Maizy grinned. “Uh-huh. Does holding hands mean she’s your girrlfriend? Because Cooter James said it does.”
Jax looked at Em and winked. “I dunno. Does this mean you’re my girrrlfriend, Em?”
Em laughed, her heart lighter than it had been in weeks. “Well, if Cooter James says so, how do we dispute that? I guess I’m your girrrlfriend.”
“Can I go play in the bouncy house, Daddy?”
Jax nodded, tweaking a curl of her hair. “As long as you stay where Uncle Tag can see you, okay?”
“Okay,” she yelled over her shoulder. “Bye, Miss Em. I’m glad you’re my daddy’s girlfriend!”
Jax dropped a kiss on her lips. “Daddy’s glad, too.”
Gage slapped his brother on the back and smiled at Em, his handsome face open and welcoming. “Emmaline, welcome to the Hawthorne family madness.”
Em chuckled, her cheeks flushing. “Thank you kindly.”
Tag grabbed hold of his brother and hugged him. “I’m proud of you. Good to see you again, Emmaline.” He nodded to her before chasing after Maizy.
“Mommy!”
Gareth grabbed her legs from behind and squeezed. Em turned to gather him up in a hug when, over his head, she met Clifton Senior’s eyes.
“Can we talk?” he asked as he approached.
Jax tucked her next to him, making Gareth give her an odd look.
Clifton offered his hand to Jax. “Clifton Amos.”
Jax assessed him before taking it. “Jax Hawthorne.”
“I’d like a moment with you, Em, if I could.”
She didn’t know what to say. Here stood the man who wanted to take her children from her, who’d had her so afraid, she’d resigned from Call Girls and was going to begin hunting for a job he would consider more respectable.
Yet, here also stood the man she’d accused of being a coward for not showing more interest in his children by coming back to Plum Orchard to see them. Right in the middle of the town square.
Jax pulled her tight to him. “Will you be all right?”
Just knowing he was on her side was all she needed. She grazed his cheek with her finger. “I’ll be just fine. Gareth, can you wait here with Jax while Mommy talks to Daddy for a minute?”
Gareth looked unsure until Jax said, “Bet my brother Gage has a ball. You wanna toss it around a little bit while we wait?” Jax held out his hand to him.
Gareth took it and nodded with a shy smile, sliding down Em’s hip. “Okay.”
Em turned to face Clifton, a man she’d once thought she would love forever, but now couldn’t feel anything for. “What do you want, Clifton? The house? My car? Dora?”
Clifton held up his hands as a gesture of peace. “I want to apologize.”
Her eyes pierced his. “For?”
He put his hands in his pockets, his face grim. “For everything. For leaving you and the boys while I tried to figure out what was happening to me. For hurting you, for lying to you. For threatening to take the kids. They need you, Em, and I overreacted.”
“What brought on this sudden change of heart?”
“The realization that I was teaching Clifton to do the same thing I did. Run away. Look, Em, I don’t want to see him beat up because of me, but I don’t want to teach him to run away from it, either. I don’t want anyone to ever keep him from being where he wants to be, and that’s with you and Gareth. Here in Plum Orchard.”
Her knees felt weak. “But he told you he wanted to live with you and Gina in Atlanta.”
Clifton’s chest expanded with a sigh. “He told me that when he was scared, when he was angry and hurt, Em. I used that to my advantage because I couldn’t stand that I was the reason everyone was picking on him. I set him straight today, about why I left and about how it had nothing to do with you.”
Clifton’s hurt compelled her to reach out, put her hand on his arm and squeeze. “They need you, Clifton. They need you to be their father. If you’re going to live your life with this truth you keep telling me about, then the truth is, you have to show up. You have to teach them how to live truthfully.”
As people milled about them, the occasional few curious, pausing to stare at the town cross-dresser, Clifton nodded. “And stop hiding from everyone.”
Em stayed quiet, keeping her eyes fixed on Clifton’s jacket. When she’d first found out about Clifton’s secret life, she’d ached for him, his infidelity aside. It had to be almost unbearable to watch all of your lifelong friends desert you just because you liked to wear a dress. Because they couldn’t understand what it felt like to want to be someone else.
“I made this really hard on you, didn’t I?”
Her spine stiffened in response to his hushed question. “If you want me to say this has been easy so you can ease your guilt, that won’t happen. You left me to do it all while you had your crisis. But the rumors and the cruel treatment of the boys isn’t entirely your fault.”
“About that, I spoke to Principal Crawford today.”