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Again, I felt compelled to add to the conversation. “Of course you are.”
Marjorie smiled at me then. A soft smile, behind which I couldn’t quite discern the meaning.
“I know you need to get this little guy fed,” she said, “so I’ll be going. I’m sure Jade will need me at home.”
But I need you here.
The words were lodged in my throat, yearning to be set free.
But I wasn’t ready to acknowledge the truth in them.
I would never be ready.
Chapter Twenty–One
Marjorie
What a mistake that had been. I couldn’t get out of the Simpsons’ house quickly enough. Away from Bryce, the human icicle. He’d done a one-eighty from the heat we’d shared. Now he was cold as a tit on a boar, which frightened me.
Not in a scary way, but I was frightened for his son. I hoped he could show his son the love he apparently couldn’t show me.
I scoffed aloud as I opened my car door. Love? What Bryce and I had shared had nothing to do with love. I might be having serious feelings for him, but they obviously were not returned. Not in the slightest. I had the sinking feeling they never would be.
I had to be okay with that. Right now, Henry was way more important than I was. He needed his dad, and if that meant I stayed away from Bryce, so be it. Of course, if he took my brothers’ offer and moved into the guesthouse, that endeavor would be difficult.
But I’d do it. I had to. For the baby’s sake.
And speaking of babies, I needed to get home and take care of Jade. But first I’d pick up the boys from school. It was a little early, but it seemed silly to make them ride the bus out to the ranch when I was here in town. Plus they’d be anxious to hear how their mom was doing.
Two little boys in tow, I arrived back at the main house on Steel Acres Ranch. Donny went running in to see Jade. Dale, always quiet, walked in with me.
“How was school?” I asked him.
“Okay,” he said.
Dale was in fifth grade and Donny in second. They’d been through hell, and the family as a whole—with Dale’s and Donny’s input, of course—had decided to keep the boys’ ordeal quiet. The FBI had plenty of evidence to put everyone involved—everyone who wasn’t already dead—behind bars, so there was no need to drag the boys through any more horror.
They were both getting the help they needed, however, unlike their father. My father had kept Talon’s ordeal so quiet that my brothers hadn’t been able to get the help they needed to deal with it when they were young. My dad had had his reasons—reasons he ended up dying for—but it had cost Talon, Joe, and Ryan. I thanked God my brothers were all healing and content now.
They’d all found true love, as well, and that helped too.
True love.
It seemed so elusive.
At least it was with Bryce Simpson. I knew what I needed to do. Get out there, like Jade had said. But not now. I was staying until Jade had safely given birth, and probably for a few months after that, unless Felicia returned or they hired a nanny.
So I’d be celibate for the next several months.
Not an issue.
At least that was what I kept telling myself.
“You want a snack?” I asked Dale.
He nodded. “I’ll get it myself.”
“Okay, sweetie.” I’d found it best not to hover with Dale. He seemed more content to be quiet and alone, and Melanie had assured me that was fine. Just let him be who he was, and he’d come around. He was most likely more of an introvert than his brother even before they’d been taken.
