Page 98 of Rebel Heart
He shook his head, disappointed and frustrated. “I’ll take care of that. This is for Rosie. Not me or you or Mom and Dad. My daughter deserves to have her family there, so I’ll make sure there’re no problems for you or Beau that day.”
“I want to be there, Cooper. I love my family, and Rosie lights up my world. But I can’t have you or Wyatt or Tate or anyone taking their frustrations about decisions I’ve made out on the man I’m choosing to spend my life with. If the situation turns into what it did a few weeks ago, I won’t stay.”
Nodding, Cooper promised, “I understand. You don’t have to worry.”
I offered a small smile in return. “Then we’ll be there.”
“Good.” We stood in awkward silence for a moment. “I have to get back to work.”
“Of course. Right. Me, too. Um, before you go…”
“Yeah?”
I fidgeted with my hands, and Cooper’s eyes dropped to them. He couldn’t miss how uncomfortable this was for me. “Would it be alright if… Could I make Rosie’s birthday cake?”
His features softened, and he cleared his throat. “We’d love that.”
“Okay. I’ll put together something super special for her.”
“I know you will.” He stepped forward, closed his hands over mine to settle them, and kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you at the party.”
With that, he turned and made his way to the door.
I watched him go, feeling my heart break in the process. “Cooper?”
He stopped and twisted his neck to look back at me. “Yeah?”
Waving my hand toward the mixer, I said, “Thank you.”
His shoulders fell, like some of the tension had eased out of his body. “Anytime, Jules. No matter what you need, you can always call me.”
A moment later, he was gone.
And while I should’ve been elated that there was some communication between us, that we hadn’t gone at each other’s throats, my heart was completely shattered. Cooper said I could always call him no matter what I needed. As I stood there, staring at the space where he’d just been, I wondered if he would’ve answered that call if I’d told him I needed my family back.
25
JULES
Was therea point throughout pregnancy when it was no longer acceptable to blame hormones for everything?
After spending weeks feeling heavy and uneasy, most of it focused in my chest, I finally felt like I could breathe again, and it made me want to cry.
I’d been pleasantly surprised by how things had gone today at Rosie’s party. Of course, I’d been a mess the entire way here, worried about how my family would react to seeing Beau and me again.
It went far better than I expected.
Obviously, things were far from perfect, but given how the last gathering we’d had as a family had gone, this had been a huge improvement. Whenever the focus was on Rosie and her joyous laughter or everyone was gushing over Jack and Lily, things were as normal as they should have been. If nothing else, my family hadmanaged to pull it together for the sake of one very special little girl, her sister, and her cousin.
But when those babies were sleeping and Rosie had dragged whoever happened to be her favorite at the moment—typically Liam—off to do whatever she wanted, there were certainly moments with a lot of awkward tension. It was reminiscent of my encounter with Cooper the day he fixed the mixer at my bakery. Like each of my siblings and I—even my parents—had these unspoken things between us, and nobody quite knew what to say or where to start.
Fortunately, this family had been lucky to have my sisters-in-law—Rhea, Skye, Ava, and Layla—as well as my brother-in-law—Marco—to help break up the tension and keep the conversation flowing.
Marco had made a mention of hearing about my new hires at the bakery. Evidently, Cooper had shared that nugget of information with him after he’d fixed my mixer and returned to work. Marco’s attempt to get the conversation rolling had helped ease the pressure on everyone, and I was able to share some news with them. It led to other conversations, including Skye sharing what it had been like for her to hire more people at the bookstore years ago.
Layla had revealed some upcoming acts at the event center this holiday season, which took the focus entirely off the family and onto something that everyone could discuss without any discomfort.
At one point, Rosie had given Liam a break and asked Beau to check out the gift her grandparents had gottenfor her—a trampoline in their backyard for whenever she visited. I stood there, watching him with her on it, and my heart squeezed. Whether he believed he had the capacity to love or not, I didn’t care. What I saw told me everything I needed to know. That man was going to be a good father.
