Page 62 of Melt For Us, Daddy (Big Daddy Energy #4)

With a final worried look behind her, Cordelia slipped from the room to follow after Ivy and Sarabeth.

“Baby?”

Embarrassment heated his cheeks, but Jacob shrugged as he met Hannah’s amused gaze. “Yes. Is that a problem?”

“No. It’s just… odd. Are you happy?”

Warmth filled him, not from embarrassment now but from the sheer joy his women brought him. “I don’t have words to explain how happy I am. Cordelia and Ivy… they saved me. They’ve helped me accept who I am, and they gave me the courage to stand up to our father when he found me outside the club.”

“Zach said he tried to...” Hannah’s fingers trembled as she lifted them to brush over the bruises on his neck that had just begun to fade.

“I’m okay now, Hannah. I’m safe, and so are you and Sarabeth and the others.”

“Not all of them.” Grief filled her eyes.

“Some of our sisters stayed behind. They refused to leave their husbands. Said it was the devil’s work, that the enemy was trying to destroy the church but they wouldn't let him. We got Ruthie out, and all the younger ones, but so many of them stayed behind, Jacob. They stayed, and I don’t know why. ”

That same grief settled heavy in his chest. “Hopefully someday they’ll see the truth. If and when that happens, we’ll give them somewhere to run to.”

“I don’t know if I can, Jacob. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to forgive them. Or our mothers. I am definitely not strong enough to forgive our father.”

“And that’s okay, too. I don’t believe God will hold that against you.

I think…” He hesitated, weighing his words carefully.

“I think God, the real one, not the version the prophets preached, loves us enough to understand that some things are too big, too painful to forgive. And that’s not our failing, but a failing in the person who hurt us. ”

“I’m not even sure I believe there is a God.” The words were barely a whisper. “How can I, after everything we endured? How can I believe that there is some benevolent Father out there who just lets his children suffer?”

Because he didn’t have an answer for that, or words that would ease her pain, he didn’t try. He simply held his arms open to her, and after a moment of hesitation she launched herself at him. For a long while they simply clung to each other, to their shared grief, in silence.

Ivy and Cordelia returned to the room a little while later with Sarabeth in tow and Ivy’s arms full of what looked like every candy bar the vending machine had to offer.

They stayed nearly a half an hour after that before Holden interrupted, telling them their time was up and he needed to get Hannah and Sarabeth back to the apartment he’d set them up in.

Sarabeth’s tears tore at Jacob’s heart, but he forced himself to be strong and smile as he promised he would visit her as often as possible.

It took Hannah promising Sarabeth she could try every one of the candies Ivy had bought for their baby sister to finally agree to leave, though there were still plenty of tears. And as Jacob watched the door close behind them, his own chest ached with suppressed grief.

“Jacob? You okay, honey?”

Unable to meet Ivy’s gaze, he nodded woodenly. Cordelia slipped an arm around his waist, the warm weight of her pressing against him, anchoring him. “Let’s go home.”

He let himself be guided out of the room, out of the building and down to Cordelia’s car. Nobody spoke a word until they’d made it back to their apartment and Ivy had helped him undress and change into a pair of comfortable pajamas.

Stretched out on the large bed they’d recently purchased to accommodate the three of them, Cordelia held her arms open for him. “Come here, baby.”

Obediently, he crawled into bed with her, burrowing into her softness as she cradled him close. Behind him, Ivy wrapped her arms around him as best she could, her face pressed against his back.

“It’s okay, baby boy,” Cordelia murmured, pressing a kiss to his hair. “You don’t have to be strong right now. You don’t have to be strong with us.”

At her words, something inside him snapped. And for the first time in more years than he could count, he let go. Let the tears come, hot and unstoppable as he pressed himself against her, sobbing into his Daddy’s soft breast.

“That’s our good boy,” she praised softly, running her fingers through his hair as he wept. “Our good, sweet boy. Let it all out, baby. You’ve been strong long enough.”

He wasn’t sure exactly how long he lay there, his chest shuddering with body-wracking sobs as his women held him and whispered soothing words into his ear.

But eventually he ran out of tears to cry and he lay exhausted in their arms, his head heavy, but his heart lighter than it had been in a long while.

Someone pressed a tissue into his hand and he swiped at the tears lingering in his eyes as he sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t know that was going to happen.”

“I did,” Cordelia said simply.

“You did?”

“Of course. I told you the very first time I spanked you that you’d cry for us. It was only a matter of time.”

“This isn’t exactly what I thought you meant by that,” he responded dryly.

Her chest vibrated with quiet laughter. “However it happened, I’m so grateful you finally felt safe enough with us to let go. And I’m proud of you for being brave enough to do so.”

Sighing, he snuggled closer to her and closed his aching eyes. “I feel safer with you two than I’ve ever felt with anyone else.”

“Good. That’s how it should be. But now that you’ve gotten that out of your system, we should talk about today. How are you feeling, after seeing your sisters?”

“Like I haven’t done enough.”

“What you mean?” Cordelia asked.

“It feels like I should be doing more for them. Taking care of Sarabeth, maybe. Hannah… she’s gone through so much already. It doesn’t feel fair for her to take on that burden alone.”

“She won’t be alone.” Ivy’s voice rang out with conviction. “She has you, and she has us. Her family.”

Running her fingers through his hair again, Cordelia pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “And if you want to talk about Sarabeth coming to live with us, we can discuss that, too.”

“Really? You’d do that for her? For me?”

“Baby boy, there isn’t much we wouldn’t do for you.”

“But you don’t want kids. Ivy said so.”

Ivy’s arms tightened around him. “Just because it wasn’t in the plan doesn’t mean we can’t make some adjustments. If that’s really what you want, then we’ll make it happen.”

“I don’t know what I want. Honestly… I never really thought this would happen. Never thought I’d actually get them out. So I didn’t really give much thought to what would happen after. All I know is I want a life with you, whatever that looks like.”

“Then that’s what you’ll have, baby boy.” Placing a finger under his chin, Cordelia forced his head back, forced him to look up into her emerald gaze. “As for everything else… we have the rest of our lives to figure that out.”

The rest of his life, with the women he loved. Cordelia was right. They had plenty of time to figure out the details. All that mattered just then was that they had each other.

And for the first time in his memory, forever didn’t feel like a death sentence.

It felt like a promise.