Page 36 of This Is Love (The Light to My Darkness 3)

“Mommy.” She started to cry, her little body shaking against mine.

I clutched her even tighter. “It’s okay, Scar. I’m back. And I’m not going anywhere ever again.”

“I didn’t think you’d ever come back. I thought you left me.”

“No, no, baby girl.” I kissed the top of her head. “I’d never leave you.”

“But you did. You left me and Daddy and Liam. You left us. Why’d you leave us? Was it something I did wrong? Because I’m sorry.”

“No. You didn’t do anything wrong.” God, I hated that she thought any of this was her fault. How could I fix this? I looked up at James.

He was quickly wiping under his eyes. He turned away from me when he noticed I was staring. My heart felt like it was cracking into pieces. I had hurt both of them so much.

“I’m the one that’s sorry,” I said. “I got hurt. I couldn’t remember. And I’m so so sorry.”

“But it’s all my fault. I tried to tell you about the snapes and no one believed me.” She was sobbing now, soaking my shirt in tears and snot, but I didn’t care in the slightest. “It’s my fault the snapes got you.”

“No, no, no. Shhhh.” I ran my hand up and down her back. “None of this was your fault. Don’t think that for a second. You can’t control other people’s intentions, sweetie.”

“What is intentions?” She sniffled loudly.

“It means…plans. That doctor had plans that weren’t nice. But none of that was your fault. And he’s locked up now. He’ll never hurt us again. I promise.”

“And you’ll never leave again?”

“I’ll never leave you again, Scar. Never.”

She pulled away and put her hands on both sides of my face. She stared into my eyes like she could read my soul. And then she nodded. “Only my mommy looks at me like that.”

I was trying not to cry. “Like what, Scar?”

“Like…like I’m never bad.”

Oh, sweetie. I pulled her back into a hug.

I glanced up at James again. He had quickly composed himself. For the first time tonight, I realized how tired he looked.

“We should get to bed, Scar,” I said.

She wrapped her arms tighter around my neck. “I want to sleep with you and Daddy.”

James nodded with a smile. “You two go get ready for bed. I’ll clean all this up. And you’re going to need this.” He leaned down and picked up Scarlett’s favorite book.

Chapter 10

Monday - James

I put the saucepan onto the drying rack and turned off the water. I was exhausted. If I sat down on the kitchen floor right now, I

was pretty sure I’d fall asleep. And I’d wake up with pigtails and makeup all over my face like poor Melissa and Josh. I didn’t have the heart to wake them up. I had just covered them with a blanket and left them on the floor of Scarlett’s bedroom. They looked as exhausted as I felt.

I ran my hand down my face. I hadn’t expected to feel so much emotion when Scarlett jumped into Penny’s arms. Clearly I needed to pull myself together. Or maybe I just needed sleep. Penny needed me to be strong right now. Falling apart wasn’t an option. But all I wanted to do was hold Penny as tightly as I could. And thank her for coming back. And beg her to never leave again. My daughter wasn’t the only one that depended on Penny. Honestly, I probably depended on her even more than my child. I needed her like the air I breathed. I sighed and tossed the dry towel on top of the saucepan. It could wait until morning. Right now, I just needed to fall asleep with my arms wrapped around my beautiful wife.

When I reached our bedroom, I stopped and leaned against the doorjamb. Penny was running her fingers through Scarlett’s hair and reading. For a moment, I just stared at the two of them. Penny turned the page of the book and continued to read aloud, oblivious of my watching.

"Two gold drachmas for the beautiful lady," said the vendor with a crooked yellow smile.

Oriana immediately shook her head and took a step back. "I'm just looking."

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