AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When the story ended, he said, “I’m glad Peter Rabbit escaped, aren’t you, Miss Jenna?”
“Indeed.”
“But he shouldn’t have gone in the garden. His mama told him not to. Right?”
“Exactly right. Children should always obey their parents.” She almost choked on the words. She had always obeyed her parents until Derek.
She closed the book and placed it on the stand next to Gavin’s bed. When she turned back, the little boy was looking at the baby in her lap. Tentatively, with surprising gentleness, he touched the top of Sophie’s hand with one finger.
“Miss Jenna?”
“Yes?”
“Are you and Sophie going to stay here for always?”
“I don’t know.”
She could see the answer troubled him. “I hope you stay a long time.”
“Why is that?”
“So Sophie can be my baby sister. Noah has a baby brother. I want a baby, too, but Daddy says no. He says we’d have to get a mama to have a baby and he’s not ever getting us another mama. So if you stay, Sophie can be my sister.”
The child’s words were a revelation into the father. Whatever had happened between Dax and his ex-wife cut deep. So much so that he feared getting hurt again, a fear Jenna understood completely.
No wonder Dax Coleman appeared kind and angry all in one package.
The dark-haired boy touched her heart, too. He longed for siblings and probably a mother, as well. Rough and tumble, timid and gentle at the same time, Gavin would be an easy child to love. The notion brought an ache to her chest. Where was his mother? What could have been so terrible about her life here at Southpaw that she would leave this precious, handsome son?
Even though Sophie was little more than a week old, Jenna knew she’d miss her more than life if they couldn’t be together.
“Are you ready to have the lights out now?”
“I didn’t say my prayers yet.”
“All right then. Say them.”
Squeezing his eyes closed, Gavin clasped his hands together beneath his chin. Jenna listened as he recited the “Now I lay me” prayer and went through a litany of God blesses before proclaiming with a sigh, “Amen.” His eyes sprang open. “Can I have a drink?”
To her surprise, Dax stepped into the room. “He’ll do this all night if you let him.”
Gavin batted thick black eyelashes. “I’m thirsty, Daddy.”
Dax relented with a half chuckle, half sigh. “Go on then. Get your drink, but nothing else.”
Gavin scampered off the bed and disappeared. Jenna could hear him rattling around in the bathroom next door.
Dax glanced toward the noise, the hint of a smile on his face. “You read good.”
The comment came out of nowhere. “What?”
“Peter Rabbit. Read in your voice, he took on a whole different personality.”
“Well, thank you, I think.” She offered a smile. “You were welcome to come in.”
How long had he been standing in the hallway?
“Didn’t want to disturb you.” He shifted and cast another glance toward the bathroom and the sound of running water and clinking glass. “I need to say something.”
Jenna tensed. “Have I done anything wrong?”
He made an irritated sound and swatted the air. “No. Not you. Me. I came on too strong in the kitchen. I apologize.”
Relief surged like Hawaiian surf. “You have every right to know about the people in charge of your son.”
His mouth twisted. “Don’t let me off the hook that easy.”
“All right, then.” She pointed a finger at him. “Consider yourself appropriately castigated.”
Dax surprised her with a laugh. “Castigated. That’ll teach me to behave.”
Jenna found herself sharing a smile with her employer. He was really handsome when he smiled. She took the thought captive and stowed it away.
“Dax, you have my solemn promise. I will care for Gavin as I will Sophie. With everything in me. You must never, ever be concerned that I would give anything less than my best to your son.”
He gave a curt nod. “Can’t ask for more than that. He’s all I have, you know. He’s—”
“Everything.” Jenna finished the thought for him, intuitively understanding the depth of his feelings—because she felt the same about Sophie. “Your child is everything.”
“Yeah,” he said, shifting from one boot to the other. “Everything.”
That one spark of kinship ignited a glow in Jenna’s heart. Dax Coleman loved his son the way she loved Sophie. And that was a beautiful thing to know about a man. He loved deep. He loved strong. And forever.
