“But, I think… I think we’ll be okay, little guy.” I frowned, and then smiled. “Sam.”
His lips twitched, telling me he liked that name very much.
I felt her hand on my shoulder and I lowered my face to rub my cheek against her.
I nodded at Sam and smiled. “Shall we let her go? Shall we let Mummy be happy?”
Her hold on me left and I felt the faintest brush of her lips across my cheek as I bent to place a kiss to Sam’s forehead. “I love you. I’ll always love you, Sam. I’m telling you now because you need to hear it. And you need to hear it every day. And if for some insane reason I don’t say it one day then you need to make me say it. I never said it enough, and although your momma knows, words make it louder.”
His eyes closed and he snuggled up against me, pushing himself into my soul along with the remnants of his mother’s.
Seven weeks later, the private investigator I had hired delivered an envelope. An envelope with his findings on the Dawson family.
Two weeks later, the remains of five-year-old Judd Asher were dug up from the grounds around the Dawson’s farmhouse.
I was born to Hank and Mary Dawson three years before Judd was sold to them. I wasn’t even registered. I was an unknown. A boy born from evil and debauchery.
Judd’s belongings and evidence of the sale had been found in the farmhouse when I’d been discovered. It was presumed, as no DNA verification was available, that I was Judd.
Sam and I made sure to visit Judd’s grave every time we visited Kloe’s. And every time Sam would look at the small dog-eared photograph and tell me that his mummy was in heaven with her best friend.
Kloe had given me so much. Once, all I had had was pain. It was all I had lived for; all I had felt. But then she’d walked into my life and showed me there was so much more to feel. Love. Trust. Gentleness. Hope. She had uncaged me, she had unchained me, and she had taught me that it’s okay to be loved, and give it back. And in the end she had given me her very soul. I felt her inside our little boy so many times over the coming years. The way his eyes lit up and the sound of his laughter was so very like his mother’s. His strength and his courage was a gift only Kloe could give him. And the way he adored me for both him and his mum was enough to fill my own heart and soul.
And I made sure to give him enough love from the both of us.
If my life had taught me anything, it was to love, and to say it as often as possible.
The End