Page 118 of Pain in the Axe
She looked up at me, tears pooling in her eyes.
“Please don’t cry.” I rubbed circles on her back. “You’ve shed enough tears tonight. I could never forget you, not in a thousand lifetimes.”
She burrowed into my side again. “I love you.”
I kissed her forehead. “I love you too. Let’s go inside. It’s cold.”
We headed to the living room, where I refilled Clem’s water, and Chloe curled up on the couch.
“Sleep,” I said, dropping onto the couch beside her.
She sighed. “I can’t.”
I pulled her close and wrapped the blanket around us. “I’m here. I’ll sit with you as long as you need me to.”
After a few quiet minutes, after her breathing had slowed and I thought she’d dozed off, she spoke. “I owe you an apology. I’ve been selfish.”
I huffed a breath. “No you haven’t. You’re dealing with a lot.”
She sat up straight, glaring at me. “August Gabriel Hebert, let me finish.”
Biting back a laugh, I squeezed her. Okay, then.
“All my life, I’ve been hyper-independent. I’ve kept you at arm’s length, and you don’t deserve that.” She tipped her head back and locked eyes with me. “You deserve a real partner.
“And you were right. I do need you. We are better together than on our own. This kid is going to need us at our best.” She touched her belly with so much tenderness that my heart clenched.
I was so in love with the little person in there already. I’d set the grainy photo of my little bean as the background on my phone the day of the ultrasound, and I gazed at it every day, imagining how it would feel when I finally got to hold my child in my arms.
“I need you too, Dragonfly. We’re gonna do this. We don’t need all the answers.”
“That’s the thing. We do need some answers. I want to stay here,” she blurted out.
My heart lifted. “In Maine?”
“Yes. I want to have the baby here. I want to do whatever I can for Celine and the kids. And I want this baby to know Thor and Merry and the rest of our families.”
My breath hitched. Fuck yeah. I’d go anywhere with her, but raising my child in Lovewell, at least for a while? It was the one thing I’d been too afraid to even hope for.
“Anything you want. I’ll follow you anywhere,” I said again.
She tipped her chin and kissed me. “Thank you. For showing me that asking for help doesn’t make me weak.”
Silently, I nodded.
“I’m so lucky to have you. Tonight proved that. Because I need a lot of help. Not just with the baby, but with the business and the FBI and Celine. I definitely want to hire Parker to take down Donny, but do you think she’d be willing to help with the issues at Hebert Timber?”
“She might. But if not, we can find other PIs. Law enforcement can only do so much.”
Her eyes welled, but she blinked the tears away. “I just don’t want anyone in danger. I want our family safe.”
“We will get it done.” With a deep breath out, I sank lower into the cushion.
“I think we should do a review of the files and then—”
“Stop,” I said. “Thank you for wanting to share your burdens with me, but we don’t need to share all of them tonight. How about I hold you for a little bit, and we pick back up with the planning and strategy tomorrow?”
“Fine,” she huffed, giving me a sassy eye roll. “But I don’t know what the future will hold. I may have to go back to Seattle or travel after the baby is born.”
