his scent. I was literally expelling my fear and breathing him in.
“Did you hear that, Maisie? Looks like you’re not getting out of tutoring next week,” Beckett joked, his voice a gravelly, deep rumble against my ear.
He’d driven us here, taken care of me, of Maisie, of Colt. Uprooted his entire life to move in next door. He’d been steadfast every time I’d sworn I didn’t need him and there the moment I did without any hint of I-told-you-so.
I took one last breath and turned back to the doctor, who gave me the satisfied nod of a job well done.
“We’ll keep her here in the ICU another day, just to make sure, and then move her to pediatrics another few days for monitoring. Better safe than sorry.”
“Thank you.” There weren’t any other words to say.
“You’ve got a little fighter there,” the doctor said before heading out, leaving the three of us alone.
“I don’t have Colt,” Maisie said quietly, looking around her bed.
It took me a second to realize what she was saying. “I’m sorry, we left so fast that I didn’t think to grab him.” The bear was most likely sitting on Colt’s bed, the lone pink spot in a sea of blue.
“Don’t you worry, we’ll have your mom grab him when she runs home tomorrow for a little bit. Sound good?” Beckett offered.
“What? Me run home?” Hell no, I wasn’t leaving my daughter.
“Yep,” he said with a nod. “If you leave by ten, you can get home, shower the hospital off you, and get to Colt’s graduation by two.”
Colt’s kindergarten graduation. My mouth dropped, and my gaze flickered from Beckett to Maisie. How could I leave her here? How could I miss Colt’s graduation? Sure it was a little silly, but I knew how important it was to him. How could I leave her here when she was supposed to be walking across the stage with him? How was any of this fair?
Beckett cupped my cheeks, stopping the ping-pong battle with my concentration. “Ella. She’s stable. She’ll be out of the ICU. I am more than capable of hanging out with her for a few hours. You need to be there for Colt. Let me do this. Stop splitting yourself in two, and let me help. Please.”
“Yeah, Mom. You have to go. I don’t want Colt to be sad,” Maisie added.
“I don’t have a way to get back.”
“You take my truck.”
Wait. What? Trucks were sacred to guys. He might as well be offering his soul on a platter. “Your truck.”
“You do have a driver’s license, right?” he joked.
“Well, yeah.”
“Then it’s settled. You’ll grab Pink Colt when you go home tomorrow. In the meantime, Maisie and I will watch movies and hang out. What do you say, Maisie-girl?” He looked back at my daughter.
“Yes!”
“You’re sure?” I asked.
“Absolutely.” He took my hands and held them to his chest. “I swear.”
The sweetest feeling unfurled in my chest, only to plant deep in my belly. It stretched through my body until I swore my fingertips tingled.
“Take lots of pictures, okay?”
“Okay,” I replied, focused on the overwhelming emotion consuming me.
It had to be infatuation, right? Who wouldn’t crush on this man a little? That’s all it was, because there was no way in the world I was falling for Beckett.
Absolutely none.
He turned and high-fived Maisie, that little strip of white on his wrist screaming louder than my brain could deny. Because while my head had been panicked Saturday night, focused on forms and doctors and transfers, my heart had declared that this man was trusted. My heart had signed that paper while my head was consumed with other matters. This man was in my life, and in a way, mine. And Colt’s. And most definitely Maisie’s.
After all, that bracelet had her name written on it.
Oh God. I was in love with him.
Chapter Fourteen
Beckett
Letter #20
Chaos,
I feel like all I write to you about lately is Maisie’s diagnosis. Honestly, sometimes I feel like that’s all I think about. I’ve become one of those people with a one-track mind, and everything revolves around her.
So let’s try to snap out of that for a few minutes. Christmas is coming. It’s one of our busiest times of the year for guests, and as usual, we’re booked solid through the first week in January, which is great for business and referrals.
I moved the kids to the last cabin we had available and took it off the books. It’s the best way to keep Maisie safe when her levels bottom