My father nodded, hugged me fiercely, and murmured, “Then love him with all your might.”
He stepped back, though he was still holding my hand. “I love you, sweet girl.”
“I love you, too.”
He started to walk away then he turned back and grinned. “I’ll try not to barge in next time.”
Affection rippled out and I ran my hands up my arms. “That might be a good idea.”
He lifted his hand in parting, and I did the same, and he turned and disappeared around the side of the house. I waited until I heard the gate latch before I moved back up the steps, through the sunporch, and into the back of the house.
Gage was at the little table by himself. Singing and scribbling with a pen and paper. I moved to him, pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Where’s your dad?”
“He got a call he had to take.” Gage rolled his eyes as if it was something annoying he heard all the time.
While something inside me pinched.
This feeling that took hold.
That fierce energy suddenly whipping up a disorder.
Pushing against the walls and scratching across the hardwood floors.
I moved out the archway and through the living room before I started tiptoeing down the short hall.
Trent had his back to me, his phone to his ear, and I caught just the end of a plea.
It was indistinct, but I could tell it was a woman’s voice.
“Hurry.”
“I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
He ended the call, and I knew when he felt me, when the air shifted and thickened and brimmed with that feeling that pulsed between us.
A compulsion.
He slowly turned around.
The man menace.
Mayhem.
“Who was that?”
He slipped his phone into his pocket and came my way, took me by the face, and dropped his forehead to mine. “Gage’s mom. She says she’s in trouble. I have to go check it out.”
Fear curled down my spine. Compressing. Crushing.
At the same time, I was so thankful he was giving me this. Letting me in. I tipped my gaze up to meet the ferocity of his. “Do you think she’s responsible for what happened at the club?”
Trent tipped my face up to meet with his. “I don’t know, Eden. Gut tells me she is. She’s not exactly proven herself to be trustworthy, and if she thinks she’s going to put my son in danger…”
Cringing, my eyelids squeezed shut.
Trent kissed both of them.
Softly.
Tenderly.
While every muscle in his body rippled and jerked with bated aggression.
“Little Temptress.”
I held him by both wrists. “Please, just be safe.”
He nodded then peeled himself back. “I’m going to send Jud over here. You and Gage sit tight until he gets here, yeah?”
I’d woken up to the rental sitting in the carport.
Trent had had Logan and a friend drop it off since I had a meeting with parents this afternoon about a student who was struggling.
The man always thoughtful. Taking care of me.
“Yes, of course.”
He nodded then blew down the hall. He came up short at the end, pausing, sooty gaze dimmed with devotion. “I love you, Eden.”
My heart swelled. “I love you.”
Then he was gone.
“Oh please, oh please, can I go with you?” Gage actually steepled his hands together in a prayer.
A laugh tumbled out. “It’s super exciting to go to the mailbox, huh?”
I took one of his hands in mine, smiling as we headed out the front door. I’d just gotten a text from Jud that he was wrapping up at the shop and would be on his way to follow us back to Trent’s house.
I went ahead and rescheduled the conference so Jud wouldn’t have to follow me there.
Since I hadn’t been back to my house in so long, I’d tried to get a few things accomplished.
Gage had helped me water the plants on the sunporch, and we’d weeded a flowerbed out back. I guessed I’d put off grabbing the mail until the last. Both hopeful and wary of what might be waiting.
It was strange hating something and wanting it at the same time.
“I just like to be by you.” He shrugged it like his sweetness wasn’t demolishing every bit of me. All those broken pieces transformed.
Mending.
Healing.
Growing.
I squeezed his little hand. “I just like to be by you, too, Gage.”
“I know why because I’m your favorite and you love me so much! Right, Miss Murphy, right?”
“That’s right.”
Gage skipped along at my side as we moved down the walk to the street, and I realized I was shaking a bit as I dug into the box.
Praying for another message from my sister. My spirit could feel it. Her remorse. That she was asking for forgiveness but didn’t have the courage to come out and say it.
And I knew…I knew I’d forgive her. Our daddy would, too. We just needed her to make a move and actually mean it.
No more lies.