Chapter Fifteen #3
“Dynamite color for your eyes,” she said. “Don’t forget your gloves.”
“See, teamwork. You’re taking care of me as well.” He kissed her.
“Maybe we’ll both get the hang of this.”
“With you, I feel like anything can happen. Anything is possible. Now let’s go slay whatever this friendly or not so friendly competition is and survive.”
*
Telford had been dreading this event Cash had invited …
no, insisted on them both attending. He didn’t know what to expect, and while the idea of a competition stirred his blood, knowing he was competing—being compared to family—heightened the stakes.
He wasn’t a cowboy. That chance had been stolen.
But holding Ayana’s hand and following her long strides forward, he pushed aside the worry.
Her excitement was tangible. He loved that she was game, but it was a bit lowering that he wanted to …
it sounded so juvenile, but he wanted to impress her with his strength, fitness, strategy.
To be a better man who could socialize and not hover on the sidelines.
There were no sidelines today. The Telfords milled around.
The adults were all here. Witt, the surgeon, and his wife, Miranda.
Patriarch Taryn and matriarch Sarah. Boone and Piper.
Rohan and Lane. He blinked. Cash had been conferring with several men Telford didn’t recognize, but when he turned around, Telford stared, confused.
He heard Ayana catch her breath, and she squeezed his fingers. Cash had a baby strapped to his chest.
“It can’t get too bloody if you brought a baby.” Telford struggled to put together the right words. “Is that …” Did have a niece?
“Our sister, Bronte.”
Sister.
Telford felt too choked up to say anything. His body felt like one of the tree trunks that surrounded them. A sister. A sibling. The test results no longer mattered. He belonged. She was part of him. Of them.
“She’s beautiful, Cash. Look, T, her eyes are a match for yours and Cash’s. Look at those lashes. I pity the boys in a couple of decades.” Ayana leaned into him, her attention on the infant. “Ignore those irky boys, girl.” She reached out toward the baby. “May I?”
“Sure. She’s your sister-in-law and soon will be your niece.”
Telford understood the terms, but his brain couldn’t make sense of them. Ayana peeled off her glove and stroked the silky, wispy darkly reddish curls. “Wow,” she breathed, fingers trembling. “She’s … she’s … everything. Perfect.”
Ayana made all the fraught moments look so easy.
“She’s tiny.” Telford couldn’t help the super obvious statement. “Shouldn’t she be …” He broke off.
He knew nothing of babies. He had no claim on the infant, and yet a deep need rose up fast and hard.
“She’s an early riser,” Cash said. “Maddy and I are adopting her.” Cash’s voice hardened and it took Telford a moment to understand why.
Oh. Staking his claim.
Madelyn joined them. “Thanks for coming. Cash was hoping you would.”
“He didn’t really ask,” Telford said.
“No.” Madelyn laughed and stroked her hand down his back. “He’s in the right profession bulling his way through life.”
“Ha. Ha.” He laughed and kissed his fiancée. “Always got a sassy comment for her man.”
His smile was full of warmth as he looked at her, sharing the moment, and Telford knew he wanted that—rather desperately—with Ayana.
“I brought Bronte because I wanted you to meet her.” Cash’s attention swung back to him.
“I held back last night because I wasn’t sure of you.
She came into my life unexpectedly, and I’m determined to protect her, but …
” He paused and swallowed hard “You’re her brother.
I won’t keep her from you and Ayana, if you want her … us … in your lives.”
The moment felt so important. Sacred. Telford had no idea what to say. He had a brother. A sister. He’d never been part of a church, but looking at Cash and Bronte felt like a promise to God.
“You want hold her before the games begin?” Cash asked.
“I have no idea what to do,” Telford admitted.
“Neither did I a month ago. Bronte is what brought me and Maddy together and for that, she deserves a crown. Jump in, brother.”
“We don’t know … the DNA results haven’t come back yet,” he said, feeling a little unnerved by the unexpected hope that kept burbling up in his chest.
Hope had not been a big part of his life. Survival had. Proving himself had. Closing the next deal had been his life for the last ten plus years.
He’d been so alone for so long except for Cam. And now he had Ayana, but they were new, finding their way, and the stupid contract he wanted to rip up hung over them.
“We know,” Cash said.
He carefully unstrapped the baby and placed her in Telford’s ready, but awkward arms. Telford stared down into the blue eyes so like his.
The dark brows that made her face look like she had a question.
He had no words. For once, neither did Ayana.
Her breathing fractured, and she trembled beside him, but he didn’t trust himself enough to hold the baby with only one arm so that he could pull Ayana close like he wanted and she needed.
The moment felt weirdly emotional to him.
Ayana’s reaction was unexpected. Was she perhaps rethinking her decree of no kids?
I want this. All of it.
The words rose like a vow. He knew then he intended to keep Ayana. Build a relationship with Cash and Bronte. Madelyn and the Telfords. To protect them. To help build a future not only for himself, but for his family too—all of his family.