Page 61 of From the Embers
“Shhh,” someone said in the distance, but it wasn’t Evelyn, so a huge smile broke across my face.
I hurried to the kitchen to drop my stuff on the counter and kick off my heels. Then I set out to find him.
A quick pass through the empty living room led me down the hall to the playroom. A light flickered inside, but the room was silent. Tiptoeing in, I found Eason standing like a sentry in front of the muted TV, all three of the kids sound asleep in a pile of tangled legs and arms on the couch. His gaze found me over his shoulder, but I was nowhere near ready for the devastation that struck me.
“What happened?” I whispered, rushing over to him.
“Nothing. Everything’s fine,” he mumbled, tossing an arm around my shoulders and curling me against his chest for a long Eason Maxwell specialty hug.
My whole body sagged in his arms. “Jesus, you scared me. What are you doing here? I thought you had a show tonight?”
“Bar lost their liquor license. Canceled everything and shut down for a few days until they can get it fixed.”
“Oh. So, you’re off tonight?” It was spoken as a whisper but there was no hiding my excitement.
His chest shook with humor. “Yeah, Sug. I’m off.”
I leveled him with a pointed glare, but I was too excited to care too much and let it slide. “This is a good thing? Right? Why are you standing here looking like the kids ate all your cookies again?”
His chest expanded with a deep inhale, and his lips found the top of my head. It wasn’t a kiss. Not exactly. He just pressed them against my head as he breathed into my hair.
“Eason,” I prompted when my elation faded into concern.
“Look at ’em,” he rasped as though he’d barely been able to force the words from his throat.
Following his gaze, I looked at our children. Asher was on the left, leaning against the arm of the couch, his mouth hanging wide open. Luna had her head in his lap, a stuffed dog hugged to her chest, and Madison was flat out on her stomach, her legs intertwined with Luna’s while her arm hung off the side of the couch. It was rare for them to crash out at the same time like that, but not unheard of.
“Was there some kind of sorcery involved in getting them to sleep tonight?”
He gave me a squeeze. “Close. We ate popcorn and watched The Wizard of Oz.”
My stomach sank, disappointed that I’d missed it. “That sounds like fun.”
“It was. The girls oohed and ahhed when they saw the good witch, and Ash laughed so hard he almost peed his pants when I told him he looked like a member of the Lollipop Guild.”
I brought a hand to my mouth to muffle my giggle.
“They don’t know a life without each other,” Eason rushed out like the confession burned his lips.
My eyebrows drew together, and I craned my head back to get a better view of his face. “And they won’t ever have to. It doesn’t matter what happens between us, Eason. We’ll always be a family, remember? We do this together.”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t mean that. If she’s their sister, they’ll want to know.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. Suddenly, his somber demeanor made a lot more sense. Eason hadn’t said much about Luna’s paternity since we’d left the cabin. I was trying to give him time and space to work it through in his head and his heart, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’d thought about it a fair amount over the last few weeks. But that was a decision he needed to make for himself; my curiosity on the matter wasn’t a factor.
Shifting in front of him, I wrapped my arms around his neck. “You think you want to do a DNA test?”
“No,” he breathed, a storm brewing in his eyes. “I’d honestly convinced myself that I didn’t need to know. It wouldn’t change anything. Not how much I love her. Or how she will forever be sewn into the fiber of my being. But they deserve to know. There have been enough secrets and lies without us keeping more. If she truly is Rob’s, I have no idea how we will ever make them understand, but I don’t want there to be a day when she feels the rusty knife of betrayal, wondering why I didn’t tell her.” His voice cracked and he brought a hand up, scrubbing his eyes with his thumb and his forefinger. “God, why is everything so fucking hard?”
“Because you’re a good dad.” Using his wrist, I pried his hand away from his face. “And you know how you handle this now will have an impact on her life. You are making the hard decisions and carrying that weight so she never has to. DNA be damned—that’s how I know you will always be her real father. It’s not my place to have an opinion, but I think you’re making the right decision.”
