July 24

As the summer wore on, we celebrated three family birthdays—Kevin's forty-second, Elijah's thirtieth and my twenty-fourth. The parties were all very low-key, and I was thankful for that because at nineteen weeks pregnant, I'm constantly feeling like the babies are sucking all of the energy out of my body. It's a miracle I can make it through work every day.

At my appointment today, I learned that the babies are identical girls! When Juliana told us the news, Elijah was really surprised and to focus extra hard to not drop Francis who had suddenly turned to putty in his arms, and I didn't even try to stop myself from showing my joy through my tears.

After we left the office, we headed out to this cute antique shop of sorts to pick up a gift for Nana Megan, on account of needing to pick up a present for her birthday party today. We're also going to introduce Elijah to the part of my family that he hasn't met yet. We're also going to tell everybody about the twins.

Talk about a full day.

"Flora, does Nana like pigs?"

Elijah waved an arm towards a display of porcelain pigs that were next to him.

"She does, but that's more of a Kevin thing, and he's going to find those in three… two… one…"

Kevin was just out of earshot admiring a display of antique vases, but chose that moment to look up and immediately zeroed in on the pigs, hurrying over to examine it. I raised my eyebrows at Elijah.

"See?"

"And that's another point to you, dearest."

He looked at Francis, who was perched on his hip and looking at an overhead display of hanging mobile planes.

"Hey, little man—what do you say you and I go one way to look for a present for Nana while mama goes another, and Papa Kevin ogles at the piggies?"

Francis tore his gaze away from the overhanging fixtures and agreed. Five minutes later, I was engrossed in a display of antique cameras.

A set of unfamiliar footsteps intruded on my thoughts a few minutes later, and thinking that it was Juniper the shopkeeper, I looked up. The newcomer certainly wasn't her, but it also wasn't anyone I thought I'd see again—my biological father, Dexter Lawless. He looked the same as I remembered him, and I shuddered when his voice came off slick and oily.

"Hello there, Flora, how have you been? Do you remember me?"

Every bad memory of him suddenly came rushing back in a flood and I draped my arms over my belly, protecting it.

"Of course I remember you! How the fuck couldn't I, and where the hell did you come from? Are you stalking me?"

He didn't blink an eye at my coarse language. "I've been around, keeping busy, and I wouldn't call what I do stalking, but what with you being an accomplished and well sought-after photographer, it's really easy to keep tabs on you."

"How long…?"

"Enough to know that you have a child, one on the way," he nodded in acknowledgement towards my belly. "And that you have more siblings, although they're probably from more than one f—"

SLAP!

Having heard more than enough, I slapped Dexter clean across the face. "Don't you ever suggest a bad thing about my mother; she's is perfect, happy and faithful to her husband! Now tell me why the fuck you're here today, and then kindly stay the fuck away from my family and me!"

"I just came to tell you that within the next few months, you should keep your sister close."

"Excuse me?"

"Keep your sister close." He repeated. "Keep her close, now, more than ever."

"But which sister, though?"

(God help me if he lays a hand on Alyssa and Elliana; they're so little)

"I'll give you a hint—this one is older and closer than you think."

"I would know if mom had another baby before me because I was born when you two were teenagers, and on top of that—she tells me everything!"

"Oh, really? Then did she tell you what happened to her and her brothers the year before you were conceived?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I rest my case."

I steered back to the original topic. "What's this about a sister? If she's older than me, that means you cheated on mom while you were still married to her, and you're accusing her of being unfaithful even though you've been divorced since I was eight? Never have I seen such hypocrisy!"

"I can say whatever I damn well please, and even when we were younger, your mother was a whore—"

SLAP!

"I told you not to say anything bad about my mother!"

I raised a hand to slap him again and he caught me by the wrist, tight enough to scare me and make me wince in pain. He made to hit me, so I held my other arm up to defend myself, but that's when the Calvary arrived.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Kevin had come running up to us out of nowhere.

"Take your hands off my daughter!"

Dexter tightened his grip on me and started taunting Kevin. "Oh, yeah? I've known her since the day she was born, and you probably only just met her in the last three years! Am I right, or am I right?"

Kevin only gave Dexter a death glare. How is this happening, though? Are my dads really fighting over me?

"You must be my ex-wife's new husband. How many children did she saddle you with? You sure they're all yours?"

Kevin looked ready to hit Dexter, but directed his next words to me. "Flora, duck now!"

I instinctively dropped to the floor and moved out of the way and backed up just as Kevin pinned Dexter up against the nearest wall. Behaving like an enraged animal, Kevin shoved his badge in Dexter's face.

"Listen, buddy: I'm an officer of the law, and I don't care who you say you are, but fair warning—if you ever come near Flora or the rest of my family, or ever say anything bad about my wife ever again, I will not hesitate to arrest you and drag your ass off to jail myself!"

Dexter broke free of Kevin's grasp and looked down at me. Still on the floor, I backed up a little more.

"Don't you forget what I said about your sister!" he snarled.

"I won't, now go away!"

He turned on his heel and left. When he was gone, I burst into frightened tears, and Kevin sat next to me, making soothing noises and letting me cry on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Flora—he's gone."

"Sorry you had to see him…"

"It isn't your fault, sweetie." He lovingly wiped my tears. "It isn't."

"He's been following me for awhile, and he obviously knows about you, but he also knows about Francis, Alyssa, Thomas and Elliana, but I don't know how. I definitely don't know about the prospect of him coming after you, any of them, Elijah or mom!"

I let out a small groan as I felt the babies flip over and press their legs and elbows against me as a reminder that they were still there.

"Well, at least the babies are okay."

Kevin gave me a comforting smile. "That's definitely a good thing."

Looking around, I felt a sudden stab of panic. "Where are my boys?"

"They left right before Dexter showed up to look for a place to eat, and we also found a stained glass butterfly for Nana. Elijah paid for it, and I came to look for you."

"Then where's Juniper?"

"Last I saw, helping out a customer downstairs, where the more expensive items are. She probably didn't hear anything."

"I want to be with Elijah and Francis now."

Kevin stood and helped me to my feet. "You should also call your mother and tell her about this."

"Yeah." I cringed. "She won't be happy that I waited this long… but I have a question."

"Ask away."

"You know everything about my mom, right?"

"Everything, and vice versa; we're best friends."

"Dexter asked me if mom told me about what happened to her and her brothers the year before I was conceived. What's that about? Does it regard that traumatic event she alludes to sometimes?"

"Yes, but it's more like the catalyst for a series of events that shaped her into the person she was by the time I met her. If I say anything else about it, she's going to find out, make me sleep on the couch and still kick my ass from here to Sunday."

"It was worth a shot…"

"It was, but now I have a question for you—Dexter said you have a sister besides Allie and Ellie?"

"Supposedly." I corrected. "Part of my gut feeling says to not to take him at his word about it, but on the other hand, I fell as though I should believe him because why else would he come back after all these years, other than to freak me out and drop a bombshell on me?"

"Look at you, thinking like a detective."

"At least he gave me a clue about my sister—whose mother hooked up with Dexter while he was married to my mom—and basically said that she's older than me and that she's closer than I think. What do you think of that, Kevin?"

"Totally creepy, but glad that I'm going to see Tillie later on."

Although wishing that he would've given a more helpful answer, I decided to be thankful that he had even showed up in time to rescue me.

"What's that noise?" he asked suddenly. "It sounds like a ringtone."

Sure enough, the tune to 'Skyfall' had suddenly started playing.

"It's mom." I told him, checking my phone as we went outside. "How does she always appear when I need to talk to her?"

"Jenny's always been like that. Now please answer before she finds a way to place the blame on me for your delayed response."

Knowing that he wasn't kidding around about that, I put my best foot forward and answered the call.

"Hi, mama! I was just about to call you!"