CH 22 - #protector
#protector
Madison
Luke: How is Bella?
Me: Sound asleep beside me in bed. Thank you for what you did for her earlier.
Luke: I figured Casper would stop her from crying.
Me: It’s a combination of him AND you.
Luke: I can’t get over her asking me to be her daddy.
Me: I wasn’t surprised by her doing that. You’re so wonderful with her. Kids know when someone really cares for them.
Luke: Ty is missing a hell of a lot by not engaging with Bella.
Me: It just isn’t in him to do it. What he pulled with her this weekend is the icing on the cake.
Luke: Will you let him take her off somewhere again?
Me: Not if I can help it. I’m going to contact my attorney on Monday to see about getting Ty’s visitation with Bella modified or restricted.
Luke: Good idea.
Me: What a day.
Luke: Are you exhausted?
Me: Mentally. Physically, I could use a big dose of you.
Luke: Like I could you.
Me: I must say that when you came up to Ty and pushed him away from me, your protectiveness ran all over me. It was a huge turn-on.
Luke: I’ll always do everything I can to protect you and Bella.
Me: I wish I could spend the night with you. I need to be close to you.
Luke: I wish you were here in my arms right now.
Me: I need to stay at the ranch house and give Bella all the time I can for a couple of days straight, settle her back in.
Luke: I understand. I’ll take her riding on Casper tomorrow if you’d like.
Me: I would love for you to. Watching you with her warms my heart so much. Hang on, she’s moving around.
Luke: Alright.
I started stroking Bella’s hair, which made her relax and fall back asleep.
Me: She’s out again.
Luke: Good. Would you take a selfie of you beside her and text it to me?
Me: Of course.
I sent the photo.
Luke: My beautiful redheaded girls.
Reading his words, seeing his claim of Bella and me, shot straight to my heart.
Me: We’re definitely yours.
Luke and I said goodnight a few minutes later. I set my cellphone on my nightstand and looked at Bella sleeping beside me. She was so intelligent. She had an old soul, too, which made her insightful about situations and people—Luke and Ty in particular.
I was hoping and praying that my attorney would be able to do something about Ty’s visitation. His lack of fatherly interest in Bella wasn’t fair to her, nor was subjecting her to another weekend with Ty, as she’d just had.
Thinking about how Luke handled Ty earlier, I swooned all over again. Luke was fierce, with no hesitation in jumping to my defense. I would’ve continued standing nose-to-nose and toe-to-toe with Ty, but I was glad I didn’t have to. He finally got checked up by a real man who put him in his place.