"Don't make promises you can't keep, but I swear to God, River, if you hurt her, I will gut you like a fish."
I barked a laugh and stepped closer to Zoey. "I missed your spunk. You always had a raging fire that no one could put out. I'm glad it's still there."
Zoey knocked my hand away before I could touch her face. Her slender finger jabbed at my chest as she held my stare with her steely eyes. "The fire is there for Violet and Violet only."
"You keep telling yourself that, beautiful."
"I see you're still as arrogant as always," Zoey huffed, but I saw her lips twitch in a smile. It gave me hope, something I hadn't felt for a long time, and a sense of living that I thought had left me.
"River, I'm ready," Violet called, putting an abrupt stop to our conversation.
"I'm gonna put our little girl to bed, and then we are going to talk," I said before dropping Zoey’s hand and heading towards the sweet little girl who had managed to bury herself in the middle of my heart.
I walked into Violet's room. It was a small space, maybe half the size of my closet. Not much fit in the room, just a tiny white single bed with a small dresser in the corner.
"Where are all your toys?" I asked, looking around and not seeing much other than the teddy bear she clung to.
"I have them all in the living room in a small basket. I don't really need much, and I really love my toys."
Hearing my child tell me she didn't have much in the small space while I lived in a four-thousand-square-foot apartment was like a kick to the balls. While I was overseas, it was one thing, but the minute I was back, they should have been with me. She should have had a big room full of ridiculous things any girl could want. "What should we read?"
Violet flashed me a smile, her little hand pointing to the dresser. "Three little pigs. It's right there."
I walked over and picked it up before returning to the side of her bed.
She patted the mattress beside her. "Sit here and read, please, so I can see the pictures."
Smiling, I sat where she'd indicated and turned to make sure she could see the pages of the book. I began to read, her eyes quickly getting heavier as she followed along with me, and before I knew it, she was asleep. I bent over and kissed her gently on her forehead.
Since I wasn't sure what they liked to do with her door, I turned off the light, smiling when a small nightlight flashed on, and then pulled the door mostly closed so Zoey and I had a little more privacy for our conversation but we could still hear Violet if she needed us. Then I headed to the kitchen, where I could hear Zoey running water into the sink.
"She goes down easy," I said to Zoey as I took the dish from her hand and started to dry it with the dishrag on the counter.
"Yes, I've always been lucky with her sleep patterns. She has never been a lot of trouble, a perfect little girl. I don't know what I did to deserve her, but I feel blessed to have her."
"I'd like to be in her life. In both of your lives," I blurted. I was done wasting time. I'd wasted four years. I couldn't get that time back, but I could try my damndest to make up for it from this day forward. "You can trust me, Zoey. I'm never gonna walk away from you again. It was the biggest mistake of my life, and if you let me, I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. I love you. I never stopped. I don't think I could even if I wanted to. I haven't even looked at another woman. You're it for me, Zoey. I was a dying man, drowning, I thought it was just because I lost Ridge, but it happened long before that. I died the day I walked away from us, and the day I saw you again was the first time my heart beat in over four years."
"I’m not young and stupid anymore, Zoey. I know what I want, and there's only ever been one thing. You."
"You didn't have to break up with me."
"I was a fool. Please forgive me, beautiful?"
"No matter how hard I try, I can't manage to picture why you discarded me like trash. I know I don't have money and privilege like you do. I'm just, nobody, but I loved you. I would have done anything for you." Zoey raised her fists and hit me, one hit turning into two, multiplying until I had become her personal punching bag. I stood there, absorbing every impact as she cried. I didn't move. I didn't dare to. I deserved it, every hit, every scream and sob. I wished I could take all her pain, absorb it in my skin and carry it so she wouldn't have to.