Page 22 of Twisted Fate

“Zane?” Keily replied with a questioning look on her face.

“That works,” Logan answered with another approving nod.

“I’m glad you like them,” Keily said dryly, but with a slight smile.

“I like them too.” Violet piped in as she wiped Alice’s mouth. She was getting a bit drooly lately, but Violet didn’t seem to mind.

“I’ve got to check the steaks,” Logan said suddenly and got up. He left the sisters to carry on talking, the front door open to let the warm air come in.

“You’re spending a lot of time together, it seems, but not talking about things you should, I take it?”

“If we did that, Violet.” Keily began. “We’d have to talk about things neither of us wants to talk about. Well, things I don’t want to talk about.”

“Like what?” Violet prodded, her brows together as she looked over at her sister.

“Like why I won’t move back into the apartment, and why I don’t want to move in with him either. Like what we are to each other, and whether we should be a couple or not.”

“I get that,” Violet said with a nod of her head. “But, I do wonder if he’s not serious this time. The way he talks, I think he might, well, maybe he’s in it for real this time.”

Violet whispered that last part and leaned over towards her sister, her eyebrow raised in question.

“I think he might be, but after last time, when he left, I just can’t go through that again, Violet. It hurt too much and I’m about to have three babies that will take up most of my time. All of my time, really, and where can he fit into all of that? I won’t have time for a broken heart or hurt feelings.”

“I get you.” Violet sighed and tilted her head a little. “I’m thawing towards him, though.”

“You would.” Keily grinned at her sister and leaned into her to nudge at her. “He’s fucking hot.”

“Careful.” Violet hissed, a smile in her eyes. “Alice is picking up on words now. I’m letting cuss words slip every now and then, and she’s picking them up, but I’m trying to stop.”

“Oh dear, sorry.” Keily sent her sister an apologetic look before she went on. “Anyway, he’s hot, nice, respectful, and generous. I’m just not in a place where I can think straight most of the time. My hormones are raging and I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. It’s not the time to make life-altering decisions.”

“I remember that brain fog, it was awful.”

“It is. So, I’m leaving decisions until my brain is at least all mine again.” Keily struggled to roll over but finally managed to get up to go to the fridge. “Want something to drink?”

“No, I’ve still got water.”

Keily grabbed her own bottle of half-frozen water out of the freezer and sprawled out on the couch.

“Outside, Mommy.” Alice insisted and looked up at her mother with hope in her eyes.

“Yes, honey, we can go outside.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I stay in here, I can’t get up again now.” Keily closed her eyes and took a drink of the water. It was unseasonably warm, but she wasn’t about to complain, not when it was going to be freezing again by the middle of the week.

“Alright, we’ll be back in a few minutes then.” Keily took Alice’s hand and led her out of the door and down the steps.

Keily could hear Alice exclaiming over the things she found in the small patch of grass outside the door. Keily had put some plastic decorations, bumblebees with whirly wings and a few dragonflies with the same, in the now-empty flower bed that ran down the length of the trailer.

It had been a week since that almost kiss at Christmas and things hadn’t changed much. Logan had to go to a function a client held for New Year’s Eve the night before and Keily had spent the evening alone. It didn’t matter if she did want to go, she couldn’t stand for long now anyway, without a massive amount of pain in her back and hips. She wouldn’t have been comfortable at the party and so it wasn’t that much of a big deal when he didn’t ask her if she wanted to go.

That was also why she’d finally quit her job three days ago. That and her boss was especially awful the last day she went in. She’d told him to shove his shitty job where the sun don’t shine when he made a snide comment about how she walked, and left him without wait staff for the evening. Not that it would matter to him, he’d replace her soon enough, but it was satisfying to tell the idiot off. And to not get up knowing she had to go to work.

All in all, it was nice to know that Logan had and would take care of her. It was nice to relax again, kind of. As much as she could with three tiny humans in her, at least. She wasn’t on bedrest yet, though her doctor had threatened her with it if she didn’t quit working.

That was another reason she’d quit the job; she didn’t want to be confined to a bed for the next couple of months. The doctor said she could get up and move around, but not stand on her feet for too long at a time. Keily had finally given in and even though she was glad she had that luxury, thanks to Logan, it also twisted her up inside.

Logan was always giving - the car, gifts, paying her bills, but he never asked for anything in return. He always said it was for the good of the babies, but she knew that wasn’t all of it. He just used that as an excuse to get her to accept the things he gave.