Sean: A Stepbrother Romance (Coded for Love 3)

She looked at him from under her lashes. “Yes, we did.”

He grinned. Finally, she’d admitted it.

“You’re pleased?”

“Of course I am. I love you Rowan, and Pixie’s part of you. More than that, she’s ours…I just wish I’d been there…I wish I’d known.”

She hadn’t been sure, but when he chuckled at her, she broke into a smile, then tears, sobbing uncontrollably, her face buried against his shoulder.

“Do you think she could get used to having a great hulk like me in her life? “ He asked it quietly, giving her the option to ignore him if she chose to, worried she wouldn’t want Pixie to have an ex-con as a dad, biological fac

t of life or not. She was a stubborn, independent woman and she’d come this far on her own, after all.

Her head lifted and she looked up at him. Mascara streaked under her eyes and her nose was pink. “You want to, really? Not just because you feel you have to?”

“I don’t feel I have to. I want to…I do feel as if I’d be lucky to be let in though, given the obstacle course between us.” He paused, willing her to see how deeply he felt this. “I want to be with you and Pixie, I want to start over. I have to sort this mess I’m in, yes, but once that’s done…”

She arched one eyebrow. “You never know, you might get lucky.”

“Music to my ears, in every way,” he murmured, before kissing her again. The barriers were starting to crumble, and he finally felt her willingness to let them dissolve, to allow him in and trust him.

“I thought maybe Nan had told you. They just kept saying maybe you’d guessed.”

“It’s true. You should have trusted her.”

“I find it hard, I know that. It’s because I trusted you…more than once.”

“Ouch. Okay, I deserved that.”

Again she stared down at the phone on the bed. “It’s the first time we’ve been apart overnight, ever.”

“She’ll be safe, Nan loves her.”

“Yes.” She smiled gently, but he could see the concern haunting her eyes. “Gladys too, in her own way.” She chuckled. “She refuses to call her Pixie though.”

Sean waited a moment, but she didn’t enlighten him as to Pixie’s real name. He wanted to know. “Do you think she’ll be teased about her name, being different, when she goes to school, like you and Sky were?”

She stared at him. “You remembered.”

“I like to think I remember everything you ever told me.”

A wistful look settled on her. She wanted their union as much as he did, he was sure of it. That was the real reason she’d followed him to London.

“Yes, I worried about it. Pixie was a nickname, I called her it one day and it stuck, but she’s growing up so fast. We’ll have to get into the habit of using her real name before she goes to nursery school. Gladys uses it, so it’s not as if she doesn’t know it.”

“In that case, you’d better tell me what it is.”

It was a long moment before she replied. “I called her Finola.”

Sean’s chest swelled with pride, and sorrow. It was his mother’s name. Rowan had given him a clue all along. If only he’d asked. Nan had said as much.

He reached out and stroked her cheek. She covered his hand with her own. Her eyes glistened.

“My mother would be so proud. Thank you.”

“There was never any doubt she was yours, so it was in my head.”

“Did you know before I left Rhyl?”