Chapter 7: Trouble, Trouble, Trouble

Jada stole a glance at Smith as she nervously drummed her feet against the white tiled hospital floors. The past two days were the most incredible ones in her life. Nothing special happened, nothing extraordinary. All she did was eat, read, watch TV and sleep, and no one was there to disturb her. 

At the hotel that Mr. Henry had booked her into, she slept on a bed made of clouds, food was brought to her, someone came to clean her room and once in every couple of hours, someone called her room to ask if she was okay. No mother yelled at her to get dinner started, no Nina was demanding to have her laundry done and there were no Darrell sneaking looks at her at the dinner table.

No one knew her here, no one wanted anything from her, and all they wanted was to see to her comfort. It was damn exciting and relaxing. 

But now she was nervous. Smith had picked her up early that morning. Jada could tell that the man expected people to do as he said without asking any questions and without him offering any information. The car ride from the hotel to the hospital was awkward and silent. Never did he glance at her or speak to her. The man sat so still beside her that Jada at times wondered if he was just a mannequin. She didn’t even hear him breathe, but the occasional grunts at his phone told her that he was alive.

Now they were in a private waiting room, where he stood over her, his arms crossed at his chest, his frown settled deep into his facial features and his unblinking eyes stared straight ahead. 

A nurse walked up to them and Smith took a step forward, taking the clipboard that the nurse was offering Jada. Jada opened her mouth to protest, but the scowl on Smith’s face had her backing down. The nurse wore a confused expression as she looked to Smith then at Jada. As if waiting for Jada to say something she stood there, expectant. Jada kept her lips sealed and Smith handed the clipboard back to the nurse after scribbling something on it. The nurse took it and settled her gaze on Jada before they left. 

Jada gave her a sheepish smile and slightly raised both her hands. What exactly did the nurse expect her to say? She had already surrendered herself into Smith’s capable hands. At this point, she wasn’t going to do anything to annoy her benefactor. She didn’t have enough money to last her a week in New York, and besides, she had become attached to the angel wings that made up the bed she had slept in the past few days.

Plus, Smith and his boss were the only connection she had to Luke. Until she found him, Smith was her new BFF.

The nurse left and a few minutes later, she returned for her. Jada stood up and followed the nurse. When she didn’t hear Smith’s footsteps behind her she looked over her shoulder. He was still standing against the wall, his gaze settled on her. He gave her a nod as if telling her that it was okay for her to go with the nurse, to be out of her sight. Jada nodded back; she felt a brief sense of loss that her shadow wasn’t following her. In the little time, they had spent together, she had become attached to Smith’s brand of silence, domineering, stoic, and smothering.

Not to be misunderstood, considering what Jada had come from, a different type of smothering, she welcomed Smith’s oddities. It was reassuring having him skulk about her. She felt like someone was looking out for her, although she was sure that the man was only there for his boss’s interest. But he was there, with her if not for her.

Jada wondered what her mother, sister, and brother-in-law were doing at that moment. They had kicked her out of the house, but part of her knew that they expected her to go back home and grovel. That was what Nona liked, having the upper hand, knowing that at any moment she could bring Jada to her knees. But Luke had changed that.

That was why Jada was her in part, the other reason as obvious, she didn’t have any other options. Luke gave her a sense of self and freedom that she had desired all her life. He had made her brazen. Before him, Jada would never have thought to go against her mother and sister. That was why she had fallen in love with him because he saw and recognized a woman within her and had slowly coaxed her out of the deep crevices of Jada’s battered spirit. Luke was right for her; he was good for her. He made her discover a self that was brave, selfish, and wanting.

Wasn’t that what love was about, finding someone who helped you be the best version of yourself. She wondered what kind of person Luke was, and if her presence in his life had left as great an impact on him as he had on her. 

The only other man who had been able to shape Jada’s characters was her father. A loving and giving man who gave warmth even when all his wife gave him was icy resentment. Jada’s heart ached as she missed the one man who gave her the greatest gift anyone could give another person, her father believed in her. She missed him a little more every day, a little differently as well. She especially noticed his absence when she was going through something difficult. The man was a ray of light in the midst of darkness.

And then there was Smith, a formidable presence that gave her a sense of security and reassurance. Jada shook her head and looked away from him, confused at the strange emotion that had crept up out of nowhere all of a sudden. She rushed after the nurse, following her into a triage’s room.

After a few hours of tests, she was led to another room. A blonde doctor waited for her, apart from the worried frown she wore, she was beautiful, with grey-blue eyes that reminded her of Luke. Jada sat on the examination table and waited. But it seemed like the only thing the doctor was interested in doing was staring at her.

“Hello,” Jada said unable to take the silence.

“Duke sent you here?” She asked and answered herself. “Whose baby is it?”

Jada’s pride prickled, “Isn’t that out of the scope of questions you are meant to ask your patients?”

The doctor’s brow rose in an impatient query, “My brother, my soon to be married brother sent a pregnant woman to my hospital. Did I mention that my soon to be married brother is also covering the expenses of this doctor’s visit?”

“Brother,” Jada mumbled to herself. She looked so much like Luke that Jada should have realized that they were related. “Wrong brother.”

“Kit?” She asked in a shrill. “Kit is married!”

“The other one,” Jada said under her breath as she cleared her throat.

The doctor frowned at her with a suspicious glare, “Chris?”

“Bingo!”

The doctor’s lips parted in a puzzled yet tremolos smile. “Oh, thank God. We have enough drama as it is. But Christopher drama, that we can handle. We’ve been dealing with them ever since he discovered the meaning of trouble. I’m Katherine or Kat. I’m Duke’s younger sister but the twins’ big sister.”

“I’m Jada, the pregnant girl in a constant state of surprise ever since I stepped into New York.” No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t hide the sourness in her tone.

“So is Chris back.”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

***

Christopher stood at the front door of the Kent house. He didn’t know who would open the door, but part of him hoped it would be Kit, or even better, Danny. Chris was frothing with anger. He couldn’t believe that the two of them dared to continue living their lives in his absence.

They’d wronged him and he was determined to make them pay. The door opened and he got his wish. Danny opened the door and he took her in. Her hair was gathered in a messy bun on top of her head. She had a baby in one arm and a bottle in her other hand. She looked surprised to see him, shocked even. But could he blame her? He had risen from the dead.

“You are alive!” Danny gasped.

“Alive, well, and here for my sons.”

Chris’s eyes roamed over her body once more, taking her in. Danny had more curves than the last time he had seen her. She wasn’t in tight shorts but a pair of sweatpants. Her eyes were hooded, dark circles telling the story of many sleepless nights. They were not haunted like before; her skin wasn’t as dull either. Even with the stress that she was evidently under, she looked fresh and glowing even.

She looked better than he remembered, apparently his death did her some good. Chris swallowed back his grunt of disapproval and chocked on it as though he wasn’t bothered by her. He tried to act as unaffected as he could, but it was difficult. 

Chris registered his annoyance, he noticed the absence of one emotion, affection. His head cocked to the side as he took her in once more. Did he always feel this nothingness towards her or was it because of the time they spent apart or was the absence of warmth due to the reason she had lived a good life without him?

That thought annoyed him. 

Chris looked at the baby in his arms, eyes so much like his own stared back at him, wondering. The little boy’s hair was blonde, just as Chris’s had been and his tiny face bore a resemblance to both him and Danny. It was a good thing that he and Kit were identical twins, this little prank of his would be easy to pull off.

A little payback for the past, Chris was here to cause maximum damage to his brother’s and Danny’s marriage.

When Chris had returned to town, he had stopped by Meredith’s first. He needed to be caught up on everything that had happened in his absence. Although Danny looked at him with recognition, there was no familiarity. She had lost her memory. Meredith had also told him, that Kit and Danny’s marriage was far from being perfect. It had to do with the fact that their mother insisted that the paternity of the twins was in question. They were on shaky ground, the place where their marriage stood was full of cracks, Chris was here to deal the final blow shattering it completely.

Kit and Chris were identical twins, they shared a DNA, Danny had lost her memory, and she could not refute his claims. All Chris had to do was claim the children were his, demand for their custody, and strike a deal with Danny that would include all three of them living with Chris and abandoning Kit. And with that, he would finally win against his brother.

“Danny?” He hadn’t said her name in over a year and when the name left his lips, there was no emotion attached to it, not even anger. It sounded so dry to his ears he wondered how Danny would respond to it.

Silence. He thought back to the time he was with Danny. It was a dependent type of relationship. He supplied her with enough booze to fog her brain and he declared himself victor over a brother who wasn’t there to put up a fair fight. There had been silence between them, then as well, filled only with the occasional sound of her raising a glass of whiskey up in the air, mumbling a few words, yawn, stretch and then slump into a chair or collapse onto the floor. 

Danny did look a lot better without him than she was with him. That annoyed him.

“Danny?” Chris took a step into the house and Danny retreated, her hold on her baby tighter, as she dropped the bottle and circled her now free arm around him. It was laughable, wasn’t it? This woman who had forgotten about her was now protecting her child from him like he was a threat. The woman had a good instinct.

“Danny?”

“Danny!”

Kit bellowed from inside the house, his voice covering Chris’s. Chris let out a frustrated sigh. “Danny who’s at the door.” 

Kit emerged from a corner and his expression when he first saw Chris wasn’t as gratifying as Danny’s. No shock, no anger, just unaffected. He walked up to Danny and step in front of her, blocking Danny from Chris, or was it Chris he was blocking from Danny? He was shielding Danny, the protective trait that Kit had always possessed since their childhood.

Although Kit did not react to seeing Chris, Chris couldn’t explain the assault of emotions going through him at the sight of his brother. Everything he had expected to feel for Danny, he felt for Kit. For the past year, there had been an ache than came and went, it always returned in quiet moments and one of those moments had been on their birthday. Kit’s absence in Chris’s life was his own fault, but he would never admit to it. Just like he wouldn’t admit that he saw Kit every time he looked into the mirror, and how lonely he felt each time he did. The passage of time hadn’t dulled the ache and being here, his cold reception hurt him more than it annoyed him.

He stared at his twin brother and swore under his breath. He’d even missed the bastard’s back.

“Baby look at me,” Chris heard Kit say. “Take the baby and go up to the nursery. Don’t come down until I come to get you.”

“Really brother is that the welcome I get after being away for so long,” Chris called out as Danny quickly scurried out of the room. Kit turned to face him and for the first time in his life, the passive grey-blue eyes were like silver lightening announcing a storm looming ahead. 

The change in expression had Chris shocked. “That’s new,” he said with a chuckle.

***

“Same shit different day, huh Chris? Over a year gone and you are exactly as I expected you to be. A selfish asshole.” Kit ignored the emotion in Chris’s voice and the one building in his chest. He missed the ass.

Kit balled his fingers into a fist as he concentrated on taking a breath then the next one and the one after that. Rage coursed through him at the sight of his brother, and the grin he wore. Nothing much had changed about Chris, just the color of his hair. Other than that, he was still the selfish asshat he knew since before they were even born.

The anger wasn’t because of his brother’s presence, on the contrary, it was because of the lack of in the past year. It was weird seeing him after being apart from each other for so long His tours in the military stretched out six months at a time, sometimes less and sometimes more. But every time Kit was on leave, he always rushed to New York to see Chris or convince his twin to fly down to Hawaii to see him. 

For the longest time, it had been the two of them, in a very dysfunctional and yet functional relationship. Kit gave and Chris took. Before Danny, he never thought that there could be anything or anyone who would drive a wedge between them. But it wasn’t Danny’s fault, it was Kit’s for enabling Chris for decades and Chris’s for not knowing when to back off.

Ever since Kit had come back home from Germany, guilt haunted him. Brian his unit brother hadn’t survived the attack on their convoy and Chris had essentially run away from home after making everyone think he had died in the train accident. The guilt was like gasoline in his gut, slowly killing his insides with potent toxicity. All that was left to do was to light a spark and let the fire consume him from the inside out, leaving just a shell. The fumes took shape in his head, filling his night with nightmares and days with apprehension. Kit was still working hard at becoming a person once more, a husband and a father.

For the longest time guilt sat on his chest, but never inside his mind. His brain had rationalized everything that had happened between them. Danny was his wife, and no matter how he wished it Brian wasn’t coming back, end of the debate. But Chris, his heart was so used to giving and letting Chris have his way that it was clouded with remorse. That was the reason why he had abandoned Danny at the hospital after she regained consciousness after the accident. That guilt was also whispering in Kit’s ear, Chris is here now. If the boys are his, let him and Danny be a family.

Kit shook the thought out of his head and silenced that voice immediately. He and Danny had just decided to start fresh as the people they were now. Whether the boys were his or not, he wasn’t going to let go of Danny. Even without the memory of how the fell in love the first time, Danny loved him now. He wasn’t giving that up.

But he needed his questions answered.

Kit stiffened himself militarily and cleared his throat. “Tell me about you and Danny.”

***

“Tell me about you and Danny.”

Danny covered her mouth to muffle her gasp when she heard Kit’s question. Kit’s voice was controlled, a tone that he had practiced so many times so as not to show his anger, carried, and followed her up the stairs. Kit had only used that tone with her once. The absence of it gave Danny hope that they were finally on the same page. But now he was asking about her affair. Danny knew that it took everything in Kit to ask that question. What husband wanted to know about his wife’s entanglements?

She rushed into the nursery and placed her little boy in the crib next to her brother. Danny paced the room wondering what her next move should be.

Danny had wanted to know more about their past, but Kit never gave her an answer. She always assumed that their past was so terrible that he couldn’t answer her. Until this moment, it had never occurred to her that he never answered because he didn’t know what to say.

Chris was here, the only person who could fill in the blanks of this love triangle. However, Danny didn’t want to know about the past anymore. Her curiosity died the moment her future with Kit was threatened. They were supposed to start over again, but the past had come knocking on their front door.

What was it that he said? Alive, well, and here for my sons.

His sons.

How could Danny ever forget about the mother-in-law that blamed her of being the reason why her sons were at war and of killing one son? She also pointed out that the paternity of her sons was in question. Kit’s mother didn’t visit with her grandchildren as much as her mother did. Danny always assumed that it as Danny she didn’t want to see and not her grandchildren.

Mrs. Henry must be ecstatic now that her son was back, and now maybe the woman would cut her some slack. Chris coming back would earn her a reprieve from the old woman but it may do unfixable damage to her relationship with Kit. 

What was Chris going to say, how would Kit take it, and most importantly would Kit forgive her. 

She looked into the crib where her boys slept peacefully, unsuspecting of the drama that was unfolding downstairs. She wished that by the time they woke up they would still have an intact family. Danny took her phone from her pocket and quickly texted her siblings. She needed reinforcements, and until they got there, she was going to delay the past as much as she could.

Danny rushed downstairs and found Kit and Chris where she had left them. Chris still had one foot out the door and Kit stood in his way, his hands behind his back, his fingers balled into fists. It was like Kit was standing guard, his bearing regal and military with towering authority. Danny had never seen him like this before, a calm façade settled on his face, while his body was so tense, rigid, and waiting.

“Kit,” Danny called out and reached for him. Taunt muscles quivered at her light touch. 

Kit turned to face her, his gaze narrowed, and his lips pressed into a firm line. She looked into his eyes and saw it, or didn’t see it. Kit’s grey-blues didn’t hold anything in them, not anger, not guilt, not sadness or question. They were empty. She had seen that look before, often just before he had an episode caused by his PTSD.

“What?” His face was impassive, his voice low and cold and dropping even lower in pitch that his deep baritone absolutely vibrated through her.

“Maybe we should do this later when Duke is here or my brothers,” Danny tried to keep the panic out of her voice, but that was like hiding an elephant behind a beetle. 

“Why?” Kit’s voice graveled, lethal in its softness.

“Don’t you want my brother to know what we were up to when he was doing his duty to country and flag?” Chris mocked.

A wide smile creased Kit’s already scarred face. “Tell me, I’m listening.”

“I don’t want to know!” Danny cut in the quiver in her voice rattling in the chilled air between the two men. “You said clean slate, a fresh start. I don’t want to know.”

“Then go back upstairs,” Kit dismissed her with the jerk of his chin.

“Yeah Danny, give us a minute to talk,” Chris gave her a bawdy wink and bared his teeth in a taunting grin.

With a hand on each cheek, Danny pulled Kit’s face down to face her. Lifting her chin, his eyes found hers and they idled for what seemed like forever.