Page 98 of Stolen Fate

Jace

I was beginningto see more of the Elliot before Camila’s visit as more hours passed in the day. He was sporting a new haircut, and we were finally able to see his clear blue eyes again.

The short hair also made his chubby cheeks more prominent, and I couldn’t stop staring at him, couldn’t stop myself from touching him, even if I was doing something as simple as pulling his little body into mine in a gentle hug.

And after the day he had yesterday, I knew my boy reveled in affectionate contact from me. I also noticed I wasn’t the only one affected. Evelyn also couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off him, and she would often look at him with this small smile on her face that I knew she wasn’t even aware she was doing.

We were two parents in love with their child—only Evelyn didn’t know Elliot was hers.

My heart pinched at the thought, and I knew I had to come clean about what I knew, only I didn’t know how to tell her that the little boy she had missed for the past almost-six years was right here in front of her eyes, and I had known about it since the very first moment we met.

I had known about it when I took her back to the hotel with me and had known about it when I hired her to be Elliot’s nanny, though that hadn’t been my intention in the first place.

I wanted to see the kind of woman Evelyn was, and whether or not I should bring her into Elliot’s life. As selfish as it sounded, my one and only concern had been Elliot’s happiness.

I didn’t search for his mother because I felt bad for Evelyn; I didn’t even know about her for most of Elliot’s existence. And I had judged Evelyn before I met her, because no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t think of a reason anyone would ever be willing to give up their child the way she had, unless she was just another carbon copy of Camila—and I didn’t want to bring another Camila to Elliot’s life.

And no, this wasn’t to say I didn’t believe in surrogacy or adoption. I knew it was a common thing, and a part of me even admired those who were willing to do those things for another family.

But there was no doubt, something sketchy about the way Camila and Marie conducted the whole thing, and I didn’t understand how Evelyn couldn’t see through it, and yet still be willing to do it.

And I had sought her out, despite everything, because I didn’t plan on keeping Elliot’s conception a secret, not from him. I planned to tell him everything once he got older and could understand. And it was the thought that he would want to meet her, his real mother, and I couldn’t give him an answer, that got me spending thousands of dollars to hire my old PI to look for her.

We found her three months later.

And I discovered the reason she agreed to give Elliot up.

She had been blinded by her own desperation to save her family home.

And though I had hated her before, I didn’t after that. And I didn’t hate her when I decided to bring Elliot with me to Boston.

We pulled back into the house after stopping for a quick lunch and ice cream. Elliot was happy, his little legs moving back and forth every once in a while, kicking the back of my seat every so often. And Wilbert, Elliot’s favorite stuffed bear was seated in the seat next to him, with the seatbelt on, as opposed to being attached to Elliot’s side, which was the case before Evelyn was given the bear for safekeeping.

He was also smiling more. I knew he was way more resilient than I gave him credit for, but I couldn’t help but feel overprotective of him.

I let out a sigh and shut off the ignition, staring ahead. I could see Ms. Bennett’s car in the driveway, a reliable sedan that she had driven since the day I hired her to be my cook. It meant we would finally get a home-cooked meal for dinner.

A small blessing in a pile of drama and shit, I supposed.

“Are you okay?” Evelyn asked quietly.

I turned to face her and met those big expressive brown eyes of hers. In the sunlight, they almost looked golden. I moved my gaze over the delicate shape of her face, from her arched eyebrows to the unique curve of her small nose and her full, pillowy soft lips. Lips that I had kissed not so long ago. Lips that I wanted to kiss again.

Her breathing grew labored, and I knew she wasn’t unaffected by me.

“Jace,” she said softly, and I didn’t know what that tone in her voice meant, only that I didn’t want this moment to end.

But I couldn’t possibly explore whatever this was with her right now, not in my car, and especially not with Elliot in the backseat.

I moved my hand up and traced the outline of her lips with my finger. She closed her eyes and let out a stuttered breath before opening them and moving away from me.

We got out of the car in silence, and Elliot didn’t say much when I picked him and the teddy up in my arms.

Elliot was wild and fiercely independent. He didn’t like it much when I carried him unless we were playing airplane. But right now, he didn’t protest as I brought him up to the house. Instead, he moved closer to me, nuzzling his face into my chest.

I kissed his head, and looked up, catching Evelyn’s eyes on us. They were soft, and unreasonably, I didn’t want her to look away.

We walked side by side to the house, and as soon as we got in, I could smell the scent of what I guessed to be a pot roast cooking on the stove. Evelyn looked at me and smiled. She was probably getting just as tired of takeout as I was. I was half tempted to beg Ms. Bennett to never leave us again.

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