the beginning, my pull toward you was something like I’ve never experienced. Maybe that was her pushing us together. I don’t know how the universe works, but I can tell you that I thank God for you every day.”
She’s quiet for a long time. I don’t say anything else, just letting her process my words, what I’m saying. That I will love her until the day I take my last breath.
“I love you. I love Knox, and the thought of not having either of you, it breaks me.”
Oh, my sweet girl. “Won’t happen, baby. It’s you and me, remember?”
She nods and wipes her eyes.
“Can I kiss you?” I know it’s not really the time, but I need something. I need to show her that nothing in that letter changes a damn thing for me. She’s my heart.
She laughs. “You really want to kiss this mess?” She points to her face.
“Yes, you’re my beautiful mess,” I say, leaning in to kiss her salty lips. The door opening has me pulling away.
Mark is carrying Knox in his seat and sets him on the couch beside us. He sees us and babbles, moving his little arms and legs.
Kendall laughs and turns sideways in my lap, pulling him out of his seat. Immediately, she hugs him tight to her chest. The little bugger grabs onto her hair, and she smiles. “I love you, Knox Beckett,” she says, kissing him on the forehead.
Is it possible for your heart to be too full of love and happiness and hopes for the future? Mine feels so full it could burst from my chest at any minute.
“We love you, Kendall Dawson,” I whisper in her ear, hugging them both. She smiles through more tears, and that smile tells me we’re going to be okay. We’ll take it one day at a time until we learn to live with our unexpected reality.
The last three months have been filled with tears and uncertainties. It took Kendall some time to process that she’s a twin and that the man she loves and his son are connected to said twin. I also had some processing to do—I had to decide how long I needed to wait to ask her to marry me.
Knox will be seven months old in a week. It’s hard to believe. He really is starting to look like my little man. It’s been so much fun to see him learn new things and to be able to share that with Kendall. I’m ready for more, and Knox is too; he told me he’s ready to be a big brother, in his own little babbling way.
I talked it over with Knox, and we decided tonight is the night. I called Kendall and invited her over, told her we were having a quiet night in. We are, just the three of us. Hopefully, by the end of the night she’ll be my fiancée, and I can finally convince her to move in with me. I’ve been trying for the last two months, but she still turns me down. I know she’s still leery, and in the back of her mind she feels like she has taken her sister’s family, but she needs to see that we’re her family, Knox and me.
I have everything set up. I bought the frozen lasagna and put it in the Crock-Pot just like she did that first day the three of us spent together. I have the same blanket we used down at the gazebo the night before, washed, folded and waiting for us by the back door. Nothing over the top, just us and how it all started.
I hear her pull in, so I quickly zip up Knox’s hoodie and hand him the red rose, hoping like hell he doesn’t try to eat it.
As soon as she opens the door, we’re standing there, both of us holding a single red rose. I offer her mine and Knox mimics me. “Thank you, handsome.” She leans in and kisses his cheek. He giggles. “And you.” She stands on tiptoes and presses her lips to mine. Knox grunts and pulls on her arm. He’s a little jealous when it comes to Kendall, not that I mind. I love that they’ve formed that bond—makes tonight’s plans even sweeter. We’re already a family; this will just change her last name, make it
official.
“How was your day?” I ask.
“Good. It’s been a long week. I was definitely ready for my weekend with my two favorite people,” she says. Knox reaches for her and she beams as she takes him and settles him on her hip.
“We missed you.” I kiss her temple. She stopped spending the night through the week, but from Friday after work until Sunday, she stays here. She still stops by every night, but she said during the week it was just easier with work to stay at her place. She seemed to always forget something—no scrub top, her stethoscope, something. I tried to convince her to move in, and this was her compromise. Hopefully that all changes tonight.
“So, dinner is in the Crock-Pot, and I thought we could take a walk out to the gazebo.”
“That sounds like fun, huh, bud? You want to feed the fish?” She looks up at me. “It’s actually fairly warm out still. We better enjoy it while we can.”
I nod my agreement, grab the blanket, and hold the door open for them. I trail behind as Kendall points out birds and the leaves on the trees. Knox mimics her and points too. Once we reach the gazebo, I set the blanket on the bench and open the bucket of fish food we started keeping out here a few weeks ago. Knox loves to feed the fish. He gets more food on us than he does in the water, but his giggle is worth it.
“Hey, I have to show you the shirt I found for him,” I tell her.
She smiles.
“He’s actually wearing it,” I tell her.
“Did Daddy buy you a new shirt?” she asks him. “He did? Can I see?” She sits on the bench and adjusts him on her lap. I kneel before her and grab his little hand so she can pull down the zipper. “Let’s see the new duds,” she says, pushing the jacket open.
I watch her face closely as she reads it. I see her confusion. Her eyes flash to me and that’s when she sees the ring. “What’s it say?” I ask her.
Tears well in her eyes as she places her hand over her mouth. Knox pats her cheek, seeing she’s upset. “Will you marry us,” she whispers.