“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He scowls. “She barely talks to him nowadays, so that makes it easier not to murder him, but that doesn’t mean that assholes aren’t going to asshole.”
“Smitty Logic,” Sawyer says with a smirk.
“I only speak the truth.”
That’s up for debate…but it’s a debate I don’t really want to get into right now.
Especially when he’s not wrong about assholes…assholing.
“And because of that,” he says, “I know precisely how to erase this shit from Leo’s brain.”
“Yeah?” Sawyer asks. “And how’s that?”
He leans forward, settles a big hand on each of our shoulders.
“With beer.” A beat. “Lots and lots of beer.”
Forty-One
Harper
Leo still wasn’t home when I got back from my event, but I wasn’t expecting him to be.
Smitty had texted and told me they were “exorcising demons.”
I didn’t know what that meant exactly—except that it likely involved lots and lots of beer—and since I had an event in the morning, I decided to take a quick bath and then go straight to bed.
No crocheting.
No planner time.
Just me and the bed.
But it’s not just me and the bed now.
I slit open my eyes and my heart nearly turns to mush on the spot.
Because Leo is sitting on the edge of the mattress, his big body bent over my belly as he murmurs soft words to the baby.
“I’m sorry about today, little potato”—more heart convulsing—“but don’t worry, Grandma and Grandpa aren’t going to be in your life often enough to be more than an annoyance.” He presses his lips lightly to the small curve of my belly. “When I first saw them here today, I wanted to run, wanted to protect your mama from them. But I should have known better. Your mama is the strongest person I know—she wasn’t going to let an old curmudgeon and a drama queen blow up our lives.”
He’s quiet for a long moment, for so long I almost reach down and smooth back his hair.
But before I can do that, he keeps whispering.
“I used to think I was like them, that I could only be like them because I didn’t have any other examples in my life, because I was born of them and could only be like them. Your mama showed me that’s not true. Same as you’re not going to be like us. Though, I hope you’ll have your mama’s strength and maybe my love for oatmeal raisin cookies.” He chuckles. “But the most important thing is you’re going to be your own person. And I’m going to make sure you’re so loved that you have the space to do that.”
A tear rolls down my cheek and I try to blink it away.
But it’s as though Leo senses I’m awake now, because he looks up and smiles at me. “Hi, Mama.”
“Come here,” I whisper.
He crawls up my body, brushes away my tears.
“That was beautiful,” I say before he can ask if I’m upset. “And I want you to know that I am so damned proud to know the man you are—not the man they tried to make or the one you thought you were. You, Leo. You’re the one I’m proud of.” I touch his cheek. “You’re the one I want.”
