She kept her voice low. “I said, did they find something about Mira that makes you all not trust me?” She swallowed. “Something that means Juni can stay because she’s family, but I can’t?”
“No.”
The word came so sharply she blinked.
“No, what?”
“No one is separating you from Juni. No one is asking you to leave. No one is kicking either of you out.”
Her eyes stung so fast she had to look away. “You don’t know if that will change.”
“I do.”
The certainty in his voice nearly undid her.
Maren stared at the coffee table. A faint ring remained from the cup mac had set down there earlier. She focused on that instead of on him, because looking directly at Colin right then felt dangerous.
“You can’t know something like that,” she said.
“Yes, I can.”
“How?”
“Because I know Kyle and Arden. I know this team. They wouldn’t abandon you or try to separate the two of you.”
The tightness in her chest eased ever so slightly. “So they trust me now?”
“Yes,” he answered, but with the slightest hesitation.
She gave a shaky, humorless little laugh. “Are you sure about that?”
His voice lowered. “I’m part of the detail assigned to protect you and Juni. That means I have a say. And I trust you, Maren.”
She finally looked at him. Whatever he’d been carrying from the meeting was still there in his eyes. Anger, yes. Worry. Frustration. But she suddenly realized none of it was aimed at her. Something had been said at the meeting that he disagreed with, that made him angry.
That made it harder to hold herself together. She uncrossed her arms and wrapped them around her torso. She watched Colin raise his hand as if he were going to offer it to her, then he placed it in his lap instead.
“Maren—”
“What did they find?” she asked.
“Elissa and Flint did a first pass overnight. You check out exactly the way you said you would. Your work. Your house. Your parents. Your brothers being unreachable because they’re deployed. All of it. Which doesn’t surprise me at all, Maren.”
Maren let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
“And Juni?”
“Juni is exactly who you said she is, and you are her legal guardian.”
“Yes, I am.” She couldn’t help but glance toward the kitchen at Juni. “So. That leaves Mira.”
“Yes. Mira…” He paused. “Her will.”
“What about it?”
“She set it up when she found out she was pregnant. Everything to you. Guardianship of Juni to you if anything happened to her.”
“I know.” For a second, the room went strange and quiet around her. Mac and Juni’s voices blurred into something distant. The smell of pancakes and coffee faded. All she could see was Mira, pregnant and scared, doing paperwork alone. Making plans. Writing Maren’s name into the future without telling her.
