Shattered (The Protectors 11)

I tensed, because the last time I'd seen Mav, I hadn't exactly been welcoming. Not to mention I'd pretty much kidnapped the young man he considered a little brother.

When he reached me, he extended his hand.

But not to shake mine.

No, he wanted Willa's car seat.

I didn't know what to make of the silent request, but since I knew he wouldn't hurt her, I handed her over. He immediately gave the car seat to Ronan.

And I prepared myself for the worst.

But I wasn't about to apologize for what I'd done. Yes, I was sorry I'd worried him and Eli, but taking Caleb had been the smartest thing I'd ever done in my entire life. If that earned me a punch or two, so be it.

Only there was no punch. There were just Mav's arms sliding around me. “Thank you for keeping him safe,” Mav murmured. He slapped me on the back. “Welcome home, brother.”

I let out a harsh breath.

Because fuck if I hadn't needed that.

I nodded, but didn't manage to say anything. Mav released me and then turned his attention on Willa, who was being gently nuzzled by Baby. The infant had woken up at some point and was just staring at all the new faces.

“What do you say, baby girl?” Mav said. “Wanna go see what your Uncle Mav and Uncle Eli have for you?”

I smiled at the sing-song voice he used as he took the car seat. Willa looked completely entranced as Mav continued to talk to her as he began walking toward the house. Eli automatically fell in step next to him and began cooing at the baby. Ronan followed and then Caleb was at my side. I wiped at the remnants of his tears. “What do you say we go introduce Willa to her uncles?” I asked.

He slid his hand into mine and nodded. “I think I just found another piece, Jace,” he murmured softly. I smiled and kissed him, but refrained from telling him I had a feeling it was the first of many.

Because I knew he'd have to see it to believe it.

Chapter 20

Caleb

“I'm not exactly an expert at this,” I said as I rolled up the dirty diaper and secured it with the Velcro tabs and then grabbed a baby wipe. “I mean, did you know there was a right way to wipe the baby if it's a girl... how do parents know this stuff?”

I knew I was babbling, but I couldn't seem to make myself stop.

“I saw this thing on the internet about cloth diapers being better, but can you imagine the mess?”

“Caleb,” Eli said softly, and I forced myself to look at him. We were in one of the guestrooms that I figured had probably once belonged to Seth as a child. There was a full-size bed in it, but also a crib and a changing table, which I suspected were new, since Seth and Ronan's youngest child was too old for those things.

“You're doing great,” my brother said. He shook his head and smiled wide. “You're incredible with her,” he added.

I breathed in a sigh of relief, because I'd needed to hear that. Jace had said the same to me already, but hearing it from Eli was nearly as important to me. Maybe because I felt like I had something to prove to him.

That I wasn't the same young, reckless kid who'd run away when things had gotten too hard.

I got the new diaper on Willa and picked her up. I reached for the bottle Jace had made, but when I saw the way Eli was looking at the baby, an almost hungry expression on his face, I asked, “Do you want to feed her?”

His eyes lifted to mine. “Really?”

I nodded. It was no secret how much my brother loved kids. He was planning to practice pediatric oncology when he finished school.

Eli was sitting cross-legged on the bed, so I reached across it and handed Willa to him, then gave him the bottle. Unlike me, he knew right away what to do and I had no doubt it was because he'd handled many of the babies in the extended family at the weekly family dinner celebrations.

Celebrations I'd often avoided.

I climbed up onto the bed and sat so that I was facing him. He looked so at peace holding the baby.

“You need this in your life, huh?” I asked.

Eli looked at me, then glanced at Willa again. “Mav and I have talked about it, but it makes more sense to wait until I'm finished with school,” he explained, though there was a certain hollowness in his voice as he spoke. “A lot of things made more sense before…”

He didn't need to finish the statement for me to know what he'd been about to say.

Before the trial.

The trial against my father had consumed so much of all our lives, but none more so than Eli and Mav, who'd even ended up putting their wedding plans on hold until after my father was convicted. I’d heard Mav and Eli tell my stepmother that they wanted to start their life together on a positive note, but I had to wonder what would happen now that everything had changed so dramatically. Would they wait until my father’s second trial was over? Or until after the one he was likely to face in Virginia for Nick’s death?