In Colton's Custody by Dana Nussio

Author:Dana Nussio
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-12-09T14:54:02+00:00

Chapter 17

“You’re looking better today.”

Asher shook his head as he patted his father’s pale hand on top of the blanket. He didn’t know why he said that every time he visited. It wasn’t true. Dad looked the same. Broken. Fragile. Words he never would have used to describe the mountain that was Payne Colton.

“On second thought, you look like crap. I want you to wake up right now and get back to work. We need you.”

He scooted the chair closer to the bed and waited. Payne’s chest rose and fell in the same monotonous and assisted rhythm as before, his regular heartbeat drawing a squiggly but relatively even line on the heart monitor. Asher lifted his father’s hand and squeezed, but when he released his hold, it dropped with a soft thud back to the sheets.

Asher gripped the plastic bedrail instead, squeezing so hard that his knuckles flashed white. What had he expected? That his father would pull a Lazarus and wake up right then? Sure, Dad would have liked to make a statement like that, but wherever he was, he must have felt safe there, as he didn’t seem ready to return yet.

“Okay, then. Stay there if you need to. But just for a while, okay? Remember your grandbaby, Harper? She’s getting so big now. You’re missing out on the chance to see her grow.”

He pushed aside his own resentment that elbowed in every time he thought of his dad. Besides, they now shared something in common that no father should ever face.

“I finally understand how you were feeling when you found out that Ace possibly wasn’t yours. The hospital’s said the same thing about Harper and me.”

Even recognizing that this was a one-sided conversation didn’t stop him from pausing and waiting for his father’s response.

“Deep in my soul, I know she’s my child, but then you thought the same thing about Ace. Felt the same thing. Yet you were wrong.”

He couldn’t bring himself to put to words the question swirling in his mind that he could have been mistaken, as well.

“I’m a lousy son, but part of the reason I wanted you to wake up was so you could see that I’m a good dad. Maybe better than you.” He shook his head, a sad smile pulling at his lips. “I know. It’s terrible.”

His voice broke on the last. He lifted his chin and tilted his head back and blinked several times. He had to stay in control, at least for his daughter’s sake.

“I met Willow because of this mess. She was here the other night, but you were too rude to wake up and give her a proper hello.”

He paused again, hoping, and then finally he continued.

“You’d like her, I think. She’s a take-no-prisoners person. Kind of like you.”

He grinned at the comparison. Until he’d spoken the words, he’d never realized how true they were. She was strong-willed and single-minded in her determination to keep her business and the security she’d worked so hard to build for her family.

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