Evelyn
I woke up to the sensation of rough fingers tracing slow, featherlight patterns up and down my stomach. The warmth of small, lingering kisses ghosted over my skin, and for a moment, I just lay there, letting myself sink into the tenderness of it.
Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I looked down to find Jacob sprawled across me, his head resting just above my belly, arms wrapped around me in a possessive grip.
It took me a second to realize-he wasn’t actually putting any weight on me. He was simply listening.
A soft smile curled my lips as I tangled my fingers into his silky hair, scratching my nails lightly over his scalp. “What are you doing, silly?”
“Isn’t it weird that I can’t hear anything?” he murmured, his voice low and thoughtful. Without looking at me, he pressed his ear a little closer to my skin, as if trying to catch even the faintest whisper of sound.
“Holy shit! I heard one!” he suddenly exclaimed.
I bit my lip, struggling not to burst into laughter. “Jacob… that was my stomach grumbling. I’m hungry.”
He finally sat up, his brows furrowing in disappointment. “We should go to the doctor. This isn’t normal.”
A small chuckle escaped me. “You really have no idea how pregnancy works, do you?” I pushed myself up, wrapping my arms around his neck, my fingers caressing the nape of his neck. I couldn’t help it-I leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his lips before whispering against them, “Babies don’t make sounds in the womb, Jacob. They don’t talk or cry. They just eat, sleep, and sometimes move. And ours is still too tiny for even that. Right now, they’re just growing.”
“I see,” he mumbled, though the skepticism still lingered in his expression.
I hesitated for a moment, my heart warring with my thoughts. Then, finally, I spoke.
“Jacob, can I ask you something?”
His eyes met mine instantly, and for a brief second, something flickered behind them-recognition. He already knew what I was about to ask.
Still, he sighed, shifting as he pulled me onto his lap, straddling him. My hands slid over his chest, fingers splayed against his warmth as I gazed at him, my voice soft.
“Your biggest fear… is that you’ll become like your biological father, isn’t it?” I felt his body tense beneath my touch-but he didn’t freeze. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t even try to deny it.
Because he had been expecting this.
He exhaled a slow, shaky breath before nodding. “Yes, Evie,” he murmured, swallowing hard. “I keep wondering-what if one day I wake up and see him in me? What if I start to behave like him? I can’t even bear the thought of it.”
I cupped his face, my thumbs brushing lightly over his cheekbones. “Hey,” I whispered, my voice gentle, afraid that if I spoke too loud, I might shatter him. “You will never become him. You are Jacob. My Jacob. You are mine, and no matter what, you will always be the man I know.” My eyes searched his, trying to anchor him. “You’re the one who carries everyone’s burdens so they can sleep in peace. The one who loves me, takes care of me, feeds me even when I refuse to eat. You are mine, Jacob. And my Jacob could never hurt anyone.”
A quiet, pained sound escaped him as he pulled me into his arms, burying his face into the crook of my neck. I felt his heartbeat, hard and unsteady against my chest. This man bottled up too much. He was always too hard on himself.
“What memory haunts you the most?” I asked softly.
His body stiffened instantly.
He hadn’t expected that. I knew how hard it was for him-to think about it, let alone speak it into existence.
But he had to let it out.
He couldn’t keep storing it inside, letting it eat away at him.
When he remained silent, only releasing a slow breath of resignation, I cupped his face and made him look at me.
“Tell me,” I whispered. “I’m here.”
A few moments passed before he finally spoke. “The time he gave me a black eye,” he said, his voice rough, as though the memory itself tasted bitter on his tongue. His jaw clenched slightly, tension coiling through him. “Sometimes, it still bleeds into the present. Like it’s happening all over again.”
“Which eye?” I asked.
“Left.”
I leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss over his left eye, my lips barely brushing against his skin.
“There’s no wound anymore,” I whispered. “There’s no pain anymore.” I rubbed my thumb soothingly over the spot, as if I could erase the ghosts of his past with a simple touch. “It’s just you and me now. Our friends. Our family. And our baby. The nightmare is gone.”
He let out a tight breath, his eyes still closed, as though he was letting my words sink into his soul.
“What else?” I asked, my voice quiet but steady.
A muscle in his jaw twitched before he spoke again, “When he hit Bianca… with his belt.”
His voice trembled. So did his body.
I pulled him against me without hesitation, wrapping my arms around him as tightly as I could. He buried his face in my chest, his breath uneven, his pain raw.
“Bianca’s safe now,” I whispered, stroking his back, grounding him. “She’s happy. She lives in her beautiful little apartment, in a safe space, with a protective little brother who has grown strong enough to shield her from anything. She is free. The marks are gone. The memories are fading. She is safe and mostly, she has everything she ever wanted.”
He didn’t say anything for a long time, just held onto me as though I was the only thing tethering him to the present. When he finally pulled back, his eyes found mine. And in them, I saw something different.
Love.
Relief.
As if, piece by piece, I was pulling him out of the darkness that lived inside his head. As if I was mending him.
“My mom… when he beat her so badly that she bled.” As the words left his mouth, I felt a sharp sting deep in my chest.
I didn’t know how to comfort that.
She was gone.
But maybe that was the easier part. She was safe now.
I leaned in, searching his eyes, my voice soft yet firm. “She’s safe and happy now.” The words left me instinctively, as if they had been waiting to be spoken. “She left that hell-this world-that was nothing but pain for her. She’s breathing freely now, no longer trapped in the nightmare he created.”
I pressed my palm against his cheek, my thumb tracing gentle circles over his skin.
“She’s probably looking at herself right now, at the beauty she regained, the strength that monster tried to steal from her. And more than anything, she’s looking at you-her little boy, the one she never got to see grow up, and she’s proud. Proud of how strong you’ve become, of the man you’ve become. She sees Bianca too, a woman who refuses to be broken, who won’t take shit from anyone anymore.”
I swallowed, my voice softening to a whisper.
“She’s at peace, Jacob. And she’s happy because you and Bianca are safe now. She can finally rest, knowing her children are free.”
A breath shuddered from his lips, his grip on me tightening as if he was holding onto my words, onto me.
I leaned in and pressed my lips to his, a kiss meant to heal, to assure, to love.
He inhaled sharply before his hands slid into my hair, fingers tangling at the nape of my neck as he kissed me back with raw, aching desperation. His lips moved against mine, urgent, fervent-like he was trying to pour every unspoken word, every ounce of love, into me.
And I kissed him just as fiercely, as if I could kiss away his pain.
When we finally broke apart, breathless, he rested his forehead against mine, his fingers still tangled in my hair.
His voice was hoarse, filled with something deep and unshakable. “You are a blessing.” He traced his fingers down my jaw, his touch reverent. “No matter how many times I tell you I fucking love you, it will never be enough.”
A soft smile curled at my lips as I whispered, “Then keep telling me. Over and over again.”