Siena lifted her gaze and looked at me. Affection was in her eyes, along with a drop of sadness. Then she looked down at our daughter once more, brushing off the moment. “True. You can still be a family.”
8
Siena
I worried what life would be like once Martina arrived. I didn’t know how Cato would respond to her, if he wouldn’t connect with the baby and then push us both away. I never expected him to take care of her for an entire week just so I could recover.
That man had a big heart.
A week of recovery helped me get back on my feet. My body didn’t ache as much anymore, and labor finally seemed like a distant memory. I had the energy to take care of Martina in the middle of the night, to feed her and rock her so Cato could get some rest.
After everything he’d done for me, I didn’t mind in the least.
It felt so good to take care of her, to feel like a mother. For the week I rested, I felt like a terrible mother. Even though I knew I needed to recover, I still felt guilty that I wasn’t the one spending time with her. Now that I was, my life felt complete.
She was the sweetest thing in the world.
I already wanted another one.
Landon and I were close in age, and I wanted the same for my children. I wanted them to experience the same challenges in life at the same time so those moments could bring them closer together. If something ever happened to Cato or me, I wanted them to always have each other—the way I always had Landon.
After giving her dinner and rocking her to sleep, I placed her in the crib.
She opened her eyes to look at me, to make sure I was still there, before she closed them again.
I loved sleeping with her, but I wanted to begin the separation process sooner rather than later. I wanted her to be independent, to get used to being alone without being scared. And in six weeks, the last thing I wanted was someone in between Cato and me…because we wanted our alone time.
Cato stepped into the room and lingered in the doorway.
I looked up and saw him in the darkness, but I didn’t speak out of fear of waking Martina.
His shadowed frame was difficult to make out, but those powerful shoulders were impossible to deny. He was rigid and stern, his silence somehow full of inexplicable hostility.
It must have been my imagination, because there wasn’t a single reason Cato could be upset with me. The last two weeks had been wonderful. He’d returned to work because I was strong enough to take care of Martina on my own. By the time he came home, Martina was so happy to see him. The second he walked in the door, he picked her up and looked at her like she’d been on his mind all day—not me.
Once Martina was asleep, I walked toward the doorway and got a better view of his expression. It was cold, guarded, and dangerous. As if we were eight months in the past, the cruel and bitter man had returned. His jaw was clenched in a way it hadn’t been in a long time. His blue eyes weren’t so pretty anymore.
He stepped out of the bedroom and into the hallway.
I shut the door behind me. “What’s wrong—”
He grabbed me by the elbow and yanked me down the hallway.
“Cato, what the hell are you doing?” I tried to twist out of his grasp, but it was too strong. He gripped me with the force of steel. “Cato!” I used all my body weight to get out of his hold, to get free of this man I didn’t know.
“I’m doing what I promised I would do.” He pulled me down the stairs.
Panic exploded inside me as the adrenaline circulated in my veins. Fear rang like a drum with every beat of my heart. I’d forgotten about his promise because it seemed irrelevant. He and I were different now. We loved each other. We had a daughter together. “You can’t be serious.” I pushed him off me and lost my footing.
He caught me before I fell, only to keep dragging me. “I am serious.”
Tears flooded my eyes, not from terror, but anger. “I’m the mother of your child—”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“You can’t take me away from her!” Now I fought with everything I had, fought to get back to my little girl. “How dare you? What the hell is wrong with you?”
He continued to pull me down the stairs until we reached the entryway. “You betrayed me—twice. Let’s not forget that.”
“Only a pathetic man holds on to the past like that.” Tears ran down my cheeks like two warm rivers. “I love you and you love me. How could you do this to me? I make you happy—”