Page 32 of Sins of Innocence

He inclines his head.

"Okay. I'll try too."

He flicks me a glance before his attention goes back to the road. "Try…" He pauses and when I don't answer, he adds, "To what?"

"To understand what you mean when you only give me a few words and I need paragraphs."

"My stepfather backhanded my mom when I talked too much."

Oh, my gosh. A vise of painful compassion squeezes my heart. "Your mom, not you?"

He shakes his head.

"Did he hit you?"

Kieran nods. "But it didn't make me obey."

"I'm sorry." Picturing him as a little boy living at the mercy of such a monster puts another Kieran sized hook in my heart.

"I won't do that," Kieran promises.

If I thought he would, I wouldn't have agreed to this marriage no matter what the mob threatened me with, but I appreciate him saying it.

"You're a protector, not an abuser," I say.

"I will always protect you and our girls."

Okay, we need to address that. "They're my daughters. Just because I'm marrying you doesn't make them yours."

"It does."

"No. I…you can't want to become an instant father." Can he?

"I promised," he says.

"To protect us." Not just me. Us. "But parenthood is about more than protection."

"I know."

How can he? "You don't have children already, do you?"

"No."

"You sound like you think you understand what being a dad means though." And he certainly didn't grow up with a good example of one.

"I spent a lot of time on the Fitzgerald family security detail the first two years I was in the mob. Mick and Kara are good parents."

It's hard to imagine the terrifying underboss capable of torturing and killing a man playing the role of dad. If I hadn't seen with my own eyes how the family interacted, I wouldn't be able to imagine it at all.

"Thank you," I say again.

Kieran nods in acknowledgment.

He is trying to communicate more fully and all at once I have the rock-solid desire to help him learn that his words are not just necessary, but they are welcome. "I hope I never meet your stepfather."

"You won't."

"Good." I'm not a violent person, but I would be sorely tempted to punch him in the mouth if I did.