Chapter Sixteen #2
I press a hand to my chest as my heart breaks for this man.
“This room belonged to one of my nieces,” he continues. “She stayed with me for a year before moving back home to Italy with her father. She decorated it herself. Very pink. Very dramatic.”
Livy glances around. “I like her style.”
Maverick smiles.
“She would like knowing that.”
Livy looks back at him, solemn now. “Can I still use it?”
His expression softens.
“Yes, piccola.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
She studies him for a moment. “Will it hurt your feelings if I make it mine?”
His eyes flick toward me.
Then back to Livy.
“No,” he says quietly. “It would make me very happy if you decide to keep it as yours.”
Livy’s face crumples.
Then she throws her arms around his neck.
“I can do that,” she whispers. “I’m good at making people happy.”
Maverick closes his eyes and holds her.
“Yes,” he says, voice barely there. “I know you are.”
Livy steps back and looks up at him.
“Since you and Mama are dating, that means you’ll be my daddy when you get married,” she says. “Would that make you sad? Would calling me daughter always remind your heart of the sadness of losing your first daughter?”
I really need to stop this conversation.
My mouth opens.
“Oh, my sweet girl,” Maverick says first.
He lifts her into his arms and walks to my side.
“I’m so sorry. She’s asking too much,” I whisper, laying a hand on Livy’s back.
“No,” Maverick says quietly. “She’s asking what her heart needs to know.”
Livy tucks her face against his shoulder. “I don’t wanna replace her.”
Maverick’s eyes close.
For one second, pain cuts across his face so sharply I almost reach for him.
Then he opens his eyes again.
“You could never replace Elena,” he says gently. “No one could.”
Livy nods against him.
“But love is not a chair at a small table, piccola. You don’t have to wait for someone to get up before there’s room for you.”
My throat tightens.
Maverick looks down at her.
“Elena will always be my daughter. Always. Nothing changes that. Not time. Not grief. Not loving someone else.”
Livy’s fingers curl into his shirt.
“But if I am ever blessed enough to be your father too,” he says, his voice roughening, “that will not make me sad.”
Her head lifts.
“It won’t?”
“No.” He brushes her hair back from her face. “It will make me grateful.”
Tears fill my eyes.
Maverick swallows hard.
“My heart is sad because I lost Elena and her mom. But loving you and your mama would not make that sadness bigger.” He glances at me, then back at Livy. “It would give my heart another reason to beat.”
Livy’s lower lip trembles. “Really?”
“Really.”
“And you wouldn’t be mad if I called you Daddy one day?”
I can barely breathe.
Maverick’s eyes shine.
“No, piccola,” he whispers. “I wouldn’t be mad.”
“What about your first wife and daughter?” Livy asks. “Would they be mad at me and Mama if we both became yours?”
My heart twists.
“Livy,” I whisper, tears flowing down my face. “Honey, you have to stop.”
But Maverick shakes his head gently.
“It’s all right, bella.”
He shifts Livy higher in his arms and looks into her eyes.
“No,” he says softly. “They would not be mad.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Adriana loved me,” he says, voice rough but steady. “She would not want me to spend the rest of my life alone.”
Livy listens with the kind of seriousness only children can give.
“And Elena?” she asks.
Pain flickers across his face.
“Elena had the sweetest heart,” he says. “She would have loved you.”
“She would?”
“Yes.” His mouth trembles at the corner. “She would have followed you everywhere, asked too many questions, and probably helped you boss my guards around.”
Livy’s eyes widen. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Would she have liked animals?”
“She loved animals.”
Livy looks stricken. “Oh. Then she would have loved the sanctuary.”
Maverick closes his eyes for one second.
When he opens them, they’re wet.
“Yes, piccola. She would have loved it very much.”
Livy presses her little hand against his cheek.
“Then I can love animals for both of us. I won’t ever let her or her mama be forgotten.”
Maverick breaks at the promise.
Because that’s exactly what that was. A promise. One my daughter will keep until her dying breath. The world will never forget about Maverick’s first family.
“I think she would like that,” he whispers.
Livy nods, satisfied by the answer.
Then she looks toward me.
“And your wife wouldn’t be mad at Mama?”
Maverick’s eyes find mine.
“No,” he says. “Adriana would have seen your mother’s heart. She would have understood why I couldn’t stay away.”
My breath leaves me.
“And if she were here,” he adds softly, “she would tell me I was very lucky.”
Livy thinks that over.
Then she nods. “Good. Because Mama is a lot of work, but she’s worth it.”
A broken laugh slips out of me.
Maverick kisses Livy’s forehead.
“Yes,” he says, looking at me. “She is.”
“Come on, little Don,” Stefano calls from somewhere behind me. “Let’s go see who all is coming with us to the Shadows’ compound today.”
“Thank you for sharing them with us,” Livy says.
Then she wiggles out of Maverick’s arms and runs to Stefano.
A second later, her laughter trails down the hall.
Then it’s just the two of us.
Maverick cups my face and wipes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs.
“So sweet,” he says, smiling sadly.
“I’m sorry about your family, Maverick,” I whisper.
Fresh tears fall.
Every time he wipes them away, more take their place.
A quiet laugh leaves him.
Not amused.
Tender.
A little broken.
He leans in and kisses the tears from my cheeks.
One side.
Then the other.