Page 91 of Chasing Love: The Owens
He breaks the distance, and Leia trails beside him.
“Is she okay?” she asks.
“Just a tummy ache.”
“Oh.” Leia frowns.
“It’s time for us to go anyway. We need to make our way to the bus.” Bennett checks his watch.
He picks up Wren with ease, and she lays limply in his arms. He whispers something to her, and she winds her legs and arms around him like a little koala bear.
“This leaves you in charge of the map.” He hands it to me.
We all fall in line toward the front entrance, stopping at the gift shop for everyone to turn in their scavenger maps and get their prizes.
Bennett and I wait at the side, Wren still fast asleep in his arms.
“Thank you,” he says, voice low.
“It’s nothing. I feel bad for her.” I run my hand down her back, and he watches the movement, then inhales a deep breath.
“She has a habit of over-exhausting herself. We couldn’t be more opposite in that way. You’d think she was Emmett’s sometimes.”
I smile and look at Wren’s angelic face. Without her big blue eyes open, you see more Bennett than Kristie. “Maybe it’s that nature versus nurture thing. She gets it from being around Emmett, not from her genes. But regardless, she’s amazing, Bennett. You’ve done a great job with her.”
We hold each other’s gaze, and the world of the shrieking kids and squawking birds fades away.
He steps closer, just enough that his knee brushes mine. His voice dips. “You’re really good with her.”
I feel that old, familiar pull. Gravity, like no matter how many years have passed or how many lies have been told, is dragging us together.
“I could say the same about you,” I whisper.
His eyes drop to my mouth, and my breath catches.
Then he blinks, and his expression is neutral as he steps back.
He nods, and his gaze searches out Leia. She has a toy in her hand and is turning in another form, pointing at Wren. Wren didn’t care about the scavenger hunt earlier, and I thought she had lost her sheet in exhibit two.
“You’ve done a good job too. Watching her take in the world around her, the way she doesn’t rush to react and… she’s something… special.”
“I’m sorry.” I’m guessing the guilt of keeping her from him will never go away.
“I know.” Our eyes meet, and I remove my hand from circling Wren’s back. “I know you are, Delaney.”
He might know I’m sorry, but he’s not understanding or forgiving me. I can’t blame him though.
Leia walks over holding small plastic figurines in her palm. “A butterfly for me and a flamingo for Wren.”
“You got Wren one?” I ask. “She didn’t have a sheet, did she?”
“I did both of them. She said she didn’t care, but I knew she would have when everyone was getting their prizes.” She shrugs and sandwiches herself between Bennett and me. “Is she okay?”
“She just has a tummy ache. She’ll probably feel better when she wakes up.” Bennett’s hand falls down to touch Leia’s back, but he hesitates for a second before he rubs his hand there. “Let’s get to the bus.”
I hang back with the other kids, watching Bennett holding Wren in his arms and Leia’s hand in his, and the familiar anxiety of being abandoned resurfaces. They’re a family. Blood will bind all three of them. Will we share holidays where he’ll have both of them, and I’ll be by myself?
Nausea washes over me as I imagine the future he once saw with me in it might now only be as a coparent and nothing more.
