Читать книгу The Texan's Twins - Jolene Navarro - Страница 12

Chapter Four

Reid held the bottle as the baby bear clung to him. He took a deep breath, pushing his lungs past their comfort zone. Releasing all the tension, he counted to five. Held it. Again.

It wasn’t working.

No matter how he tried to center his breathing, the word daughters bounced around in his head. The double image of the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen ricocheted in his thoughts.

Two curly-red-haired girls. He had two daughters with the same color of eyes as his mother. Two daughters who were already five years old. Five years he could never get back. Anger threatened to abolish all his good intentions.

Danica was right. He’d walked out on her when she needed him most. He’d ruined his own life. A life that not only shined with Danica as his wife but two precious girls who...

His family had ridiculed him for trying to make a better life, for reaching over his head for things that belonged to other people. Not him.

The night he was arrested they had been proven right. There was no escaping his family blood.

But daughters? What did he do with that information? Even after seeing them, he still couldn’t believe it. He wanted to yell and hit something.

He stroked the bear’s fur and looked down, into her trusting eyes. Centering his thoughts and turning to God was what he needed to do now.

As much as he wanted to blame Danica, he couldn’t. The mistake was his, and now he had a great deal to prove to her.

The rocking chair creaked as it rolled back and forth. Reid leaned his head back. The peeling paint on the old wood panel revealed decades of colors just painted on top of each other. It needed to be sanded and repainted. No one had ever taken the time to do the job right. Layers of paint had been slapped onto each other, covering the old stains.

If she had the supplies to make repairs, he could work on restoring the old wood. Words were not going to regain the trust he’d lost. It was going to take a lot of work and time to show her he could be counted on.

His mother had put her husband above her children. Each time his father got out of prison, his mother took him back, no questions asked. A corner of his lip twitched as he looked down at the bear. “Danica made it clear I wasn’t getting anywhere near her babies. I think she might be the definition of mama bear.”

“Are you talking to the bear?” Not making eye contact, Danica marched across the room. She gave no indication she had actually heard what he said.

“No one else will talk to me.”

A snort came from her as she pulled bottles and assorted supplies out of the cabinets. “When you finish with the feeding, we’ll move her out to the enclosure.” With jerky fast motions, she stuffed them in the bag. “I’ll wait in the Jeep that’s parked out back.” Without a glance at him, she flung the bag over her back and left.