Page 74 of Easy On Me

And the three of us sat in that silence I needed, joined by our love for him.

Long after we’d finished our tea, Jase came in with his daddy and granddaddy, his shirt soaked with sweat, his face flushed with exertion. My gaze flew to his – he still looked tired, a little shattered, but the awful blankness was gone. My throat tightened with gratitude. My instincts – that he needed them, maybe even more than he needed me – had been right.

“We’re going to get out of here and let you rest.” His daddy wrapped him in a hug, pounding his back with an easy hand. Jase folded his arms about his daddy’s waist and held on.

Mrs. Hatcher opened her mouth, maybe to protest, but her husband stilled her with a little shake of his head, gaze firm and gentle on her face.

“He’ll call us if he needs us.”

After a round of farewell hugs, we stood alone in the den, facing one another. Although he seemed calmer, not as panic-stricken, his face was haggard, skin stretched taut across his cheekbones, intense weariness making his blue eyes dull.

Shoulders slumped, he dragged a hand over his hair. “I need to clean up.”

I nodded, aching for that air of defeat clinging to him.

He disappeared down the hall, and I watched him go, everything I’d ever wanted without really knowing it. With everything he did, he tried to give me the easy life I’d said I wanted. He was mine.

My one, and I didn’t care how hard it was, as long as he was okay and I had him.

And now . . . now I worried about more than him. What about that baby? Because this?

This was not something a normal, okay person did.

I knew myself. If someone had ever said I’d choose to raise another woman’s baby, especially Elizabeth Hall’s baby, I’d have laughed. But that might be Jase’s child, too. Plus I knew what it was like to live an unstable life with an unstable mother.

And I didn’t want Jase pulled in multiple directions trying to stabilize his child’s life while trying to make things easy for me, too.

I would step into the mess with him and we’d make life easier for one another. With that in mind, I followed him down the hall.

His boots sat next to the dresser, and the sound of the shower drifted through the open bathroom door.

I stopped at the threshold. “Jase?”

“Yeah.” His voice was rough, choked, and fury burned through me all over again,

Damn her.

“Can I come in with you?”

A pause hovered, stretching between us, and my stomach clenched. How much damage had she done? Would he shut me out now?

“Yeah.”

Eyes closed in relief, I stripped off and gripped the curtain end furthest from the faucet, pulling it aside to stop in.

He stood under the spray, head pressed to the tile. A heavy breath shook his body.

I stepped forward, resting a gentle hand between his shoulders. His body relaxed, and he blew out a long breath before he straightened, spinning to throw his arms around me and crush me against his chest

I folded into him, hanging on.

“I’m glad you’re here.” He tightened his embrace, whisper muffled against my hair.

Stroking his nape, I buried my face in his shoulder. “I’ll always be here.”

And I would.

Chapter Twenty-Four