This Game Called Life (Kingdom Book 4)

“What’s happened, Lovely? Tell me what’s wrong.”


The gentleness of his tone was her undoing. Up until that point her tears had been silent. Now they gushed forwards with such heart-wrenching sobs that Jake immediately pulled her into a tight embrace.

**********

As he held her, Jake did his best to absorb the tremors that came from deep within her body. Looking over at Jason, he couldn’t help but be a little perturbed that his investigation of the sounds coming from the hallway had found MacKenzie taking solace from his twin. He knew he was being irrational, and in all likeliness she had reached out to Aviva rather than Jason in her distress. That she hadn’t thought to call him first, hurt Jake more than he was willing to admit.

“I... I can’t find my baby. I can’t find Carlos, and I can’t find my baby, Jake,” MacKenzie sobbed, her face buried against his chest.

“It’s okay, lovely. Everything is going to be okay.” A slight motion of his head received a nod from Josh as he exited the room. Jake knew his younger brother would understand what he had silently asked him to do. They needed to check with the hospitals to make sure Carlos hadn’t been involved in an accident.

As Jake held her, he became aware that the front of his shirt was soaked, but needing answers, he eased MacKenzie away from him and looked down at her. His arms still around her, his silent contemplation finally caught MacKenzie’s attention.

“Oh God, look what I’ve done to you!” MacKenzie said as she attempted to brush away the wet patch she had created, her agitation growing by the second. “Oh, God, look at your shirt. I’ve ruined it. I’m so sorry, look what I’ve done. I didn’t mean to do it.”

“It’s only a shirt MacKenzie, don’t worry about it.” Even as he tried to assure her, Jake knew she wasn’t really troubled by the inconsequential stains her tears had caused to his shirt.

“It doesn’t matter, MacKenzie. The shirt doesn’t matter,” Jake repeated, but she didn’t seem to hear him.

Somehow Aviva was beside them. “It’s okay Kenzie, don’t worry. Come with me.” Pulling her away from Jake, Aviva led an un-protesting MacKenzie from the room.

Once the women were out of the room, Jake pulled off the shirt MacKenzie had soaked, and threw it onto a nearby chair. Giving no thought to his naked chest, he looked between his father and twin; the questions reflected in his eyes quickly read by them both.

Jackson was the first to speak. “We’re not even going to put the possibility into the ether. Until Josh gets back, our assumption will be that this Carlos person is playing some form of monumentally sick game!”

Neither of his sons questioned his dictates. Carlos deliberately keeping Noelle away from her mother was something he could deal with. The possibility of Carlos and the baby being in an accident were something he wasn’t ready to contemplate.

As luck would have it, Josh re-entered the room before MacKenzie and Aviva made a reappearance.

“I checked all the hospitals within a fifty mile radius. Nothing, no report of an accident involving a six-month-old baby.”

“Thank God for that!” Jackson said. “That leaves us with this Carlos character either overstepping the mark or being so wrapped up in his daughter that he’s lost track of time.” The sarcasm dripping from his voice elicited varying sounds of scorn from his sons.

“How do you want to play this, Jake?” Jason asked, an undeniable look of anger on his face.

“Let’s try not to jump to too many conclusions. Let’s just wait for MacKenzie, maybe she’ll remember something that will shed light on Carlos’ behavior,” was Jake’s reply.

They didn’t have long to wait before the women re-entered the room. Her distress still apparent, MacKenzie refused to look in any direction other than the floor. Jake knew she was probably embarrassed at her emotional outburst, and refused to allow her to dwell on that thought. Making his way to her, he gave no thought to the fact that he had removed his shirt and that his bare chest only served as a reminder to her discomfort.

“Put this on, Jake,” Aviva said, tossing him one of Jason’s endless supply of t-shirts.

Catching it in mid-air, Jake eyes only lost contact with MacKenzie’s face for the brief moment it took him to pull the shirt over his head.

“MacKenzie, this is an overused statement, but try not to worry. I know you probably don’t want to admit that you’ve been thinking about the possibility of an accident, but we have, and...”

“Don’t you dare say that, Jacob Kingdom, don’t you even think it!” MacKenzie cried.

“I have thought about it and I’m going to tell you what I know–”

“Jake!” Aviva intervened on her friend’s behalf.

“It’s okay, Angel. Let him finish,” Jason assured his wife.

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