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“Could you what?”
“Talk to her,” Bella whispered. “Just talk. Not go live with her or anything. I mean, like, talk on the phone with her.”
His jaw tightened slightly. His shoulders got tense. She swore he got ready to spring up into action, gather Bella in his arms and run for a safe house.
“You could,” he said, his teeth clenched. “If that’s what you decide.”
Bella stared at the carpet again. “I’d want to ask her stuff. That’s it.”
“Like what?”
Her voice trembled. “Where she’s been and why she left. Why she didn’t want me.”
He closed his eyes for a brief second.
Marly could see how hard this was for him.
Every protective instinct in him probably wanted to shield Bella from that pain.
But he forced himself to nod.
“You have every right to ask those questions,” he said. “And to get those answers. Not sure if she’ll give them or if you can believe it.”
Bella looked up again. “You’d be there, right? If I wanted to do it?”
“Of course.”
“And Marly?” Bella glanced toward her.
She kept her voice soft, but just as fierce as Colson’s. “If you want me there,” she said.
Bella studied her for a moment.
“I think I would. With Colson.”
She nodded gently. “Then I’ll be there.”
Bella leaned back in the chair, like she was absorbing everything, a tear falling, her hand running under her nose to catch anything else. “This is weird. Not in a good way either. I always wondered if I’d see her again, but part of me never thought I would.”
“You still have time to decide. Nothing you say tonight is final. There is a lot more we have to find out,” he said.
Bella looked at him again. “You’re not getting rid of me though, right? You’re being honest I don’t have to go with her.”
“Never,” he said firmly. “You’re stuck with me. I’ll fight anything and everything to make sure it stays that way.”
Bella nodded, got up and got a tissue, blew her nose in the kitchen.
“That went better than it could have,” Marly whispered.
“That was hard,” he said. “But I know it’s only going to get harder.”
“And you know what? She can handle it because she has you.”
He reached for her hand, held it in his, and gave it a squeeze. “And seems she wants you just as much.”
“Just like her older brother.”
“Yeah, just like him.”
