Page 76 of Protector

My hands moved up between us, as I animatedly described his children. “Well, it wasn’t just a phase. She is a full-blown comic book junkie, but only with Marvel. Otherwise, it’s no good. She helped start this comic book club that meets once a week at the library. From the sounds of it, all they do is argue, but every week, she’s ready to go back and do it again.”

He picked at the skin around his thumbnail. “When I came into the house a few nights ago, I saw the closed door and just immediately thought of it as bein’ a nursery, but they ain’t babies anymore. Don’t matter if I wipe out every rival club in the country, I can’t get that time back.”

I often found myself thinking something similar when it came to Kate and Dakota, especially after losing the baby. I wondered if they knew how much I loved them and how proud I was of the young women they were becoming. There were the nights I’d laid awake, worried that my grief had impacted my ability to be a good mother.

“Before, you said that you had walked away from the club. What were you going to do?”

He ran a hand roughly over his face. “Doesn’t really matter now, does it?”

I reached over and laced my fingers with his. “It does to me. You think I don’t imagine how different our lives could’ve been?”

“You do?”

“I do. Just last night I had a dream that we were on a beach together—”

“A beach?” His mouth turned up. “What kind of beach? Like a clothing-optional one?”

“Sorry to disappoint, but it was not a nudist beach. You were wearing black swim trunks and an unbuttoned shirt, and I was wearing a bikini under this see-through cover-up thing.”

“Did we seem happy?”

I thought back on it and smiled. “We did.”

His grip tightened around my hand. “Maybe I’ll take you to a beach someday, princess.”

“I’d like that.” I spun the ring on his left hand before pulling back in surprise. “You’re still wearing it.”

“Been on my finger since our wedding day. Noticed you were wearin’ yours too.”

My gaze dropped down to my hand. “I am. Hey, do you remember that day in the cemetery?”

He paused, considering my question. “Yeah. Greek mythology and, uh, the constellations, right?”

I nodded. “You asked me a question before leaving, and I said that maybe someday I’d tell you…”

The blood drained from his face, and he swallowed. “I asked you what Persephone wanted. More I think about it, the more I realize that she would’ve been better off had she never met him.”

It was easier for him to pretend we were talking about fictional gods and goddesses instead of ourselves.

“Would she though? Stuck tending a garden for the rest of her life? Doing everything her mother commanded?”

Jamie pulled his hand back and stared down at his empty plate. “Least then she would’ve been safe…”

I shrugged. “If anyone knew what it meant to eat those pomegranate seeds, it was Persephone. She knew, and yet, she did it anyway. Don’t you see that?”

His head cocked to the side. “What are you sayin’?”

“She could’ve stayed in the garden, safe from the world for the rest of her life; but she would’ve spent every second wondering what lay beyond.” I smiled up at him. “Hades never took Persephone, Jamie. She went willingly and chose to stay in his world.”

“You didn’t know what you were gettin’ into then…”

I held up my left hand. “I know now, and still, I chose to stay. The day I take it off is the day you’ll know I’ve given up on us.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “Then I’ll fight every day to ensure it stays on your hand.”

Chapter Fifteen

Grey: 2005

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