The boats disappeared into the horizon, but the damage was already done.
I stood on the cliff with Daddy’s arm locked around my waist, my body trembling from the emotional whiplash. The baby was kicking furiously now, as if protesting the storm that had just passed and the one still coming. My legs felt weak, my mind spinning with everything I had just said.
I’m staying.
The words echoed in my head like a confession and a condemnation at the same time.
Daddy turned me to face him, his hands cupping my face with desperate intensity. His gray eyes were wild, filled with relief, fear, and a love so fierce it bordered on madness.
“You chose me,” he whispered, voice rough and thick with emotion. “Again. Even when they offered you everything. Even when Harrington begged you to leave. You s
