His Mate, His Enemy novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Kind Apology

In the morning Lorcan was asleep in the road, curled on his side under a blanket somebody had thrown over him.

I didn't ask who.

Molly had left the porch light on all night, and she hadn't said a word about that either.

At nine, the gate bell rang.

Brynn stood outside it with a baby in a sling against her chest and a canvas bag over her shoulder.

She was alone.

I felt Molly come up behind me in the doorway.

"Oh, no," Molly said quietly. "Absolutely not. Is that her?"

"That's her."

"I'll get my brother."

"Let her in," I said.

"Corinna."

"Let her in. I want to hear it."

Dane opened the gate himself.

He stood just inside it with his arms crossed.

Brynn passed him with her chin down, small and pale.

She stopped at the foot of the porch steps.

"I brought your things," she said.

She set the bag on the bottom step.

My mother's recipe cards and the clinic keys were inside.

So was a framed photograph of Brynn and me at twelve, in matching braces, holding a cake we had ruined.

I hadn't known I would want that so badly.

"I won't stay," Brynn said. "I only had to see you with my own eyes."

"You've seen me."

"Cori. I know I can't say it right. I'm so sorry I can't breathe from it."

The baby stirred against her chest.

He had a fuzz of dark hair and a fist pressed under his chin.

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