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“How’d that go?”
“Fine. They don’t get it, but then again, neither do I. They said they wanted me to stay, which was nice.” He shrugged, trying to pretend his heart wasn’t broken. “I guess it’s just as well, because I have to work tonight.”
“I would’ve stayed with them again.”
He kissed her cheek. “Thank you for all the help and support.”
“I hardly did anything. You didn’t need any help.”
“You helped a lot.”
They piled into the truck for the ride to town, and as Jace pulled into the drop-off line at school, he was crushed. In just a couple of days, he’d fallen in love with fatherhood, and now he had to give it up. “You guys be good for Joe, okay?”
“We will,” Kyle said.
“I’ll be by to see you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Jackson said.
“Hey, guys?”
“Yeah?” Kyle asked.
“I just want you to know… I love you. I really do, and I’m so proud of what great boys you are.”
“Thanks,” Jackson said.
“Yeah,” Kyle said. “Thanks.”
Then the door opened, and they were gone, rushing into school with their friends, pushing and shoving as they went.
Jace watched them for as long as he could before he had no choice but to move along to let others drop off.
“You did good,” Cindy said.
If that was true, then why did he feel like absolute shit?
“Jace textedto say he dropped the boys at school and left the truck at the ferry landing,” Seamus told Carolina. “They remade the bed and washed the towels.”
“I feel awful about this,” Caro said. “The poor guy. He must be devastated.”
“I’m sure he is, but he wouldn’t want to be responsible for causing any problems for us or the boys.”
“No, but it’s not fair that he’s being treated this way when he’s done nothing but be there for all of us.”
Seamus took a seat next to her hospital bed, as exhausted as he’d been in his entire life after the last couple of days. The trauma of seeing her seriously injured would stay with him for a long time. “He’s a good bloke.”
“You haven’t said much about how you feel after telling the boys the truth about who he is.”
Seamus shrugged. “What’s there to say? He’s their da, and they have a right to know that.”
“No, Seamus. You’re their da, and he’s the man who fathered them. If you think those boys are suddenly going to forget everything you’ve done for them and been to them, think again. They know who’s been there for them—and who hasn’t.”
“It wasn’t because he didn’t want to be.”
“I know that, and they will, too, but you’re the one who’s been there every day and will continue to be. This doesn’t have to change anything.”
“It does, though,” he said wearily. “They know he’s their real father. I’m going to have to cede some ground to him.”
