Page 154 of The Moments You Were Mine

Lila was fussing, wiggling, and almost ready to cry. I placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, and she scrunched her face. I wanted to laugh because the expression was just like Fallon’s had been when she’d been a little girl and hadn’t gotten what she wanted from Rafe.

I ran a finger along her cheek as words I never thought I’d sing came quietly pouring out of me. “I’ve had the time of my life… And I owe it all to you…”

“I wish I was recording this,” Fallon teased, shifting next to me. “I bet I’d get good money selling it to Sweeney and the gang.”

I ignored her and kept singing to my daughter until Lila’s little lashes drooped, and her fussing stopped.

All I could do was stare in wonder at the beauty of her.

Fallon trailed a finger along the baby’s downy hair. Fine and thin but light, like her mama’s. “She looks like me, don’t you think?”

I heard the worry in her voice, the fear that somehow the little girl would end up looking more like JJ than her. That someone would question who the father was.

I shifted, putting Lila in her arms and then pulling them both against my chest. “I know they say babies look like nothing, like little impressionable blobs, but I don’t agree. She does look like you. Even your mom said so.”

Fallon stared into Lila’s face with a fierce look, one full oflove and determination—one I’d seen Fallon give me and Theo and all the people she cared about. But somehow, this time, it was different, as if she was daring the universe to try to take the baby from her.

I’d sworn I wouldn’t bring up his name today, wouldn’t even give him a thought, but he was in the room with us anyway. He was bringing fear to a day that should have been nothing but joy.

In the months since he’d been arrested, JJ had reached out to Fallon twice. The first time, she’d gotten a letter. The second time, it had been a message left with the front desk at the hotel. Both times had sent her into a tailspin of worry.

On one of my trips down south to meet with my former commander about the training facility Sweeney and I were building, I’d stopped by the prison where JJ was doing his time. I’d pulled some strings, so I’d been able to walk right into his cell instead of meeting with him in an interview room. The message had been crystal clear—it would be easy for me to get in and finish him off if he ever contacted her again. And it would be even easier to get to him once he’d done his time and was out on parole. If he wanted to live to see his forties, he’d forget he ever knew someone named Fallon.

Prison had already beaten him by the time I got to him. He’d already been skittish and wide-eyed. My threat had landed on perfectly persuadable ears.

I hadn’t kept the visit from Fallon. I’d simply told her after the fact. I wanted her to know he’d be stupid to even come near her, to even lift a finger in her or Lila’s direction. But the truth was, she’d always have a teeny-tiny fear I wouldn’t be able to completely wash away without ending JJ’s life. But she wouldn’t let me. She didn’t want me to have that on my conscience. I didn’t care about mine, but I did care about hers, and she’d carry the weight of the loser’s death if I killed him.

So I didn’t. But I would, without hesitating, if I ever sensed he’d become a real threat.

“She’s you,” I told Fallon, “from the top of her head to her little tiny toes, and all the way into that fierce heart.” I kissed Fallon’s forehead before placing a similar one on Lila’s. Our daughter’s lashes fluttered back open to stare at us with as much wonder as we were staring at her. “But you see that look in hereyes? That’s all Steele. She’s mine.”

I was surprised to see a tear land on the baby’s cheek. Fallon quickly wiped it away, and I pulled her chin up, watching helplessly as more tears fell from her eyes. “What’s wrong, Ducky?”

She leaned in and kissed me…with love and passion and hope.

“It’s the stupid hormones. I’m happy, Parker. So happy. Thank you for choosing her. For claiming her just like you claimed me and Theo. For agreeing to my stupid proposal and making us a family. Thank you for loving us enough to give up your dreams and be here with us every day.”

“I haven’t given up my dreams,” I insisted once again. I’d told her this a hundred times over the last eight months, but I’d just keep telling her until she finally believed it. “I didn’t ring a bell, Ducky. I didn’t give up or give in or choose something lesser. I simply signed up for something greater, with much better rewards. Thank you for showing me it was possible. For giving me a better life than I’d ever imagined for myself.”

I kissed her, trying to infuse every ounce of love I had for her, our children, and our life into it so she would finally accept the truth—this was the only dream worth living.

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