Close Your Eyes: Book Four

Chapter Eighteen

Guys after struggling to figure out how to end this, I think I've finally got it

I feel small hands on my face and a weight on my chest, causing me to shift around in bed and open my eyes.

Bright blue eyes stare back at me. Bennett grins down at me.

"Morning Mama!" he says happily.

I smile.

"Good morning baby," I say, turning my head to the side to see Liam, but he's not there.

That's when I realize the entire house smells like bacon.

"Bennett!" I hear Liam calling downstairs. "You better not be waking up Mommy!"

Bennett's eyes get wide.

"Shhh!" he whispers to me. I laugh.

I really don't mind waking up with the kids, and Liam knows that, but since I work twelve-hour night shifts three days a week, Liam worries that I'm not getting enough sleep.

He usually tries as hard as he can to get me to sleep in late. My body does need the sleep and I could easily sleep until three in the afternoon on most days because I'm up all night and my body is just used to that, but I don't like sleeping in late. I prefer to get up in the morning and see the kids, but Liam is always so worried about my health.

I hear footsteps coming up the stairs, and a moment later, Linzie sticks her head into the bedroom.

"Liam told me to come see if Bennett was in here," she says, looking at me and my Bennett, who is sitting on my stomach. "I'm sorry." She says. "You must be so tired."

"I'm alright," I say to her.

She moves farther into the room and shuts the door behind her, moving closer to me and Bennett.

"Honestly, I'm actually so glad you're awake because Liam's father is here for breakfast." She whispers. "And Liam seems really stressed and I haven't really been around him in a long time. I think he's nervous or something, but his Dad is helping with the kids and trying to talk to Liam but...I mean, they don't know each other that well."

"Liam called William?" I ask her.

"Yeah," she says. "I asked him if I should wake you up and he told me you needed sleep."

"Oh, I'm definitely up now." I say. "Benny, do you mind going downstairs with Auntie Lindsay while Mommy gets dressed?" I ask, brushing my fingers through my son's hair.

"Okay."

I sit up and Bennett gives me a hug, and then goes downstairs with Lindsay, who mouths please hurry to me.

I take a deep breath and nod back to her before going into the bathroom.

I brush my hair and teeth and put on a sports bra. I stay in my pajamas because I don't want it to be obvious to Liam that I already knew his Dad was here, and then I grab my phone off the charger and make my way downstairs, my mind trying to come up with anything I can remember about Liam's father.

Truthfully, I don't remember much. I was only friends with Liam for about a year before his Dad left.

I had no idea he had been fighting to get his son back the whole time.

God, Liam could have been raised in a loving home, not put against the wall and choked as a teenager.

My dislike for his mother grows as I think of the image of teenage Liam against a wall by his throat.