Chapter 4
The captain announced our descent.
Declan glanced at me again.
“It was good seeing you.”
“Was it?”
His expression softened almost imperceptibly.
“You look well.”
“So do you.”
“I mean it.”
“So do I.”
We landed.
By the time I reached baggage claim, I had convinced myself the strange collision of our lives was finished.
Then I received a text.
WE ARE OUTSIDE!!!
Followed by fourteen pink hearts, seven unicorns, and something that appeared to be either a dolphin or a blue banana.
I smiled.
My sister Amelia had apparently surrendered her phone.
I grabbed my suitcase and headed toward the pickup area.
I didn’t realize Declan was behind me until I heard his phone conversation.
“Yes, Martin, push the meeting to three.”
Pause.
“No.
If Weston complains, tell him I said he can wait.”
Typical Declan.
I kept walking.
Outside, Atlanta heat pressed against me like a wall.
Cars moved slowly through arrivals.
Then I saw our black SUV.
The back door opened before it had completely stopped.
Three little girls jumped out.
“Mommy!”
My heart exploded.
“Girls!”
I dropped my bag and crouched.
Sophie hit me first.
She launched herself directly into my chest, curls bouncing wildly.
Lila arrived half a second later
, talking before she reached me.
“We made you a picture but Harper spilled juice but it’s okay because Aunt Amelia dried it with the hair dryer!”
Then
Harper
, my shyest, wrapped both arms around my neck and whispered:
“I missed you the most.”
I laughed.
“You all said that yesterday.”
Three voices immediately argued.
I kissed cheeks.
Smoothed curls.
Breathed them in.
Home.
This was home.
Then Sophie suddenly looked past me.
“Mommy, who’s that man?”
I froze.
The girls turned.
I slowly rose.
Declan stood ten feet away.
His phone was no longer at his ear.
His suitcase rested beside him.
He was staring.
Not at me.
At them.
Sophie had my dark curls but Declan’s gray-blue eyes.
Lila had Declan’s ridiculous dimple in her left cheek.
Harper had his exact serious expression whenever she was confused.
I had spent four years seeing those features.
I knew precisely what he was seeing.
Recognition.
Fear.
Arithmetic.
His gaze moved from Sophie to Lila.
Then Harper.
Back to me.
“How old are they, Cassidy?”
His voice sounded nothing like it had on the plane.
Quiet.
Almost hoarse.
My arms went around Sophie and Harper automatically.