Page 73 of Embracing the Change

Sully was going to drive her down to Phoenix to catch it before he got on his own.

She’d asked if she could sleep on Chloe and Judge’s couch so she could have more time with them and JT before she had to leave.

Judge wouldn’t hear of it, since the couch in the study was a pullout, so she was sleeping there.

But now, Jamie was standing at the back doors which were made of glass, and looking out at his daughter, who was sitting on a step on the flight that led down off the side of the deck to the open space shared by the complex.

He smelled her first, and felt her second, when Nora pressed against his arm.

Jamie wanted all the time he could get with Chloe, Judge and JT as well.

But he also really wanted to get home to see to some pressing business.

“You need to get out there,” she said quietly.

He turned his head and looked down at her. “Dru can be an alone-time person.”

“Dru, right now, needs her father to remind her, even though he’s not her biological father, he’s still her father, and even though she does not share blood with her big brother, he’s still her brother. Last, the pairing she wanted for her dad came about, but that does not now mean she’ll be cast out, emotionally or otherwise.”

It felt like his insides had frozen because he hadn’t thought of that.

“Jesus,” he whispered.

“There’s alone, darling,” she whispered back. “And feeling alone because you can get it in your head you don’t belong. So, my dearest, you need to assure her she does so that doesn’t take root.”

It was good she was so damned smart.

He bent his head to kiss her, she met him halfway, then she stepped away, and he moved out.

He sat down on the step beside his daughter and playfully bumped her with his shoulder.

He thought perhaps Nora was wrong when Dru did what she would always do. That being resting against his side and putting her head on his shoulder.

“You good?” he asked.

“That was scary,” she answered.

She meant the way JT had come into the world.

He reached out and took her hand, holding it tight and bringing it to his knee as he agreed, “Yes, it was.”

“But everything’s okay now, and I’m glad,” she went on.

“Yes, darlin’, everything is okay.”

She moved her hand from his hold, but only so she could play with his fingers.

Jamie felt that tighten his chest.

She did that as a little girl. She’d been fascinated by his hands when she was little. But she hadn’t done it in years.

He also knew why she’d been preoccupied with his hands.

Chet had used his in fists on Rosalind before she’d left him, and Dru had witnessed it. And even when Chet wasn’t doing that, he’d not been a man prone to acts of affection, physical or otherwise.

When Jamie had asked after Dru’s fascination, Lindy had told him her daughter hadn’t seen a man’s hands be gentle and used to communicate love.

After that, Jamie had loved and hated Dru’s captivation with his hands, so he was relieved when it faded away, at the same time he missed it.

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