Baby Lessons

because he couldn’t bear to stand there and listen to her say she was sorry when he was the one with so much to apologize for.
“I should have told you sooner,” she said. “I actually tried a couple of times, and I know it must have been weird to see me talking about my column on television.”
She had no clue precisely how weird it had been.
“So I really am sorry. I hope this doesn’t...um...change anything?” There were questions in her luminous eyes—so many questions, and Jack had an awful feeling that the answers might break her heart.
“Please. Just—” he held up his hands “—don’t.”
Madison’s gaze moved from something over his left shoulder back to his face, and she gave him a wobbly smile that made him feel like his heart had just been put through a paper shredder. “Fine. I’ll stop.”
He raked a hand through his hair, panicked at the thought of how to proceed.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t had time to consider the wording of his confession. He’d thought of little else during the hours he’d waited for her to turn up at his door. He’d even practiced his conciliatory speech in between Ella and Emma’s diaper changes and mealtimes. He’d figured it all out, too. He knew just what to say...
Or he had, anyway. Now that she was there, standing close enough to touch, words escaped him. He didn’t want to admit that he’d been actively trying to sabotage her career since the day she’d begun writing for the Bee. He wanted to gather her into his arms, pull her close and tell her how much he’d missed her in the days and nights that had passed since they’d knelt beside the bubble bath together. He wanted to kiss her until her knees buckled, and then he wanted to carry her to his bed and show her how much the past few weeks had changed him—how much she’d changed him.
He felt like a man again. Not a dad, not a firefighter, not a husband, but a man—a man completely enchanted by a woman who’d swept into his life with her accusations of apple thievery and against all odds, had woken him up after a long, lonely slumber.
And now with five terrible words, it would all come to an end.
I’m Fired Up in Lovestruck.
He inhaled a ragged breath. “There’s something I need to say.”
She wrapped her arms around her slender frame as if steadying herself for what was about to come. “I’m listening.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard about my ex-wife through the Lovestruck grapevine. Small-town gossip tends to go into overdrive when a mom walks out on her husband and newborn twins.”
Madison nodded, clearing her throat. “I might have heard a thing or two...”
“I’d like to say I didn’t see it coming, but that would be a lie. Natalie and I hadn’t been happy for quite some time, and to be honest, when she left, I felt responsible. I’ll always know that it’s partly my fault that Emma and Ella will never know what it’s like to have a mom.” He looked away so he wouldn’t have to see the pity in her gaze. He’d never wanted anyone to regard him that way, especially Madison.
Why was he telling her these things? Doing a deep dive into his most secret emotions hadn’t been his intention at all. He never talked about Natalie—ever.
But maybe if he could explain what a mess he’d been, he could make her understand why he’d started writing the letters. Doubtful, but he’d already started going down that road and now he had to finish it.
“You know it wasn’t your fault, right?” Madison said, her voice going all soft and tender. Jack was beginning to hate himself all over again. “Even if your marriage was over, she didn’t have to leave those two little girls.”
Jack nodded. His family and friends had expressed the same sentiment time and time again, but it was a tough thing to remember when he imagined all the Mother’s Days in Ella and Emma’s future—all the birthdays, dance recitals and Christmas Eves. As hard as he tried, he knew Natalie’s absence would always be an open wound he’d never be able to fix all on his own.
“I wish it were that simple but it’s not. What I’m trying to say is that I wasn’t in a very good place. I was going through the motions and doing the best I could, and...” I took out all my frustrations on a byline, and as it turns out, that byline was the one person I finally wanted to let in.
His throat grew thick, and Madison was looking up at him, eyes wide and luminous, and he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Not yet. “And then I met you, and things changed.”
It was every bit as truthful as his secret identity, maybe more so. But she still didn’t have a crucial part of the puzzle.
“How so?” Madison took a step closer and rested a delicate hand on his chest. It was the gentlest of touches, but Jack felt it down to his very core. “Tell me how things changed.”
They were entering dangerously intimate territory, and even though Jack’s head told him to stay put, his stubborn heart wanted to follow Madison right down that road of temptation.
“It got a lot messier, for starters.” He made an exploding motion with one of his hands. “Baby powder everywhere.”
She swatted playfully at him. “Very funny. We both know I’m far from perfect, but you refuse to fire me, so here I am.”
Yes, here she was, and Jack couldn’t leave it at that. She needed to know the truth—all of it, not just the terrible part.
So he touched a fingertip to her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze and with quiet sincerity, he said, “That’s because I find all your imperfections utterly perfect.”
“You do?” She rose up on her tiptoes, and suddenly her pillowy lips were within kissing distance.
“I do,” he said, and it took every ounce of