Page 27 of False Evidence

Her baby. Her everything. Safe in her arms.

For now.

It was thatfor nowuncertainty of what would happen to her that triggered the sob. Joy and pain all at once.

Strangely reminiscent of the two years when she and JT were back together—she had the man she loved—but his volatile emotions had kept her on edge, knowing it would never last. Even though she shared his bed, the meaningful part of their relationship was over.

But there was no end to the meaningful part of her relationship with Gemma. She would always be her mother, even if she was in prison.

Prison.

She could go to prison for a crime she didn’t commit.

Gemma woke.Of courseshe did. Her mother was sobbing loudly and squeezing her tight.

She didn’t cry, though, and Alexandra figured she’d known from her scent that she was in her mother’s arms before she even opened her eyes.

But she did push back against Alexandra’s tight grip. Tiny hands pressed to Alexandra’s chest and arms extended their full short length, she tilted her head up and said, “Mommy!”

Her chin quivered, and the anger she must have harbored at her mother’s disappearance rose to the surface. She smacked Alexandra’s collarbone, then grabbed her jaw with both hands. Her nails hadn’t been clipped in days, and the sharp little edges scraped Alexandra’s skin. “Mommygone.”

The outrage she managed to put in the second word made up for her limited vocabulary.

“I’m sorry, baby. So sorry. I didn’t know I’d be gone.”

Gemma’s precious face crumpled, and she burst into tears. Alexandra held her and cried with her, not trying to stop either of them from shedding the well-earned tears.

JT’s arms surrounded them both, and that just made her cry harder.

Who was this man who’d taken care of her child, protecting her when it could put him in legal trouble?

Every minute they spent together added to his risk. JT had political aspirations that had been destroyed once already. Helping her could crush his renewed hopes, if he had them.

The thought brought an end to her crying. She pulled back. “Gemma and I need to leave, or you’ll be arrested for harboring a fugitive.”

“I don’t give a fu—” He cleared his throat and continued in a softer tone. “Fig. You aren’t going anywhere without me. I have resources and can help you. You take Gemma and run, and you’re both in far more danger.”

Gemma’s tears subsided. True to her daughter’s cyclone nature, she wiggled from Alexandra’s arms and said, “Tee-Tee!”

Alexandra frowned. “Tee-Tee?”

JT tapped the switch on the end table light, and the room filled with a soft glow.

Gemma twisted so she was on her belly as she slid off the couch in new footy pajamas. She ran to the diaper bag. Alexandra hadn’t spotted it in the dark corner when she first entered the room.

Gemma grabbed her favorite tattered stuffed panda and a brand-new plush dinosaur. She ran across the room, waving the green plushy. “Tee-Tee.”

Alexandra looked to JT, raising a brow. “Tee-Tee? Because it’s a T-Rex?”

“I think? She calls me Tee, so she also might have named it after me.”

Her daughter had a name for JT. All at once, she was reminded of her private name for him.Jay.And only Jay called her Lex.

Her Jay.

But Gemma had Tee.

She might swoon.

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