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“You want it all, right?” she whispered.
He nodded. “Yeah, I want everything.”
She inhaled a breath, gearing herself up, he assumed. He waited. Hell, he’d wait there all night if it was what Marissa needed.
“There were four people in the car the day of my accident.”
Caden knitted his brows together. Four?
Her throat bobbed as she watched him. “My daughter was in the car with us.”
Caden settled back into the mattress and felt the blood drain from his face. He was at a complete loss; he had no words. She tightened her grip on his hand, which pulled him out of his shock. He stared back at her, the woman he loved, seeing the raw pain in her eyes. As a parent, he knew losing a kid would be the worst possible thing. And Marissa had lived through the nightmare.
She inhaled deep enough for Caden to see her chest cave and expand. She seemed to be shrinking away from him. He pushed forward, taking her face into his hands, forcing her to look at him. “I’m so fucking sorry, Riss.” He pressed his lips against her mouth. “You really did lose everything that day.”
She nodded in his hold. Caden curved his hands around her neck and tugged her close to his chest. She held on tight, gripping the back of his shirt as though he was her lifeline. I am. He held her as close as he could without crushing her. He felt her tears on his neck and the slight shake of her body.
He brushed his mouth against her ear. “You willing to talk about her?”
She slowly untangled her arms from his back and glanced up. Her eyes were red rimmed and puffy. “What?” she whispered. He caught the confusion on her eyes.
“Your girl, tell me about her.”
She swallowed hard. “She was three when she died.”
His thumbs grazed her cheeks. “Not the accident. Tell me about her.”
She stared a second longer, and a lone tear fell down her face, but she smiled. “Her name was Carly. She was so beautiful, Cade. Everyone said she looked like me, but I never saw it.” She chuckled softly. “She was sweet and clever. I know all parents say it, but she was really smart too.” Marissa tilted her head.
“I bet she was.” He sighed, feeling the tension release from the room just a bit. She wiped her cheeks and sat up.
“You want everything, right?”
“Yeah, anything you’ll give me.”
She smiled with a quick nod. His fingers trailed down her neck to her arms and then clasped their hands together. She seemed fixated on their connection until she sighed and glanced up.
“Ryan? My ex? The one who called me the day you saw my phone? He was Carly’s father.”
Caden blinked in confusion. “Janelle’s husband?”
For the first time since he entered the room, she laughed. It was a small giggle in response to his confusion, he was sure. Whatever it was, he’d take it. She sniffled but didn’t say anything.
“Were you guys married?”
She shook her head.
“We were dating about a year when I got pregnant, obviously not planned.” She raised her brow. “He asked me to marry him, but I didn’t want to.” Her lips twitched. “Honestly, I think he just thought it was the right thing to do. He really is a good guy, just not the one for me.” Her gaze lightened. “He wasn’t mine.” She stared back at him without saying anything else. Ryan wasn’t hers, but Caden was. His heart beat heavy against his chest.
“I broke it off when I was four months pregnant. But we made a pact, we would do this together.” She snorted. “It turned out we made better friends than lovers. And when Carly was born, we were pretty good at co-parenting.” She smiled. “He met Janelle a month after Carly was born, they got married six months later.”
Her past comment referring to Janelle clicked. “More like family but not really, that’s what ya meant?”
“Yeah. She was a great stepmom, she really was. Loved Carly like she was her own. Never tried to take my place, respected me as her mom. She can be hard to take for most people. She’s really loud, opinionated and,” Marissa laughed, “very aggressive. But she’s actually a real good person. Only one who refused to let me go.”
“Well, she’s fucking solid in my book, then,” he said, smiling.
She drew in a breath. “So, that’s it. Now you know everything. Does it change anything? With us?”
