Page 47 of My Cruel Billionaire

“Oh.”

The safety fence was largely opaque up until about five feet up. I picked him up and put him on my shoulders, legs dangling down either side of my neck.

“There you go, champ, is that better?”

“Yeah!” he said eagerly.

I wondered if this warm feeling that coursed through me was what fatherhood felt like. I mean really, really felt like.

If it was what fatherhood felt like, I decided that I liked it, a lot.

It was something I could get used to. Something I could get used to having every single day.

Chapter Sixteen

Jenna

I paced back and forth across my mother’s apartment, arms crossed over my chest. I kept stopping by the window and peering out to see if I could spot my mother.

“Mommy, why do you keep looking out the window?”

I turned to see Damon peering at me from behind a support pillar. Above him, the banner we had hung up wavered in the breeze kicked up by the ceiling fan.Welcome Home Grandma, it read.

“I’m just looking for Gramma, sweetie,” I said, murmuring from behind my hand. I was starting to get worried. “Oh, why didn’t she let me give her a ride home?”

I continued to pace while Damon looked at me with a quizzical expression.

“You shouldn't worry, Mom. Just relax, it’s all going to be all right. The doctors fixed Gramma up and that's why she’s coming home.”

I turned to him and pursed my lips, trying to figure out the best way to say what I had to say. I’d talked to Damon several times already about what to expect from Grandma now that she was coming back home from the hospital… and what not to expect from her as well.

“Damon, remember what we talked about. They had to put a big cut on Grandma and it’s going to take a long time to heal. She needs peace and quiet for her to recover, so things aren’t going to be quite the same anymore, okay?”

“Okay, Mom,” he said, all serious and somber again. I nodded in satisfaction, because that’s the expression Damon got when he finally understood something.

Of course, that didn’t stop him from squealing with delight when the front door did finally pop open. I cursed myself because I had stopped looking to talk to Damon and missed my mother coming in through the front doors of the building.

“Damon, no,” I called as he ran over to my mother to hug her legs.

“It's all right, dear.” My mother smiled ear to ear, and she looked, by all appearances, healthy as could be.

Of course, I knew better than that. She leaned some of her weight against the doorframe, and she was a little more out of breath than she used to be from having walked through the lobby and down the hallway.

“I don’t need peace and quiet,” Mom went on to say, doffing her coat and moving inside her apartment. “I mean, the hospital had plenty of peace and plenty of quiet.”

She winked at me.

“I couldn’t stand it! I missed the sounds of people living their lives. Children playing, the nasty old guy down the hall cursing out the building super, all of it. But most of all I missed you and Damon.”

“I’m glad you’re out of the hospital Mom,” I said. “Just make sure you don’t overdo it, all right? You’re not going to be Damon’s babysitter any longer. He’ll still come to visit but no more caregiving. For a while, it’s you who gets to be on the receiving end of care. Won’t that be a fun twist?”

My mom sighed and waved off my concerns.

“Oh, fiddlesticks. I’m right as rain. I’m better than I was before, because now I have cyborg technology inside of me.” She looked down at Damon and grinned. “Your Gramma is basically the Terminator now.”

Mom put on her sunglasses and leered at Damon.

“I’ll be back,” she said in a thick accent.

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