Page 54 of Rescued Hearts
“No. She’s moving too much.”
This was a big deal, and a part of me wanted to wake up Tess to tell her, but I wouldn’t if she was already tossing and turning. I was fairly certain Luke had never slept without her voluntarily. And the fact that he left her to come sleep with me? It made my chest ache in ways I couldn’t comprehend. It made me feel like I was doing something right, like he felt safe here with me, which is all I ever wanted.
“Okay. Come on,” I whispered, my voice thick with emotion.
He let out a little victorious snicker and climbed on top of me. I took my glasses back off and got him settled between the back cushions and me so he didn’t roll off. “Wevi?”
“Yeah?”
“Why do you wear gwasses?”
I wrapped an arm around him, shifting to get comfortable, even though I had a feeling I would be up for a while with him next to me. “Because I can’t see without them.”
He gasped, sitting up. “You can’t see?!”
I chuckled. “I didn’t say it right. I can see, but things are blurry without my glasses. You just look like a Luke blob.”
“I’m a bwob!” he giggled. God, he was adorable. After everything he’d gone through, he still had that childlike innocence. It was a miracle I was thankful for every single day.
I shushed him between laughs. “Don’t wake up Mommy. Lay back down.”
He listened, snuggling up next to me, and I was finally starting to doze when I heard. “Wevi?”
I sighed. “Yes, Luke?” I was never going back to sleep at this rate.
He reached for my fingers and started to play with them. “Are you my daddy now?”
My breath caught in the back of my throat, not expecting a gut punch like that while I was half asleep at nearly three in the morning. How could I explain something like this to a four-year-old? “No. I’m like…a bonus dad. You still have the dad you grew up with, but now you have me, too.”
He was quiet for a moment, processing. “So I have two daddies?”
I swallowed roughly, the question hitting harder than I expected. “Yes.”
“But you married Mommy. Daddy didn’t.” He found my wedding band and started twisting it. He knew that’s what therings meant after Brittany and Colt’s wedding, and had been fascinated with mine and Tess’s since our wedding.
“That’s why I’m your second dad. I didn’t make you with Mommy, I married her, so now we’re family.” And it truly felt like it after living together this past week.
“Make me?” Nope. I was not touching that conversation with a ten-foot pole.
“Ask your mom about that when you wake up,” I said, hoping he’d let it go.
“Okay.” I let out a breath of relief, and he nuzzled into my chest. “I wove you, Wevi,” he whispered, and my heart crumbled into bits.
My eyes burned when I buried my face in his hair, kissing the top of his head. “I love you, too, buddy.”
The weight of my responsibility for him settled heavily on my shoulders. I didn’t know what Tess and I were after what happened this afternoon. I was taking my cues from her. But if it went in the direction I wanted and hoped it would, I’d really be his stepfather. I’d have a hand in raising him, in shaping him into a good man.
And that realization kept me up until the sun rose.
There was sniffling,faint and far away. And I was almost back to sleep when I heard it again. I turned, squinting at the bright light. Tess was standing over me, her eyes glassy and her nose red.
I was instantly wide awake. “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”
“He’s sleeping with you,” she whispered, her chin quivering. I couldn’t tell if she was upset or excited. Either way, I hated to see her cry.
I took her hand, squeezing it gently. “It’s a good thing, right?”
She nodded, her face crumbling. “He doesn’t need me anymore.”
