Chapter 1
“One… two… three.”
Nyah Wynter counted under her breath, trying to rein in her tongue before she let loose and truly lightened her ex-husband’s darkness.
Lord Jesus, please tell me what I ever saw in this man.
“Craig, it’s their birthday,” she said, keeping her voice measured. “What am I supposed to tell them? They’ve been looking forward to this for months.”
She could already picture the disappointment on her twin daughters’ faces when she told them their daddy wouldn’t be at their party. At five years old, Sophie and Soraya were the light of her life—and the only good thing that had ever come out of her miserable ex.
“I have to work, Nyah,” Craig snapped. “Something came up at the last minute.”
“Does it wear a skirt?” she shot back,
The prick of conviction came instantly.
A soft answer, the Spirit whispered.
Sorry, Lord.
“Look, I’m sorry,” she corrected. “But it is your children’s birthday. Can’t someone else fill in? Please, Craig, don’t do this to them. You barely spend time with them as it is, and you promised you’d be here.”
“It’s not the last birthday they’ll ever have,” he said impatiently. “Get off my back. I’ll take them out for pizza and ice cream on Saturday. You can even come, though you don’t need to be eating anything.”
His words landed exactly where he intended them to.
Nyah tightened her grip on the phone, forcing her fingers to loosen before the familiar ache settled fully in her chest. She would not give him the satisfaction, not today, never again.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me, Craig,” she said coolly. “If I never saw you again for the rest of my life, it would be too soon. But you matter to the girls. And for them—for them alone—I will swallow my pride, shelve my disgust, and suffer your company. Now what time can we expect you?”
“Six-thirty,” he barked.
“Fine.”
She ended the call before he could squeeze in another barb, lowering the phone slowly as disbelief washed over her.
“The idea…” she muttered under her breath. Of all the nerve, the comment about her weight. The man was a pig, through and through.
Her body had changed because it had carried his children. And if he couldn’t appreciate Sophie and Soraya, how could he ever have appreciated her?
Before the twins she had never been skinny, but she’d been healthy—curvy, confident, strong. Pregnancy had added weight she never fully lost, and life with twins left little room for gym routines or self-focus. Most days, she was simply grateful everything that needed doing got done. If it hadn’t been for her family, she wasn’t sure how she would’ve survived the first three years with the girls.
Craig had lost interest long before the girls were born. As soon as her body started changing, so did he. At first, she’d thought he was afraid of hurting her. That illusion shattered quickly. He hadn’t been cautious, he’d been repulsed. He never once wanted to feel the twins move in her belly, never marveled at what her body was doing.
After the girls were born, intimacy faded into absence. She tried to revive it, Lord knew she did. Special dinners. New lingerie. Hope carefully wrapped in effort.
All she received were rejection and cutting remarks about how big she was and how much she was eating.
By the time the divorce papers came, he’d already moved in with another woman. Child support showed up when it felt like it. Thank God her cake business had grown enough to support the girls without depending on their father.
She still couldn’t believe she’d married him.
Drawing in a steadying breath, Nyah squared her shoulders and carried the cakes out back. She’d delayed cutting them as long as possible, holding onto the foolish hope that Craig might still show.
“Who wants cake?” she called.
The response was immediate, excited shrieks, tiny feet rushing toward her. The princess cakes were a hit.
Sophie and Soraya were nothing if not girly girls. If it involved pink, glitter, sparkles and frills they were all over it. She didn’t even have to think twice about the princess theme for the party, and the girls were rocking it in full princess costumes, complete with tiaras, Sophie in pink and Soraya in purple.
“I want to wait for Daddy,” Sophie said softly. “He promised he’d cut the cake with us.”
Nyah dropped to her knees between them, her heart tightening even as she kept her voice gentle.
“Daddy’s not coming, sweetheart,” she said. “Something came up at work, so he has to stay late.”
“Can’t someone else fix it?” Soraya cried, tears gathering. “It’s our birthday. He promised.”
Out of the mouths of babes.
Nyah glanced over their heads at her twin sister, Myah, and their younger sister, Sage, silently sharing her frustration.
“I know,” she said softly. “But Aunt Myah and I will cut the cake with you. Okay?”
They nodded in unison, and Nyah kissed each of them.
The candles were blown out, the cake was cut, but the earlier excitement had dulled.
Nyah watched her daughters eat with their friends, her chest tight. They deserved so much more than their father’s neglect. She hadn’t mentioned the pizza-and-ice-cream offer. She couldn’t bear another disappointment.
“You’d think Craig would at least try,” Myah said, coming to stand beside her. “He doesn’t know what he’s missing.”
“He’s a fool,” Nyah said. “I wish I could be everything for them, but they need their father—and he doesn’t have the sense to see it.”
“Their father,” Myah said carefully, “or maybe just… a father.”
“What! Another man?” Nyah looked at her sister in amazement. “What man is going to want me complete with not one but two kids? Besides I don’t have time for a man right now. Sophie and Soraya don’t need to see me with other men on my quest for Mr. Right.”
“Nyah please! You’re only twenty-eight years old. Are you telling me you intend to stay single until the girls are all grown up? And what do you mean who’s going to want you with two kids. There are still real men out there who are man enough to love someone else’s kids as their own. Look at me, I found one.”
“Yeah but I think God broke the mold after he made that one. Ethan is a real keeper.” She looked at her sister and smiled.” I’m so happy for you Mye. You deserve him.”
“Yeah, I'm so happy for me too." Myah said with a silly grin on her face. “And he does have a brother.”
Nyah sighed. “Please don’t.”
“He’s coming in Wednesday.”
“So soon?” Nyah asked surprised “it’s still three weeks away”
"Yeah, too long and still not long enough." she sighed "Anyway he apparently has some vacation time and Ethan talked him into taking it. Apparently, he’s a workaholic according to his brother.”
“Hm.” Nyah’s attention drifted back to her girls.
“Maybe you two will hit it off.”
“What?” Nyah asked distractedly.
“You. And Rhys.”
Nyah rolled her eyes. “Let’s not start matchmaking. And who says he even likes kids?”
“Are you kidding me. Have you seen Ethan with Noah? Besides the girls make it so easy to love them.”
Nyah smiled, pride softening her face as she watched Sophie and Soraya. “Yeah they do don’t they, so why can’t their father see that?” she wailed.
“Forget about Craig, Nyah.” Her sister said exasperated. “You and the girls deserve better…
“I know,” Nyah said quietly. “But…”
“No buts. What is it going to take to convince you?"
She looked at her daughters, her heart full and aching all at once.
“That’s just it Mye” she said. “I’m not the one who needs convincing.”
