‘And she wanted a baby. Hell,Iwanted a baby.’ My voice breaks open. ‘Me. A dad. Can you imagine?’ I let out a bitter laugh.
‘Yes. I can. You’d make a brilliant dad. Ask Lottie. And if not through IVF, then adoption. You can’t just call it quits because you can’t have a baby the usual way.’
‘Easy for you to say,’ I snap. ‘Your swimmers ain’t fucked.’
‘You’re not listen?—’
‘No,you’renot listening.’ Heat flares in my chest. ‘I can’t give her the child she wants.Ourchild.’
Theo steps closer, voice dropping. ‘What does DNA matter?’
A beat.
Another.
He nods towards the only framed photo in the room: a Christmas gift from Lottie, perched on the old ship’s barrel by the door. Him, Sadie, Lottie, all grinning like idiots.
‘I’m as much Lottie’s dad as if she’d been born to me,’ he says quietly. ‘Or do you deny that?’
My fists clench, the truth hitting harder than any punch he could throw.
‘You love her, Ax. That much is obvious. But love isn’t about legging it at the first hurdle, or because you’ve convinced yourself you’re broken.’ He shakes his head slowly. ‘Newsflash, mate: we’re all broken. Love is the bloody glue.’
I stare at the floorboards. ‘I can’t give her what she wants.’
He lets out a sharp breath. ‘You’rewhat she wants.’
‘More than a child?’
‘I’d bet my entire fortune on it.’
I look up, tears stinging and blurring everything –fucking tears!
‘Oh, you absolute idiot,’ he mutters, grabbing my arms. ‘She. Loves.You.’
‘But I’ve ruined it.’ The car. My words. The way I left her.
‘And you can un-ruin it.’
‘How?’
‘You tell her the whole truth. All of it. But after the way you handled things? It’ll take more than words to prove you’re in this for good.’
I shake my head, stomach rolling, heart racing, blood pounding too loud to think.
‘You ran at the first sign of trouble, Ax. You think she didn’t feel that? You know better than most that Tay doesn’t trust easily. And once you break that trust…’
My stomach lurches. ‘Game over.’
‘Only if you let it be, buddy.’ He nudges my shoulder. ‘Get your act together, stop moping like a kicked puppy, and bloody well fight for her. And if you don’t want Sadie turning up here and kicking your arse, too, I’d hurry the hell up.’
I suck in a breath, my first full breath in what feels like hours. His advice on a loop in my head:
Tell her the truth.
Fight for her.
It’ll take more than words.
