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I turn my head to look up at him, and his hard blue eyes meet mine, filled with the same concern I feel. “I wasn’t.”
He presses a quick kiss on my cheek. “You’ve been watching the door like you’re a guard at Fort Knox since we got here.” He motions with his hand holding his tonic and lime toward Nana’s tree, where all the kids sit, opening their gifts. “You should be having a good time. Not worrying about when Luca and Byron are going to get here.”
As if it’s that easy…
The Christmas music fills the room, mixing with the laughter and chatter of everyone crammed in around the tree, and I turn my attention to Coen and Isaac tearing into their gifts excitedly. All that careful wrapping and bows, tossed aside in seconds once they see what’s inside.
Isaac glances up at me, looking so much like his father—more and more every year that passes. He holds up his new gaming system. “Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad.”
I smile at him, trying to push away my worry for another little boy who should be arriving soon. “You’re welcome.”
Coen scowls, staring at his gift—the science kit I swear he told us he wanted months ago. “Why did he getthat, and I didn’t?”
Stone releases a heavy sigh. “Because you’re four years younger than him. Maybe when you’re fifteen, we’ll get one for you, too.”
Coen pouts, but I try not to take it personally. He’s at that weird age where everything upsets him, no matterwhatwe say or do. There is no “right” with him now. Iprayhe makes it through it as fast as Isaac did and that when he turns thirteen soon, it doesn’t get worse and he starts acting like my sweet, helpful boy again.
The rest of the kids excitedly thank their parents and tear into other gifts, and my gaze cuts to the door again.
Stone’s free hand comes up to rub at my arm. “You’re really worried about Jude, aren’t you?”
I sigh and finally turn to face him, quickly peeking around us to make sure no one’s listening. Even though Savage, Stone, Dani, and I have already filled in everyone on what happened to Luca and Byron yesterday, we don’t want any of the kids to overhear.
“I am.” I shake my head, pressing my palms against his hard chest. “You don’t understand how destroyed that boy was.”
While Stone came to Luca and Byron’s with me to meet Jude, he never entered the room when I did the exam. He never saw what had been done to that poor boy or how traumatized he is from the life his father has been forcing on him.
Stone’s jaw hardens, and a muscle there tics as he tries to contain his anger. “I think I have some idea.”
Of course, Luca and Byron filled him in while I examined Jude, and he’s already made the calls to set things in motion for them to get temporary custody while things get sorted out. They should be meeting with Stone’s contact at HSD this morning before they come here—something thatneverwould have happened on Christmas Day without Stone pulling strings and calling in favors.
I sigh and drop my forehead to his chest. “I just don’t know how he’s going to react to all this.” I motion around me. “We’re a lot, and that kid is traumatized more than anyone I’ve ever had come into the hospital.”
That vacant look in his eyes mixed with the absolute terror—it isn’t anything I can ever forget.
“I have them running every test I can think of on his blood just to make sure he’s not sick with something we can’t see, because who knows what the hell he was exposed to when…”
I can’t even say the words, and Stone grasps my chin and tilts it up until I look at him.
“Your heart is too big, angel. You know that?”
I offer him a sad smile. “Yours is, too. You just don’t like to admit it.”
Stone grins at me. “Well, I don’t want you spending the whole day worried and distracted. The kids will pick up on it.”
“I know.”
He lowers his head until his lips brush my ear again. “I have an idea, something that might take your mind off it.”
I pull back slightly and narrow my eyes at him because Iknowthat look and the promise in those words. “We arenothaving a quickie in your childhood bedroom again, Stone. Your mother almost caught us last time.”
A slow grin tugs at his lips. “That would’ve made for a very interesting Thanksgiving, though, wouldn’t it?”
My body heats at the memory of the way he made me come before our last holiday dinner even as I smack his arm.
He chuckles and leans in again. “I was worried you were going to spend the whole day dwelling on this, so I brought something for you.”
I raise a brow at him. “Oh, yeah, what’s that?”
