Chapter Fourteen
Unexpected Results
Zora
When the door clicks shut behind Maverick, the house feels heavier and lighter all at once.
I lean against the wood, my heart still hammering, and tears pressing hot at the back of my eyes.In the lounge, Ivy is curled on the couch with Bun-Bun, drifting toward dreams.The soft hush of her breathing carrying down the hall, steady and sure.
And all I can think is,they laughed together.
I’d braced myself for the worst.For Ivy to shy away, to hide behind me, to look at Maverick like he is a stranger who doesn’t belong.But instead, I’d watched her smile.I’d heard her giggle as he treated Bun-Bun with the same reverence she did, as if her little world was sacred.
Relief pours through me, so sharp it hurts.Because she wasn’t afraid.She liked him.But tangled with that relief comes sadness so deep it hollows me out.He’s missed everything.Her first steps across the worn floor of this house.Her first word, “star”, whispered against my ear in the middle of the night.The day she scraped her knee and demanded a bandage with unicorns on it.Every smile, every laugh, every heartbreakingly ordinary miracle.Maverick should have been there for all of it.And I stole that from him.
I press my hands to my face, sobbing quietly, the truth sinking its claws into me.I told myself for years that I made the right choice, that I kept her safe, kept us both safe.But tonight, as I watched Ivy lean against him, eyes bright with trust, I couldn’t escape the ache.Maybe I’ve been protecting her, but I’ve also been depriving her.Depriving them both.
I scoop her up and carry her upstairs, padding softly into her room, sinking onto the edge of her bed.She stirs but doesn’t wake, curls spread like a halo over her pillow.The teddy bear Maverick gave her sits at her side now, Bun-Bun tucked under her chin.Her small hand clutches both.Fresh tears blur my vision.
I brush a curl back from her forehead, whispering, “You’re everything good in me, baby.Everything.”
And then the words I don’t dare say out loud.And you’re his too.For the first time in six years, hope creeps into the cracks of my chest.Hope that maybe, just maybe, she can have both of us.That Maverick and I can find a way to build something for her, even if we have destroyed each other once before.
It won’t be easy.The past is still sharp in my mind, the pain still raw.But as I watch my daughter sleep, her tiny hand curled around both old love and new, I realize something.Maybe it is worth trying.
Because tonight has shown me what I’ve been too afraid to see.Ivy doesn’t need protecting from Maverick.She needs him.And maybe, so do I.
Chapter Fifteen
Becoming Who I Should Have Been
Maverick
I wake to silence.No ringing phone, no pounding hangover, no restless pacing.Just silence.For years, it would’ve unnerved me.But now, it steadies me.
I roll out of bed and go straight to the trash can in the kitchen.I pull the half-empty pack of cigarettes from my jacket pocket, turning it over in my hands.The craving hits sharp, instinctive, the need for smoke in my lungs, for something to burn when my insides are already on fire.
