Narrowing her eyes, she shrugged. “A friend.”

“Who?”

Studying him dispassionately for several seconds that felt more like hours, she folded her hands across her chest and crossed her legs. “Jeff Weatherby.”

Feeling the heat rise from his chest to his neck and then his face, he loosened his tie and top shirt button. Weatherby! He couldn’t say he didn’t expect her to say it. He also couldn’t say that a part of him hadn’t hoped she would name someone else. Anyone else!

“Why would Weatherby help you disappear?”

She glared at him. “Because he is my friend. He didn’t want to see me lose another child. He cares about what happens to me, unlike my husband, who threw me out on the street!”

Guilt unlike any he’d ever felt ran through Carlton. Latonya was right. She had every right to get help from wherever she could find it. While it hurt him that she had gotten the help from Jeff, it hurt even more that he had been the cause of her needing to turn to the man in the first place. No number of apologies could possibly make up for what he had done. Even as he thought about saying he was sorry, he realized how foolish it would sound. What would sorry possibly mean to a woman he had wronged so? She would probably laugh in his face.

No, he had to act. He had to show her that he meant to do right by her and their children. He had to take his time and make her trust him with her heart. This time he would do it the right way. He was going to have her heart again and this time he would treasure it for the gift it was.

He’d done a lot of soul-searching while she was away. He knew that he had let his parents’ relationship color his marriage to Latonya. He let go of the demons of the past and he refused to allow them to influence him again. If Jeff Weatherby had helped his wife, then he fully intended to thank the man and repay him.

Carlton knew that he wanted a new life with Latonya, a new beginning. He’d rushed her into a relationship and marriage because he hadn’t wanted to risk losing her. This time he would take his time and woo her properly. This time, he meant for it to last.

Chapter 18

Entering the Miami home she had once shared with Carlton was something Latonya had dreamed of often. Only in her dreams she came back to get her child, not to live.

She certainly never expected the homecoming that awaited her when she crossed the threshold. In the same front sitting room where Carlton waited for her the day he kicked her out, sat Cicely, Gran, Carlton’s grandfather, Jillian, Pamela and Latonya’s precious little boys. Her heart had never felt more full.

Little Carl and Terrence stood side by side. Little Carl held Terrence’s hand, already protective of his younger brother.

Terrence’s eyes grew wide when she entered the room, and he tugged at his brother’s hand. “Mommy! Carl, it’s Mommy.”

She dropped to her knees as they ran toward her. She wrapped her arms around her sons, and held them as tight as she could without crushing them. She never thought that she would be holding both of her babies in her arms together. After several minutes of holding them close, she let go and just ran her hands over their heads and touched their handsome little faces.

Terrence touched her cheek with his tiny fingers. “No cry, Mommy. No be sad.”

Realizing that she must look like a blubbering idiot, she smiled. “I’m not sad, baby. Mommy is just happy to see you and little Carl.”

Terrence grinned. “I got a brother and an auntie and a great-granny and great-grandpop and a Ms. Jill and a Miss Pam and a daddy. Mommy, I got a family!”

Latonya kept her gaze on her firstborn child the whole time she spoke to Terrence. “Yes, baby. We have a family. You have a brother.”

Smiling at him, she noticed little Carl just stared at her. When he brought his hands to her hair, she wondered if he remembered how she used to wear it, or if he was simply reconciling the real her with pictures he might have seen. He buried his head in her shoulder and she wrapped her arm around him again.

Latonya found herself cuddling the five-year-old and cooing to him the way she did when he was a baby. She inhaled deeply, taking in his scent. “I’ve missed you so much, baby.”

“I love you, Mommy. Please don’t leave me again.” Little Carl’s voice whimpered as tears trailed down his face.

Her heart broke in two as she looked up and searched for her husband. Catching several visibly moved gazes from other family members before she caught sight of Carlton, she noted the regretful expression on his face.

Forcing a cheerful demeanor, she kissed the top of little Carl’s head. “I promise you I’ll never be far. I love you, baby. I always intend to be a part of your life.” She let him go and wiped the tears from his face.

Puzzled, Terrence proclaimed, “No cry. Be happy. We family.”

Latonya smiled and realized how important it was for her sons to have each other, for them to have family. Standing, she took one of each of their hands in hers. She walked carefully toward the women she’d missed almost as much as her sons.

Cicely embraced her without hesitation, as did Jillian and Pamela. Only Gran eyed her with trepidation. Seeing the disappointment in Gran’s face, Latonya felt her heart stop. For the second time since she had entered the house, the pain in her chest became almost unbearable.

Mustering all the courage she could, she faced Gran and squeaked out two words. “Gran. Please.”

Eying little Carl and Terrence first, Gran seemed to contemplate her words with care. Sighing, she spoke softly. “It’s not natural. No mother should leave her children without so much as a backward glance,” she spat. “I never would have thought that you would leave your flesh and blood just like your father did.”

Latonya gasped and took a step back. Did her family think her some kind of animal that carelessly gave birth and then left her child to fend for himself? That Gran held her in the same regard as she did Latonya’s father hurt her even more. She wouldn’t have left her baby if she thought she had another choice. Tears started to run down her cheek again. “Oh, Gran.”

Latonya looked up as she wiped away her tears, and her eyes connected with the elder Harrington. He shifted nervously in her gaze. The man had threatened her life and her family’s and she let him run her away. Her eyes narrowed and she did not break her stare. In that moment she knew that she wouldn’t allow him to threaten anything or anyone she held dear ever again.

Carlton stepped forward to intervene. It was almost as if he wanted to help alleviate her distress. “Since Latonya is still recovering, maybe it would be best if we gave her a little time to rest, and then we can finish the welcoming a little later this evening over dinner? Tonya, would you like to go upstairs and take a nap?”

She gazed down at her babies as they still held on to her hands. She didn’t want to leave them, not yet. She was still recovering, but she wanted to spend every moment she could with her family. “How about I read you two a story first and then I take a little nap?”

“Yeah,” the boys screamed in unison.

Latonya cast one more look at the elder Harrington before heading off with her sons. She turned to her grandmother and the others. “I realize that some of you were worried about me. And I’m sorry for that. Just know that I never wanted to leave my child. If I could have done things differently back then I would have.” She gave the old man a pointed stare before continuing. “But know this, nothing will ever keep me away from my children again.”

The old man bristled, and for the first time ever Latonya thought she saw real fear in his eyes.

The girl was back and there wasn’t anything he could do about that. The elder Harrington let the gravity of the situation roll over in his head. She had even threatened him! He saw it in her eyes. Latonya would probably tell Carlton everything as soon as she could and use it to cement her place in his life. And he wouldn’t be able to get Carlton to understand that he’d done what he did all for him, to save him.

The elder Harrington hadn’t done anything to save his own son until it was too late. He’d even encouraged the boy to go after the woman the first couple of times with speeches about the importance of family and keeping up proper appearances. How was he to know that the woman wasn’t worth the spit it took to say her name?

Well, if this girl wanted to hand out threats, so be it! He was a Harrington! He stood by every decision he’d made. He had simply tried to save his grandson from the heartache and pain that he hadn’t been able to save his son from. He’d tried to save himself from the heartache of losing another family member.

If the girl decided to tell Carlton everything, then he would lose his grandson, anyway. The irony of the situation didn’t miss him. Carlton had all but threatened him when he tried to talk him out of bringing the kids from the Bahamas to Miami. If only he had managed to get Carlton to leave her side and come back to the Bahamas with him and the boy.

He hadn’t wanted to leave her. The pain in Carlton’s face when the girl collapsed almost broke the elder Harrington’s heart. He never wanted to see that kind of pain on his grandson’s face. That was the real reason why he wanted the girl gone. The love Carlton felt for the girl was as real as the love that ended up killing his father. The elder Harrington wasn’t going to bury another person he loved if he could help it. The little black American girl surely couldn’t be worthy of such love.

Once she woke up, Latonya found her Peeping Tom from the hospital still watching her sleep. Carlton sat in the wing chair beside the bed. Warmth that she hadn’t expected came over her. Oddly, having him there made her feel secure. That confused her. The way he had treated her made him the last person she should feel safe around. She sighed, not wanting to waste time thinking about Carlton. The only important thing was finding a way to get her children and leave.

“Are you going to watch me sleep all the time?”

Carlton offered a wry grin. “She speaks.”

Sitting up in the bed and rubbing her eyes, she glared at him. “Why are you here? What is this sudden fascination with my sleep patterns?” She stopped for a moment, realizing that Carlton had always watched her sleep. She would often wake up to his intense gaze. Surely he wasn’t watching her for the same reasons as he had then? “You stayed in the hospital the entire time watching me. I’m out now. I’ve been given a clean bill of health. Why are you still doing it?”

He appeared thrown off guard by her question and paused for a moment before responding. “You scared me. Watching you sleep calms me. I can see that you’re safe and okay. I guess I don’t want to let you out of my sight.”

Even though she told herself that it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, why he watched her, she still found herself asking, “Why not?”

His eyes held her in an intense gaze and he responded, “I don’t know. In the hospital, I just didn’t want to leave your side because I didn’t want to lose you. Now I’m trying to figure out a way to get you to stay. I don’t want you to leave again.”

“You kicked me out, Carlton. I didn’t leave you.” Shaking her head incredulously, she continued, “And it took you three years to come find me. So pardon me if I don’t buy this song and dance you’re selling.”