Page 111 of Surrender

His eyes slip shut.

His shoulders relax from his ears, hand resting flat on her back, and the corners of his lips tip.

* * *

Two hours later, after Jude dragged Jack into a hug that had the women sniffling, and after Corjan took his turn getting the fear off his chest of how he felt watching Jack full-on sprint toward a car engulfed in flames, a car he knew without a doubt that Jack would have thrown himself into if necessary to save my kids, we head back home.

My body sags with exhaustion, yet I find the strength to carry Lucy inside the quiet house with Jack on my heels. Cooper greets us at the door, his posture stiff as he sniffs Lucy’s shin. A throaty whine breaks the quiet, and Jack orders him to his bed.

“I know I need to clean them up and get them out of the smoky clothes, but it breaks my heart to wake them.”

Jack settles his palm low on my back and guides me to the couch.

“We can wait a while longer.”

I sit in the corner, and he settles at my side with Bennett curled up on his chest. I brush some of Lucy’s smoky hair off her face.

Jack fixes his eyes on the empty, dark fireplace. “I thought you were pregnant.”

“Why would you think that?”

“The day of my family’s Christmas party at The Rocks, I found a positive pregnancy test on the bathroom counter shortly after you were in there.” He shakes his head. “I found out not long after it wasn’t yours.”

“I saw it too. I thought it was kind of funny,” I admit softly.

“It’s Bree’s.” He runs his fingertips over Bennett’s fuzzy hair.

I swallow my surprise. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Before I found out it wasn’t your test, I spent some time contemplating what that might mean for me if you were. It was the first time I even let myself consider what being a dad might be like. It used to be a hard no in my mind. But then I saw that test and thought about you, and I want a life with you, Whitney.” He licks his lips. “I want a life with all three of you. And after today, I realized I’m already there with Lucy and Bennett. Loving them is easy. If anything had happened to these kids…” He closes his eyes. “I would have given up my life for them.”

“I don’t want to think about that.” I say quietly.

“The point is that I love them and I love you. Easy as breathing. The three of you are all I need, but I wouldn’t be opposed to more.”

“I wish you looked at yourself and could see what I see,” I reply softly, tears pricking my eyes.

He opens them. “And what’s that?”

“A good man.”

He grunts.

I lean heavily into him and rest my head against his shoulder. “It’s a good thing I don’t plan on going anywhere. I’ll have plenty of time to work on that.”

“I’m just a man, Whitney.”

“You are by far the most selfless, incredible, caring man I’ve ever met in my life, Jack. And I’m not just saying that because you love my kids. If you asked any one of your family members, they’d tell you the same. And if this keeps going the way it’s been going, and by that, I mean perfect, then I’d be honored to carry your baby someday.”

Jack growls.

“Don’t talk like that when I have an infant sleeping on my chest.”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t do anything about it.”

I lick my lips. “And what is it you’d like to do about it?”

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