“Simon?” Her voice was a whisper.
“Yes, luv?”
“Was I not enough?”
I stared up at the ceiling and cursed that bastard. If you weren’t fucking dead already… Ben and I were going to have a long goddamn talk soon, but right at the moment, Bridget was more important. She needed my reassurance. I gently turned her so she was lying on her back.
“You’re not enough, Bridget. Enough is the minimum amount that it takes to satisfy something. That doesn’t even begin to describe what you are—you’re everything. You’re not the fucking minimum—you’re the maximum. What he did is not your fault. Cheating isn’t about the person who was cheated on. It’s about the cheater—his own insecurities. Think about it. Did you ever cheat on a test in school? Everyone has. Why? Because you were afraid you would fail the test—afraid you weren’t smart enough or hadn’t worked hard enough to earn a good grade. This is about him—not about you.” I hesitated before continuing, but thought she needed to hear it. “I know you loved him, and he’s Brendan’s father, but he didn’t deserve you. People don’t deserve to have things they don’t respect. He didn’t fucking deserve you, Bridget.”
Tears streamed down her face. “How can you sound so sure?”
“Because I am, luv. I’ve been insecure about having a relationship my whole life—meeting you changed that. You’ve made me better, more secure than ever, not the opposite. Love makes you stronger, not weaker.”
The next morning, Bridget slept late. I made some calls and had just finished cooking bacon and eggs when she walked into the kitchen. Her face was puffy from a night of crying, but she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Usually women became less pretty to me as I got to know them. What attracted me to them initially on the outside, dulled when I got to know the person inside. With Bridget it was just the opposite.
“Morning, beautiful.”
“Coffee.”
I smiled. “Coming right up. Sit. You didn’t eat anything last night. You’re going to have some of my eggs even if I have to feed you myself.”
Bridget sat at the kitchen table, and I fixed her coffee before plating more food than she could possibly eat and joining her with my own heaping dish.
“I have to be at the hospital in an hour,” I said.
“Oh.” She frowned. “That’s right. I’m sorry. I made you come home last night, and now you’re on today instead of being off.”
“It’s fine. I just hate to leave you alone today.”
“I’ll be fine. I need to pick up Brendan from his sleepover soon, anyway.”
I would’ve rather have eased into things, but I didn’t have the luxury of time today. “I made a few calls this morning.”
“Oh?”
“DDC is a chain of labs that does in-home DNA testing. You pick up the kit, swab the cheeks of the people who you want to test, and drop the kit back to the lab. There’s one in Providence, Cranston, and Warwick. You can get the results back in three days, right online. I didn’t think you’d want to use the lab at work for privacy.”
“Oh, yeah. You’re right. I hadn’t given any thought to the logistics.”
“You can swab both children without the parents’ DNA. The place I found does more than the average sixteen-marker, standard DNA test. So, it’s reliable without a parent to test against.”
“Wow. Okay. I’ll need to swab Brendan then, too. Of course, that makes sense. I just hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
“I was thinking maybe you could bring him to the ER when I’m working, and I could take his vitals and swab his mouth. Tell him it’s a physical.”
“Yes, that would work,” she said. “He’s comfortable at the ER since I work there. He’s also been a patient when he hurt his arm playing soccer, so it won’t seem too strange.”
“Okay, that’s good.”
Bridget had only taken two bites of her food. I sipped my coffee and watched as she pushed food around her plate. “You know I don’t like a bony arse, so you better eat a little more than that.”
She forced a smile. “I don’t have an appetite.”
“Two more pieces of bacon. Get some protein in your body, at least.”
She pouted, but picked up the bacon.
Looking at the time on my phone, I knew I was going to have to jump in the shower soon. I cleared my throat, hating to even mention the name. “I also texted Gina this morning. I’m going to pop over to the DDC office in Providence at lunch today and pick up the kit. She’s agreed to meet me this afternoon during my dinner break, and I’ll do a quick swab on her daughter.”