Page 35 of Her Righteous Protector

“Meghan’s parents?”

“They’ve never met him.”

Max gave a satisfied smile.

“When did you move here?” Max asked.

“Fourteen months ago.”

“You got a different job?”

“Kind of. I quit DreamWorks and decided to go freelance illustrating fantasy fiction so that I could stay with Meghan and Zephyr after the results of her surgery found that the cancer had spread.”

“How bad were things?” Max asked quietly when once again he saw tears glistening on her eyelashes.

“To begin with, not so bad. I just moved into her house so that I could be kind of like the cool aunt who might make a dinner once in a while, you know?”

He didn’t, but he nodded.

“It began to be a balancing act. The pain would get to be too much for her to do her job, but then the drugs would make her too loopy to do her job, so she had to give it up. It was a good thing because she could focus more on Zephyr for those last six months. But he was an active three-year-old, and she was tired all the time, so he began to rely more on me. She hated that. He hated that. I hated that.”

Max wished like fucking hell he’d been there. Hannah must have seen his reaction.

“You were the sticking point. When Zephyr would sleep, Meghan and I would argue.”

“It sounds like I have you to thank for my son,” Max said quietly.

Hannah shrugged.

He looked at his watch again. “Do you think he’s awake?”

She took a deep breath and gave him a big smile. She stood up and held out her hand to him. “I think it’s time for you to come and meet Zephyr.”

* * *

“Hey, Hannah, I’m ready to go,” a young voice called out as soon as Julie opened the front door.

“Why don’t you hold on and say hello to…”

A little dark head poked out from underneath her mother’s arm. “Who?”

Hannah spun around and looked up at Max frantically, but he ignored her; he was too busy looking down at the little boy. He had wide, curious gray eyes, and Max’s heart tipped over into an abyss. He’d thought his world had changed in the lawyer’s office, but this is when it really changed.

Get your shit together!

“This is my friend Max,” Hannah said.

I’m your dad!

Max shook his head. He couldn’t say that to the little boy.

Zephyr wiggled in front of Hannah’s mom and grinned up at Hannah and Max. “Hiya! My name is Zephyr Maxwell Lancaster. Is your real whole name Maxwell?” he asked as he stared up at Max.

Max cleared his throat and crouched down so he could look Zephyr in the eye. “Yep, my real whole name is Maxwell Russell Hogan. I’m a Lieutenant in the Navy.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

Max kept staring. Zephyr’s hair was black and curly, like his was if he didn’t keep it cut short.