Page 134 of Stolen Kiss

I tensed, and Jensen gripped my thigh. Not hard, but firm enough to get my attention.

“You’re still whole. Just because you’re missing a leg, it doesn’t make you less than. There will be things you can’t do with Elodie that Evelyn could do with Ensley. You can’t play soccer with her.” He said the last part playfully.

My lips twitched. “I don’t think I have ever played soccer in my entire life.”

“No?” he asked, smiling. “Not even for fun when you were a little girl?”

I shook my head. “No, I was a dancer, not a soccer player.”

I smiled to let him know I was joking. He tweaked my nose.

“What else can’t you do?” He leaned his head back, as if trying to think of things I couldn’t do because of a missing limb. And honestly, I couldn’t think of one.

“I’m sorry, baby. I can’t think of a single thing that Elodie might want to do with her mother in the future that you can’t participate in. But should there ever be one, you need to remember this. Elodie will always have her dad. You wouldn’t be doing this alone. Neither would I. Right?”

I swallowed around the huge lump around my throat, clearing it a bit before I spoke. “I don’t have any legal claim to her. I signed away the rights when I donated my egg.”

He moved a single finger down the side of my face. “Do you really think I’m the kind of man who would ever keep her away from you?”

I shook my head, my tears falling. No, I didn’t think that. I never thought that. I knew Jensen wanted me in her life. He wanted me in his life.

Without saying another word, he pulled me back to his lap. I wrapped my arms around his waist and tucked my head in the nook underneath his chin. Jensen wrapped me tightly to him.

“I want to,” I said softly. “I want to be a part of her life.”

“And that is what will happen. I vow it.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

He cupped my cheek. “I’ll help you. I promise.”

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