“Too late. She’s already gone. And you have no one to blame but yourself. Now chill out, or I’m going to have Gray restrain you.” With a withering glare at her brother, Kassa moved away from him and then hugged Cash. “I’m so sorry about your grandmother.”
“Thanks for coming,” he told her with a grim smile. “I really appreciate you all being here today.”
She squeezed his arm. “We’re family, dummy. We’ll always be here when you need us.”
Sin, Kale, and Santana rode with us to the airport, while the others stayed behind. Kassa told me they were going down to Bristol to visit with her adopted mom and wouldn’t be home for a few more days. The ride to the airport was quiet, no one seeming to want to bother Cash as he stayed stuck in his own head, lost in his grief.
I sat beside him, quiet as the others but tracing my fingers up and down his arm comfortingly. My heart was aching for him, and I didn’t know what to do or say that could make this better. There had been no words that offered comfort when I lost Dad. I doubted there really were any that could mend a heart broken by the loss of a loved one. Only time could heal that kind of pain.
Hours later, as we were flying over the Grand Canyon, he finally seemed to snap out of it. Reaching over, he pressed his hand flat to my stomach as he leaned in close to press his lips to my ear. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Yeah?” I murmured, unable to hide my shiver at the feel of his breath on my ear.
“What if we name the baby Charlotte?”
I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but him wanting to discuss baby names wasn’t it. Still, I couldn’t help grinning at the name choice. “You want to name her after the city where she was conceived?”
He grinned, and though I could still see the sadness in his gaze, I knew he was already starting the healing process. “Yeah, it suits her.”
“How do you know that? We haven’t even met her yet.”
He pressed his hand a little firmer into my belly, and our daughter immediately kicked against him. “I know her already. She’s stubborn, playful, and just as beautiful as her mother.”
“And you want to call her Charlotte?” He nodded eagerly, and I sighed in mock resignation, covering his hand with one of my own. “Okay, you’ve talked me into it. But only because I love you.”
“Love you too, Dreamer.”