What She Didn't Know (What She 1)

I had seen her. I had seen her in small moments. I had seen her in Lynn’s gaze as she looked at the sunset, and I’d heard her in Lynn’s laugh. I’d seen and heard all of them. But Ash… Ash was special. She was more, and I’d missed her. “I missed you,” I said again, overcome with joy. “I’m so sorry for what happened. What I did to you was wrong.”

She shook her head. “What you did to me was necessary, Mason. It had to happen. I’m glad it did. I’ve never felt as much at peace as I do now. You have no idea what it was like, having to go back and forth.”

I looked at her, holding the baby, and the clench that tightened around my heart like a vise every day since the stabbing eased a little.

She looked down at the baby. “Does he have a name yet?”

“Not yet.” Lynn and I were still deciding.

“You’ll come up with something amazing.” She smiled at me, and it hurt me to see it. Because I knew she wasn’t staying.

“You’re leaving again.” I pulled her close to me and tucked her head under my chin, the baby between us.

“I’m not leaving. I’m staying. I’ll still be here, just not separate.”

“Thank you for coming back today.” My voice cracked. “I needed to see you. I really needed to see you.”

“I’m so tired, Mason. I’m going to close my eyes.”

“Wait,” I said, and I pressed my lips to hers. She kissed me back, but it was fleeting. She went soft in my arms.

A minute later, the door opened and Shelly walked back in. “Everything okay?” she asked.

I wiped my face. “Fine.”

Lynn blinked her eyes open, and I knew that she was here.

“Thank you,” I said to her. I hadn’t even realized how much I needed an opportunity to apologize.

“You’re welcome,” she said. She wiped her wet face.

People began to pour into the room. Malcolm and Aubrey came in together, and they held the baby. Shelly was amazingly quiet during it all.

When everyone else had gone, she asked for a turn. I handed the baby over. She must have seen the worry on my face.

“Mason,” she scolded, “I’m not going to hurt him. I’d give up my life for him, just like I would for his mother.”

Yeah, but she’d also kill anyone who wronged him, and that was the part that scared me.

She held him after Lynn fed him, and I didn’t think she would ever leave. She talked to him and patted his bottom and cooed at him. Then she rested him in her lap, lifted her hands to the back of her neck, and she unhooked the necklace I’d once given to Lynn from around her throat. She held it out to me.

I looked toward Lynn. She shrugged.

I took the necklace from Shelly’s outstretched hand. “I think I need my own life,” she said. She looked down at the baby. “Maybe I could get one of these.”

I jerked my gaze to Lynn’s. She looked as panicked as I felt.

“Or maybe I could just get a job,” Shelly said.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Lynn replied.

I couldn’t imagine her with a job either, but it was probably better than a baby.

“I can be normal.” Shelly rolled her eyes. Then she started to laugh.

I’d believe it when I saw it.