If he expected her to crawl under the table in shame, he would be sadly disappointed. She wouldn’t. She’d done the best she could given the circumstances at the time. She’d done what she’d thought had been right.
No one was perfect.
But watching Justice soak up every morsel of attention Ross gave him, Brielle had to concede that her son did need a father. Had needed one all along.
Something that she’d denied him by omission. For that, she was sorry.
“Justice, Ross can barely eat for talking. Let him finish his meal, baby, then you can ask him more questions.”
Justice nodded, was quiet for almost an entire thirty seconds, staring at Ross expectantly as he took a bite then another. After three bites Ross set his fork down, probably to have a drink, but Justice started back with more questions.
“What are we going to do today?”
It was their first full day off work and preschool together since the morning Ross had moved into her house.
“What would you like to do today?” Ross countered, grinning at his son. Ross always had smiles for Justice, and patience. Had she ever allowed herself to think about what kind of father Ross would be, she’d have fallen short on the reality. Then again, all this was still new to him and perhaps he’d get bored before long.
“Mommy and I like to go fishing.”
Casting a look toward her, Ross’s eyes grew wide. “Fishing?”
Justice nodded.
At Ross’s shock, Brielle lifted her chin. “You didn’t think I was taking my son to ballet and baking classes, did you?”
“I would like to think you were keeping our son well rounded and that if he was interested in the arts or baking classes you’d be open-minded.”
That surprised her. She would have taken Ross as a man’s man who wouldn’t want his son doing anything girly.
“What’s well rounded?” Justice asked, glancing back and forth between them.
“It means you get to try a lot of different things in life.”
“Like cinnamon pancakes?” Justice gestured to his plate, not something Brielle would regularly have wanted him to order as she encouraged him to eat healthily, but she’d given in to Ross’s insistence that today was a special occasion. She supposed in some ways it was. Their first full family day with no work, no school, no moving into her house. Ross was there and seemingly settled in for...for how long?
No, she wouldn’t think about that right now. She’d focus on Justice. His happiness and well-being was what mattered most.
“Yes, like cinnamon pancakes,” she answered her son, smiling at his cherubic face, which had a smudge of syrup on his cheek.
“And fishing?”
Brielle nodded, reaching across the table to clean the smudge with her napkin.
Clean faced, Justice turned big, imploring eyes on Brielle. “Is my daddy going to take us fishing? That’s what daddies do. April from preschool said so.”
To hear how quickly Justice had taken to calling Ross Daddy, to thinking of him as his daddy told Brielle how hungry her son had been for a father. That made her feel sad, as if she’d somehow not been enough.
How eager he was to spend every waking moment with Ross rather than her also made her feel a little sad.
She knew that was silly, wrong even, but she couldn’t help the feeling. Even though she knew she’d done a good job raising Justice, she hadn’t been enough. Not really.
Yes, part of the fascination was new-toy syndrome, but part of it was that thus far Ross had taken his role in Justice’s life seriously, dedicating himself one hundred percent to the little boy when he wasn’t at work. No wonder Justice was enthralled. Who wouldn’t be at having all
Ross’s attention focused on them?
“Daddy—” the word felt so foreign on her lips, for so many reasons “—probably has other things to do.”
“No, I don’t,” Ross quickly corrected her, eyeing her curiously and probably seeing a lot more than she wished. “My whole day is clear to spend with my family.”