Page 95 of Rejected Heart

Layla turned to leave and took one step in the opposite direction before I reached out and curled my fingers around her wrist. She twisted her neck to look back at me, and the moment her eyes were locked on mine, I spoke. “I want you to stay.”

I watched as the tension swept out of her body and relief eased its way in. “You… you do?”

“Cooper invited you?”

Layla nodded.

“Then I want you to stay.” Hope blossomed in her eyes, and a small smile formed on her face. “Can we talk privately for a few minutes first, though?”

More relief. This time, it etched itself into her features. “Yeah. Yeah, I think that’d be a good idea.”

For the first time since my eyes had caught sight of her, I allowed them to drift down from her face. They landed just below the front of her throat, where the heart-shaped necklace I’d gotten her for her birthday years ago was resting.

That was our necklace.

Liam and Layla.

She wouldn’t be wearing that if she wasn’t trying to make a statement, would she?

I looked away from Layla and in the direction that I knew I’d find my family. They were quiet, trying not to look, but doing a horrible job of it.

I found Cooper and jerked my chin up at him. He didn’t hesitate to move in our direction. “Everything okay?” he asked when he came to a stop beside us.

“Would you mind taking Rosie for a few minutes so Layla and I can talk?”

Cooper reached for his daughter and took her from me. Roselle’s tiny fists gripped tightly onto my shirt, and she refused to let me go. I had to gently peel open each one of her fingers just to get my shirt free.

“I’ll be back to play in a little bit,” I promised her.

She looked away and dropped her head down on her dad’s shoulder, her sad face breaking my heart. Cooper shifted his attention between Layla and me, and just before I was going to turn to walk off, Layla held up a gift bag. “This is for her.”

Cooper’s features softened as he took the bag from her. “Thanks, Layla. It’s good to see you.”

She offered a simple nod in return.

As Cooper turned and walked off in the opposite direction, I looked down at Layla and jerked my head toward the lake. “Come on.”

The two of us walked side by side in silence as we made our way to the edge of the property near the lake. I didn’t know what Layla was feeling or experiencing, but my heart was pounding. The problem was that I didn’tknow if it was the result of feeling nervous, or if it was normal. The truth was that I always felt like my heart was racing whenever I was around her.

We sat down in two of the chairs near the lake’s edge, and for a long time, neither one of us said a word. I’d been telling myself for weeks—years, really—that Layla wasn’t ever going to seek me out, that I’d never have this opportunity, so I hadn’t prepared myself for it.

Now that I was here, I didn’t have the slightest clue where to start.

Layla, to her credit, seemed to be making all the right moves, because she broke the silence once again. “Your niece is adorable. Congratulations on becoming an uncle, by the way.”

I smiled at her. “Thank you. She’s the best little girl in the world. I don’t even know how we all lived without her.”

“It took me a moment to get used to the idea of Cooper being a dad,” she confessed. “I’m still struggling with that one.”

Soft laughter escaped. “None of us thought he’d be the first to have a kid, so you’re not alone.”

Layla’s eyes roamed over my face. She seemed to be holding herself back from saying whatever was on her mind.

“What is it?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just, I don’t know that I can recall a time when you looked so happy as you did when she was taking those few steps toward your outstretched arms.”

There was no denying how much I adored my niece. She really was the only reason I ever had moments of feeling genuine happiness in years.

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