Page 21 of Unexpectedly In Love

Then I hear the rumble of his voice, and I know I am about to be in trouble. Instantly, I drop behind the tables.

“Ani why am I hiding? Because I was witness to a murder, and I have the murderer’s son,” I whisper to myself.

Crawling on my hands and knees I made my way to the last table closets to the door. I need to make a quick sprint from the table to the glass sliding door. Rosemary and Cassy still had Kai who was thankfully falling back to sleep.

The dirty slip under my nails as my grip tightens onto the grass.

“What are you doing on the ground child?” Mr. Leon, Sage’s new tenant asks me. His voice is booming so people automatically turn to him when they hear him speak. I need to have him move or he will bust my cover.

“Shh, I don’t want Kai to see me. Rosie is trying to put him to sleep,” I whisper. God forgive me for lying to this kind old man.

“Oh, well, in that case, hide behind me and sprint to the door.” Mr. Leroy throws back his shoulders and wiggles his eyebrows.

Yes, I could hide behind Mr. Leroy, he was about 6’2” and he was wide. I jumped up and dashed behind him.

I grip the back of his shirt, my hands and nails will leave a grass stain on his shirt, I will apologize later. Hell, I will even get him new shirts. As we shuffle sideways to the sliding door, I see Mr. Leroy wave his hand. “I will be there to meet them in a minute.”

Peeping through the crease of my elbow and his chest, I see Mrs. Leroy call Mr. Leroy over to meet Eryx. I pull Mr. Leroy's arm which causes him to stumble but he catches himself.

“You are a small but strong one, aren’t you?” he remarks.

I didn’t respond because I leaped up the stairs through the sliding door. My breathing is erratic, my palms are sweating. Pulling at the front of my hair, I pace the living room in desperation.

“Fuck. He found me and now he is going to kill me.” Panic enters me, and all I can do is call the person that normally fixed all of our messes.

“SAGE!” I scream as I run up the stairs, opening the door to their bedroom. She is not there.

I can feel my throat closing in on me. “Sage, where are you? Help me!”

This can’t be happening. I finally regained some semblance of control in my life. Recently I stopped feeling the need to glance over my shoulder every time I’m out.

“In Poppy’s bedroom. What’s wrong?” Sage questions.

I rush into Poppy's bedroom, only to realize that Sage and Zac are having a moment with their children. At a different time, in a different place, I would have closed the door and walked away. This is not the time.

“Oh, hi. Sorry Zac.” I stand searching for a place to hide.

“No problem. What’s wrong?” I hear Zac ask.

“Hide me.” My muscles feel twitchy. I need to hide. Under the bed? No. I see the cute dresses hanging in a huge closet. There, the closet, it’s perfect.

I swan dived into Poppy’s closet. It smells of mothballs and lavender.

The kids giggle as they are ushered out of the room. I couldn’t care less what they think. I fit the bill of crazy Aunt Ani as I close the closet door. God if he finds me, he will take Kai away from me. Not my son, I will not let that man take my son. Suppose he kills me too. My hand rubs my chest in circles as I am trying to breathe.

The closet door opens, and Sage pushes Poppy's dress away. “You wanna tell me why you are hiding?”

“He’s here,” that’s all I could get out, my tears were sliding down my face. I try to wipe it but every time I do more tears tumble down my face.

“Who’s here Ani?” Zac bends, his eyes meet mine and frowns with concern.

I can take Kai and leave tonight. He wouldn’t be able to find me in Portugal or Zimbabwe. I can start over. I can keep my son safe; I have to protect him.

Sage eyes widen and her jaw drops slowly. “Hold up. Kai’s dad is here?”

All I can do is nod. Change is coming, I can feel it. It’s like a wall pressing me in. Closing my eyes I try to calm my nerves to think. I need to think.

Zac’s voice penetrates my thoughts. “If you don’t want to see him now don’t. But you must tell him about Kai sometime. I couldn’t imagine living without Poppy or Nikhil.”

---