Page 81 of Marry Me, Maybe?
“Ivy,” he said.
The second scream hit, sharper this time, terrified and raw.
I felt it down to my bones. I’d never heard anything like it before.
Had someone gotten into the house? I took off toward the door, but still disoriented from sleep, I stumbled. Hudson caught my arm and righted me.
“It’s okay. She’s fine.”
Fine? Was he still asleep? There was nothing fine about those screams that had now quietened only marginally to sobs.
“What the hell, Hudson? She sounds like she’s in pain.”
“Just nightmares. She gets them sometimes.”
Thatwas a nightmare?
Sounded like her world was ending.
“I’ll go to her,” he said, voice softer now but still tight. “Not supposed to wake her up, but I’ll sit with her. I’m so sorry, Matt, that the noise woke you up.”
Before he could slip away, I caught him by the wrist and tugged him down for a quick kiss. His skin was warm. His hair a little mussed. His eyes still full of sleep and worry.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” I whispered against his lips. “Go to her.”
He nodded, giving me the smallest smile, and padded out of the room in sweat pants and bare feet, disappearing down the hall.
I sat there, chest still heaving, the scream echoing faintly in my ears. Jesus. My heart. I rubbed my chest and groaned. I’d thought I would have to fight off an intruder to protect them.
I dropped back against the bed, my eyes burning from a lack of sleep. We couldn’t have been asleep for long. After sex, we’d changed the sheets, showered together, then crashed into bed, tangled in each other, whispering about the past four years, trying to roll back the time and fill in the dots in each other’s lives.
Luckily, we’d dressed before bed, something we never had to do before. Hell, sometimes we hadn’t even showered. Just fucked and fell asleep, then woke up in the middle of the night to fuck some more. But we had Ivy now. We had to be more careful, more thoughtful, more respectful of the space where she was being raised.
I didn’t hate the new rules.
It would just take some getting used to this new rhythm, this softer version of us, where Hudson wasn’t all mine anymore.
He was hers too.
And maybe, if I let myself believe it… they werebothmine now.
I lay back against the pillows and listened to the distant sound of Hudson’s voice murmuring down the hall. Low. Gentle. Loving. I couldn’t stay in bed while he comforted Ivy. I felt useless.
I pushed off the mattress and walked out into the hallway, wearing Hudson’s clothes. Ivy’s door was ajar, a sliver of light from the nightlight glowing against the wood floor.
Hudson sat on the edge of her bed, his back curved protectively over her small frame. He wasn’t touching her, just sitting close, watching, waiting. She flailed her arms, tossed her head side to side. Sweat-darkened curls clung to her forehead.
“She’s okay,” he whispered without looking at me. “Just gotta let it pass and make sure she doesn’t hurt herself.”
I hovered in the doorway, afraid to breathe too loudly. I’d never seen anything like it. Ivy’s cries weren’t like the usual kid fussing or even bad dreams. They were guttural. Shattering. Like something deep in her soul was tearing loose.
“Is there anything I can do?”
He shook his head. “Keep the bed warm for me.”
“If you get tired and want me to take over, I’ll sit with her.”
“It usually doesn’t last more than fifteen minutes. I just hate seeing her like this.”
