Page 87 of Love Me Gently

“Thank you for that.”

I dropped my hand back to my lap and pulled away from him. His hand slipped from behind my head as I moved.

“We should go get your girls.”

“We can wait. I can spend time with them later?—”

“Cole,” I interrupted. I appreciated the care and the concern, but we could deal with the rest of this all later.

“What?”

“Let’s go get your girls. They need their dad.”

And weirdly enough, I was starting to believe I did, too.

Instead of Mariebringing the girls to Cole’s house, we met her at hers. I would have preferred to not see the house he’d lived in with his wife and kids and my already frazzled nerves took another beating when we pulled up the driveway.

“I know Marie wants to meet you,” Cole said, “but I think for now it’s probably best you stay in the car.”

“I understand.” I could go the rest of my days without setting eyes on the woman Cole loved enough to marry, the woman he loved enough to have daughters with. I’d stared at the picture of him and his girls far too many times over the last few weeks. He might have hidden it in the nightstand, but that didn’t mean I didn’t pull it out and memorize every one of their features, cataloging the ones that were so familiar to me and marking the ones that I couldn’t place. Far as I could see, Cole was equally present in both girls’ physical appearances, but in opposite ways.

Where June was lighter-haired like Cole, Ella was brunette. But it was Ella who had Cole’s amber, almond-shaped eyes. June’s were a vibrant blue that I had no doubt were brighter in the beach picture due to the sandy shore and cloudless, bright blue sky.

Either way, I was rethinking the decision to meet them at all when the door to the front door opened, stealing my chance to change my mind.

A tiny bundle, tucked beneath a hot pink hat and bright blue puffer coat, charged out of the front door. Her mouth was wide open, and while I couldn’t hear her shriek, the joy on her face was clear.

“That’s June,” Cole said. He was laughing as he opened his door and climbed out of his truck. Like they rehearsed their greeting in their sleep, June slammed her little body into Cole’s at the exact moment he crouched to catch her.

“Daddy!” she screamed. Her legs locked around Cole’s hips and his face got buried in the collar of her coat, making her pink-booted feet kick with pleasure.

I tore my eyes off him, to see an exact matching outfit on the front steps. Ella’s hair was longer than June’s, and much darker, but as my gaze lifted, there was no doubt where that came from.

Marie Paxton was beautiful. Dressed in skinny jeans tucked into furry winter boots, her legs were long and slim, and the rest of her was equally elegant. Her soft smile grew as Ella tugged on her hand, and she bent to kiss her daughter’s cheek.

More cautiously, but no less excited based on the soft little smile on Ella’s cheek, she made her way to her dad with slower steps, but with more purpose than June’s wild screech and run. I caught Ella take a glimpse of me, and her already pink cheeks darkened as she gave me a timid smile.

It was then I felt something and turned to the woman on the front steps to the home she’d once lived with everyone now standing in the driveway.

Her eyes were on me this time, and she lifted a hand in a barely-there wave of acknowledgment. Sadness flickered across her face as she dipped her chin toward me.

I had no doubt there was a mix of pity in there if she was as good of a woman as Cole claimed, but there wasn’t the animosity I deserved.

The truck door opened in the back, and the cab erupted with the sweet chatter and squeals of girls eager to see their father.

“My turn to sit there!”

“No! Scoot over!”

“Dad!”

“Please with Mellie’s Cakes cherries on top?”

“That’s not fair you know those are my favorite!”

Cole shot me a grin from the opened door behind him, a grin and a look that said a million things. Part exasperation, partaren’t they the cutestmonsters in existence?Which meant when he climbed into the truck and closed his own door, I was matching his grin.

It was hard to be scared and sad and all the things I was so used to feeling with such unabashed happiness flooding the cab.

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