My lungs inflated, so light that I felt as if I might blow away. Or maybe I was the most solid I’d ever felt.
“I know.”
His lips gave a slight twist at the corner. “All right then . . . I’ll see you in the morning. Hopefully come then, we’ll get to see this kid’s smile.”
When the door closed behind him, I turned back to Evan and gathered his little hand in mine.
Love came in so many forms.
For moments and for lifetimes.
Kale Bryant might have broken my heart.
But he’d left me with the piece he knew I needed most.
And that love?
It’d come to us at the exact, perfect time.
“My heart,” I whispered.
Evan’s eyes twitched behind his lids.
My heart.
This little boy who would forever hold it.
33
Kale
Blinding light glinted off my windshield. The Alabama summer was in full swing, the sun spraying darts of warmth across the green, abounding earth.
My driver’s side window was cracked so I could take in every sense and sound.
Sweet, sweet heat.
Joy.
The brightest light.
Every cell in my body clenched.
Painfully.
Still, it was possibly the best feeling I’d ever experienced.
From a distance where they wouldn’t notice me, I watched them.
My heart threatened to jump right out of my chest when Hope slid out of the driver’s side and rounded the front of her SUV.
She helped Evan out from the back passenger side.
His homecoming was met with shouts and cheers from the porch where a ton of balloons swayed in the gentle breeze.
Jenna, Josiah’s entire family—and a woman who had to be Hope’s mother—were waiting.
Their excitement was palpable. Bubbling and binding to the atmosphere.
Hand-in-hand, Hope and Evan walked through the gate of the white-picket fence and up the pathway.
Their red, red hair glittered in the rays of sunlight that poured over them. It appeared like they were being drenched from above.
Saturated with blessings.
I could see Evan grin from across the space.
I’d been wrong that day in my office when I thought his spirit was bright enough to fill the entire room. Truth was, it was bright enough to fill the entire sky.
To light worlds and spark a million dreams.
They headed up the walk.
Maybe I tried to stop it, pretend it didn’t exist, that it wasn’t real. But that energy flashed, the attraction that had always been alive between Hope and me since the second I’d first caught sight of her.
It sizzled through the air like a crack of lightning.
I saw her spine stiffen in awareness. I thought maybe she tried to fight its existence before she gave and slowly turned to peer over her shoulder.
Like the girl could feel me the same way I swore I could feel her.
I swallowed around the emotion that knotted in my throat.
Intense.
Overwhelming.
Brutal and beautiful.
She stared back at me. The complexity of her expression was almost more than I could handle.
Sadness and overwhelming, stunning joy.
I met those mossy eyes, everything held in them so genuine and real.
I had to curl my hands around the steering wheel to keep myself from flying out the door and running that way.
Because fuck.
I wanted to go to them.
Wrap them up.
Hold them and keep them.
Instead, I sent her all my thoughts, hoping she could hear them. That she would tuck them away, hold them close to her sweet, sweet spirit.
I’m so fucking happy for you and for Evan. For your amazing, incredible kid. For amazing, incredible you. I’m sorry I couldn’t have been better. That I wasn’t enough.
My guts twisted as she stared back at me.
Brutally.
Because I wanted her. Wished for all the shit I’d been a fool to wish for in the first place.
But seeing them this way?
It was enough.
It was two when I pulled into the gravel driveway of the little house. I killed the engine and then just . . . sat there. Trying to get myself together. To put a goddamned smile on my face.
Tried to remember that this was what I lived for. My career and my friends that were really my family. They were supposed to be all I needed.
Problem was, the only thing I felt was empty.
Dropping my head, I squeezed the steering wheel and drew in a deep breath before I forced myself to open the door and get out. Milo was pawing and yapping at the window, almost as excited as the little whirlwind who came barreling out the door.
Hair flying.
Hugest smile on her face.
She threw her arms in the air.
“Uncle! You came, you came. I ’fought you forgot all abouts me.”
Hit with a rush of that love I had for this kid, I swooped her up and hugged her close to my chest. “Forgot about you? What in the world would make you think that? You know I couldn’t forget about my favorite girl.”
She giggled like she thought it was the best thing she’d ever heard. “I knows that.”
Her eyes went wide, and her voice dropped conspiratorially. Like she was getting ready to let me in on a deep, dark secret. “But Daddy told Uncle Ollie they were gonna have to drag your mopey ass over here ’cause yous were gonna ditch us ’cause you been way, way downs in the dumps.”