Fostering Love (The Soul Sisters Series Book 1) (35 page)

Sometime later that night, baby A is renamed Anna Griggs Drakeson and weighs in at 6lb 1oz.  Baby B is renamed Bea Neely Drakeson and weighs in at 5lb 9oz.

Both are amazingly beautiful and I fall in love with everything about them the moment I lay my eyes on them and Jonas and I agree that our pregnancy nicknames of A and B will stick with our princesses as they grow up.

I stir and still feel completely beat.  I’m fairly sure that someone has mistaken my body for a washing machine, it even feels like they’ve gained access to their laundry through my cooch.

In one of my moments of consciousness I see Harrison and Barbara sat in chairs feeding the girls.  They talk quietly and tell me to get more rest and they are both smiling with joy.  When I am drifting back to sleep I hear them talking about how fate has made the world good again and Harrison mentions that even though God couldn’t bless them with their own children he feels thankful that he has the chance to have such beautiful grand children in their life.  He mentions the circle of life being a great thing and the words strike peace within me, so I drift off back to a deeper sleep.

A while later I wake again and Neely, Lottie, Flo and Jonas are in the room having a conversation, after a while I realize it’s more of a heated discussion than a friendly chat.

“All I’m saying is, now you’ve got your shit together Jonas, make sure it stays that way.  You fuck this up and I will personally call all the legal favors known to man to make sure you are removed from their lives,” hisses Neely.

“I get what you’re trying to say and I love knowing that after all this time you still have her back, but it’s unnecessary. These girls are my life, all of them.  I protect what’s mine and people will do well to remember that,” Jonas replies quietly.

“I’ve never once doubted your ability to do your duty, but this isn’t a duty.” Neely shoots back at him, “I’m expecting you to serve, protect and remain in one fucking place.  Until I feel more comfortable with that, I’m watching you and I’ll be fucked if I let you get a firmer grip of my sister’s heart and fuck them all over.  You didn’t see her Jonas.  You destroyed her.”

“Neely, honey, now is not the time for this,” whispers Flo.

“Yeah come on girl, Dolly is starting to stir and as much as she loves your protective side, she won’t want this conversation happening now, if at all,” says a stern Lottie.

“I’m not going to deny that this is a different start to the life I would have chosen for us, but all the same, things happen for a reason and if it’s evidence of my commitment you want, then you’ll just have to wait it out, wont you?”  I can tell from the tone of Jonas’s voice he’s losing patience with her.

“Just know I’m watching you.”  Neely’s voice is cold and I know it’s time to intervene.  I know Jonas will understand the sentiment in her words but he’ll only put up with it for so long.  I love Neely’s steadfast devotion to me but her skepticism is partly my fault after my Southern Comfort bender and it’s time to close this conversation down, at the end of the day a bird has to test it’s own wings are safe to fly.

“Hey guys, you been here long?” I go for the fake sleeping approach, Lottie looks at Neely with an ‘I told you so’ look and I send Neely a glare that tells her I heard.  Flo comes over and begins to fuss and hug, she has tears in her eyes that tell me she’s happy.  “You’re the leading lady in your own fairy story Dolly,” she whispers as she kisses my cheek.

The problem with my glare is that Jonas isn’t stupid so it doesn’t go unnoticed by him either.

“Babe,” he approaches my bed side,“how are you feeling?  You need anything? meds? The doc?”

“Nah, just hungry and thirsty, but they’ll be round soon with the food service I imagine.  Can I see my girls?”

“Sure,” they all say at the same time as Jonas and Neely wheel a plastic tub each containing a wrapped up bundle of skin over to me.

“Wow, look at them, so pretty,” I whisper, scared I might disturb them; I’m still in awe that these adorable creatures came out of me.

“Dolly, they’re gonna be a gorgeous handful just like we were!” chuckles Neely and all the girls laugh and high five each other.

Jonas’s face changes when he hears this.  “That is not something to look forward to.  I’ll be clear now.  No fuckers get near my daughters until they’re thirty and prospective idiots have had a full background check.” That makes us really start laughing, we know that these kind of lockdown rules set up an attractive challenge for any female.

“This is gonna be fun.”  Neely is still laughing but her face turns serious for a moment, “We’re going to leave you guys to it.  Dolly, I hate to bring this up but you should know that the sheriff has popped by asking for a statement as soon as possible about the kidnapping.”  My guy stills when he is reminded of this and it doesn’t bode well that he’ll have to endure giving his own statement and watching me do the same.

“OK. Can you tell him to come here, I want this over and done with.  I want to move on.  I’m not taking it home with my girls,” I’m determined about this, Jonas can tell because he doesn’t offer an argument.  Neely leans in for a kiss for both of us, a cheek stroke on A and B and then leaves.  For the first time in what feels like years we’re alone and I’m hit with a bout of nervousness.

“Hi,” I whisper to him, he’s preoccupied gently patting A who is awake in her tub.  He doesn’t respond or look at me for ages until he says, “You’ll never understand how much I love this life you’ve given me.  I’ve finally found where I am meant to be and it’s where I was supposed to be all along, with you and now with our girls.  I’m gonna love you till my last breath leaves my body and be happy knowing I’ve had everything I’ve ever dreamed of having.”  I sniff and he comes to me and rests on the side of the bed, he leans in to wipe some of my tears away.  “Dalton you’ve always been mine.  You’re my life and the reason I keep going and now you’ve just given me two more reasons to grab what I have and enjoy every second of it.  I can’t promise I’m not going to fuck up and make mistakes but I need you to stick with me, help me and know I’m always trying my best to do the right thing.  I can’t wait to watch these girls grow and in all honesty if they are anything like you they’ll be beautiful, attract way too much attention and drive me fucking insane.  Fuck. I’m gonna be grey by the time they’re teenagers.”  He finished on an exhale that makes me smile and laugh while more happy tears stream down my face.

“You’re hilarious when you’re being challenged and it won’t take long for these girls to wrap their daddy round their fingers and figure that out.  Watching you trying to rein them in is gonna be fun and probably provide me with hours of entertainment either that or I will be a referee.  Jonas... I feel like the luckiest person alive, I’ve got everything I wanted and I am going to love it, cherish it, and live it to the max every day.  You’ve built us a beautiful home to grow in together as a family and we’re going to have a fun packed life.  Thank you.  I love you.”

“I love you too baby.”

We relax for a few hours and neither of us has mentioned the kidnapping.  The more time that passes the more difficult it gets to bring it back up, especially when something so wonderful has happened.  So I leave it be.  Jonas helps me take a soak in the tub and then helps bathe and feed the girls.  I notice that even though they are identical they have little unique features that mean we can identify them individually.  I love watching him feed them, it’s so sexy watching someone so masculine and bad ass melt because he’s completely entranced and giving his attention to his children.

After a while a steady stream of visitors turn up with flowers, teddies and balloons and soon the room is bursting with color.  By far the most hilarious visitors are the twins, they caused Jonas to panic and have a stress attack when they tell the girls that they are pleased to have someone to pass on all their twin wisdom to.  Jack and Jake see it as an uncle duty to pass down twin prank traditions and teach them the required twin rites of passage.  I laugh and I mean really laugh but Jonas does not see the funny side and threats of violence do nothing to sway the guys from the mission they have decided to take on.

Barbara flies in and out of the room all the time, she has this burning need to keep touching the girls to see if they’re real and remind herself that our family unit has just grown.

Tommy runs by the hospital and it’s a little awkward at first, but he moves towards Jonas and shakes his hand in congratulations.  Jonas being the guy I know him to be accepts and that’s the end of it. He’s brought with him flowers for me, which add to the growing number of bouquets in the room and soft toys in the shape of cars for the girls.  It makes me laugh because it’s so very Tommy.

Pamela and Mig send cards, flowers and promises that they’ll visit soon. 

The best part of the day comes when Wally arrives with his camera, he wants to be the first to take a picture of our new family and insists it’s one of his finest moments behind the lens and most privileged honor as a photographer.  I’m secretly glad about this, I’m used to being subjective and critical about my pictures and I don’t want to do this with the girls.  They’re just too perfect and I worry if I look through the lens and only see perfection I will somehow lose the edge that makes my work great.  At the moment I’m happy to connect with them on this side of the camera and I won’t be picking mine up until the urge takes me and I have an unbearable need to see something through a lens.

Chris visits me and I burst into tears whilst attempting to thank him for saving me.  Jonas leaves us for a while, he knows I need to do this bit alone to get the closure that will help me put it all behind me.  I need to tell him things without Jonas hearing and it’s as much for his sanity as it is mine.  I need to tell him I was so scared.  I need to tell him I’ll never be able to repay him for his friendship over the years and for looking after me when I needed it, but couldn’t admit it.  I need to tell him how special he is to me and that I’ll never forget that he helped get me somewhere safe to deliver my girls when it counted the most.  Chris listens to me and lets me offload, he smiles as I say everything, he lets me get it off my chest and then kisses me.  We both know it’s over.  He kisses the girls and that signifies that we only look to the future.  Jonas returns and they share a guy nod, back slap, half hug thing and conversation between the three of us is normal.  Normal in the sense that Chris is taking shots at Jonas and the thin grasp he has on his sense of humor, it makes me laugh to see Chris taking pleasure in winding him up.

As visiting comes to an end the last person through the door is Sheriff Roberts who has come to take my statement.  He gets ready to record it and as I start to go into what happened I stop and ask Jonas if he wants to takes a minute and calm down outside.  I ask him if he wants to leave and his answer is “No.  I left you once before to suffer her shit, I won’t do it again.”  His answer gives me the strength to get it over and done with.  Jonas and Chris have already given their statements and the sheriff just needs to understand what happened before they rescued me.  The sheriff also informs us that Billy has turned on Letitia and the case against her is water tight.  Billy has confirmed her dealings in all the baby scams over the last few years, the money skimming operation at Purps as well as giving background information on her hatred for me and obsession with Jonas.  This all means that she won’t be able to talk her way out of it and has been remanded in jail.  The police have also got pictures of my injuries and medical statements from Doctor Booth and the nurse confirming the state I was in when I arrived.  It is highly likely that both of them will be serving a long jail sentence, with Billy’s being slightly reduced for offering to testify against her.  It seems he is claiming the victim role too and says he was duped into things by her, he says he was in love with her is claiming he was a victim of a crime of passion. 

Either way I don’t care.  I never want to see or hear from either of them again and we’re hoping that multiple statements will mean I don’t have to make an appearance in court.  Maybe it really is over and the next chapter in our lives can begin now.

Jonas finally wants to talk about what happened, he starts by apologising for what happened and explains that there was a ‘Dolly protection plan’ in place.  I was right, I was being followed and under surveillance in case I went into labor early, but Jonas was never completely happy once the texts started appearing.  Whatever the reason, it worked out for the best, Chris had pulled ‘Dolly duty’ that day and saw me being bundled into a truck, realizing he couldn’t deal with both of them and me in my heavily pregnant state he made the decision to follow them and alert Jonas and the sheriff whilst he was doing it.  It also seems that the sheriff asked them to remain outside the trailer until they arrived at the scene, but Chris struggled to enforce this requirement whilst Jonas was in a blistering hot rage of fury. 

Unfortunately things escalated when they heard Billy and Letitia fall out so a quick plan was put into place when they realized she had a knife.  Billy leaving gave them an opportunity they couldn’t miss, but it also gave Jonas a chance to re-use his navy stealth skills of catch and detain.  It also meant Jonas had an outlet for the rage he was struggling to contain.  This is being overlooked by the Hawkstown police department and Billy is not pressing charges either.  They’ve also decided to drop the charges of assault against me, it is now clear that I was targeted and provoked in the supermarket.