She regarded me warily. “Are you calmer now?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”
Kerry crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not the one you need to apologize to,” she pointed out.
“I know,” I admitted.
“Good,” she commented. “Now, go take care of your mate. She needs you more than you realize.”
I didn’t get a chance to reply because she disappeared back into her room and I heard the low murmur of Finn’s voice. I walked into the room on silent feet, stopping beside the bed to stare down at Ava’s sleeping form.
“She passed out in my arms, Ewan,” Marcus stated.
Another shaft of regret pierced my chest. “I should have been here,” I muttered.
He put a hand on my shoulder. “Just be sure you’re here next time.”
I heard him leave the room, shutting the door behind him. I sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to touch Ava’s cheek. She sighed in her sleep and settled deeper into the mattress.
It rolled over me then, the enormity of what had happened today. All that I had lost and all that I had gained. My anger might have been justified, but Ava was a blessing that far outweighed vengeance.
She was everything.
I moved around the bed and lay down behind her, curving my body around hers protectively. She felt small and soft in my arms, and completely mine.
I couldn’t sleep as I held her. There were too many thoughts, too many memories to sift through. But as long as she was there, that was all that mattered.
