*Riding South spoilers below*
Trapped inside Tenney House and at the mercy of his father, Camilla and South are forced to face their greatest fears in order to bring down the Gentleman's Network--an organization that trades in secrets.
But in order...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The day my son was born was easily the best day of my whole damn life.
He was perfect.
A head full of thick black hair that stuck out in every direction, big honey brown eyes like his beautiful mom, and a stubborn little attitude that I think he got from both of us.
I wanted to give him the world. I wanted to see him win soccer games and learn how to sail and play fetch with Rocky. Or whatever else he wanted to do. I didn't care, as long as we could do it together.
Even though I was stupidly out-of-my-mind happy, it was crazy to think that I had been this little once. That my dad had looked down at baby me, and instead of seeing a treasure, he saw opportunity.
I knew this wasn't a helpful thought, but it was still there. Especially when I passed Jason to my father-in-law, Rick, who was wiping tears from his own eyes.
"He's beautiful, son. Just perfect. I'm so damn proud of you."
Then Rick did something that he frequently did—he hugged me. I'd always found it strange and awkward. Men didn't hug each other in my house growing up. Hell, Ma rarely hugged anyone. But Rick did. He was a hugger.
I'd never fully let myself accept that kind of affection from my father-in-law until that very moment. Right there in the same room my son was born in. I let Rick hug me, and I hugged him back.
For the first time, I thought maybe it didn't matter that my father was a piece of shit who was rotting away in Fort Leavenworth. I had another dad. And he was a really good one.
Jason started crying, and Camilla leaned forward. "He's probably hungry. Let me try and feed him again. Mom, can you help me?"
Rick turned around as Camilla tried to get Jason to latch, and he gave me a sympathetic smile. "Why don't we go get Camilla some flowers? And some food."
"Just a sec."
Before I left, I went over to the hospital bed where Camilla was trying to feed our baby boy and kissed them both. They were my whole world, my family. And I knew I'd never let anything happen to them.
