Lahat ng Kabanata ng Second Time, Mrs. Ricciardi: Kabanata 151 - Kabanata 160

I looked at both of my kids and shook my head. “I raised you two by myself for four years, and apparently your loyalty can be bought with a walk-in closet and a model of Saturn.”Kendra touched my shoulder. “Where do I apply?”Rafael opened a door on the other side of the hallway.Kendra went in first. Her room was as large as the twins’, just more grown-up. Queen bed, reading chair, small desk, ensuite bathroom, and a walk-in closet that had already been stocked with a few basic clothes, lounge sets, toiletries, and two pairs of shoes.Kendra looked inside the closet, then walked over to me. “Thank you for marrying a billionaire.”I narrowed my eyes. “Huh?”“For four years, I’ve cleaned up vomit, glitter, yogurt off the ceiling that no one has ever been able to explain, and once found a Lego in my bra.” She pointed at the room. “This is reparations.”“Kendra, your room at my house is big too.”“I support love.”“Kendra.”“I’m going to sleep.”“Kendra.”She kissed my cheek quickly. “T

The man who, just a few weeks ago, hadn't even known he'd once been married to me was now sitting at the kitchen island of a mysterious house that, for some reason, already had clothes in my size, cutting our son's steak and wiping sauce off our daughter's chin as though he'd been doing it for the past four years.And the kids weren't giving him any room to feel like a stranger. They'd simply absorbed him into their lives the way someone might discover a very expensive new piece of furniture and decide, yes, this stays.The door from the hallway opened, and Kendra walked in with her hair sticking up on one side, a new hoodie from her closet, and the face of a woman who had just woken up from something medically indistinguishable from an induced coma.She stopped when she saw us. “Is this breakfast?”“Dinner,” I said.“Fuck.”“Kendra.”“Sorry.” She glanced at the twins. “Fork.”Gabby pointed at Rafael. “Daddy said I can be a singer.”“Wonderful.” Kendra pulled out an empty stool. “Can

By the time I made it back downstairs, someone had already cleaned up the kitchen. The lights beneath the cabinets were still on, casting a warm glow over the stone countertops, and beyond the glass wall, the Pacific was almost completely black except for a few distant security lights.I poured myself some water and grabbed my handbag from beside the island, digging past my lip balm, a hair tie, and the usual collection of medications until I found the little pouch I was looking for.My B-complex vitamins were in there, along with a small box I'd picked up this morning to office, back when I still thought I'd have a relatively normal day instead of evacuating my entire family with enough armed security to invade a small country.I pulled it out and looked at the label.Emergency contraception. Oh, right. There was still the small matter of what Rafael and I had done last night.There were certain decisions that made perfect sense when Rafael Ricciardi was on top of me, and almost all

I suddenly found myself thinking about four birthdays, the nights when one of the kids had a fever, the first pair of shoes I'd picked out for them myself, and the time Al cried because his haircut made his ears look too big.All of it had happened without Rafael. And now he had to piece it all together, one story at a time, from other people.I rubbed my thumb along the edge of the pillow and let out a quiet breath. “You don't have to learn everything tonight.”“I know.”“Because they're not going to stop giving you new material tomorrow.”“I know that too.”“Gabby will probably make you sign a contract to become her tour manager before breakfast.”“I'll have legal review it.”I snorted.He smiled, and his gaze dropped briefly to my mouth.He leaned a little closer, and I immediately reached out and pushed his face away with my palm.“No.”Rafael stopped, his cheek pressed against my hand, before lifting his eyes to mine again. “You don't even know what I was going to do.”“I know.”

I picked up my phone from the counter and opened an old photo album I'd kept for years. There were thousands of pictures in there, organized by year, from two babies who barely had any hair to the two little terrorists currently arguing over whether whipped cream could be used as a hair product.I found the hospital picture.On the screen, I was lying in a hospital bed with messy black hair, a pale face, exhausted eyes, and two tiny babies wrapped in white blankets against my chest.Jesus.I really looked like I'd just given birth to two human beings.Oh, wait.I had just given birth to two human beings.“Here.” I handed Rafael my phone. “No comments about my hair. I'd just gone through childbirth, and I'm not accepting beauty criticism.”Rafael took it.He studied the picture for so long that Al started trying to steal the last of Gabby's whipped cream with the tip of his plastic shark.“Alvaro, no.”“But shark hungry.”“Your shark literally just had breakfast with us.”Rafael zoomed