As he once told me, there was no point in putting on an act. If you wanted someone to fall in love with you, truly, irrevocably in love, then they needed to be able to love all of you — warts and all.
But I didn’t want Dante to tell me I was ungrateful, or to start the day on an argument. Especially since that goddamn contractwas hanging over my head every time I went to open my mouth. So I held my tongue, something I was doing more and more of these days, and I fucking hated it.
Dante took us to the beach again, same as he had that one day we had taken Bee on an adventure. It was Axel’s first time, and he took to it like a duck to water. I had picture after picture on my phone of Axel walking to the beginning of the tide and dipping his toes in the sea, only to be scooped in the air by Dante. Bee had pouted, and he had grabbed her too, sitting them both on his shoulders and running into the waves with them.
“If you drop one of them, I’ll drown you. Promise. Not a threat,” I called after them, cupping my hands around my mouth to project my voice, making sure they could hear me over their squeals of laughter.
“Carry on threatening me—”
“Promising,” I interrupted with a grin.
“Threatening, and I’ll pick you up and dump you in the sea myself,” he warned, his voice low and deadly as he walked out of the water. My heart jumped in my throat as the sun shone behind him, illuminating him and my children like a beacon of light, calling to me.
I looked away, biting down on my bottom lip. I don’t know what it was about Dante holding children that I found so fucking sexy, but it had always been the same. The moment I saw him holding Bee in his huge, tattooed arms, a tender look on his face, I had been lost.
I’d never really found my way since.
But I knew how dangerous it was to confuse tenderness with trust. He’d ruined me before in exactly the same way.
“We should go,” Dante said, appearing by my side.
“What? Why?” I asked, looking at the children spinning around in circles in the sand.
“It’s going to rain. We should get the kids inside.”
Before he had even finished his sentence, he was proven right once again. The heavens opened, saturating us in an instant.
I jumped to my feet with a laugh, grabbing hold of Axel at the same time as Dante snatched up Bee, and we ran across the beach, half laughing, half panting as the cold of the rain made our clothes stick to our skin, droplets running down our backs.
We ran over the pier, weaving in and out of the traffic of people, all of them scrambling for shelter. Dante found an old, rickety looking gazebo and scurried us under it.
I was breathing heavily, looking at the crowds of people, all of whom were already soaked, and yet were trying to find shelter as though it would make a difference. The damage was already done.
And that’s when an old saying came back to me.
Life wasn’t about seeking shelter in the storm. It was learning to dance in the rain.
“Do you trust me?” I whispered to Bee, crouching down beside her.
“Why?”
“You don’t get to know. You just have to say yes or no,” I grinned at her. She grinned back at me and nodded her head. As soon as I saw her confirmation, I grabbed her hand and pulled her out from under the shelter and back into the rain. She screamed, jumping up and down, the rain soaking her through to the bone. I pulled her close to me and raised our joined hands up and twirled her.
Axel giggled in my arms and so I let go of Bee’s hand and spun him around, too. Bee caught on quickly and ran to a lamppost, spinning around it like a ballerina. I followed her lead and skipped over, raising Axel high in the air and flipping him onto his stomach over my hands. I grabbed his arms and held them out like Superman and chased Bee around the lamppost, their laughter like music to my ears.
Bee spun close to me, her arms clinging to my clothes, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and spun again, tipping my head back to let the water wash over me.
I felt light and carefree. All I had ever wanted was for my children to be happy, and in this moment, I had achieved it. No matter what happened, I would always have this memory. I would hear their light laughter, giggling until their stomachs hurt.
I placed Axel on his feet and Bee immediately seized his hand, helping him run over to a puddle and teaching him how to jump in it.
“You look happy,” came a voice behind me, making me jump slightly. I looked over my shoulder and quickly smiled at Dante before looking back at the kids.
“I am happy.”
“It’s nice. I don’t see you happy often enough.”
“I guess I haven’t had much to be happy about lately,” I replied, leaning back against him. His hand came around my stomach, and we stayed together like that for a moment, just watching Axel and Bee live in the moment.
