Protecting His Kidnapped Family - Leslie North Page 0,52

she wanted to argue, but Gracie took that opportunity to upchuck down the front of her cute little pink sundress.

“Oh, dear,” his mother said. “If you get me a towel, I’ll clean her up.”

Without thinking, Noah and Serena moved as a unit, both getting up at the same time to handle the situation. After all these days together, it was what they were used to. A normal routine.

“I’ll get the wipes and a clean dress,” he said, heading upstairs.

“And I’ll get the baby wash and a towel from the kitchen,” Serena called, heading down the hall.

They met up in the living room again moments later to get their baby daughter all cleaned up. By the time they were done, his parents were watching them closely from the sofa, a quizzical look on their faces.

Noah put away the last of the wipes, then met his mom’s gaze. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s just that you two work like a well-oiled machine. A real team. Seems a shame to break that up.”

His dad nodded. “I know you don’t want to hear it from me, son, but finding that person you sync with, even if it’s difficult to make it work all the time, is still a rare and precious thing.”

Snorting, Noah took his seat again, Gracie over his shoulder. “You’re right. I don’t want to hear it from you.”

“Look, Noah,” his dad said. “Walking out on you and your mom was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life. And believe me, I’ve made some doozies. But at the time, I thought I was doing the right thing. We fought all the time and that was no way to live. No way to raise a child. But over the years, I’ve learned that maybe my way isn’t always the best way and that compromise is worth it, if it means keeping someone special in your life.” He leaned over and kissed Noah’s mom on the temple. “Your mom and I met up again a few months ago and we just knew. We’ve mellowed over the years, and the things we used to fight about just aren’t as important anymore.”

“Not as important as love,” his mom said, kissing his father gently on the lips before turning to Noah again. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do with your life, but please don’t make the same mistakes we did. The past few weeks, you fought so hard to stay together. Why would you fight so hard now to stay apart? Especially with little Gracie to consider?”

Feeling cornered and caged in, Noah handed off his daughter to Serena and stood, needing some air and space to breathe. “Excuse me a minute.”

He fled to the kitchen, only to find Levon there, leaning against the counter.

“Dude, you look like a dead man walking.”

“Gee, thanks.” Noah nudged him out of the way to pull a beer from the fridge. He twisted the cap off the bottle and took a long swig. “Man, we got any mission coming up on the other side of the world? ’Cause I could sure use an escape right about now.”

Levon snorted. “Nah. Nothing I know of. Besides, running gets you exactly nowhere. Trust me. I tried. All this BS with trying to blend work and relationships…it’s hard. No doubt. But getting a family at the end of it? That makes it all worth it.” He pushed away from the counter and slapped Noah on the shoulder. “You just need to find your balance, dude. That’s all.”

Noah watched his buddy walk away, his head still ringing with his mother’s words. A vision of Serena and Gracie gone from his life forever making him realize that maybe Levon was right and he’d been wrong all along.

21

After Noah’s parents left, Serena went back upstairs to finish packing up her stuff and Gracie’s while Noah watched the baby downstairs. She got everything into her bag and zipped it up, then turned to the closet to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. The only thing left to go through was the backpack she’d brought from the villa in St. Dourdane.

She had half a mind to just shove it inside her bigger bag and deal with it later, but there was stuff inside that belonged to Noah and he should have it back. With a sigh, she hauled the thing out and dumped the contents on the bed. There were some extra diapers, a couple of protein bars, one bottle of water and…

Serena ran