Longing For The Beach Billionaire Daddy
Chapter 234

*Michael*

“Say it, Amelia. Say, ‘Daddy, wake up,'” Shelby sang as he held our daughter in front of my face. I put my hands over my face and then peeked from around my fingers. Amelia loved peek-a-boo.

I pulled my hands away and said, “BOO!” Amelia giggled and flailed her hands around in excitement.

“Daddy, you have to get up and entertain these babies so Momma can get breakfast and ba-bas ready,” Shelby told me playfully.

Amelia grabbed for my hand and tugged that hand toward her, looking up at me with her wide blue eyes. “Ba-ba-ba-ba,” she gurgled.

Shelby and I shared a shocked look upon hearing our sweet baby’s first word.

“Did you hear that?!” Shelby asked excitedly. “One of our babies can talk!”

“I sure did. She’s amazing,” I told her as I leaned down and kissed Amelia’s cheeks.

Right on cue, we heard Thomas begin chattering to himself from his mini crib across the room.

“Shelby, why don’t you lay in bed and relax while you nurse these babies, and I’ll go down and start breakfast?” I asked her. Then I rolled out of the bed and threw on a shirt.

“That sounds great, babe. They’ll both probably doze off for another hour or so after they nurse. Are you okay if I take a nap with them?” Shelby asked while propping a pillow up and getting Thomas latched.

“Not at all. I’m going to make a breakfast casserole, and it’ll take at least forty minutes in the oven. Just come down when you’re ready. I’ll have coffee ready for you,” I told her then kissed all three of them to go start prepping my casserole.

My first step was the coffee machine. I brewed a large pot then walked to the fridge and pulled eggs, milk, sausage, and cheese ou, and put them on the counter. I grabbed a casserole pan and layered it with bread while the sausage cooked on the stove.

Once everything was combined, and the oven was done preheating, I got the casserole baking. I sat down to drink my coffee and stared out at the city down below. I loved our babies, but sometimes it was nice to have those brief quiet moments in the morning when I could sit and think. I took that for granted before the twins were born.

The timer beeped, bringing me out of my thoughts, so I grabbed my oven mitts and pulled the casserole out onto the countertop to cool. Since Shelby wasn’t down yet, I walked to our room and saw the cutest thing I’d ever seen.

Thomas, Amelia, and Shelby were snuggling together in our bed, fast asleep. I went to pull my phone out to snap a picture and realized I never grabbed it from the nightstand.

My phone was laying plugged in by Shelby’s, and when I walked over to grab it, I saw I had missed calls from Bruce, Lauren, and Reggie. A feeling of dread washed over me, so I checked Shelby’s phone and saw she had several missed calls, text messages, and voicemails as well. I grabbed her phone and walked over to her.

I nudged her gently and said, “Shelby, something’s going on. Our phones are blowing up, and I’m worried.”

Shelby sat up gently, trying not to wake the babies. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and said, “Who called me? What’s happening?”

“I’m not sure.” I read Reggie’s text first, and all it said was, “Are you seeing the news?”

I sat on the edge of the bed and turned the TV on to check what he was talking about. We watched in horror as the reporter reported that a massive fire had broken out, and firefighters were having problems containing the blaze. It was suspected to be arson because of the massive explosion that followed the initial fire. The cameraman panned to show the bright orange flames flickering against the dark night sky. I felt my heart drop when I saw our street name.

The reporter spoke of how the wind had been pushing the flames one way, then the next, and even though they were using everything in their arsenal, they still couldn’t contain it. We watched in horror as firefighters screamed out orders and turned hoses toward nearby homes to keep them from getting caught up in the flames. Every few minutes, we’d see an explosion or two of sparks that shook our bodies and made us hold onto each other even tighter.

Shelby let out a deep breath and gripped my arm tightly as we sat there and watched the men and women on the screen fight against the blaze. It was too wild to be a coincidence, I knew this was our house.

I looked to my right to check on Shelby and saw silent tears streaming down her face.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s just a house, right?” I grabbed her shoulders and tried to make her look away from the fiery images on the screen.

“Michael, that’s where we were raising our babies. All of our stuff is in that house. Has anyone called to check on Miss Constance?” She brought her hands to her mouth to muffle a sob, clearly worried about our lovable nanny that had become like family.

I quickly grabbed my phone and dialed her number. We waited for what seemed like an eternity as the phone rang, but then we heard her warm voice come through the line. I let out a sigh of relief when she told us she was safe, and the EMTs were taking care of her. I promised I’d call her back shortly but hung up to explain to Shelby.

“All of our stuff is gone, Michael. I had so many keepsakes from the NICU in the nursery,” Shelby began to cry again. I wasn’t doing a great job of consoling her because I was having a hard time believing Henderson had actually set our f*****g house on fire.

“Listen, I had people go in and find our sentimental items to put into an undisclosed storage unit. Most of our keepsakes are safe, I promise you. There was really just furniture and generic items left for staging in the house. Please don’t focus on that. What matters is that we’re here, and we’re alive.” I stressed how important it was to focus on the positives, trying to ground Shelby into the moment so she didn’t focus on the what-ifs.

“Let’s make some phone calls to check in with everyone, okay? I know everybody has to be worried sick,” Shelby said with a determined voice.

I nodded and smiled gently, relieved she was taking control of the situation. “I think that’s a great idea,” I said.

Shelby reached for her phone and began scrolling through the list of missed calls from earlier while I dialed Lauren’s number first.

She answered on the first ring, her voice panicked, “Dad, are you alive?”

I assured her we were safe, that we had known there was a target on us and had gone underground for the time being. She was nervous for us but was just glad to hear my voice. I called Reggie next, who knew we were in hiding, but he was relieved to hear we were safe.

“I’m calling Aubrey back now,” Shelby said, pressing on Aubrey’s name and waiting as it began ringing. It rang twice, and when Aubrey picked up, I could hear screaming through the phone from across the bed.

“No, we’re fine. We haven’t been staying at the house,” I listened to Shelby say into her phone. “No, no, I’m sorry. We aren’t telling anyone the address, but I promise we’re okay. Michael had most of our important stuff taken from the house, so everything that was in the fire is replaceable,” her voice sounded congested from crying, but I was awed by how quickly she was able to compose herself.

Shelby looked at me and gave me a small smile. “We love you guys, too. Apparently, I’m going to have to find a different branch of law to consult on after this. Who knew environmental law was this dangerous,” she told her friends.

I walked out of the room to cool off for a second, trying to entertain Thomas as he chattered away in my arms, unbothered by the chaos surrounding him. Kids were nothing but resilient and innocent. I entered the kitchen and removed some frozen, bagged milk from the freezer, then walked to the sink and filled a pitcher with hot water.

I placed the two bags of milk into the water so they could begin to thaw, then I walked over to the kitchen window and looked down at the city below.

I needed to call Bruce and Delaney, and I needed to call and check in with Miss Constance again. I knew she’d be a nervous wreck. I wanted the reassurance that she was truly okay.

I picked my cell phone up and dialed her number, on the second ring, she answered, “Oh my goodness, Mr. Astor,” she said, her voice full of worry. “I’m at a hotel now, and I’m watching the news. The entire housed is up in flames.”

“It’s okay, Miss Constance,” I reassured her. “We’re all safe and away from the fire. I just wanted to call and make sure you’re okay. For the next few weeks, we’re going to have you take some time off, paid of course.”

“There’s no need for that, sir. I don’t want you being bothered about paying me while you’re worried about your house,” she answered quickly.

“I’m not worried about the house right now. I am going to continue to send you a check for your services, just consider it a paid vacation, alright? We appreciate everything you do for our children, and I want to make sure you’re taken care of while we get everything sorted.”

“You’re too kind. Please, tell Shelby I said hello, will you? And k**s Thomas and Amelia for me,” I smiled, the woman was so kind and had clearly already bonded with our little family.

“I will as soon as I hang up,” I told her. Then, we said our goodbyes, and I walked back to see if the milk was thawed. Thomas was beginning to get agitated, so I took the bags from the now-cool water. I grabbed two bottles from the cabinet and filled them both, one for Thomas and one for Amelia.

As I walked over to sit down at the kitchen table, I thought about how quickly things had escalated. Henderson had had his cronies assault Shelby’s boss and burn our house down in a matter of days, and I was surer than ever that if given the chance, they’d have no problem hurting Shelby.

That wasn’t going to happen on my watch. Not now, not ever. They clearly didn’t know who they were f*****g with.