Page 32 of The Thief

She listed them, totally oblivious now to where she was, occasionally looking up at her mum for hints at ones she’d forgotten.

When she came to the end, she huffed proudly and announced, “I think that’s all of them,” before falling back downonto her mum’s chest like she was exhausted from her exertions.

“You missed one!” I said, and her little body shot back up, sitting upright.

“No I didn’t.”

She looked to Jess, who just shrugged in response.

“You did,” I told her. “You missed Mummy.”

Ava laughed, and hearing it was like liquid gold to my ears.

“Mummy isn’t a princess.”

“She is,” I stated firmly, and she didn’t disagree with me this time, just regarded her mum for a moment, nodded to herself then said, “I know all the England football players too.”

I laughed. A proper laugh. This girl was everything.

Ava grinned and giggled. “Mummy likes watching the football.”

“I bet she does.” I gave Jess a side-eye and a grin.

“I learned the names off the telly,” Ava added, and Jess huffed a quiet laugh.

I let Ava list the players she knew, and then I told her, “You’re lucky to have a lovely mummy.”

“Is your mummy nice?” she asked.

“She was. But she died when I was your age.”

“That’s sad,” Ava said, giving me an over-exaggerated sad face.“Who looks after you then?”

“No one. I look after myself.”

Chapter Twelve

JESS

He looked after himself.

I knew what he meant.

He wasn’t talking about now, but all those years ago, when he’d been a little boy. No one had cared for him. He’d brought himself up.

And through all of it, after everything he’d been through, he managed to become the man sitting beside me. A man who could whisk my daughter away with one word, one promise. The man who was saving us right now. A man with morals and values that beggared belief.

A wave of guilt washed over me as I thought about the way I’d judged him all those years ago, and the fact that I was still judging him now. I hadn’t told him I knew him, or that we’d met before. I’d hidden behind fake smiles and embarrassment.

I blinked back tears and swallowed.

Time toown your shit, Jess Porter.

It’s the least you can do to thank him for what he’s doing for you now.

“You’ve really surprised me,” I told him, and he furrowed his brow in confusion.

“How so?”