Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

J T couldn’t believe his eyes. He had to be dreaming. A fantasy his conscious mind didn’t dare offer up, but which slipped around the barriers when he finally got the little hellion to settle down and sleep.

He held Lex’s gaze, not even daring to breathe lest he wake the tiny, volatile Mr. Hyde who rested on his heart.

“Gemma?” Lex’s voice was a choked whisper.

She reached out a hand, as if to touch her daughter’s soft hair, but then pulled back. Was she also afraid to break this magic and wake the demon?

Gemma let out a soft snuffling sound, her body completely relaxed on his chest. As if this was the most normal thing in the world.

He cupped the back of Gemma’s head and then scooted to lean against the armrest so he was no longer flat on his back.

The movement broke the spell, and Alexandra let out a sob and dropped to her knees next to the couch. She rained kisses all over Gemma’s blonde hair, some landing on JT’s fingers. She straightened and kissed JT’s cheek, then burrowed her head into his neck and let out a muffled sob.

He wrapped an arm around her and scooped her up. She shifted, pressing herself to his side on the extra-wide lounge seat. She snuggled against him, her hand cupping the back of her daughter’s head as she silently sobbed.

JT’s tears fell too, rolling down his cheek and soaking her hair. He could burst with the amount of emotion he was holding inside.

Finally, Lex let out a shuddering breath and whispered, “How did you know I was here?”

He shook his head slightly. “I didn’t. We didn’t. I’d planned to come here for the holiday anyway, and Lee figured it would be safest for Gemma if she wasn’t with them.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Thank you. For protecting my baby.”

His tears also fell as he choked out his response. “Of course.”

He had a thousand questions for her, starting with what happened on that deserted Maryland road, but right now, he just wanted to hold her. Hold her daughter. Breathe.

Get his emotions under control.

She burrowed against him, and he realized how cold her body was. He grabbed the throw that was draped over the back of the couch and did his best to drape it over her without shifting too much to wake the kid.

“You’re freezing.”

“I saw your car on the driveway when you first drove up. I wasn’t sure if it was you or someone looking for me, so I hid in the woods, waiting for darkness, so I could sneak in and see who was here.”

“When did you get here?”

“Late the night…everything happened. I would have told you—or Lee—but no phone. No computer.”

Had she been here before he picked up Gemma? If he’d come straight here instead of stopping at the motel… But he couldn’t regret that. It had been the best choice he could make at the time.

“It’s good that you didn’t call Lee. The cops are likely watching his house. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got a warrant to tap his landline. No way could they listen in on his cell, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try. I haven’t checked in with him since I got Gemma.”

The child shifted, and he realized he was creeping toward speaking in a normal voice. He’d said her name, which could be one of her wake words.

Alexandra’s gaze had been fixed on her daughter since she’d snuggled to his side. Now, she sat up and stroked her daughter’s soft blonde hair. More tears fell as she said, “I’ve been terrified I’d never get to hold her again.” She then lifted her sleeping daughter from his chest and shifted her to her own.

Cold seeped in at the loss of the bundle of heat against his heart, but a different warmth flooded him as he watched the love of his life sob as she cuddled her daughter.

G emma smelled of baby shampoo and Cheerios, and Alexandra couldn’t hold back the cry that erupted from her as she held her baby tight.

Her baby. Her everything. Safe in her arms.

For now.

It was that for now uncertainty of what would happen to her that triggered the sob. Joy and pain all at once.

Strangely reminiscent of the two years when she and JT were back together—she had the man she loved—but his volatile emotions had kept her on edge, knowing it would never last. Even though she shared his bed, the meaningful part of their relationship was over.

But there was no end to the meaningful part of her relationship with Gemma. She would always be her mother, even if she was in prison.

Prison.

She could go to prison for a crime she didn’t commit.

Gemma woke. Of course she did. Her mother was sobbing loudly and squeezing her tight.

She didn’t cry, though, and Alexandra figured she’d known from her scent that she was in her mother’s arms before she even opened her eyes.

But she did push back against Alexandra’s tight grip. Tiny hands pressed to Alexandra’s chest and arms extended their full short length, she tilted her head up and said, “Mommy!”

Her chin quivered, and the anger she must have harbored at her mother’s disappearance rose to the surface. She smacked Alexandra’s collarbone, then grabbed her jaw with both hands. Her nails hadn’t been clipped in days, and the sharp little edges scraped Alexandra’s skin. “Mommy gone .”

The outrage she managed to put in the second word made up for her limited vocabulary.

“I’m sorry, baby. So sorry. I didn’t know I’d be gone.”

Gemma’s precious face crumpled, and she burst into tears. Alexandra held her and cried with her, not trying to stop either of them from shedding the well-earned tears.

JT’s arms surrounded them both, and that just made her cry harder.

Who was this man who’d taken care of her child, protecting her when it could put him in legal trouble?

Every minute they spent together added to his risk. JT had political aspirations that had been destroyed once already. Helping her could crush his renewed hopes, if he had them.

The thought brought an end to her crying. She pulled back. “Gemma and I need to leave, or you’ll be arrested for harboring a fugitive.”

“I don’t give a fu—” He cleared his throat and continued in a softer tone. “Fig. You aren’t going anywhere without me. I have resources and can help you. You take Gemma and run, and you’re both in far more danger.”

Gemma’s tears subsided. True to her daughter’s cyclone nature, she wiggled from Alexandra’s arms and said, “Tee-Tee!”

Alexandra frowned. “Tee-Tee?”

JT tapped the switch on the end table light, and the room filled with a soft glow.

Gemma twisted so she was on her belly as she slid off the couch in new footy pajamas. She ran to the diaper bag. Alexandra hadn’t spotted it in the dark corner when she first entered the room.

Gemma grabbed her favorite tattered stuffed panda and a brand-new plush dinosaur. She ran across the room, waving the green plushy. “Tee-Tee.”

Alexandra looked to JT, raising a brow. “Tee-Tee? Because it’s a T-Rex?”

“I think? She calls me Tee, so she also might have named it after me.”

Her daughter had a name for JT. All at once, she was reminded of her private name for him. Jay. And only Jay called her Lex.

Her Jay.

But Gemma had Tee.

She might swoon.

Gemma held out the new toy for inspection, and Alexandra kissed it on the snout and welcomed Tee-Tee to the family.

“We need to talk,” JT said.

She nodded as she rose from the couch. Tears and introductions were over. She needed to know what was going on and share her story with Jay. “I think we need to get Raptor involved. Will they help me?”

He stood and cupped her cheek, then kissed her forehead. “They already are. If you’re anything like your daughter, you must be starving. Food first, then you can tell me everything.”

A lexandra was impressed with the supplies Jay had managed to get in the middle of the night. Enough groceries for him and a baby for several days, plus all the accessories a toddler needed.

Erica had given him a detailed list, and he’d gone above and beyond, right down to picking up a stuffed T-Rex that Gemma had fallen in love with.

And given the way her little girl looked at him, she figured Gemma was equally enamored of Uncle Tee.

It was wild. JT didn’t even like kids.

But damn, he’d come to Gemma’s rescue without hesitation.

Her heart squeezed. Never in a million years had she imagined JT spending a minute with her daughter, let alone changing diapers, feeding, and bathing her.

Now he cooked dinner while Alexandra moved the portable crib out of the shower and into the sauna attached to the primary bath for a quick dry. The thin mattress hadn’t gotten dirty in the mud, nor had it gone into the shower. It was clean and dry.

Gemma would be able to sleep in the crib tonight, although Alexandra was just as likely to pull her into bed with her. It was hard to imagine letting the girl be more than an arm’s reach away.

She adjusted the temperature of the sauna, then pulled the door tightly closed.

“Okay, squirt. Let’s go help Uncle Tee make dinner.”

Gemma picked up her dinosaur and panda, who had been having a gibberish conversation on the bathroom floor.

They left the bedroom and crossed the landing to the top of the stairs. One thing JT hadn’t gotten was a gate to block off the stairs. Gemma had only recently learned how to navigate stairs, and Alexandra was glad the upstairs of this house, built in the seventies, had wall-to-wall carpeting, including carpeted stairs and landing.

She considered carrying her down, but she needed to know if Gemma could do this. So she watched, ready to grab her if she stumbled as the girl turned and presented her backside to the world as she descended on all fours, one stuffed animal clutched in each hand while she pressed dino and panda into the carpet one slow step at a time.

When she reached the bottom, Gemma grinned with her achievement and praised her toys. “Good job, Panny Tee-Tee!”

Every moment felt extra intense as she watched the things her daughter could do after the constant fear and horror of the last days. The horror wasn’t gone. The fear might never leave her.

Her joy and relief in this moment was mixed with a huge dose of dread at the uncertainty of what faced her.

She’d do whatever it took to protect Gemma.

Raptor would help her.

Jay would help her.

She’d been prepared to surrender if it was the only way to keep her girl safe, but knowing she had backup, she vowed to go down fighting.