𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 | 𝘾𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙥 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 | Balancing motherhood and adulthood is difficult, but Kay embraces the new challenge with love and care. When Noah James barrels into Brian's life, that challenge shifts, and the happy couple...
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**Brian**
Days. I couldn't stay in the hospital because it was going to drive me insane. After I spent months in there, I vowed to never repeat it. Noah broke one of my rips, gave me a busted lip and too many bruises, but long sleeves covered the scars, ointment lulled the ache. With Kay at my side, I didn't need the doctors and nurses poking at me. I was okay. Noah was arrested. Robert and I got the closure we both thought we'd never learn.
Katerina wasn't a cold case anymore...
"Music time!" Kay remained cheerful. As I leaned back in the driver's seat of Rianne's SUV, I glanced at Kay's hand reaching to turn the dial on the radio. I smirked. While I was thankful that Rianne let us borrow her car, this old 1999 SUV needed an upgrade.
"Music's cool," I said, looking back at the road. We drove in silence for most of the way to Harmony, but it was another reason I couldn't stay at the hospital. I needed my kids. I needed their forever smiling, always bright sunshine filled faces. I didn't care that the doctors said I needed to stay in bed. I would, in mine, next to my twins' cribs.
The radio turned on and a report came through the speakers. "Just last weekend, an unknown male kidnapped his supposed friends and locked him inside of the abandoned apartments just north of Schubert street. Police arrived at the scene after they were given the location by worried friends and families. The victim, kept unidentified for his safety, was taken to Memorial Hospital with broken bones, bruises, and—"
I narrowed my gaze. I was the news.
"The attacker is determined to be the person in the cold case murder of Katerina Miller, brutally murdered outside of—"
Kay quickly pushed the radio's button and shot me a quick look. "Sorry," she whispered. "We don't have to listen to that."
"No," I shook my head and bit my lip, "we don't."
I knew the news would talk about it for months because that's what they did, but if I could avoid it, I would. Noah was the last, unexpected, dark door to my past. His presence disrupted my present but gave a sense of peace; it made sense to me. It was the only way I could think of it without going insane. Katerina's spirit would be at rest because her family had solace. We needed that. Noah would rot in prison, and I could focus on my future.
"But hey," I reached out of Kay's hand, "you can sing to me."
Her brows shot up as a goofy smile brushed across her face. "You don't mean that."
"Nah, I do," I laughed, linking my fingers between hers. "Didn't you say you and your parents sang songs all of the time. Sing me something."
"Babe," she pouted, "ever seen the Little Mermaid? The old Disney cartoon?"
I pursed my lips and cocked a brow, thinking about it. "Maybe." I shrugged. "Maybe not."
"Well, I'll explain." She shifted in her seat and faced me as best as she could. "In the cartoon, there's this seagull named Scuttle, right?"
