Page 39 of Her Righteous Protector

He closed his eyes. Image after image after image rushed through his mind. Zephyr smiling, pouting, angry, fierce, joyful.

“He is the most amazing being I have ever met,” Max said honestly. “I love him with my whole heart.”

When he said those words and looked into Hannah’s eyes, he saw a mirror of his own thoughts and feelings. “You understand me, don’t you?” he breathed.

She nodded. “Yes.” She paused. “I mean no.” She took a breath and set down her glass. “It’s not like Zephyr is my son, so I could never know what you’re feeling.” She let her hair fall in front of her face as she looked down at her fingers twisting in her lap. Max reached out and covered them.

“Look at me, Hannah. What do you mean you can’t understand what I’m feeling? You love Zephyr, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” she burst out as her gaze flew up to stare at him.

“I thought so.”

“It’s just that he’s not mine. He’s yours. Yours and Meghan’s.” Again, she looked down at her lap, only this time he was seeing his big hand covering hers.

“Tell me about him. Tell me what I need to know. Tell me everything,” Max pleaded as he tipped her chin up so she would look at him.

“It would take forever. What’s more, I’ve only really known him really well for the past year and a half.”

Then she stopped herself and stood up. “Wait a minute,” she said with a grin. She rushed over to the shelves near the fireplace and grabbed out an album. “Ta-da!”

She sat back down next to him.

“You’re going to love this.”

Max turned to the first page of the photo album with reverence, not even noticing when Hannah left the room.

* * *

Hannah went up and checked on Zephyr. She hadn’t made up the guest room for Max yet, so she pulled out a fresh set of sheets and made the bed. She took a quick swipe at cleaning the bathroom, taking out all of the kid’s toys from the bathtub so that Max could take a shower in the morning without killing himself.

She went down to the basement that she had converted to her home studio and started working on a project that was due in a couple of weeks. After she had layered in the background, she noticed that a couple of hours had passed so she went upstairs to check on Max. She found him checking his messages.

“Anything interesting?”

“Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow. I want to thank you for letting me spend the night tonight. You didn’t have to do that.”

She wandered over to the fridge and pulled out some Entenmann’s chocolate cake from the freezer. “Do you like chocolate?” she asked as she held up the box.

“I could be tempted.”

“I have vanilla ice cream too.”

“Now you’re talking.”

She dished out dessert and motioned him to the table. She waited until his mouth was full before she started talking. “I’m going to admit to something. I had pretty much come to terms with Zephyr’s dad getting custody, otherwise, Elias wouldn’t have put off the reading of the will for as long as he did, you know?”

Max just nodded, then he took another bite.

She looked down at her dessert and couldn’t bring herself to take a bite. “But even so, my thoughts and emotions are all over the place. Tonight, up in Zephyr’s room, when he didn’t want you during storytime, I was spitefully happy.”

Max’s head jerked up to look at her.

“Yeah,” she admitted reluctantly. “Talk about illogical since I’m the one who invited you to spend the night and encouraged Zephyr to invite you to storytime.” She touched her cheek and felt the pulsing heat there. Thank God the dining room was in semi-darkness so he couldn’t see how bright red she must be.

“Jesus, Max, I think that in the last eight hours I’ve gone completely insane. Just the type of woman you must admire as a guardian for your son.”

He put down his fork and pulled her hand away from her face. “Hannah, in the eight hours I’ve known you, I think that Zephyr has been blessed to have you in his life.”