Jaded Hearts
Chapter 62

Taylor

I woke up to the sound of a probably wet and hungry Genesis screaming through the baby monitor. This little girl had mutant lungs, I was sure of it.

I stumbled around the room to replace my robe, then ran over to the nursery to get her before she woke up the entire house. When I arrived, I was surprised to see that Kade was already there, getting ready to change her diaper.

“Where the hell did you come from?” I asked, still trying to fully wake up.

“I was just passing by. It’s time for morning combat training, but this little one needed her Uncle Kade, so I had to stop.”

I swear I’d never figure this guy out. From the outside, no one would ever guess that he could be so good with kids and that they would love him the way they all seem to.

He was some strange, tattooed baby whisperer. He skillfully changed and swaddled her in record time, then passed her to me.

“How are you so good at that?”

“It’s a long story, but I’ll give you the highlights. When I was sixteen, the pack was attacked, and my mom died. My twin sisters were only three weeks old when it happened. My father was the pack’s Beta and was dealing with the loss of his mate, so he wasn’t in the best position to be a full-time dad. I stepped up and helped raise them for a couple of years until it was time for Xander to take over as Alpha. Dad retired, and now he has the time to take care of the girls. They’re almost seven now.”

We’d never really had any deep conversations before, so I didn’t know that he lost his mom so young. Of all people, Kade was the only one in the house who knew what I was going through.

“I don’t know what to say. It’s terrible that you lost your mom the way you did, but it made you the man you are today. You’re pretty amazing.”

“That I already know.”

He ran his hands through his hair and blew out a breath.

“Just hold on, Taylor. It gets easier. It sucks at first; for a while, actually. You’ll slip into a deep depression, and at times, you won’t be able to see a way out of it. You might even believe that you can’t live without them, but that the world would be better without you. That’s just the grief talking, and it’s an evil b***h. When that happens—and trust me that it will—just look around at all that you have. At all the people who are still here who need and love you. Think of what your parents would want for you, and keep moving forward. That’s what I did.”

I pulled him into a hug. There was nothing else I could do. “Thank you, Kade. I knew you were sweet under all that ink.”

“You’re welcome, but don’t tell anyone. I’ve got to keep my bad boy reputation intact.”

He pulled out his phone, then leaned down to k**s the top of my head. “I’ve got to go. I’m already late, so that means three extra miles for warm-up.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you late.”

“Nah, it’s cool. The princess is worth it. See you later,” he said as he ran out of the room.

I settled myself in the rocking chair to feed the baby and thought about all he’d just said to me. I was already dealing with the depression and the dark thoughts, but it’s become evident over the last couple of days that the people in this house wouldn’t let me stay there for long.

I was excited to face the day. I was going to replace the ladies, and we would plan an amazing memorial for my parents. They lived and died together; I took comfort in that. And I would send them off with a celebration fitting of just how amazing they were and how lucky I was to have had them for as long as I did.

* * *

A few hours later, Morgan, Alaia, and I were in Alaia’s office planning the service. We were making really good progress and were, thankfully, almost done.

“All of this looks great. I just want to make sure that it’s a party, not a funeral. They never liked funerals. Too sad.”

“That’s the plan. We’ve got catering, music, and simple decoration all taken care of. You’ll take care of contacting any close family and friends to give them the details. Sound good?” Alaia asked.

“That’s perfect. Thank you so much, you guys. I appreciate all your help with this.”

“Of course, Tay. You’re family,” Morgan said with a smile.

Tesoro, my mom’s here to pick up Genesis. Did you want to come down?

Yes. Give me a few minutes to finish up here, and I’ll be right there.

I’ll let her know.

“I’ve got to head downstairs now. Giana’s here for the baby.”

“She’s loving being a grandma, huh?” Alaia asked.

“Big time. This is a dream come true for her. It’s nice to know that I have someone who will gladly take the baby whenever we need her to. Babysitter on demand.”

“We’ll get everything settled up here and let you know the details when we’re done. Tell Giana I still need her biscotti recipe. I haven’t forgotten,” Morgan said before pushing me out the door.

Entering the living room, I saw Giana hand Matt a box, which he quickly tried to hide behind his back. I would’ve let it go as something he wanted to surprise me with, but Giana looked sad and nervous. Those weren’t emotions “good” surprises usually bring out in people.

“What’s that?” I asked, pointing behind him.

“Nothing for you to worry about right now, angel. Did you want to give the baby a k**s before she goes?”

“Yeah, I do. And I also want to know what’s behind your back.”

“You look beautiful today, Taylor. I’m so happy to see you’re getting back to your old self,” Giana sweetly chimed in.

She was adorable, but she wouldn’t distract me.

“Thank you. I’m slowly feeling better. Your amazing son, who never lies or hides things from me, can take some credit for that,” I replied, looking Matt right in the eye.

Matt sighed, then g*****d, knowing that he was backed into a corner.

“I’m going to go now. I’ll bring the little one back in a few days, okay?”

I leaned down to the car seat and gave Genesis a bunch of k****s before I covered her up and gave Giana a hug.

“Thank you, Giana. Drive safe.”

When she was gone, I stood in place and waited for Matt to show me what he had.

“I’m just trying to protect you, baby. You’re just now starting to get back to yourself.”

“Whatever it is, I can handle it. Now show me.”

He pulled the box out and handed it to me.

“The wedding invitations …” I looked down at the beautiful calligraphy that read:

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Adams invite you to celebrate the marriage of their daughter Taylor Rain Adams to Matthew Anthony Stone.

“I’m sorry, angel. I was going to get rid of these and order new ones before you saw them.”

This hurt. A lot.

My parents were so excited about the wedding. My dad has been saving for years to give me the wedding of my dreams, and Mom was going to finally make it to Italy. But they wouldn’t be there. They could no longer invite anyone to the wedding. They were gone.

“Um, it’s fine. You’re right; we’ll just order new ones. It’s fine. I’m fine. It’s fine.”

My voice was barely a whisper by the time I finished my statement. It wasn’t fine, but I was going the “fake it until you make it” route. It wasn’t working too well.

“Come here, baby,” Matt said as he tossed the box aside and wrapped me in his arms.

I wanted to break down and sink back into the darkness. That was the easy thing to do. But I chose to go the opposite route. This wedding was a happy occasion, and I wouldn’t let anything change that.

“Can we just change them to ‘Taylor and Matt’ request your presence, blah, blah, blah? Leave the parents off. Is that okay?”

“Whatever you want to do is perfect. I’ll let my mom know.”

“Okay.”

I took a step back and looked up at him. “Stop trying to shield me from everything. You can’t protect me from the world, Matt. If you take on all of this s**t by yourself, it’s just going to hurt you in the end. I don’t want that. It’s me and you together. Deal?”

“I won’t make any promises, but I’ll try.”

“Good enough. So, am I training today?”

“If you’re comfortable, and that’s what you want.”

“Cool, I’ll text Tyson and let him know.”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you later. I need to catch up with a ton of permits and contracts, so I’ll pass on this one. I’m sure Tyson can handle it.”

This was a change that I wasn’t expecting at all. “Are you sure? I can come help you, and we can train when you’re done.”

“I’m sure, tesoro. Go. You two don’t need me supervising you all the time. I trust you to do the right thing.”

Weird.

“Okay. I’ll see you later then.”

I gave him a quick k**s then walked to the gym. When I arrived, there was a shirtless Tyson working up a sweat with the heavy bag.

Lord give me strength.

* * *

Tyson

Whenever sunshine was close, I could always tell. Even before I saw her, I would know she was there. It was ingrained in our senses; a bear always knew when their partner was nearby. When it came to Taylor, I could feel it. It was a tingle that ran down my spine, and a quick chill that washed over me.

So I knew she was seconds from walking in.

When I looked over to her, I noticed her eyes raking over my body then resting on my chest. Yeah, she had eyes, alright.

“Hey, gorgeous. Where’s your guy?”

She met my eyes then, looking embarrassed that I had again caught her looking.

“It’s just you and me today. He has work to catch up on.”

“Really? He’s not afraid that you’re going to jump me?”

She rolled those beautiful green eyes of hers and frowned. “Get over yourself. I’m not going to jump you. You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before. It’s just in a bigger package.”

I raised an eyebrow at her choice of words, and when she realized what she’d said, she looked mortified. I had to laugh at her.

“That’s not what I meant. I was just saying that you, as a bear, are bigger than everyone. I have no idea what your package is like, or … never mind!”

“I got it. Take a breath.”

“What are we working on today? Since we won’t do hand-to-hand, can you teach me some self-defense techniques? We can save the wolf-killing stuff for when Matt’s with us.”

“Yeah, I can do that. Let’s get the run out of the way, and then we’ll get started.”

I was surprised that she didn’t complain. She just took off outside and along the route from yesterday. A mile or two in, I had to ask her the question that had been burning at the forefront of my mind.

“Sunshine, wait a minute.”

She turned to me, confused, and the confusion quickly turned to concern. “Are you alright? Did you pull something?”

“Seriously? I’m a bear in perfect physical condition, and we’ve run two miles. I’m fine.”

“Excuse me for caring. What do you want?”

“After everything settles down, and you’re feeling up to it, would you come over to my place and have dinner with me?”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, would I joke about something like this?”

“Well, no. I guess not, but I’m just confused. Matt put you up to this, didn’t he?”

“I’m not ‘up to anything’ Taylor. We all know what’s happening here, between the two of us. We can either ignore it and continue walking on eggshells around each other, or we can see where it goes. It’s just dinner. I’m not expecting anything more than friendly conversation. If we don’t hit it off on that level, then we can go back to being friends. Please.”

She pulled on her bottom l*p, and it made me smile, remembering when she would do the same thing as a kid.

“Okay. I can do dinner. Just give me some time.

“Take all the time you need. Now run—we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”