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Which meant I could touch Hank. Hug him. Let him hold Henry.
“I don’t know what to say,” I admitted. “Thank you doesn’t seem like enough.”
I saw Zane glance at Seth before he returned his attention to me. “It’s us who should be thanking you, Levi. And by us, I mean my entire family…Ronan and Seth’s too. That little girl means the world to all of us,” he said quietly and then he was standing up. He patted my shoulder and then said to Seth, “I’ll wait down by the car.”
As Zane left, Seth sat in the chair across from me. “I have something else I want to tell you, but I don’t know if you even want to know.”
“What is it?”
“Something’s happened to Amani.”
I stiffened and sat up, but before I could say anything, Seth continued. “Now, it’s not my place to say what, but Phoenix needs you. If you still have any feelings for him-”
I didn’t even let him finish before I jumped to my feet and said, “Can you give me and Henry a ride?”
I quickly tucked Henry back into the car seat and buckled him in while Seth went to grab my duffle bag. I followed him out of the apartment and down the stairs. Zane was waiting by the side of the car and opened the door for me.
The ride to the rehab center took forever, but Seth refused to tell me what had happened to Amani. He just repeated what he’d said earlier…that Phoenix needed me. Fear took hold of me as I wondered if the unthinkable had happened.
I was dimly aware of Seth following me into the building, but I didn’t wait for him to keep up, though it wasn’t really an issue since I was carrying Henry’s car seat. I rushed to Amani’s room and didn’t even pause before flying through the door.
Phoenix was sitting by the little girl’s bed, his back to me.
“Phoenix,” I whispered.
He turned to look at me and I saw that he was crying. “No,” I breathed. I put Henry’s car seat down and walked right into his arms. His hug was brutally tight as he sobbed against my neck.
“It’s okay,” I said softly as I ran my fingers through his short hair.
“She’s awake, Levi,” he managed to get out.
I froze at his words. When he pulled back, he was smiling and he wiped at his tears. “She’s awake,” he said again and then he was tugging me towards the bed. My eyes settled on the little girl who was looking at me, but this time her eyes were actually on me.
“Peaches, I want you to meet someone,” Phoenix said. “Again,” he added with a laugh as he took my hand in his. A mix of confusion and joy went through me as understanding dawned and I jerked my gaze to where Seth was standing in the doorway. He smiled broadly at me and I finally realized I’d been had.
And I didn’t care in the least. I smiled back and mouthed the words thank you to him. He nodded and then pointed to Henry’s car seat and I nodded. I watched him take Henry out of the room, so I could put all my focus where it needed to be.
On Phoenix and his daughter.
Epilogue
Phoenix
Three months later
“I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can,” I insisted as I came up behind Levi and put my arms around him. He was studying his appearance in front of the floor length mirror that was attached to the inside of the closet door. He’d dressed more formally than he needed to for family dinner, but I wasn’t about to argue with him about it. He was already on edge about the night as it was.
He shook his head. “He says he’s okay, but he can’t be,” he insisted. “Looking at me must be a constant reminder of that night.”
I sighed because he and I had been having this argument for weeks. Every time Seth had reached out to invite us to family dinner, in fact. Levi had declined each time until Seth had finally showed up at our doorstep earlier in the week, Jamie and Nicole in tow, and invited himself to a playdate with Henry and Amani to force the issue with Levi.
“You’re also a constant reminder that he still has his daughter because of you,” I said as I turned him around to face me and loosened the top couple buttons of his button-down shirt.
“Those people will know I don’t belong there,” he said.
I hated that Levi’s self-esteem continued to be an issue for him, but I knew it wouldn’t be something he got over in a matter of days or weeks or even months. I’d finally convinced him to start seeing a therapist to discuss some of the trauma he’d faced as a child, but it was a double-edged sword because, while he was supposed to be honest with his therapist, there was one thing he could never tell her, since she’d be required to report it.
