Page 5 of Tangled in His Embrace

“I didn’t think she would have been so affected by my absence, given how young she is. I mean she was a baby when I left. She didn’t even remember me when I came back,” Jax said.

His dad shrugged. “I’m not sure that matters. You were gone. In her eyes, you could just as easily not be there again.”

Jax shook his head. “I’m not sure I could do it again. It was hard enough the first time.”

“And yet you did it.”

“You know why I left.”

“I do.” Nate Brooks took a sip of his coffee. “Doesn’t mean I agreed with your decision. It’s like I told you last night. You’re an adult. You have to live with your decisions. .. and their consequences.”

Jax could still recall that fateful day when he’d gotten the call that had changed the course of his life. He’d gone back and forth over what to do before finally coming to a decision. Taylor was only two months old at the time. She and Gabby had been his life, his future, but in an instant, all of his hopes and dreams were being threatened. “I did what I thought was best.”

“For who? You?”

“For Gabby and Taylor,” Jax said.

His father lowered his mug and met Jax’s gaze. “And you don’t think Gabby should have had a say?”

“She would have tried to convince me to stay.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. But now you’ll never know, will you?”

Jax didn’t get a chance to respond. The sound of little feet told him they wouldn’t be alone for long, and this wasn’t the type of conversation they could have in front of a three-year-old. It did, however, give him a lot to think about. Had he made the wrong decision back then? Was he making the wrong decision now?

He didn’t know the answer to that. All he knew was at the time he’d done the only thing he felt he could, which was to leave. He hadn’t wanted to be a burden on Gabby. She had their daughter to take care of. She didn’t need to be worrying about him on top of it.

But where did that leave him?

He honestly didn’t know.

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