Page 25 of Insta-Family (Forbidden Descendants 3)

When I looked up in surprise, not expecting to hear how similar of a past we shared, he smiled sadly. “But I had Aspen with me, helping me through it. I don’t know how you did it all by yourself.”

Grief swamped me as I shook my head. And my voice cracked when I admitted, “I didn’t. Not very well, anyway. I couldn’t even get him to twenty-three. So...”

Tears filled my eyes, and I shook my head aggressively, trying to manually shake them away as I added, “He never listened to a fucking thing I warned him not to do, either. Proof positive here…” I lifted Ava slightly and sniffed derisively. But when she whimpered in protest from the move, I settled her back onto my lap, rasping, “Sorry. I’m sorry, kiddo. It’s okay. I’m sorry.”

“She’s fine,” Noel assured easily.

I glanced toward him, freaking out, though. “Maybe I shouldn’t be holding her right now.” She seemed to be sensing my distress and reacting negatively to it.

But Lucy’s dad didn’t make a move to help me out. He only said, “Or maybe holding her right now is what you need the most.”

Blinking, I frowned at him, utterly confused.

He pointed at Ava. “Look at this little girl right here. Look at her beautiful, priceless face.”

I did, and it caused me to suck in a deep, shuddering breath.

“She wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for your brother, so I gotta be grateful for that. And he wouldn’t have made it as long as he did, to get her here, if you hadn’t helped him live that long. From what I heard, the cancer was going to take him no matter what anyone did, but I have a feeling you fought it like hell, anyway, and you kept him here long enough for us to have Ava Grace today.”

“I really did fight,” I promised, my voice so hoarse it was barely a whisper. “I fought with everything I had to keep him healthy.”

Noel nodded, solemn understanding in his eyes. “I know you did.”

Gulping unsteadily, I went back to studying the baby’s face. Her eyes had closed and she looked to be asleep in my arms. A strange serenity enveloped me.

A part of me was still as sad as shit, and yet I also felt grateful and at peace. Even though Duke was gone, I was beyond relieved that a part of him was still here.

“Mom? Dad?” A familiar voice called from down the hall. Ava and I both jolted, and I jerked my head up as I heard footsteps on the carpet.

“Do you know where my travel bag from the hospital is?” Lucy asked just before she appeared in the opening of the living room. “I think my comb and toothbrush are still—”

She broke off and slowed to a stop when she spotted me. Wearing a baggy, faded Wonder Woman shirt and dark gray sweatpants, she was barefoot and had wet hair as if she’d just gotten out of the shower.

Her face was less swollen than it’d been at the hospital and the freshly scrubbed look on her cheeks made her appear even healthier. If I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t have been able to guess that she’d given birth less than a week ago.

Honestly, she looked ripe for the plucking. And my mind went straight to the gutter.

God, but this was going to be a problem, I decided.

Because I wasn’t sure how I was going to find a nice, comfortable place in my niece’s life if I was always going to think about sex every time I merely glanced at her mother.

8

LUCY OLIVIA

“Vaughn,” I said, my voice unnaturally high and eyes probably just as unnaturally large. “You’re...here.”

Why was he here?

I mean, I knew I’d told him he could visit anytime. But still...

The last person I would’ve banked on finding in my living room and holding my kid when I’d gotten out of the shower was Duke’s brother.

If I’d known he was coming over, I would’ve worn something a little less—

Oh, why did it matter what I wore around him? There was no reason whatsoever for me to even care. And yet, that didn’t stop me from self-consciously crossing my arms over my chest to hide just how unappealing I must look in my baggy old high school shirt and sweatpants with holes in both knees.

“Yeah,” he said before cringing and asking, “I mean, is that okay?”

---