Her heart ached, tightened, released. “I don’t care that she isn’t from your man parts. Does it really matter how she got here? She’s beautiful and full of life and she offered to beat someone up for Gareth. That you’d raise your best friend’s little girl under such hurtful circumstances, and wear barrettes, says something about you. So get to the point, would you?”
“I acted like a total ass when you found Reece’s picture the other night because for a long time now, I was angry with her. I was angry with Jake for stealing her right out from under my damn nose. I didn’t just lose a girlfriend—I lost my best friend of twenty-two years when they ran off together. He was like my brother. He was my brother. I never spoke to Jake again when he left with Reece. And then he died.”
And left Jax his most precious possession. She felt Jax’s ache—the grief that kept him rooted in one spot. “So you never had the chance to make amends then.”
“No, and every day since he died, I’ve been trying to make it right. Come to terms with it.”
Suddenly, she understood. He was apologizing over and over to Jake though Maizy. “With Maizy.”
Jax sighed a ragged breath. “I know it sounds crazy, but I thought if I could just focus on her, put all my energy into giving her everything Jake would have, somehow, I’d make it up to him for kicking him out of my life.”
“And Reece?”
“I was angry that she just up and left Maizy only a couple of weeks after she was born. She hasn’t seen her in almost six years.”
Em’s heart twisted into a tight knot. She didn’t want to judge Reece. She didn’t know what her demons were, but to leave without ever knowing what it felt like to have that tiny head nuzzled under your chin as you rocked. To never know what it felt like to hear Maizy sigh with contentment in her ear as she drifted off to sleep. To miss her first steps, to miss everything? Her life would never have been the same. “And now?”
“I saw her today. I spent the past month hiding from her because I didn’t know what she wanted. She popped up out of nowhere after six years and I panicked. Now I know, and I’ve made my peace with her—with Jake.”
“Your peace?”
The rumble in his chest, the pause in his words, was a signal to Em, the meeting with Reece had been painful. “She never wanted Maizy. I won’t claim to understand it. I won’t even try, because I can’t go there. She wanted me to know she’s not interested in seeing Maizy, and she’d sign papers to that effect.”
Em pulled away from him. “I don’t know that I know how to respond to that without usin’ the Lord’s name in an inappropriate way.”
Jax pulled her back into his embrace, resting his chin atop her head. “That’s why you’re the girl for me, and Reece never was.”
“I’m sorry, Jax. I’m sorry for Maizy, too.”
She felt his smile against her hair. “I’m not. Maizy and I have other plans.”
“And what exactly are those plans?”
“Well, first up, I plan to make you fall madly in love with me.”
Em fanned herself and giggled. “My goodness. I don’t know that I’ve ever been courted quite this way.”
“You were only courted once.”
She flicked the collar of his jacket. “Is this the part where you make me fall madly in love with you? Because if so, we have work to do.”
His low chuckle rippled in her ears. “Touchy, touchy. Then, you know, after you fall madly in love with me, I plan to sweep you off your feet.”
“The children...”
“Already know each other. Now they’ll just get to know each other with us.”
This man. This man who made her heart pound and her soul full wanted her. Her. “So that madly in love part?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Could be working.”
Jax tipped her chin up and kissed her thoroughly, reminded her why he was so hard to resist since they’d set out to keep things impersonal.
“Ahem.”
Em’s head shot up. Dixie? “What are you doing here?”
Dixie’s red head popped out from behind Jax. “I was the driver of the escape car.”
“Escape car?”
“After what I just saw sitting on your kitchen counter, I thought surely you’d come to murder Clora, sister.”
Em began to protest, to apologize, but Dixie stopped her, her eyes warm. “Don’t, Em. Don’t you dare blame yourself for our parents’ bad behavior. And everyone wonders why I was such a hellion. Hah! Just look at my genes.”
Em reached for Dixie’s hand. “Dixie. Oh, my God, Dixie. I never wanted you to find out. I would never want to hurt you.”
Dixie grinned. “How could it possibly hurt me that you’re my sister?”
“Technically, I’m your half sister. The good half, anyway.”
“Half schmalf. We’re blood now, Emmaline Amos, and don’t you forget it. The question here is, are you okay, honey? Clora?”
Em looked past Dixie toward her mother’s house. “I have a lot to think about. Everything’s changed. Yet, it all just makes sense now. As for Mama, only time will tell.”
“We’ll have a good sit-down once we get everything else settled, okay?”