Bitterness hardened her tone. “You’re not helping me or the twins by leaving us.”

He stubbornly shook his head. “You’ll be better off. Clearly I’m not meant to have any of this. Love, children, a family. I don’t deserve it.”

Agony seized her heart, bringing tears to her eyes. Lord, she didn’t know what to say to him. Didn’t know how to change his mind, how to show him how irrational he was being, how completely wrong he was.

But Seth didn’t even give her a chance to formulate a response. He stood up, his shoulders stiffer than boards. “If I stay, I’ll end up hurting you. So I have to go.”

The tears spilled over. “I can’t believe this.”

“I love you, Miranda, but I don’t deserve you, and I can’t take the risk that one day I might end up hurting you or the twins.”

He paused only to plant a soft kiss on her forehead, to gently touch her cheek with his callused hand, and then he left the backyard.

A minute later, she heard the sound of a car engine rumbling to life.

And then silence.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Mom, wake up! Mom! Wake up, wake up, wake up! Mo-om!”

Miranda opened her eyes to find Sophie standing at the foot of the bed, bouncing around like a pogo stick. She still wore her pink cotton PJ’s, her brown hair was mussed up from sleep and she was packing a scary amount of energy in that little body of hers.

“What is it?” Miranda asked sleepily.

“We hafta go dancing. Ginny called and said it’s late and why aren’t we there.”

It took a moment to notice her BlackBerry in Sophie’s hand.

Rubbing her tired eyes, she slid up into a sitting position. “You answered Mommy’s phone?”

“Mmm-hmmm. ’Cause it was ringing and ringing and ringing—”

“I told her not to but she didn’t listen.” Jason barreled into the room in his Spiderman pajamas.

Glancing at the clock, Miranda realized that not only had she slept through the alarm, she’d overslept by three hours. It was ten o’clock. Holy shit. Her first lesson of the day started in a half hour.

She flew out of bed, ready to do the impossible by getting her and the kids out the door in ten minutes flat, but then she froze in the middle of the room, the heartbreaking events of last night rushing to the forefront of her brain.

Seth had broken up with her.

He’d actually broken up with her.

Suddenly the last thing she felt like doing today was dancing.

With a sigh, she lowered herself to the edge of the bed. “Actually, guys, I’m not feeling too well today. I think I’m going to call Ginny and tell her to cancel today’s lessons. At least for my students.”

Sophie’s bottom lip dropped out. “But I wanna dance.”

“But I have a game,” Jason reminded her.

“You can still go. Coach Diaz is picking you up at noon for the game.” Normally she brought Jason to the school with her and Sophie, and the coach picked him up from there, but she’d have to call and ask Diaz to come here instead.

As for her daughter, she offered a remorseful look. “Mommy’s not feeling well at all. Neither of us will be dancing today, sweetie. But we can still have fun. We’ll stay home and watch movies and then we’ll go to the field and cheer for your brother.”

Jason pumped his fist with excitement. “You never get to see a whole game! Will Sef come too?”

An arrow of sorrow pierced her heart. “I don’t think so, Jase.”

“Why not?”

“Will he take us for ice cream after, like last week?” Sophie asked.

“No, I don’t think he’ll do that either.” Her throat closed up and she had to swallow several times before she could talk again. “Come sit with me, guys.”

The twins bounded over, flopping down on either side of her. She looked from her daughter to her son, then let out a shaky breath. “Seth might not be coming around that much anymore.” If ever, but she didn’t say that.

“Why not?” Jason asked in confusion.

Sophie, on the other hand, didn’t look confused at all. That bottom lip began to tremble. “Mommy?”

“What is it?” The tears clinging to Sophie’s lashes triggered a rush of concern. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“It’s my fault Sef’s not coming! I made him mad at the carnival ’cause I wanted to see the ponies and I ran away!” Sophie gulped for air. “And now he hates us again!”

“Oh, baby, he doesn’t hate you. He never hated you. Seth told me all about what happened yesterday.” She injected a stern note into her voice. “I’m not happy that you ran away from Seth, but I promise you, that’s not what this is about.”

“Yes it is,” Sophie insisted.

“No, it isn’t. I promise.”

“Is it my fault?” Jason demanded.

A sigh slipped out. “Guys. Neither of you did anything wrong. Seth cares about you, he cares about you a lot. This is between your mom and Seth. It’s a whole bunch of boring grown-up stuff that you don’t need to worry about, understand?”

They nodded.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, or when we’ll see Seth again, but even if we don’t, it doesn’t matter. Want to know why?”

Both kids looked at her with curious eyes.

“Because we have each other.” She kissed the top of Jason’s head, then Sophie’s. “We’re the three musketeers, remember? The three amigos. The three stooges.”