Page 64 of Her Righteous Protector

Max slumped over where he was sitting on the bed. “So it’s over?” he breathed out.

“Oh yeah, man. It’s over. Now get your ass back home. I’m sick of leading this team of miscreants. They’re a pain in my ass.”

20

“It’s going to be all right, Honey. Why do you look like you’re going to cry?” Julie grabbed her daughter by her shoulders and pulled her in for a tight hug.

Hannah looked furtively over her shoulder, ensuring that Max and Zephyr were still loading the last couple of suitcases into her Dad’s SUV as she and her mom watched the moving van drive down the street.

“I don’t know,” Hannah almost wailed as she tried to suck down the tears. She’d been a mess for the last three days. Fuck, she’d been so bad she thought it was her hormones so she just knew she was pregnant and was scared to death. Then she’d taken the pregnancy test this morning and when it had come up negative she’d lost her mind. She was so damned hurt and sad. Tears started falling again in front of her mom.

Julie looked at her and gave her another fierce hug, then yelled over her daughter’s shoulder. “Hey, you, He-Men, I’m taking my baby to the airport in my car. You three can go to the airport in Chuck’s car,” Julie called out.

Max’s head shot up as he closed the back of the SUV and he started striding over to the two women. Hannah cringed.

“I’ve got this,” her mother assured her, then marched toward the man she now considered a son.

Hannah watched as they met on the sidewalk in front of the old white house where Zephyr had spent the first years of his life. Max and Julie talked intently for a few quick minutes. Max looked up to stare at her a couple of times, then he finally nodded. Julie was smiling as she headed back to Hannah.

“Get into the car,” she said as she came back to her. “You’ve got forty-five minutes to tell your Mama everything.”

Hannah bit her bottom lip and thanked God for the woman who gave birth to her. She slipped into the passenger seat of the white Mercedes, then as soon as her mother barely stopped at the stop sign at the end of the street she began having second thoughts.

“Mom, I think I should drive.”

“Nonsense. Your father has totaled his car twice, but I have never once had a traffic ticket, or a wreck.” Her mother crossed into the left-hand lane without looking and the person behind them honked. Hannah looked up at the St. Christopher medal that her dad had attached to the visor and sighed.

“Now talk to me. I know that you are crazy in love. I know that in all ways but biology Zephyr is your son. So what’s with the tears, Honey?”

“I don’t know!” Hannah wailed. “Please help me. I’m begging you. I’ve got to get my shit together before I get on the plane.”

“Take a breath, and just say what’s in your heart,” Julie said calmly.

“What’s deep in my heart of hearts is that I know I’m doing the right thing. I know it. Four months ago after Meghan died I wasn’t sure that Zephyr would ever be okay again. I never thought I could make his world right. I was so scared.”

Hannah slammed her eyes closed, remembering that solemn, mad, and grief-stricken little boy.

“But you did,” her mother whispered as they came to a stoplight. She took Hannah’s hand. “You did, Honey.”

“No, I didn’t,” she protested. “Max did. I have never met anyone like him. He swooped in and made everything right in Zephyr’s world. There is no way I could have done that.”

And it hurt. It hurt so bad.

She took a deep, shuddering breath.

“Is that what’s worrying you? That it’s taking both of you to turn that little guy’s life around?” Julie asked.

“Not only that, Mom. Max is making my life better. But what am I bringing to the table? I took a pregnancy test this morning.”

Her mom hit her brakes.

“Mom! The light’s green!”

“Sorry, dear,” she continued on. “So are you pregnant?”

“No. But I wanted to be, I wanted it so bad. But am I just trying to tie us together before he finds out I’m not good enough for him?”

Julie gasped and took a fast right turn into a Target parking lot, then shut off the car. “Did I just hear you right?” she damn near shouted. “Where in the hell is this coming from? Are you not the woman who moved across the country to be with her dying friend, to help nurse her and raise her son? Are you not the woman who loved Zephyr enough to make sure that he would have the best possible relationship with his father?”