The Sweetest Gift - Scarlett Cole Page 0,30

she’s talking garbage. In our family, it’s cool to love whoever you want.”

“Why did nobody love us?” Henry asked.

Nik took a deep breath. Charlie’s squeals as he found a second cat like his own, and Jefferson’s constant shouts of glee, filtered from the living room into the bedroom. Such a contrast between the three children.

“That’s such a hard question to answer, Henry.” He took hold of the kid’s hand. “I think everybody who has ever met you, loves you. How could they not? You’re smart, thoughtful, and want to plan ahead. But I don’t think all the people you’ve met up until now knew how to best take care of you. How to love you and how to make you feel safe.”

Henry squeezed his hand. “Do you know, Nik? Do you know how to do that?”

“I’d like to think I do, but you tell me… have you felt safe since you got here with us?”

Henry thought for a moment. “I haven’t felt hungry in ages. And I like my bedroom. And you play with me.”

“Does that make you feel safe?” Nik asked. The idea of a child going hungry when he had so much sat like a weight in his gut.

Henry nodded. “And Jenny gives the best hugs. And I love your pancakes and the way you don’t shout at Charlie when he does something dumb.”

Nik’s heart melted that Henry cared so much for his brothers. “You know, me and my brothers look out for each other in the exact same way.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, all the time.” Nik thought about the way they’d all lived in the house that was now Elliott’s home so that Jordan would feel safe, the way he’d taken a bullet to make sure Dred’s family was kept safe, the way they’d rallied around Lennon, waiting to make music again until he was able to join them.

“Will we have to leave you and Jenny?” Henry’s words were almost a whisper, as if by saying them he might make them come true.

Nik reached for Henry and pulled him onto his lap. Henry’s small body curled into his. “Not if I have anything to do with it,” he said. “We’d love for you to stay with us forever. But I can’t promise that because it’s not our decision to make. A judge will have to decide that. However, I can promise you this. Jenny and I will do everything in our power to keep you with us. And, if for any reason, the court decides you are safer somewhere else, I’ll make sure I always know where you are and that you have a way to contact me if you need me.”

Henry put his arms around Nik’s chest. “I love you, Nik.”

Nik’s heart cracked wide open. He’d once thought that the only person in the world that he needed to hear those words from was Jenny. And for reasons he knew she would understand, he realized that he needed to hear them from Henry more.

“I love you, too, Henry.” He pressed a kiss to the top of Henry’s head. “Now, do you want to go see if any of those gifts outside have your name on them?”

Henry bounced off his lap with a wide grin on his face. “Yes, please.” He turned and ran out of the door.

Nik ran his hands over his face. “Merry Christmas,” he said out loud to himself.

And for once, he actually understood what the words meant.

8

Ignoring the fact he was completely naked, Lennon opened the doors to the hotel balcony and took a deep cleansing breath of sea air. The sun was just breaching the horizon in a dazzling array of oranges and purples. Waves shushed gently onto the shore, the only sound in an otherwise devastatingly peaceful morning.

Yet, despite its beauty, despite the morning’s ability to bring some semblance of quiet to his thoughts, none of it was as glorious as the woman he’d just left in their hotel bed.

He looked back into the room where Gia lay sleeping. Her long dark hair lay messily over her face and the pillow. One of her long arms hung off the bed. He followed the curve of her back to where the white, crisp linen just blocked his view of her butt. She slept like the dead and he admired her ability to simply close her eyes and drift away. Once, she’d told him it was nothing more than an ingrained habit after years of med school and residency, where sleep was a luxury.

His heart