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I covered my eyes, pressing the heels of my hands into their sockets until I saw stars, and sucked in oxygen. Bobbi-June was still oblivious to the tension in the room, and for that, I was thankful.
“You’re okay.” His voice washed over me, that absolute confidence that it was fine, and I let myself delusionally believe him for a moment. I looked up at him, and he was staring down at the baby. “Bambolina. You got your mama’s beauty, didn’t you?” he said softly. He looked back up at me. “You’re glowing, Tally.”
I gave a slightly hysterical laugh. “Liar. But I appreciate it.”
He presented me with a huge bunch of pink and purple hydrangeas. “Congratulations.”
I grabbed the giant bunch of flowers and laid them across my lap. “Thank you, Rocco. For these, and for before.”
He waved a hand, like it meant nothing. Maybe to him, it was nothing. But it meant something to me. He sat down in the chair. “They tell me at work that everything went well.” I nodded again, because this was a little awkward. “Bobbi-Giugno.” He pronounced it almost like Juno, and I laughed.
“Bobbi-June. Like the name, not the month.”
He grinned. “Beautiful name.” He looked back at the door. “And the man? He was the father?”
I tried not to dry-retch at the thought of fucking Brick Willtot. Ew. I mean, he might have been handsome if he wasn’t so ugly on the inside, didn’t have a beer belly, and wasn’t as mean as a rattlesnake.
“God no.” I hesitated, but I guess the secret was out. If Brick managed to get a DNA test, he was going to find out the truth. “His son was Bobbi-June’s father. He died on the race track.”
Rocco nodded sadly. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
I blinked at him. He was the first person to give me their condolences, except maybe Hayes and Ty back at Daytona, when I first came off the track. No one else had ever acknowledged that I’d lost anyone at all, even though Buck and I had been seeing each other for six months.
It had gotten lost in the rest of the bullshit.
“Thank you. I feel sad that she’ll never get to know him.”
Rocco reached into the crib but paused. “May I?” I nodded, and he stroked a steady finger across her cheek. “So small. Her nose is the size of my fingernail,” he said softly. “That is sad, but she will have you to look up to. As well as your lovers.”
Squinting in his direction, I tried to work out if that was a jab at my lifestyle or not. It didn’t appear to be, though. “They’re more than lovers. They’re partners.”
“They are very lucky to call this bambolina theirs. And you.” He gave me a crooked grin, and his dimples did something to me. Honestly, this was the most I’d ever heard him say, and this soft version of Rocco Passero seemed totally at odds with the man who was featured on the covers of magazines. He stood, giving me one last smile. “I look forward to seeing you when you return to work.” With that, he left.
I was still sitting there, kinda stunned and confused about the last thirty minutes when the nurse reappeared. She gave me a soft smile and took the flowers from my lap. “I’ll put these in water, shall I?”
She disappeared back out of the room, and I reached into the crib and gently picked up Bobbi-June. Bringing her to my chest, I nursed her. As I looked down into her tiny face, with her weirdly shaped head, I knew deep in my soul that I would stand in front of a bullet for her over and over again.
I would definitely protect her from Brick Willtot and his lawyers.
TWENTY-FIVE
JESSE
“Okay, hear me out, kid. We are gonna get you wrapped, snacked and back down to nap before your mama wakes up.” I looked up at Hayes. “You ready?”
He nodded, baby powder in one hand and a diaper in the other. “We got this. Smooth pit stop. We’ve been practicing.”
“The bottle’s in the warmer?”
“Yep.”
Hayes and I had taken over the night-time feedings to let Tally sleep. It had taken a couple of weeks, but we had it down to a fine art now.
“All right. Let’s do this. Box box!”
I made funny faces as I unsnapped Bobbi-June’s sleep suit. I gurgled and blew raspberries, doing anything I could to keep her distracted as Hayes wiped, swiped and floofed baby powder. I lifted her legs up, snapped the new diaper into place and slipped her back into her onesie, then back in the sleep sack.
I lifted my hands in the air. “Clear!”
