Shatter (21 page)

Unexpected memories slammed Halina. Memories of the way Mitch used to greet her at the airport after coming home from a business trip. The way his face lit up the moment his eyes met hers. The way he’d drop his bags, wrap her in his arms, and pull her off her feet. The way he’d kiss her like he hadn’t seen her in two months instead of two days. So much love . . . so much happiness . . .

The memories rattled her weakened barriers. Tears prickled Halina’s nose and rose to her eyes. She looked away, blinked fast, and focused on controlling her breathing.

Just as Mitch straightened with Kat’s arms still circled around his shoulders, his name echoed down the hall again. This voice was younger, less polished, “Uncle Miiitch . . .”

He dropped back to one knee to catch another child. Smaller than Kat. With a head of wild brown curls. It had to be Mateo. The momentum behind the child’s slight weight tipped Mitch backward. He caught himself with one hand, while both kids clung to him like chimpanzees. Mitch’s laugh echoed off the walls.

Halina smiled as she watched the cluster of joy at her feet. Mitch had enough happiness in his life for both of them. That was good. That was what she’d wanted. What she still wanted when she went deep, past all the superficial issues this situation brought up between them.

“What took you so long?” Kat asked.

“I picked up a friend.” He tipped his head toward Halina.

Halina tensed again as two sets of big brown eyes turned on her. She was going to say hello, but Kat gasped and pushed off Mitch like he no longer existed.

“Doggie,”
she said in such a high pitch, Mitch and Halina winced in unison. “Ooooh, he’s so
ceuuuute
.”

Mitch stuck a finger in his ear. “Kat, honey. Hold that squeal down.”

But Kat was on her knees, her arms around Dex’s neck, and Dex was licking her face, making her giggle.

Mitch glanced at Halina nervously, but she smiled. “She’s fine. He loves kids.”

His smile returned as he looked down at the boy who had one hand fisted in the back of Mitch’s jacket, the other in the front of his shirt. Even with a sudden frown marring his perfection, the kid had a flawless cherub’s face that moved something deep inside Halina.

“This is Mateo.” Mitch reached up and tousled his long golden curls. “Hasn’t Keira given you a haircut yet?”

The boy’s deep, rich brown eyes darted up to Mitch’s face, then back at the dog.

“What’s wrong, little man?” Mitch pushed to his feet and wandered toward Dex. “Do you want to pet the puppy?”

Mateo recoiled, turning his face against Mitch’s shoulder. “ No. ”

Discomfort flared inside Halina. She looked at Mitch for guidance, but he had narrowed his eyes on Mateo, trying to coax him out of the sudden antisocial plunge.

“Maybe I should take Dex to the car,” Halina said softly.

“Nooooo.” The pleading whine came from Kat. “Please don’t.”

Mitch still watched Mateo with a curious expression. “I think he’s just got to warm up to Dex.” To Mateo he said, “How about a present?”

The boy turned his head enough to meet Mitch’s eyes. Mitch pulled a thick box of crayons from his jacket pocket and held them in front of Mateo. The boy’s brown eyes softened and the sweetest smile turned his mouth as his hand curled around the box.

“Thank you,” he murmured, pulling the box into his chest and sandwiching them between his body and Mitch’s as he leaned back into him. “Three of my others are broke.”

Mitch rubbed his back. “Three of your others are brok
en
.”

“Yeah.” Mateo completely missed the correction.

Mitch chuckled and glanced at Kat. “Doesn’t look like my other gift is going to get much attention now. Think that one can wait.”

Halina took a breath to release the tension in her stomach and smiled, watching Kat try to press her nose to Dex’s without getting licked. Halina tried like hell to keep her mind averted from this insanely sweet scenario—her, Mitch, two beautiful kids, a loving dog, a serene home, safety, happiness . . . but . . . those old dreams kept pressing in on her reality.

“He no like snow.” Mateo’s voice was soft. Timid. And when Halina looked at the boy again, he was already staring at her. He met and held her gaze with clear, intelligent eyes. Something eerie slid over the back of Halina’s neck. “He no want to go outside.”

The instinct to reassure Mateo came first, but Halina’s mouth had gone so dry, it was hard to open. And that strange sensation headed down her spine.

“Mitch, what . . . ?” She lifted her gaze from the boy to Mitch’s face just as someone walked in behind him.

“What’s going on in here?” Alyssa stepped out from behind her brother with a smile that washed everything in the foyer with light. She carried a bundle wrapped in blankets in one arm. Brady. Just shy of two weeks old according to Mitch.

Halina smiled easily, instantly. Her instincts pushed her forward to hug Lys, but fear held her back and awkwardness filled her belly. “Hi, Lys. I’m sorry to come here like this. I tried to tell him—”

“Let me guess—he didn’t listen.” Alyssa came straight to her, leaned in, and wrapped one arm around her shoulders in an awkward hug around the fussing baby. “You’re always welcome.”

Relief released her insides like a Slinky falling downstairs. Her emotions tumbled out and cluttered her chest. Familiar emotions—but not safe. They were the beautiful kind. The sweet, gentle, loving kind. The kind Halina felt toward a true, longtime friend. The kind that brought unwanted flashes of the future.

She immediately brought down an emotional wall between them and eased back from the hug. She wasn’t even sure how she created the barriers anymore. It had become so automatic over the years. Keeping people out was reflexive. When she became too friendly with someone—a coworker, a member of her rowing club, even her trainer—she found ways to pull back from the attachment.

Halina searched for Brady in the blankets, but he wiggled and squirmed, drawing the baby blue fleece around himself in a wad of frustration.

More people filtered into the foyer behind Alyssa and pulled at Halina’s attention. Four men and one woman, all wearing complex, curious expressions. Some darker than others. Halina’s emotions bounced until she was all knotted up again.

“Oh.” Alyssa glanced past Halina and her smile put sparkles in her beautiful eyes. Eyes identical to her brother’s. “
That’s
why Kat was squealing with rapture.”

“This is Dex.” Halina turned toward Kat and Dex. “Is he okay? I can take him out—”

“Are you kidding?” Alyssa said. “With this little guy wailing all day, Kat could use something a little extra special.”

Halina smiled. At least Alyssa hadn’t held a grudge.

“Dude,” Mitch said to a tall, dark-haired man with the deepest, most vibrant blue eyes she’d ever seen. “Hate to tell you this right after you found out Mateo’s empathic, too, but I think he’s talking to animals now.”

Halina frowned, unsure if this was another one of Mitch’s jokes or something she was completely missing. Then that funky sensation she’d had played back in her mind and she didn’t know what to think.

Everyone looked at the dog, then at Mateo, then at Mitch, as if choreographed.

Mitch burst out laughing. “Oh, God, you should see your faces.” He kissed Mateo’s cheek and handed him off to the man, who must have been Cash, Mateo’s father. “But he doesn’t seem too thrilled about the dog even though he can talk to him.”

Mitch pivoted toward Alyssa, rubbing his hands together like a miser. She was jostling the fussy, squirming ball lost in blankets. “Where’s my Brady?”

Alyssa smiled, extending her arms, offering the baby. “He’s all yours. Has been inconsolable all day.” Mitch reached for the bundle as Brady’s tiny fists found an exit and pounded the air, punctuating his cries. Alyssa pulled him back at the last second and gave Mitch a warning look. “No swearing.”

His grin widened. “Never.”

As Mitch cradled the infant, something shifted in his expression. Something fundamental, rich, and warm. Halina couldn’t define it, couldn’t explain it. Could only melt inside as she watched him soften and open in ways she could never have imagined witnessing.

He swayed with the baby and shushed him. “What’s wrong, buddy?” he asked, his voice unbearably soothing. “Is there too much action around here? You should be used to that by now.”

Holding Brady in one arm, Mitch nudged the blanket off his face. “Let’s get a look at you, kid.”

Mitch’s audible indrawn breath made Halina step closer. Without taking his gaze from Brady’s face, Mitch tipped the baby in his arms so Halina could see him. And it was obvious why the baby had taken his breath. He was stunning. He was perfection. He had Alyssa’s creamy skin and dark hair. But, the other features, clearly from the Fosters’ mixed ancestry, also reminded Halina that Alyssa and Mitch were twins. The sprinkle of dark hair, full lips, and shape of his eyes may have been contributed by Alyssa, but they were clearly Mitch’s as well. Only the color of the baby’s eyes was different—bright blue.

“Oh, thank God,” Mitch breathed with extra drama as he sliced a glance at one of the men who had drifted to Alyssa’s side and wound an arm around her shoulders. This had to be Teague. She’d have known by the blue eyes he’d obviously passed on to Brady. “He looks like us, Lys.”

Everyone burst out laughing, including Alyssa’s husband, who said, “Did you miss those eyes?”

“They’re all born with blue eyes,” Mitch said. “They rarely take.”

“Not that blue,” Alyssa said, leaning into her husband while staring at Brady with a perplexed look. “How’d you do that?”

“What?” Mitch asked.

“Get him to stop fussing? He’s been miserable all day.”

Sure enough, Brady had quieted, his unfocused gaze fixed on Mitch’s face. And when he smiled down at the baby, the resemblance between the two hit Halina with a fist of longing so strong, it closed her throat and pushed tears to her eyes.

“It must be an uncle thing,” Mitch said.

“Great.” Alyssa rubbed her eyes. “Want to move in?”

“Lys,” her husband hissed with a half smile, “bite your tongue.”

Laughter filled the space.

One of the men standing toward the back of the group stepped forward. “Since Brady has claimed the shark’s balls and Foster probably can’t even remember to take a leak on his own now,” he offered his hand to Alyssa, “I’m Kai, the one Mitch talks shit about all the time.”

Halina took his offered hand in a shake. He had green eyes, messy brown hair, and an angled, unshaven jaw. He also wore a very attractive—even a little wicked—grin. Another mischievous one. He, Nelson, and Mitch would be a handful to have around.

“You’re the empath,” she said, releasing his hand.

“Knew he was talking about me.” Kai’s grin widened. Eyes sparkled. “Don’t believe
anything
.”

Halina laughed. Unless this was a façade, he didn’t seem to be holding a shitload of animosity toward her. Maybe Mitch had been right about her fitting in here better than she’d expected.

“Twenty bucks,” Alyssa said to Kai. “In the jar.”

Kai’s gaze swung to Alyssa, his mouth hanging open. “What? What did I say?”

“You said,” the tall blond man next to him muttered, “the
s-h
word.”

“Aw, man.” Kai made a disgusted sound and pulled out his wallet, shaking his head. “I lose more fu—”—he froze, darted a look at Alyssa, then pulled out a twenty—“darn money at this place.”

“Why do you think we want you to stay?” Teague said then lifted the hand on his wife’s shoulder in a wave to Halina. He wasn’t quite as friendly, but he wasn’t cold or rude either. “I’m Teague, her lesser half.”

Alyssa frowned at him with a teasing, “Shut up.”

Teague kissed her head. “Come on, people.” He turned his wife down the hall in the direction they’d come. “Let’s take this into the living room.”

The group slowly followed Teague and Alyssa toward what Halina could see was an open living area beyond. She glanced at Mitch. He’d wandered to a corner of the foyer and stood with his shoulder propped against the wall. He held the baby in front of him, perpendicular to his body, but still cuddled up close, and just . . . stared.

Brady must have fallen asleep, because he was silent and still. She couldn’t quite figure out that look on Mitch’s face. Contemplative, deep, but soft and so very peaceful in a way that made her belly float. Made her wish. Dream. Hope. Imagine. All the things she couldn’t do. He was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t even seem to notice the others leave.

Kat was the last one out. Pausing at the hallway, she swung around, bent at the waist, and slapped her knees. “Come here, boy. Come here, Dexy.”

Hearing her attack dog called Dexy put a smile back on Halina’s face. “He’s trained in Russian,” she told Kat and nearly laughed at the scrunched up face the little girl gave her. “Say,
prik-ho-dit
.”

When Kat repeated the phrase, Dex trotted to her and followed Kat into the living room. And for a moment, a flickering, blissful moment, everything was right. Halina felt content, uncoiled, like she could breathe.

She turned back to Mitch, reluctant to enter the living room without him. And just what the hell was that about? She’d been dying to get away from him since they’d collided.

“Come here,” he said softly without looking at her.

Halina wandered toward him. When she stopped at his side and glanced at Brady, he was indeed asleep.

She sighed. Smiled. “He’s . . . heavenly. Sheer perfection.”

Mitch’s grin lit up like the flare of a candle, as if he were surprised and thrilled she would think so. “If you think that’s heavenly, smell him.”

She scrunched her nose. “What?”