Page 87 of In Colton's Custody (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“Where’s Luna?” he asked.

When he gestured toward the guest chair, she stepped over and sat.

“She’s sleeping. Candace is with her. The doctors want to keep her overnight—”

Immediately, he straightened in the bed and then gritted his teeth because of the searing down his arms. “She’s okay, right?”

Her eyes still damp, she nodded. “It’s just a precaution. They want to make sure her lungs are okay. They’re getting her bed ready in the pediatric ward. I would have waited with her, but Candace thought I might need some coffee.”

“She threw you out, didn’t she?”

He hoped that would make her smile, but she only shrugged, hugging herself even tighter. Her gaze moved from the neckline of his hospital gown to the bandages on his arms.

“What did the doctor tell you?”

“These?” He gestured to the gauze. “They’re nothing. Barely more than a good sunburn. In fact, the doc’s springing me from here as soon as she gets back to sign the release forms.”

Willow lifted a brow and then stared down at his hands that were in far better shape than the upper part of his forearms.

“Oh, sorry to say your good oven mitts are toast. Or barbecue. Whichever you choose.”

“Please stop joking about it. You two could have been—”

“But we weren’t.” He shook his head to emphasize his point.

Tears welled in Willow’s already puffy eyes, and a lump formed in Asher’s throat.

“I’m sorry about your building. Do you know yet about the extent of the damage?”

She shrugged. “Candace was talking to the fire inspector before she came here. He suspects arson. He said there’s little structural damage, except the roof. The contents of the apartment? Well, at least they’re insured. We might be able to save most of the equipment in the center.”

“If someone wanted to hurt your business, then why set fire to your apartment instead of the facility?”

“I don’t know, but we were lucky.”

He rushed on to prevent them both from considering just how much worse it could have been.

“I couldn’t believe that even the outdoor stairs were still standing when the paramedics made me get in the ambulance. I was worried they would fall, so I took the interior stairs and came around the opposite side of the house.”

She nodded, yet drew her brows together, as if his explanation offered more questions than answers. Or gave her another reason to believe he’d failed her and her daughter. The lump in his throat grew larger.

“And I’m sorry... I didn’t get to her sooner,” he managed.

Her eyes were wide as she looked back at him.

“You kidding? That was amazing what you did for her. For us. Thank you so much. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did. It was Luna.”

Clearly, she still didn’t get it. It couldn’t have mattered less to him that Luna wasn’t his child biologically. She had still become his. Asher loved her almost as much as he loved her mother.

He was tempted to tell Willow right then, his fears be damned, but something outside the cubicle must have caught her attention as she looked toward the curtain’s opening. Heavy footsteps followed.

“Knock. Knock.”

Asher sat higher in the bed. “Spencer, is that you?”

He didn’t know why he bothered asking when he recognized his cousin’s voice. They’d spent a lot of time together lately.

---