Page 42 of Call it Fate

“You’ve already helped so much. You don’t need to—”

His hand rested on my arm. “I’ll help,” he answered quietly.

I froze. He was so close I could smell his clean and outdoorsy scent mixed with something a bit spicy. It was the scent I’d fallen asleep to as I cuddled against him years ago. Even after all these years, it was familiar, comforting.

The moment was broken when he told Iain, “Come on, bud. When someone cooks for us, we help clean up.”

It sounded like such a fatherly thing to say. I paused for a minute. That was something I would need to get used to. Or would I? What involvement did Zach want? Sure, he appeared interested now. But everything was new and easy. What would happen when it got hard?

Between the three of us, dinner was cleaned up quickly. Iain asked if we could watch a movie. He curled up between Zach and me on the couch. Halfway through, the day’s adventures caught up with Iain, and he fell sound asleep.

“Guess playing outside wore him out, huh?”

“It was a big day.”

Zach’s face was uncertain. “Do you need to wake him up? I could carry him for you if you don’t want to.”

“He should brush his teeth, but I guess one missed night won’t hurt.”

Zach stood and carefully lifted Iain into his arms like he weighed nothing. It had been years since I’d been able to do that with any ease. He stood still, holding his son, staring at him with a look of incredulity on his face.

I had to blink several times to clear my eyes, but when I glanced again at Zach, I saw his eyes were also wet. I cleared my throat and crooked my finger for him to follow me. He gently deposited Iain on the bed and took his shoes off, then covered him with his blanket. Our son immediately rolled to his side, still sound asleep.

I pressed a kiss to the top of his head, then stood in the doorway as Zach paused at the side of his bed, doing nothing more than staring at him before he also bent and pressed a kiss to his head.

“Are you okay?” I asked quietly when we returned to the living room.

He turned his head to me, and I saw the wet trail on his cheeks. “He’s wonderful, Emalee. I can’t believe I’ve missed out on such an incredible son all this time.”

I didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry, Zach.”

“Shh. I know we have a lot of things to figure out, but one thing you need to do is stop apologizing. We can’t go back and change things, so let’s take one day at a time now, okay?”

He made it sound so simple, but then, maybe I was making it too hard. “Okay.”

Zach stood with his hands tucked into his pockets, staring at the pictures of Iain and the rest of my family. Usually, at this time, I showed him the door, but tonight, I hesitated.

He must have picked up on my change of behavior. “It’s funny, you know.”

“What is?”

“When I first arrived, I couldn’t wait to get out of here. Now, I don’t want to ever leave.” He turned to me with a lopsided grin. “The past few days have been the absolute best.”

“I’m glad you had fun. It’s not always like that, you know,” I teased. “Sometimes, he can be a little terror, especially on days he can’t go outside and run off some of his energy.”

His expression grew serious. “I want it all, Em. The hard times as well as the fun ones. Please don’t make me beg for them.”

“Zach, I wouldn’t do that.”

“We have to tell him. Soon. It’s going to be weird if I keep coming around when I’m not staying here.”

My body locked. It wasn’t like I wasn’t expecting him to say it, but I was just getting used to things the way they were, and now, he wanted to change them again. “I know we do, but I’m not sure how.”

“I find honesty really is the best policy. I think he can handle it, depending on how we handle it. If we’re calm, he’ll be. If we’re upset, he’ll sense that, too.”

“That makes sense.”

“As for honesty, there’s something else you should know.”

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