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“This isn’t fair to the two of you,” she whispered. “None of it is fair.”
“Baby girl, when are you going to get that it has nothing to do with fair and everything to do with the way we feel about you?”
She shook her head.
“Something has to change,” Steele said, picking her up and putting her on his hip.
“Yes,” Grady agreed.
Wait. What was changing? Oh God, were they finally realizing she was too much work? Were they going to get rid of her?
Steele started walking out the door. Would they just throw her out? But instead of heading to the stairs, he moved farther back down the hallway.
He paused at a closed door. Grady opened it and Steele carried her into her dream room.
She gasped in delight. It was a mix of gray, cream, and bright neon colors. Maybe it shouldn’t have worked, but it did.
An oversized crib with four sides was set out from the wall. Down the end of the crib was a matching changing table. And on one side of it there was a big rocking chair.
Directly across from her, in neon lights, was her name on the wall.
There was a tea set in another corner, along with a pretend kitchen. And then storage took up most of the wall.
But it was the ceiling that really shocked her. It was painted bright green and had ropes across it with sloths hanging from them.
The last area held a small stage with a disco light above it.
For dancing.
Tears trickled down her cheeks. “This is . . . it’s amazing.”
“You like it?” Steele asked.
“Like it? I love it.” A sob escaped. “But I don’t deserve it.”
“Stop it, Effie,” Grady said firmly.
“I’ve been a terrible girlfriend these last few days. Moping around and feeling sorry for myself.”
“You’ve had a big shock. Joe died in a car accident so of course it’s going to bring up bad memories. You are allowed to react how you react,” Grady told her.
“I close my eyes and all I see is the crash,” she confessed. “And I thought . . . I thought something had happened to you. I got all my memories mixed up. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you. To either of you. And I . . . I didn’t realize it. I didn’t consciously think it, I promise. But I think I was going to push you both away, make you give up on me so then I wouldn’t have to risk losing you both.” She started to sob and Steele moved to the rocker.
He sat and drew her onto his lap, holding her tight and rocking her back and forth.
A hand went up and down her back soothingly, and when she eventually calmed down enough, she opened her eyes to see Grady kneeling in front of them.
He used a tissue to gently wipe her face. “Blow.”
She blew her nose. She was too tired to continue to fight them on everything.
“I can’t believe you guys did this all . . . for me.”
“Do fucking anything for you, baby girl,” Steele told her gruffly, using his finger under her chin to tilt her face back. “Except leave you. Got it?”
“If we fell over at the first hurdle, we wouldn’t be the men for you,” Grady added.
“But we are the men for you because we fucking love you. I love you, Effie,” Damon told her.
