A traumatic experience could leave scars that my beautiful girl didn’t deserve. She wriggled more and cried out louder, the sound piercing my heart. Patience had helped me through my nightmares—something I didn’t think was possible. And then I remembered how she’d done it.
She’d been brilliant with her thinking, so I copied her and began to sing.
The words to “You Are The Reason” by Calum Scott poured out of me. Not only did it fit how I felt about her, but it had always been one of her favorite songs. I’d played thosewords in my head so many times when I was gone and when I returned.
Tears slipped down my cheeks as I sang about fixing what I’d broken, her being the reason my heart was still beating, and how she was also the reason I was still breathing. Emotions suddenly clogged my throat, the words broken as I cried.
Patience turned in my arms before I even realized she’d woken up, her soft brown eyes boring into mine. “I guess it works for both of us.” She touched my cheek. “Are you okay?”
Fuck me.
This beautiful soul was lying there, asking me if I was okay after everything she’d been through. How the hell did I deserve her? I think I’d asked myself that a million times over the years since meeting her, but now, after everything, I just couldn’t fathom my luck.
And it wasn’t only me. Patience had been worried about Griffin staying with Gramps since I took him there last minute and then him staying because of how late it was when she was released. She worried how Dusty felt going alone to the condo after she’d gone kung fu on the guy.
Her words, not mine, but both Dusty and I couldn’t help but laugh as she asked before we went our separate ways in the hall. Watching them embrace before saying goodnight—Patience clinging to her an extra-long time—was emotional even for me.
Shit, I had not answered her.
“Yeah,” I finally managed to get out. “You were upset in your sleep, and I wanted to help you like you had me.”
Her smile came slowly, like the early morning sunrise, brightening and warming me from the inside out. “I love your voice.”
She closed her eyes for a second, then her lashes fluttered open as a tear dripped from her bottom lid, trickling downher cheek and leaving a track down her smooth skin. Patience pinned her gaze on mine. Her hand left my face and slid down to my chest until her palm rested over my heart—just where mine had been on her moments before.
“And I love you.”
I sucked in a quick gulp of air as my heart pounded erratically. If I let myself care, say the words, and then lost her somehow—even if I had to let her go for her own good—I’d never recover. But not taking the leap wasn’t an option.
I’d fight anyone who dared take her from me—even if that person was myself.
Patience’s eyes dimmed, and I realized she was doubting how I felt. While I argued with myself internally, she thought I was rejecting her.
That wouldn’t do.
“It feels like I’ve loved you forever. Roo, you need to know I will never stop loving you until my last breath.”
Hope filled her eyes, and her lip trembled. “Y-You mean it?”
I placed my hand over hers against my chest. “I wouldn’t say something like that if I didn’t mean it.” Pulling her hand up to my lips, I kissed the inside of her wrist. “You will always be my best friend, but in my heart, you have forever been more too.”
Pressing her trembling lips together, she asked, “Why didn’t we ever say anything to each other? So much time has been wasted.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart.”
Her eyes explored mine—questioning. “Wrong how?”
Leaning over, I pressed a soft, quick kiss to her mouth. “Not a single second I’ve spent with you has ever been a waste of time. I’m crazy about you. I should have told you that.”
Her smile returned even as tears trickled down hercheeks. I hated to see her cry, but I was pretty sure those were happy tears, so I decided I could handle it. I tucked my arm around her and gently pulled her as close as possible before kissing the top of her head.
She let out a big sigh, her body relaxing against mine. “I told you that I was going to love you until you loved yourself and then me.”
I told her exactly what I thought that day when she said it. “Loving you was never the problem. As I just said, I’ve always loved you.”
Another sigh escaped her. “Then I guess we just have to work on the part where you love yourself.”
That one wasn’t so easy.
