Page 113 of Worth the Fall
“I can’t stand how well you know me,” I ground out, but Clara smooshed my cheeks together with her hands, making my lips get all funny. “Or how understanding you are,” I tried to say, but it came out sounding more like,Rrrr hehr underrrstanding u ahhhhr.
“You love us, Mama. Just like we love you. Daddy said it was time to come get you.” She pressed a kiss on my cheek as she let my face go.
“He did, did he?” I asked the little girl who I loved like my own flesh and blood.
“Yep.”
“Time for you to move in with us,” Thomas announced like it was the most natural and expected thing in the world. Also as if I didn’t have a choice in the matter.
“What? I lose your daughter, and you ask me to move in with you?”
“You didn’t lose her, Brooklyn.She ran off,” he emphasized.
My mature, logical, sweet-hearted man.
“You actually trust me to keep her safe?” I whispered around Clara’s head, not wanting her to hear this part of the conversation, but knew that she most likely would anyway.
“It’s my job to keep the two of you safe,” he said, sounding deadly serious.
“Because I can’t be trusted.”
“No, baby. Because I can’t live without you.”
“Me neither,” Clara added with a smile after obviously hearing every word.
“Please put me out of my misery and say yes, Brooklyn,” Patrick piped up from the other side of Lana, Jasper sitting like a good boy at his side. “I can’t deal with my brother whining for the next six months,” he said, and I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not.
Thomas did not whine.
“Put us all out of our misery.” Mr. O’Grady suddenly appeared behind me, adding in his two cents as Matthew and Bella stared at each other, their eyes locked in a secret conversation only the two of them could hear. I wondered if anyone else even noticed. “You’re going to end up there eventually. Why wait? Every day is a gift, Brooklyn.”
Why wait indeed?
“Do you need help packing?” Matthew asked, as if sensing my immediate change of heart on the subject.
I glanced over at Bella, who was making herself busy behind the bar and no longer watching Matthew’s every move, and I realized that she was possibly in love with the guy.
A smart-ass response was on the tip of my tongue, but I’d only be saying it to be difficult, not because I truly meant it, so I swallowed it instead.
It shocked me how much I wanted to take this next step. How it felt like the exact right thing to do, even with all of my insecurities about what a good mom looked like or how fast my relationship with Thomas had progressed. None of it mattered. The only thing that did was that all three of us were together and happy.
Mr. O’Grady was right when he said that each day was a gift. Time wasn’t guaranteed. It felt almost disrespectful to act like it was. Especially when Thomas had been shown at such a young age that it wasn’t. The same way that his father had as well. They’d both suffered. How could I forget all they’d lost and act like Thomas wouldn’t want to hold on to our relationship with both hands like we were something precious and fragile?
“There isn’t really much to pack,” I finally admitted, unsure of which O’Grady to look at. “Most of my things are at the house already anyway.”
The condo I’d been renting came fully furnished, and the majority of my clothes already lived in a closet at Thomas’s house. I probably had a single suitcase’s worth of things to bring over, and that was about it.
“Well, my work here is done.” Lana clapped her hands together, sounding just like Matthew had that one time.
“Welcome to the family, Brooklyn. It’s about damn time.” Mr. O’Grady gave me a hug that included Clara since she was still sitting on my lap.
“Bad word, Pops! Let’s go home, Mama,” Clara said as she shoved herself off of me, and her little feet hit the floor.
“Ready to go, Little Runner?” Thomas whispered in my ear.
He claimed my mouth, and finally, I felt my body melting into his touch the way it always had before, and I knew I was going to be okay.
That the three of us were going to be okay.