JASON and KEANNE(37)

Before she knew it, she was running back to him.

He was still there, on his knees, and the look on his face made Keanne hate herself for hurting him so cruelly. He had hurt her, too, but never deliberately like she had just done.

Sinking to her knees, she shakily reached for the torn halves of his message and pieced them together.

A choked cry escaped her.

Jason Christakos was a man of many talents, but one thing he had never been able to do was draw. And yet this – oh God, she could only imagine the countless hours he had spent to draw something so heartbreakingly beautiful.

On the paper was the sun, no longer shining, its rays having turned crimson and black.

“Why did the sun die?”

The person who asked was no longer a little girl.

She had Grown Up.

The one who answered was the moon, whose tears turned into rain.

“Because you closed your eyes to it.”



“I’m sorry,” Keanne choked out.

She threw herself at Jason and they fell to the ground. His beautiful face was still ashen, and his cheeks were marked by the tears that she had forced him to weep with her cruelty.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so sorry. I just wanted to hurt you because I thought you didn’t really love me.”

Slowly, the import of her words sank into him.

He focused on her, taking note of every detail of her lovely face, something he had missed so badly the whole time he had been away from her. He had done everything he could to reach her, but Amie Summers had kept him away effectively like he was no more than a rat trying to scurry into sacred grounds.

Never had he felt more helpless or terrified when he began to understand that if Amie Summers truly wanted to keep his daughter away from Jason, she would be able to do so.

Only when he had begged her in person, only when he had shown her his last resort had she let him near her daughter again.

“Hush.” The word came out raspy. It still hurt to speak. He had raged and begged Amie for so many days.

“I love you,” Keanne said brokenly.

His chest eased and he said unevenly, “I love you.” He pulled her down for a kiss. “I love you so much.” He tucked the loose strands of her hair behind her ears, wanting to see her eyes and wanting her to see him.

“Do you understand now?”

She nodded against his chest. “Yes.”

“I may be the sun…but you are the reason I’m shining.”

The words had her crying again, and all she could do was touch her heart just so he knew without words what she wanted to say.