Page 50 of Snowed Inn For Christmas

“I don’t care.Nothing—and I meannothingis going to keep me from my daughter.”

“You don’t know what you’re walking into.He could hurt you, or worse—kill you.”

“If it means keeping Daisy safe, I’m going to do it.”

“Julie,” I said with a heavy sigh.“I know that you want to save her, but I need you to stop and realize what you’re saying.I can’t mindlessly sit back and let you go over there knowing there’s a good chance you’ll get hurt.You and Daisy mean the world to me, so you can’t ask me to do nothing and allow this to happen.I can’t stand the thought of what—”

“Gage,” she said, interrupting me as she pressed a finger to my lips.“I made a vow when I became a mother that if it ever came down to it and I had to pick between my life or hers, I would choose her.Every.Single.Time.I understand what you’re saying, but like I told Patrick, there’s nothing any of you can do to stop me.Please stop trying.The longer we spend doing this, the more time I waste getting to Daisy.”

“Are you just going to let this happen?”I demanded, turning my anger and attention to Patrick as he leaned against the wall with his foot propped up behind him.“You need to do something.You’re her older brother, so act like it!”

He pushed off the wall and walked over to me, wrapping me in an unexpected hug.

“What the fuck are you doing?”I growled, trying to push him off while hating that this might be the very thing that broke me.“Let go of me.”

“I know this sucks, but you have to let her do this her way,” he said quietly enough that only I could hear.“I love her, too.But we have to let her do this.”

He pulled away, and for the first time since we’d had our fight, I saw tears in his eyes.

“So that’s it?We just say fuck it and let her walk into danger by herself?”I aggressively wiped a tear as it slid down my cheek, glancing at Julie, who smiled softly at me.

“She can take care of herself,” Patrick said, patting his sister’s shoulder as he walked past her and down the hall.

Her parents, who had been sitting on the couch, got up and left the room, giving us some privacy.I could see the worry in their eyes and knew they hated this as much as I did.While I wanted to sit down and find another option, deep down, I knew there weren’t any.

“I have to do this, Gage.I know you don’t like it and that you might not understand, but I have to.I could never live with myself if anything happened to my baby.I’ve had to live in a world without her father; I refuse to live in one where she doesn’t exist.”

The tears slid down her cheeks as she tried to wipe them away.

I stalked over to her, closing the distance between us as I pulled her into my arms and hugged her as if my life depended on it.In a way, it did.If something happened to her and she didn’t come back, there was no life left for me to live.She may not be able to live in a world without Daisy, but there was no way I could ever live in one without either of them.

“I love you so much, Julie.More than you could ever know,” I said as I kissed the top of her head, trying not to break down in front of her.

“I love you, too.I’ll be back as soon as I’m able,” she replied, the smile trying to hide the lie she’d just said because there was a good chance she wouldn’t be back.

I nodded and tilted my head back as I watched her walk out the front door and close it behind her.