Page 228 of Broken Daddy

“He’ll come back when he’s ready,” Kent replied. “Hayes wants to focus on you right now.”

“If you’re sure. I don’t want to be a distraction or a problem.”

“A problem? How could you be a problem?” Zeke asked, sounding confused.

“Oh, no reason.”

Kent crouched in front of her. “Hey, are you sure you’re enjoying yourself tonight?”

She couldn’t tell him the truth. That would make her sound ungrateful.

“You won’t hurt anyone’s feelings,” Zeke told her. “We just want to make sure you’re doing okay.”

“I just . . . sometimes I feel like I might be a burden to Hayes. And this party . . . it’s amazing. Far beyond anything I could have expected. I can’t remember the last time I had a birthday party, let alone a party like this just to welcome me. No one here even knows me. I love Hayes so much. But I’m not sure I deserve him . . . deserve all of this.”

“Devi, I don’t think you have any idea of how special you are,” Kent said.

“And how indebted we are to you,” Zeke added.

“What do you mean?” she whispered.

“You’re amazing,” Kent told her. “You had a shit life with an alcoholic, abusive father, a brother in jail, working two jobs, yet Donovan said you always had a smile on your face, that you were pure sunshine. I get why that’s probably been knocked out of you, but it will come back. You didn’t let anything get you down. That sort of resilience is a powerful thing.”

It was?

“I can’t tell you the last time I saw Hayes smile before you came along. It must have been before May’s death. Everyone on this ranch cares about that surly bastard, and we’ve all been worried about him. But me, especially.” Zeke swallowed heavily and she reached out to take his hand. “There wasn’t a day that went by where I wasn’t worried that I would lose him. That he’d do something reckless because he didn’t care about whether he lived or died. He was going through the motions. Getting by, counting down the days until he could be back with May.”

She tensed. “He loved her so much.”

“He did,” Zeke said. “But that doesn’t mean he loves you any less.”

“He said he loves us both, just at different times in his life.”

“And he does love you,” Kent said. “When he looks at you, it’s like he’s just opened all of his Christmas presents and found his every desire. As though you are his world. I saw him smile the other day and I actually walked into a wall, I was in such shock. You did that, Devi. You. So you might think you don’t deserve all of this, but we think differently.”

Oh. Now she understood it.

They were all happy because she made Hayes happy. That actually made sense and the knot in her stomach eased.

“But it isn’t just about Hayes. We want you to be happy here, too,” Zeke told her. “So if you need anything, we’re here for you.”

“Thank you.”

“And the girls all want to get to know you. But I’ll ask them to maybe come at you one or two at a time, yeah?” Kent said.

“I’d appreciate that. Everyone here is so nice. I’m just not used to so much attention.”

“You got it.” Kent stood. “I better go find my hooligans and get them to bed.”

Kent had a toddler called Asher and an energetic dog called Digger. She wasn’t sure which was cuter.

“I’m going to tell Abby that you called her a hooligan,” Zeke told him.

“Haha.”

Zeke squeezed her hand. “You doing okay? This must all be a big change for you.”

“You have no idea. I didn’t know places like this existed.”