My heart skipped a beat. Oh my God. “He is? He woke up?”
“Yeah, baby, he woke up.” His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. “He’s weak, but he’s already hitting on the nurses and being a pain in the ass.”
“Oh God, Vic, that’s amazing.” I threw my arms around him and hugged him. I’d never met Tyler or his team, and that was one of the pieces of him I knew I might never get.
“Babe, I’m going to miss Jackson’s soccer game tomorrow.”
I cupped his cheek. “Yeah, of course. God, go see him. They are six, so it’s not exactly the World Cup or anything. I’m just happy Tyler’s going to be okay, Vic.”
He stared down at me, his hand sliding up my spine to curl around the back of my neck. “Do you think Jackson won’t mind missing a game so you both can come with me? I’d like you to meet Tyler and everyone.”
My chest squeezed and my heart swelled. I looped my arms around his neck and drew him into me. “I’d love that. We’d love that.”
Jackson ran up to us with a soccer ball in his hands. “Jaeg called Saint a pussy. But I don’t think he’s a pussy. He’s really strong, like you. And you’re not a pussy, Dad.”
I broke away from Vic, my eyes widening and heat invading my cheeks. I wasn’t sure what to be more shocked at. That Jackson called Vic “Dad” or that he was using the word “pussy.”
Vic put his hand on Jackson’s shoulder, and my little boy looked up at him, and it was just like a father and his son. “Sometimes when people say things about others, it’s a reflection of themselves,” Vic said. Jackson scrunched his nose, not understanding. “It’s how they see themselves, not the other person.”
“So Jaeg’s a pussy?” Jackson asked.
Vic grinned, then burst out laughing.
The END