I catch her and spin her around. “You can sleep easy tonight,” I promise her.
The way she dances away should be studied, it’s so light and happy.
That night, I finish the dishes while Hope gets Bellamy through her bath routine. I can hear them faintly from upstairs, Hope’s voice low and singsong, Bellamy’s answering giggles, the splash of water. Sounds I didn’t know were missing from this house until right now.
Ridge drifts through to grab some leftovers.
He paces a bit as I put the last few dishes away. “What?”
I don’t know why I ask. I know what his concern is, and he’s not going to verbalize it anyway.
As expected, he just shrugs. “Nothing.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
That goads him a bit. His jaw flexes. “This sure has escalated quickly.”
“Life comes at you fast sometimes.”
“She’s younger than you.”
“I know. Just like Mom was. But I’m not him. You aren’t either, by the way.”
He grunts.
One day, I’ll tell him about Hope’s fear that Imight not want another man’s baby, a violent man’s baby.
I can’t share that yet. It’s not my secret to tell.
But one day, I’ll tell my older brother that he’s just as good, deep inside, as that innocent baby is. That because I love him, I know I’ll love that baby, too.
Tonight is not that day, though.
“Night, Ridge.”Get out, buddy. I have a woman to tuck in.
“Yeah.” He puffs out his cheeks. “Lock up tight.”
I follow him to the door, and do exactly that. I triple check every door and window. Downstairs, I grab my pillow and a blanket. And then I slowly climb the stairs. Following Hope up to the second floor is its own kind of heady joy. It feels like a promise of things to come, later.
Luna’s been in her studio since dinner, and her door is closed, a sure sign she’s deep into something and won’t surface until morning.
Hope waves to me from the doorway of the bathroom, her hair damp from her own shower, and the sight of her steals the breath right out of my lungs. Her feet are bare, and she’s in new hand-me-downs tonight. My old basketball shorts, and a t-shirt that I think Dax rejected for being too small for him. It hangs off her shoulders and disguises her body.
“Hi,” she whispers.
“Hi yourself.”
She glances at the blanket in my hand. “Can we—is there somewhere we can…” Her cheeks go pink. “I don’t know what I’m asking.”
But I do.
I wish I could just take her to my bed. Not forany of the long list of things I’d like to do together later, just to sleep tonight, and hold her close.
But she won’t sleep away from Bellamy, and I wouldn’t ask her to.
I point to my brother’s unused room across the hall from hers. “Dax has a TV and a couch. It’s not as cozy as the den, but I think we can make it something special tonight.”
I’m already rearranging the rooms in the house. Dax can have the basement. We can have the second floor.
