Chapter 11—Joshua

I was in my office, working when my phone rang. Absently, I reached my hand to pick up the call. I was looking at some documents, but I rarely got calls to my private line, so it was ingrained in me to pick up my phone whenever it rang.

“Joshua.”

Immediately, I looked away from my documents.

“Wendy?” I said. “What’s wrong?”

Her voice sounded too serious, urgent even, and I wondered what had gone wrong. Wendy wasn’t one to panic unnecessarily, and it immediately put me on edge.

Did something happen with Steven?

I might have never thought much about children before, besides some off-handed comments, then learning I was a father already with the woman I loved, but I had enjoyed my little cousin from day one. Not only because Wendy loved him to bits, but because I was there for his birth and had been one of the few people to see him come into the world. He was so small and fragile I couldn’t help feeling protective over him.

Besides, he was family.

If something ever happened to him, his parents wouldn’t be the only ones devastated.

“Joshua,” Wendy said. Her voice was calm, but it sounded forced like she was hiding something else underneath. “I need you to come over to my house immediately. If you have something important, leave it to someone else just this once okay? Please.”

The please really got to me, because it was another thing that was uncharacteristic of my cousin. She never pled for jobs, she asked, or she demanded.

Fearing the worst, I put everything aside. I wasn’t working on anything crucial. It was a project that wouldn’t go into the planning phase for another month. I was looking over the information gathered on it, so while necessary, it wasn’t something I needed to finish right then.

I didn’t bother leaving the work to anyone else, logging out then shutting down my computer. I locked my office as I went, and told my secretary to reschedule anything else I had for the rest of the day. I made it out of the building and to my car and drove impatiently over to my cousin’s house.

The gates opened automatically for me, and I sped up the driveway. I practically shut down the car and jumped out in the same breath, then I ran up to the door and started pounding on the door.

“Wendy! It’s me, Joshua, open up!”

There was no immediate response, and I pressed down on the bell a couple of times before I went back to pounding on it. When I tried the handle, it was locked.

“Dammit!” I cursed under my breath.

I’d just taken a couple of steps back and started pacing a tight circle in front of the door when it opened, and the last person I expected to see stood there.

“Alessandra?”

She looked as surprised as I did, not to mention a little confused.

“Joshua? What are you doing here, knocking so wildly like that? Did something happen?”

I gaped for a minute, then shook my head. “Wendy called me and asked to come. Is she here?”

“Um, she left a while ago. I don’t think there was anything wrong before she left. She called me to look after Steven because she had something important to do today.”

It took a second, but I figured out what was going on.

Fuck.

This had to be a set-up.

What are you thinking, Wendy?

“Would you like to come in?” Alessandra offered hesitantly as if she wasn’t sure she should be inviting me in.

I hesitated myself. I wasn’t sure if I should go inside. I did like seeing Alessandra again. There had been silence between us ever since she showed up at my office over a week ago, but if it was a plan Wendy was setting up, I wondered if I wanted to be a part of it.

Not even giving me the time to make a decision, I heard the gates opening up and whirled around to see Wendy’s car coming up the drive. I scowled at her, up until she got to her car, smiling at the both of us, and came to join us at the door.

“What are you two doing at the doorway? Go in already.”

She showed us both inside. I frowned at her but went inside as well.

My little cousin was in the living room, in a comfy looking high chair, beside the couch. Alessandra went to sit back next to him and picked up the bottle on the coffee table.

“I was just feeding him when Joshua came in,” she explained.

Wendy chirped. “Oh, that’s just great, then! My chest was feeling a little heavy, so you can take that back to the fridge so I can use it later.”

Alessandra still had a confused expression as she watched Wendy walk forward to pick up her son, but she complied, getting up and heading for the kitchen. When she disappeared around the wall, I turned to my cousin.

“What are you planning?” I demanded in a low voice. “The way you called me here, I was anxious, so why isn’t there a fire burning or something?”

She rolled her eyes at me. “I don’t know what happened between you two, but you and Alessandra better make up, quickly.”

I frowned. “How do you…”

“I don’t need either of you to tell me, all I had to do was mention your name and watch her face. I suggest, dear cousin, if you don’t want to lose the love of your life a second time, you better come out and do something about it. I’m giving you a chance here, so you better be grateful.”

I wanted to argue, but I could only bite my tongue. It was true that something had come between us in the past week. Before that, we were messaging regularly and meeting three or more times a week. So, of course, I noticed that Alessandra was acting a bit withdrawn, but when I messaged her, she still replied, she was just busy. It was hard to tell whether she was actually working or just trying to avoid me.

Alessandra took so long to come back; I wondered what was going on. So I was shocked when she walked back into the room carrying another baby, rolling a baby walker behind her.

“Why was Danny in the kitchen?” Wendy asked, head tilted. “You might as well keep them together so they can get to know each other.”

Alessandra looked up quickly, and I didn’t miss how her eyes jumped to me before she looked away quickly. She fidgeted, looking a little guilty.

She’s still not good at keeping what she’s thinking or feeling from her face, I noted. Or rather, she wasn’t even trying. I wondered what she and Wendy talked about.

“I didn’t have them in different rooms, he was curious about the house and rolled into the kitchen while I was busy. Don’t worry; he didn’t touch anything.”

Wendy just laughed. “I wouldn’t mind if anything got dirty, as long as he wasn’t hurt, so don’t worry about it.”

My eyes dropped to Danny in her arms. He had his face lying on her shoulder so that I couldn’t see all of him. He was about the same size as my little cousin and had almost the same shade of light blond hair. I was willing to bet he had matching blue eyes, though I could also imagine him with eyes like Alessandra’s.

Wendy hummed. “I just bought the perfect thing, and I was so excited over it, I had to come back early. I have a spare baby car seat, and I found a double stroller and bought it. It’s waiting for me in the car. Why don’t I take the babies out for a walk? I always wanted to try a double stroller. Everyone will think I have twins or something.”

She grinned to herself, looking genuinely excited at the prospect. I already knew about her fascination with twins, so it likely wasn’t a lie.

“Come on, Alessandra,” she said with a wave. “I’ll get the other seat, let’s get both of them in the car.”

The said baby seat was in a different corner of the living room, and Wendy went to pick it up. Alessandra followed, and I brought up the rear as we went to the car.

Wendy threw me a look, and I went forward without her saying a thing. I helped set up the second chair, and she set Steven inside. Then she went back to Alessandra and held her hands out for Danny.

My whole body froze. I wanted to stop her, because how dare she gets to hold my son before even I did? But I didn’t want to give myself away. Alessandra was also hesitant, her eyes moving to me before they met Wendy’s gaze.

“You don’t have to,” she said. “I don’t want to bother you, or anything…”

Wendy waved a dismissive hand. “Nonsense, how is it bothering me? I won't be going anywhere dangerous; I’ll be at the park. And if you’re so worried, you don’t have to be. My husband will be meeting me there so that the children will be more than safe. It’ll only be an hour, and you can watch the house for me at that time, right?”

Alessandra bit her lip in indecision.

I was still frowning at Wendy, wondering what she thought this would accomplish. I knew Alessandra, and I needed to have a real talk. I had known it from the moment I found out she gave birth to my son. I didn’t have any hard proof of it, but I felt it. But doing it this way was endangering everything.

Already, I could tell Alessandra looked cornered. She didn’t seem uncomfortable with the thought of being left alone with me. Wendy involving herself might make Alessandra less inclined to trust her later, so she was risking their friendship as well.

Then, Alessandra’s expression grew firm.

“I’m going, too,” she declared.

I narrowed my eyes. Wendy threw me a look, but I didn’t see it because my eyes were on Alessandra. I could feel her gaze practically boring into me, though.

“You’re not going anywhere, Alessandra.”

Her expression went tense. My fingers clenched into fists in my pockets. I might not be so sure of Wendy’s method, but I had a feeling, if I walked away now, it would be even harder for me to talk to her. She wasn’t making it very obvious, but with the way she was holding Danny ever since we were inside, it was as if she was trying to keep me from seeing the child correctly.

She was trying to hide him from me.

I sighed and released my fists. “We need to talk, Alessandra. Please.”

Slowly, she turned and met my gaze. We stared at each other for a few seconds, before she sighed as well and looked away from me, the tension leaving her shoulders. Her expression seemed unwilling, but as Wendy reached her hands out for Danny, she didn’t refuse to release him.