Before I could respond, the baby monitor crackled on the nightstand. One of the twins started crying, and within seconds the other joined in.
Every instinct in me pulled toward them. Mark glanced at the monitor, his lip curling.
“Just listen to them, Valerie,” he said. “I didn’t sign up for this chaos, the screaming, the constant mess.”
The words hit like a blow.
“Yes, you did,” I said. “You held them in the hospital.”
He shrugged. “I said what I was supposed to say. Now that everything’s out in the open, it’s time I get my life back.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you need to take the twins and leave.”
“What?” I stepped toward him. “You can’t mean that.”
“I do.” He placed a hand on my lower back and steered me toward the nursery. “And make it quick. I can’t stand hearing them for another second.”
As we reached the nursery door, my mother-in-law, Martha, appeared in the hallway. She had been staying with us to help with the babies.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “They’ve been crying for a while now.”
“They won’t be a problem after tonight,” Mark said. “Valerie is leaving, and they’re going with her.”
I waited for her to object.
She didn’t.
She just nodded.
The twins were wailing now.