Chapter 17 #3
When I don’t answer, she lifts her head, her brows drawing together. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” I drop into the chair beside her.
She sets her mug down. “I’ll get you a coffee.” Then her gaze snags on the album. “What’s that?”
I nudge the framed photo forward, Daniel and Hannah with baby Bella between them. “I went for a walk and ended up at my brother’s old house. It’s on the edge of my property.” My thumb rests on the edge of the frame.
I stare at their faces. “It’s strange how grief creeps up long after you think you’ve made your peace.
” My eyes stay on the photo. “That night, I’d just come off a match.
Daniel had asked me to swing by the second I got back.
I told him I’d come late, after I’d washed the game off.
I’d already met him before the game, so I didn’t think much of it.
” My throat tightens. “Whoever killed them was long gone by the time I got there.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Jessa says quietly.
“I know that.” I turn the frame a fraction on the table. “It doesn’t change what Bella lost. No father, no mother, and whatever I do, I’ll never be either one to her. I never once tried to make her call me Dad. She lets it slip sometimes anyway. Mostly it’s Uncle Marcus.”
Jessa settles her hand over mine on the table and squeezes. “You’re her uncle, sure. But you’re a father to her too.”
I lift my head.
“A father in every way that counts,” she says, holding my eyes. “The name doesn’t change that. She may call you Uncle Marcus, but her whole world still begins and ends with you.”
For half a breath, I let myself hope she’ll open her mouth and tell me Mia is mine. That I have a daughter. She doesn’t. The hope guts out, and I drop my gaze to the photo before she can read my face.
“Maybe. Daniel was a better man than me, though. He’d have raised her right, given her the care I don’t know how to give.
She needs a mother. I keep telling everyone I’m enough for her, and I’m starting to think that’s a lie.
I’ve seen how she is with you. She glues herself to your side and drinks in every word you say.
My uncle’s been at me for years to marry.
Some mornings I wonder if he’s right.” I set down the frame.
“Then I picture bringing a woman home who turns cold the second my back’s to her. I can’t do that to Bella.”
Jessa huffs a laugh. “And here you are, trying to pursue me anyway.”
“That’s different. You’re different.” I look at her. “You’d never do a thing to hurt that girl. You care about her, Jessa. It’s obvious.”
Jessa swallows and turns her face toward the dark window. “I got another email from the company,” she says, still not looking at me. “They want me to give them an answer in two days.”
My stomach drops. “Jessa, don’t.”
“We shouldn’t have done what we did last night.
” The words come fast now, tumbling out.
“It’s made everything complicated, and I can’t do this, Marcus.
There’s Mia to think about. I can’t—” Her hands twist around the mug.
“I’ve been thinking. Maybe I pull her out, give her a year off school, then start her somewhere fresh once things settle.
She isn’t safe here. I don’t care what you tell me, she isn’t safe in this town.
” She pushes up from the chair and puts a few steps between us.
My restraint finally breaks. “Where’s she going to be safer than with her own father?”
Jessa goes rigid.
She turns to face me by degrees, the color draining from of her face. “What did you just say?”
Rising from the chair, I keep my eyes on hers. “You really thought I didn’t know?”
Her chest rises and falls too fast. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t.” My voice comes out rough. “I have no memory of the night we spent together. If I had, I would have figured it out sooner. Either way, I know she’s mine.
I’d sooner cut off my own hand than hurt her or let harm near her.
That’s why I moved the two of you into this house.
I did it to keep you both where I can guard you. ”
“You knew,” she breathes. It isn’t a question anymore. “How long?”
“I’d suspected it for a while.” Staying where I am, I give her room to breathe. “The night she was poisoned, I knew for sure.”
Her knees buckle. I catch her by both arms before she can drop, holding her steady on her feet, and she doesn’t fight the grip.
“Are you threatening to take her from me?” Her voice shakes, but she glares at me through the fear. “Because I’ll never let you. I’ll fight you for her with everything I have, every court, every dollar, every last breath in my body. She’s mine.”
It cuts me that she’s this afraid of me. I hold her gaze and don’t look away. “You think I’d tear Mia out of her mother’s arms? After everything I’ve seen of you? Is that truly the man you take me for?”
Jessa’s eyes fill to the brim and refuse to spill. “I don’t know what to think of you, not anymore.” Her voice shakes. “All I know is I wish I’d never set foot in this town.”
My heart breaks at those words.