“Why do you look so sad, Uncle Jax?”
I drop my eyes from hers and whisper, “My heart is just a little broken.”
She places her hand over my heart, as her bottom lip starts to tremble.
“Don’t cry, Uncle Jax,” she whispers.
I try to blink the tears away and suck in a deep breath of air, but then Danny scrambles to her knees, and she wraps her tiny arms around my neck.
“It’s okay,” she whispers, as she pats my back. Her tiny hand starts to caress my hair, and I lose it.
“It’s okay,” she keeps whispering as she comforts me. “Just don’t get snot on me, okay? I’ll ask Mommy for a tissue if you need one.”
I laugh and cry at the same time at her words, and I have to admit, I feel a little better.
When I manage to control my emotions, Danny pulls back. She takes hold of her shirt and tries to see if I got snot on her. Della hands her a tissue, and she gets busy wiping the tears from my face.
“You’re lucky, Uncle Jax. You don’t have snot. When I cry, my snot runs all over the place. It just keeps coming and coming and coming.” When she’s done, she smiles brightly. “There, now you’re all better.”
“Yeah, Princess,” I say as I press a kiss to the top of her head. “You fixed my heart.”
After a few minutes, Danny crawls off my lap and gets onto Carter’s. It doesn’t take her long to fall asleep in his arms.
The room is quiet as we all sit and wait. Every time I look at my watch only
ten seconds has passed.
The door opens and Sebastian comes in. He freezes, and his eyes scan the room.
“Oh my, there’s so much testosterone in this room my poor ovaries are going to combust.”
“You don’t have ovaries,” Ryan says as he gets up.
“My imaginary ones. I think we should swap places. I’ll comfort the hunks, and you go hold Marcus’ hand.”
“Sebastian,” I say, ready to have a nervous breakdown. “How is he?”
“Oh, yes!” He finally remembers why he came here. “Marcus is doing well. I have to get back. Too-de-loo.” He wiggles his fingers in a wave and disappears out the door.
“What the hell just happened?” Rhett asks with his eyes still on the door.
“My husband is a scatter-brain. All that matters is that Marcus is doing well,” Ryan says as he sits down next to me again.
He places a hand on my back and locks eyes with me.
“Marcus is doing well, Jaxson.”
“He is,” I whisper as it sinks in. “Thank God.”
“Is he allowed to wear lipstick to work?” Rhett asks.
I shake my head. I know it’s coming from a good place, but Ryan might not think so.
“Sure. It’s the same as any other female wearing lipstick to work.”
Rhett nods. “True, I didn’t think of it that way.”
I can see another question coming, and I let out a groan.