That got a real laugh.Just a breathy one—but still, a laugh.
He kept going, afraid that if he stopped, the heaviness would return.
“Or that ugly yellow dress Mom sewed for one of your picture days?Remember?The one with the weird lace collar?”
Jemma groaned softly into his shoulder.“I looked like a baby canary with mange.”
“You cried because it itched so bad,” he said, grinning now.“But you wore it anyway.And Mom cried when you brought the school pictures home.She said she’d never seen you look more beautiful.”
Jemma pulled in a shaky breath, wiping her nose with the tissue.
“And that time you tried to fix my hair?”Jasper added, mischief in his tone.“You said I looked like a mushroom and then decided to ‘help.’You slicked my curls down with conditioner and used, like,twentyof those little rubber bands to make ponytails all over my head.”
“You looked ridiculous,” Jemma whispered with a snort.“Like a very confused sea urchin.”
“Yeah, well, I still went to school like that because you promised it was cool.”
She laughed again, but her body shuddered with the effort.The tears returned, quiet and slow, trickling down her cheeks as the laughter faded.
Jasper pulled her closer.“You’ve been everything to me, Jemma.Everything.You gave up so much to keep me safe.You protected me.You held this family together when it was just ashes.”
He turned, looking at her now, willing her to believe him.“You arenotgoing to lose your daughter.I don’t know how yet.I don’t have the plan.But I’ll figure it out.I’ll get another job.We’ll find a way.A lawyer.Something.”
Jemma blinked at him, her eyes swimming.
“Even if Saif has all the money in the world,” Jasper continued, “he doesn’t know her like you do.He didn’t sit up with her every night.He didn’t memorize the sound of her hiccups or count the little creases in her fingers.”
He looked at the bassinet, where Jayla still slept peacefully, and his jaw tightened.“The rich always win because they’ve got the firepower.The lawyers.The time.But I’ll be damned if we don’t at leasttry.”
Jemma leaned into him again, and he could feel her breath steadying.
“I’ve got you,” Jasper whispered fiercely.“Just like you always had me.”
And as the late afternoon sun dipped below the buildings and cast golden light through their thin curtains, Jasper swore silently to himself that he’d do whatever it took.Whatever itcost.He would not let this world steal one more thing from his sister.
Not again.
Chapter 22
Saif walked into his house, the front door closing behind him with a soft click that felt far too quiet for the storm churning in his chest.
His head was spinning.
He was a father.
That fact alone would have been enough to unmoor him.But the truth kept stacking on top of itself like bricks, each one heavier than the last.
Jemma hadn’t even tried to deny it—the tiny, perfect infant asleep in the bassinet was his daughter.His.
And that meant…
He was a father.
A real, flesh-and-blood, terrifyingly permanent kind of father.
He ran both hands through his hair, pacing toward the living room, his steps unsteady.
He had a daughter.A baby girl.Adorable.Sweet.Sleeping so peacefully it had made his chest ache to look at her.
