Torn. Tormented. Confused.
And I kept pushing her.
Problem was, I didn’t know how to stop.
Not when this girl had always been mine.
I wasn’t going to settle until she knew it.
Blowing out a breath, disappointment or relief, I wasn’t sure, she swiveled out of my arms. I caught only the tips of her fingers.
This soft kind of wariness had filled her features when she looked up at me. “She likes you.”
Emotion gripped me everywhere.
Magic.
The way I felt about that little girl had to be proof of its existence.
“I like her, too.” I barely forced it out.
Because I couldn’t quite put my finger on the way I felt about her.
Honestly, the thought of that innocent face kind of made me want to do some of that weeping, too.
“She’s my world, Jace.” There was some kind of warning in it.
I touched her face. “Which is exactly what she should be.”
A smile ticked up at the corners of her perfect, plush lips.
Joy.
I saw it.
Right there, waiting to reclaim its spot. To become the brightest part of her.
I stepped back so I could fully take it in. See the wholeness of it. Let it tease me with a little of my own.
“You ready?”
Faith hesitated for the beat of a second before she stretched out her hand to take mine. “Yeah, I’m ready.
Five minutes later, we had made it into town, and I took the last turn into her parents’ neighborhood.
Big trees hugged each side, and well-kept, modest houses were tucked in their protection. Lawns fronted the houses, and the walkways were edged in bright, blossoming flowers.
Faith swung her gaze at me, a smile riding her face.
The tension and the strain from earlier had evaporated.
Damn.
She was radiant.
Fucking brilliant.
Blinding.
“I seriously thought you and my daddy were gonna have it out right there on the stoop last night.”
A grin perked up on my lips. Keeping it light when there hadn’t been anything funny about it. “Uh, yeah, I was waiting on him to come at me, too. He’s not exactly my biggest fan.”
She laughed quietly. “Ah . . . my daddy’s a big ol’ teddy bear. He only wants what’s best for Bailey and me.”
“He always has wanted what was best for you,” I told her, remembering the things he’d said to me.
How they’d affected me.
How I’d wanted to prove him wrong when the only thing I’d done was prove him right.
“My daddy’s not about words, Jace. The only thing he cares about is, if we say them, we’d better mean them.”
My nod was slow, and there was not a damned thing I could do but reach over the console and take her hand.
Squeeze it.
Savor the fire.
“And if I showed up there right now and told him I was staying, what would he think?”
“He’d probably think you were feeding him a line.” She squeezed my hand back, her quiet voice filling with that hope. “And both of us would silently be rooting for you to prove him wrong.”
I smiled at her as I pulled to the curb. That feeling took hold of me again. Something perfect. A feeling I wanted to keep forever.
Faith had already hopped out of the passenger side by the time I made it around, and I stepped up to her side, planting my hand on the small of her back as we took the walkway and then edged up the steps.
A shiver caressed that soft, soft flesh.
I wanted to trace it. Capture it. Explore every inch.
The front door swung open, and there was Bailey, all wild curls, bright eyes, and dimpled chin. “Mommy and Jacie!”
My chest tightened again.
Laughing, Faith shifted her attention my way. “Well, it seems someone earned himself a nickname.”
The kid was so damned adorable, winding her way right the hell in.
My brow quirked up. “Jacie, huh?”
Emphatic, Bailey nodded and started to sing, “Jacie, Jacie, Jacie.”
All right then.
A soft rumble of laughter pilfered free. “You can call me whatever you want, Unicorn Girl.”
Bailey beamed. “Unicorn Girl! I a unicorn girl.”
God. That hooked me, too.
Faith’s mother was suddenly there and pushing open the screen. “Well, are you two gonna stand out there all day or are you gonna come in? Might as well be a fire out there for how hot it is.”
Faith stepped inside, quick to pull Bailey from her feet and hike her onto her hip. At the same time, she dipped in to peck a kiss to her mother’s cheek. “Hey, Mama. How was my girl last night? Did she sleep okay?”
“She slept just fine. You worry too much.”
“It’s a mama’s right to worry, isn’t that what you always told me growing up?” There was a tease to Faith’s tone.
Her mother laughed. It was a free sound that bounced through the entry. I had to wonder what it might have been like as a kid to come home every day to something that sounded like that.