MASON.
I couldn’t answer. Not immediately. Instead, I stared at the baby, her tiny chest rising and falling as she drifted off to sleep again. She didn’t deserve anything but goodness in this world. And I had sworn to give her that—to give her all the good things in life. To protect her with everything that I’ve got.
I took that words seriously, so seriously that I had unconsciously also tried to protect her from myself. Maybe I didn’t want to admit it, or maybe I was already aware… that I wasn’t part of the good things that deserved her.
I let out a shaky breath.
“I don’t know how to hold a baby,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper.
Roan’s smile returned, warm and encouraging. “That’s nothing a little practice can’t fix.”
Before I could protest, she gently placed the baby i
