Page 59 of Defending Casey

“But I have to ask, Case. With everything that my dad put you through. With all of the pain, the pointed fingers, the things people said about you behind your back-” He saw the flicker of an emotional shadow in her eyes. “What some likely said right to your face… Is there any thing I can do to make it all worth the trouble?”

* * *

She just looked at him,her eyes studying his. And when he looked like he might pull away she reached out and touched his face.

Casey explored the close-trimmed beard along his handsome jaw and saw the hope in his eyes.

Again, her fingers skimmed over his jaw, her heart skipping a beat when he turned his head ever so slightly and his hair tickled the sensitive skin on her palms.

“Hale, you used to tell me that I didn’t see my own worth. You said you wanted me to see myself through your eyes. Do you remember?”

His face. His beautiful face. She could see the way he was affected by her words almost as if they made a physical impression on him and he seemed lighter as if she’d started taking the weight off his shoulders.

“I need you to try and see what I’m feeling, Hale. Can you try?”

“Yeah,” he swallowed and let out a sigh. “For you, Case? I’d try anything to make you happy.”

She extended her arms and set them on his shoulders, drawing him closer until they were almost nose to nose.

“You want to know what you could do to make it up to me? You don’t have to do a thing, Hale.” She pressed her lips into a thin line, trying to hold back the tears and hiccupping sobs that she feared she was going to let loose. This wasn’t the time to ugly cry. Not when she needed him to understand.

“You gave me everything I needed years ago. Our baby. Our little girl.” She sucked in a breath. “I wasn’t sure what to expect back then. The nurse said the moment that I held our baby in my arms I’d forget the pain. That,” she informed him with a nod, “was a damn lie. But holding her made it worth the pain. When she opened up her eyes and looked up at me, the pain didn’t stop but it felt like I’d just crossed the finish line at a marathon. And when the nurse came in with the paperwork and a knowing look asking for the name of the father. I looked her right in the eyes and told her it was you.”

Casey moved her fingers along the hair at his temples and skimmed her palms against the back of his head, up to the crown, down to the nape of his neck.

“I didn’t have you beside me, Hale, but that didn’t mean I loved you any less. It didn’t mean I was alone. There were still people who were here for me. My father, Mister Sumner, their friends. I grew up. I became a mother, a good friend, a woman in my own right. So you don’t have to do a thing to make up for anything. I don’t want to let any of it go. Or put it away in the back of my head, because with all of the pain that I suffered, I had our daughter and she made it all worth it.”

The world around them went silent and then Casey swore she heard a song in the air.

She smiled and felt his hands settle on her hips.

“What’s got you smiling, Casey? Let me in.”

She swayed closer to him, her hands reaching back over his shoulders. She curled her fingers and raked her fingernails lightly over his muscles. “You know,” she pulled in a short breath as his hands turned, echoing her movements as Hale pressed his fingers into the flesh behind her hips, her lower back, “maybe I should rethink my answer.”

Her breaths shortened as he leaned closer and brushed his cheek against hers before he spoke, low, and in her ear. “What do you want, Casey?”

Her fingernails bit into his shirt and she tipped her head to the side as his lips brushed against her earlobe.

“Tell me.”

“Oh God…” She sagged against him as his teeth bit into her skin and then his tongue eased the sting. “That’s good.”

She swore she could feel him smiling as she dug her fingers into his back.

“Just good?”

She pulled back and looked at him. “Don’t tease, Hale. Not tonight.”

Maybe it was because of what she said.

Or maybe it was because he saw something in her expression.

But it didn’t really matter. What mattered was that Hale listened.

And that, she realized was something she needed. “Years ago,” she stood and using her hands, she sat him back in the chair and leaned forward against him, “I should have talked to you. Instead of letting all that fear set in, clawing at my heart, I should have told you what your father said to me. Told you what he wanted.”

His face was set, but his eyes told her how much her words meant to him. “He knew what buttons to push. And then when he realized things had gone too far, he was the one who wouldn’t bend. He didn’t care about you or me… or his grandchild. He was trying to keep me under his thumb.”

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