Everything holding me together pulling me apart.
From within the well of his hold, Daisy wailed.
I dropped back to my knees, tearing at his arms to get to her. “Daisy, oh baby, Daisy, are you hurt? Are you hurt?”
Reluctantly, Richard let his arms drop away.
She sat up on his lap. “My wrist hurts real bad.” Then she wailed when she looked at the dirty shoes on her feet. “Oh no, I ruined my best shoes,” she cried out.
I completely crumbled.
Relief. Relief.
The only strength I had left was enough to gather her into my lap. Into my arms.
Tears streamed free. Hot and hard and blinding my sight.
I hugged her close, shushed her, and whispered, “It’s okay, it’s okay. We’ll get you another pair.”
I looked at the man from over her head where he’d pushed up to sitting two feet away, roughing agitated hands through his hair.
The man who looked like he’d been wrecked.
Utterly destroyed.
If only he knew what that really felt like.
Eleven
Richard
What the fuck just happened?
My heart stampeded, like a thousand thoroughbreds raced around a track carved in the void in my chest while I stared at the woman who was looking at me like she couldn’t believe what I’d done.
Those eyes on me while her soul trembled and shook.
Her fear so patent I could taste it. The terror of what could have been.
The air was held in the meadow.
Like even the wind was afraid to move.
Everyone frozen in this shock that ricocheted between Violet and me.
Fuck.
It’d been instinct. Running to catch the child. Being there. Like my spirit had known exactly where it was supposed to be all along.
Her tiny body ascribed to the surety of my arms.
But that was the motherfucking problem.
I was made to protect her.
Made to protect them.
Thing was, doing it was a crime itself. Breaking the promise I’d made.
But if I hadn’t been there?
At the thought, my pulse stuttered in dread, this thick, sticky fear that slugged through my veins.
Every second I was here it became clearer where I belonged.
Except I would never be accepted.
Just a fool’s game hoping for forgiveness.
For redemption.
Didn’t mean I would give so easily.
Violet was on the ground. So close. Making me itch.
Terror struck in those thunderbolt eyes.
She stared across at me through the connection that whipped and snapped.
Like she wondered if I could understand.
I wanted to get lost there. In her gaze. In this feeling that urged me to crawl to them, wrap them up, and promise I would never leave.
Bullshit.
A motherfucking pipe dream that would only burn me in the end.
Crush and destroy.
My mom was the first to shoot into action.
She ran around me to get to Violet and the child, and I scrubbed both palms over my face like it could eradicate every thought that had just blazed through my mind.
Like it could stop what I could feel being set into motion.
The greed that pulsed.
Devotion a drum that grew in intensity.
My mom knelt in front of them. Affection and agony oozed from her pores, and fuck, that slayed me, too.
Still, she managed to keep it together. “Daisy, it’s Ms. Mabel. Are you okay, sweetheart? Whew, that was some fall you took there. Scared the dickens out of us all.”
“I ruins my shoes,” the child wailed again. “Now I won’t be able to be in the weddin’.”
My mom chuckled low. “Well, they are a mighty fine pair of shoes, aren’t they? But I think we can figure something out for the weddin’. Don’t you worry about that.”
“Are you sure?” Daisy asked her, sniffling and rubbing her hands over her tear-stained face, smearing the dirt into mud.
Mel, Em, and Maggie hovered over them. Unsure of what to do.
“Is she okay?” Emily shook out her hands like she could shake off the tremors. “God. That was…” she trailed off.
Royce was behind her, two feet away. I cut him a glance. He sent one back.
It was close. Too damn close.
“How about you let me take a look at those shoes?” my mother prodded, shifting her on Violet’s lap so she could get a look.
Gentle in the way that only she could be.
While Violet struggled to maintain composure. But I knew the girl well enough to know when she was getting ready to crumble.
“My, these are fancy,” Ma said in her soothing way. “I bet you could dance all night long in these beauties, couldn’t you?”
Daisy sniffled but smiled this earth-shattering smile.
My chest tightened.
“Yups! My mommy said I’m the bestest dancer she’s ever seen. I got lessons, you know.”
“Wow, that is somethin’. You are a special girl, aren’t you? A very special girl.” My mother’s voice hitched.
Daisy’s shoulders lifted to her ears, a smile splitting her face that was smeared with dirt and tracks of tears.
So fuckin’ cute.
So fuckin’ dangerous.
My mom felt around her legs. “Any pain when I touch your legs?”
“Nope.”
“Okay. Good. How about I take a look at that arm now?”
Daisy had it tucked to her chest, protecting it. Reluctantly, she let it go so my mom could take a look.
Daisy winced when she touched her right wrist. “Ouch!”
“Is that tender, right there?”
Clearly, the kid was trying to play it brave because her chin trembled, and her eyes filled with more tears, but she was acting like it was nothing. “Nope. I’m all okay now. I bet I can even fly. Watch this!”
She hopped up before Violet could stop her and flapped her arms. Second she did, she crumbled back to the ground.
Knocked down by an intense bolt of pain.
“I lied. I told a lie! It hurts real bad,” she cried.
“I…I think I need to take her to the emergency room,” Violet rambled. “I’m sorry, I think we’re going to have to cut this meeting short.”
Her entire being was shaking.
Shock and worry of what might have been rippling across
