Rush’s words came back to me. Reminding me of all I’d given him, but it wasn’t a mother. It wasn’t what he wanted most. I had given Rush all money could buy, but that hadn’t been a mother to love him. One that he would stand up for and protect.
Cam had that. He hadn’t been given the advantages my wealth could have brought him, but he’d had something greater than money. He’d had something money couldn’t buy. He had a mother who sacrificed everything for him. A mother who raised him with the security that he had her. She would be there for him, no matter what. And in this moment, he was showing me what she had taught him. That you protected those you loved.
“I was wrong,” I said to him. “I made a mistake.”
Cam shifted his gaze to his mother, then back to me. I could see the uncertainty in his eyes. He wasn’t sure what to do with this. Brielle placed a hand on his arm. That small touch gave him the answer he needed.
“Because you know my mama wasn’t lying?” he shot back at me.
I nodded. “That, among other things. Hurting your mother was one of those. I was surprised. Shocked. I reacted poorly, and I wish I could go back and do that again. I’d handle it differently.”
He glanced up at his mother. She nodded her head at him. They didn’t need words. It was fascinating to watch them talk to each other with gestures. Rush hadn’t had that with his mother. Hell, he didn’t have that with me. That was something that came from trust, respect, and love. A love unlike any I had ever experienced.
Brielle had raised my son … our son … better than I could have, and she’d had him when she was a child.
I loved her. It wasn’t her beauty, the size of her chest, the way she felt when I was deep inside her. I was in love with the person she was. The way she thought of others. Her kindness. Her determination and spirit. The way her gentle smile could make a dark moment easier.
I loved her because, even at eighteen years old, she had been the best damn mother I could have asked for my kid to have. I loved her because our son was smart, loyal, brave, and talented, and it was all because his mother had taught him how to be with her own actions.
“I don’t want you here if it’s going to upset my mama,” he said to me.
“Cam.” Brielle said his name, and he looked up at her. “This isn’t about me and Dean. It’s about you and …” She paused and looked at me a moment. “It’s about you and your father. I never imagined you’d get the chance to know him. You’ve been given a gift. I want you to embrace it. I will be okay. Don’t worry about me.”
“That’s not exactly true,” I said, taking one step in their direction. “This will always be about you too. You’re his mom. You’re his safe place.”
She started to say something, and I held up my hand to stop her.
“You’re also the only woman I have ever loved, and you’re the only one I will ever love. I know I fucked up, Brielle, but I will spend every damn day I have left on this earth showing you just how much I love you. How sorry I am for hurting you. Just give me a chance. Please.”
Her big blue eyes widened as she stared at me. I could see the different emotions cross her face. That beautiful, expressive face. Even when I wanted to hate her, I couldn’t. She was in my head, she was under my skin, and she was in my heart.
“You love me?” she asked in a whisper, as if saying the words aloud would make them untrue.
“So damn much,” I replied.
Brielle blinked, then reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek.
“Mama?” Cam asked, looking up at her. “I don’t think he meant to make you cry by saying that.”
She pressed a kiss to Cam’s forehead. “I know,” she said. “I’m just … I didn’t expect that,” she said, looking back at me.
“Can you forgive me? Give me a chance to make you love me?” I asked her, taking a step in their direction.
She laughed, and Cam looked at me, his eyes wide with confusion, then back at his mother.
“I’m sorry,” she said to me.
For a moment, my heart sank.
“It’s just that a part of me has loved you since the night we conceived Cam. But … then I got to know the man—the real Dean Finlay—and I fell in love with him too easily.”
I didn’t wait for her to say more. I went to them. To my son and his mother. I grabbed her waist and pulled her to me before I covered her mouth with mine. She kissed me back, holding on to my arms the way I loved. As if she had to hold on to me to keep from falling.
Brielle made me feel like a man. She made me feel needed for more than my money and fame.
Cam cleared his throat loudly, and Brielle pulled away. I looked over at our son. He was glaring at me again.
“Easy,” he said. “That’s my mama.”