Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Jaxon scooped the baby from her high chair, and she immediately grabbed at him, planting her cheesy sauce-covered fingers on his cheeks.
He clenched his eyes closed and grabbed a tiny hand to keep her fingers from getting too close to his eyes.
Her chubby hands felt so tiny, so fragile in his, and he kissed her fingers before shifting Jaclyn in his arms and following Adalyn upstairs.
Water was already filling the bottom of the tub, and Adalyn looked up with a grin as they entered the small room. He passed the baby to her and watched as she stripped Jaclyn’s tiny clothes off her body and deposited her into the tub.
After he’d cleaned his face, he ventured closer, all the while studying Jaclyn. “Is she safe in there?”
Adalyn tossed a smile his way. “Of course.”
Admittedly, he didn’t know much about kids, but she looked so little sitting in the big tub all by herself. “What if she slips?”
“We’re both right here. Nothing’s going to happen to her.”
He knelt beside her and leaned his elbows on the edge of the tub, watching as his girls splashed in the water, batting a yellow rubber duck back and forth. The baby could obviously sit up by herself. But he’d heard some crazy stories. “What if—?”
A soft hand landed on his forearm. “She’s fine, Jax. Don’t worry.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the woman kneeling beside him, her attention back on their daughter. “You’ve never called me that before.”
Her brows dipped together. “What?”
“You called me Jax.”
Her cheeks pinkened, and she diverted her focus back to Jaclyn. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”
He shifted, sliding into a sitting position and resting his back against the wall so he could examine her better. “I like it.”
She shot him a shy smile, then continued to rub soapy bubbles all over Jaclyn’s little body. “Can you get a towel, please?”
Adalyn rinsed the baby, then lifted her out into his waiting arms. He wrapped the fluffy towel around the baby, and a corner drooped over her face. He lifted it away. “Boo!”
The baby screamed delightedly, and he exchanged a grin with Adalyn. Dropping the towel back into place, he repeated the process several more times.
Much too soon, Adalyn’s voice intruded on their game. “All right, little lady. Time for bed.”
His gaze found Jaclyn’s, and he smiled conspiratorially. “Mommy’s a buzzkill.”
“Hey!” Adalyn gently backhanded his bicep, and he let out a laugh.
Jaclyn took a cue from them both and laughed, too, the childish peals making his heart swell.
God, this felt so good. Being there, doing this together.
His girls. He’d missed so much with them.
Anger threatened to surge again, but he pushed the useless emotion down.
Done was done. From now on, they were all in this together.
He passed Jaclyn to Adalyn and followed her to the bedroom at the end of the hall.
The calming smell of lavender mixed with baby powder enveloped him as he stepped inside.
Taking a seat in the rocking chair in the corner, he watched as Adalyn suited the baby up for bed.
She slid the diaper into place, then wrangled each of the baby’s unruly arms and legs into the one-piece pajamas.
All the while, Jaclyn babbled incoherently, pointing at the pictures hanging on the wall.
“She’s going to be a talker, huh?”
Adalyn smiled over at him as she scooped the baby off the changing table. “She’s trying. It’ll come sooner or later.”
He ran a hand over Jaclyn’s silky white-blonde hair. “She’s perfect.”
“She is.” Adalyn’s gaze met his, and she returned his smile with a soft one of her own. “Would you mind if we stole the chair for a bit so I can feed her?”
He noticed the sippy cup full of milk on the nightstand for the first time, and understanding dawned. “Sure.”
She settled in and cuddled the baby on her lap. After losing almost two whole years, first with the pregnancy, then Jaclyn’s birth, he didn’t want to miss another moment. “Would you mind if I stayed?”
“Do you want to feed her?” She studied him intently, a strange expression on her face. He felt for some reason like this was a kind of test.
“Absolutely.”
A brilliant smile curved Adalyn’s mouth, making her look a thousand times more beautiful, and his heart nearly melted. She stood and gestured with her head for him to sit, then passed Jaclyn to him. The baby peered up at him curiously, probably wondering why he was there. “What do I do?”
“Just hold her. She’ll hold the cup herself.” Adalyn handed the cup to Jaclyn, who snatched it up and began to greedily gulp down the contents. “Usually we read. She loves the pictures.”
He chuckled as he watched her. There was so much that went into caring for a baby.
How had Adalyn done it alone? On top of that, she was still running her own business.
He’d seen the dark circles under her eyes, the ones that told him she stayed up too late and woke much too early.
Adalyn was working herself to the bone, spending every spare moment sewing when she wasn’t with their daughter.
She was going to kill herself if she kept it up.
Jaclyn’s eyes began to droop, and Adalyn extracted the now-empty cup from the baby’s slack fingers. “Can you put her in bed?” she whispered.
He stood cautiously, trying not to wake the dozing baby, and gently placed her in her crib.
His breath caught as her eyelids fluttered open then closed again.
Her arms and legs twitched, her muscles relaxing into slumber.
He watched in fascination as her tiny mouth puckered, like she was dreaming of her late-night snack.
He automatically slipped a hand around Adalyn’s waist. She stilled for a moment before leaning into his embrace, then rested her head on his shoulder.
He shifted her closer to him and set his chin on the top of her head. Staring down at Jaclyn, he couldn’t believe that they’d made something so small, so perfect. “It still blows my mind sometimes.”
Though he kept his gaze fixed on Jaclyn, he could feel Adalyn tip her chin up to look at him. “Her?”
He nodded, his throat too clogged with emotion to speak. Reluctantly, he released Adalyn and bent over the high wall of the crib to place a gentle kiss on his daughter’s pudgy cheek. “Night, baby girl.”
Adalyn followed suit, then closed the door behind them. He caught her hand in his, drawing her near. “I’m really proud of you.”
Her eyebrows dipped. “For what?”
“This. All of it.” He gestured with his free hand. “Your business. This house. The way you are with Jaclyn—especially the way you are with her. You’re a great mom, Addy.”
She blushed. “It’s no big deal.”
He smiled down at her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t know how you managed.”
Her expression immediately sobered, the smile sliding from her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t begin to tell you—”
“Hey.” He hooked a finger beneath her chin and lifted her glassy gaze to his. “That’s all in the past. You’ve done an amazing job, but I’m here to help from now on. Will you let me do that?”
She nodded jerkily.
“Good.” He stroked a thumb over her cheek. “Come on.”
Tugging on her hand, he pulled her toward the stairs. Once in the kitchen, he swiped two bottles of beer from the carton he’d stashed in there earlier. He twisted off the tops and passed one to Adalyn, then nodded to the couch. “Let’s sit.”
She sank down next to him on the couch, her legs tucked beneath her as she half-faced him. “Thank you for this.”
“The drink?” He took a long swig of his and watched her do the same. “No problem. Thought you could use it to unwind a bit.”
“It’s been a while.” Adalyn’s tongue darted out, swiping up the tiny drop of liquid hovering on her bottom lip. “Actually, I think the last time I drank was with you.”
“You don’t go out much?” He couldn’t help the little flare of satisfaction when she shook her head. She’d said the dates she’d been on had all been orchestrated by her mother. Still, she needed some time to herself once in a while. “Why not?”
“Well…” She dropped her eyes and picked at the label before meeting his gaze again with a tiny shrug. “I didn’t really drink a whole lot to begin with, but I stopped as soon as I found out I was pregnant. Then I started nursing, so…”
His eyebrows drew together as she trailed off. “Nursing?”
“Breastfeeding,” she clarified, her cheeks turning pink.
His gaze automatically dropped to her chest, where her arms folded protectively around herself, obscuring his view.
Knowing she was uncomfortable but not sure why, he lifted his eyes to meet hers.
An unidentifiable emotion swirled in the stormy depths.
Each time he felt like they were taking a step forward, she pulled back.
Didn’t she feel the same connection between them? Why wouldn’t she open up to him?
Deciding not to push her any further for fear she might shut down completely, he changed the subject. “Can I ask you something?”
Her expression turned guarded. “Sure.”
“I got your emails.” It’d been bothering him for the past few days, but he hadn’t found a good time to bring it up. “Were they about…?”
She swallowed hard, her voice barely a whisper when she spoke.
“I couldn’t figure out how to tell you. When you didn’t email me back, I…
I tried to find you.” Her eyes stared imploringly into his, begging him to believe her.
“The address you gave me was listed under someone else, and I couldn’t find a good phone number, and... I didn’t know what to do.”
Her words hit him harder than he expected. “It’s my brother and his wife. I didn’t have a permanent residence, so I used their address.”
She nodded and bit her lip. “You’ll never know how sorry I am.”
He believed her; he should’ve known she needed something. “I’m sorry, too.”
Now that he understood her a little better, he knew what he had to do. He needed to prove to her that he wouldn’t leave her. He wanted to protect her, take care of her and show her it was okay to lean on him. He’d be there for Jaclyn—for Adalyn—any time she needed him.
“Why don’t you let me watch Jaclyn while you’re at work tomorrow?”
She bit her lip, a mixture of emotion he couldn’t read swirling in her pewter eyes. “Really?”
He nodded. “I thought maybe I could hang out here with her, since all of her stuff is here.”
He had no idea what babies needed, but from the look of things, it was a lot. Adalyn’s place was packed full of stuff. A crib and stroller, a variety of bottles and cups and plates, tons of toys. He had no idea what some things were for, but he’d figure it out.
Truth was, he wanted to be there, in Adalyn’s house.
It was more comfortable, felt more like home than his tiny apartment.
Plus—the best part—she and Jaclyn were there.
And the more time he spent there with them, the more he wanted to become a bigger part of their lives.
He knew Adalyn was still cautious, probably wondering what his intentions were.
Reaching out, he took her hand in his. “I told you I wanted to be involved, Adalyn. I meant that—I still mean it. I want to see our daughter every day.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her he wanted to see her every day, too, but he somehow managed to refrain. They’d flirted a bit over the past few days, but he had a feeling anything more serious would scare her away.
The attraction between them felt natural, as if they’d been together for years instead of just a few days.
There’d been times on tour when he’d wondered if his memory had been playing tricks on him, if he’d overthought their time together.
They’d made love several times that night, but he recalled every passion-soaked second of it.
Seeing her there, though, being able to touch her made him realize that, if anything, he’d downplayed his attraction to her. He wanted her more than ever.