“Her name.”
“Her name?”
“Yeah,” he whispers again, his fingers glued to my belly. “Like the circle of light on an angel. Or a fairy.”
A rush goes through my chest. A big huge rush of warmth.
Halo.
My baby girl.Ourbaby girl.
“It’s perfect,” I whisper back, my eyes stinging again but this time with happy tears.
“Halo Jackson.”
“Did you think of it just now?”
“No.” He shakes his head slowly. “I’ve always known.”
“You have?”
“Yeah.”
I’ve been proposing name after name that he kept rejecting. And we’ve had countless arguments about it. Well,Ihave argued. He’s simply looked at me with amused eyes and twitching lips.
And now I know why.
Because he always had a name.
He always knew she was Halo.
I frown. “Well, why didn’t you tell me then?”
“Because it was more fun to watch you get all excited about stupid names before I shot them down.”
And then I have to ask him again, “Why do you hide the things that might make someone like you?”
That might make me like you…
His eyes move back and forth between mine, his fingers on my belly flex and, swallowing, he rasps, “Because I don’t want to be liked.”
Not by you…
I hear his unspoken words, and the heart that was already twisting in my chest squeezes even more. So much so that I feel like all my vessels and chambers will burst and explode and he’ll kill me with everything that I feel for him.
Despite my better judgement. Despite history teaching me.
Despitehim.
“Listen, Fae, about earlier —”
I don’t let him talk though. I grab his wrist and take his hand off my belly. When I stand up, I take him with me and drag him to the bathroom. He goes without a word.
I guess he knows what I’m going to do.
He knows that I’m going to clean and bandage his cuts.
He hits the lights in the bathroom and I let go of his hand to get all the stuff together. When it’s all out on the counter, I grab his bleeding hand again.
