—Mabel— An ex calling late into the night was odd. What did she want? I grabbed the phone from the nightstand and sat up. My thumb hovered over the answer icon. Part of me wanted to pick up and find out why she was calling Alec, but that'd mean prying into his privacy. And I wasn't known for that. Besides, he'd affirmed his loyalty to me countless times, had proven more than once how he was committed to only me. I lowered the phone back on the nightstand and went to sleep. The next morning, Alec was still asleep when I stirred. Quietly, I slid out of bed, threw on one of his shirts and headed out of the room. I went to the kids with the intention of preparing them for school. But I walked into their room and saw them already dressed up. It turned out Alec had ordered two of hi

