The Officer's Runaway Wife and Secret Son novel Chapter 485

After dinner, the family of three cuddled on the sofa to watch cartoons for a bit before Clara sent Rhys to get Felix ready for bed.

After his bath, dressed in his little dinosaur pajamas, Felix padded to the master bedroom door as usual, clutching his small pillow.

"Mommy, I want to sleep with you guys again tonight."

His voice was soft and syrupy, his face etched with the pitiful expression he knew she could never resist.

Looking at her son's pleading face, Clara's heart instantly melted. She was hardly made of stone, and in front of Felix, she had no defenses at all.

Just as she was about to agree, a large hand reached out from behind her and scooped Felix up, pillow and all.

Rhys held his son with one arm, using the other to ruffle his hair.

"No."

Rhys's refusal was swift and final.

Clara turned to him, surprised.

This was a man who gave Felix basically whatever he asked for; he'd even relented and let Orange, the cat, eat at the table.

This was the first time he'd ever said "no."

Rhys's expression was neutral.

Felix was not having it. "Why not! It was okay before!"

"Before was before."

"So why isn't it okay today?"

"Today is different."

"How is it different?"

Rhys opened his mouth, then swallowed the words he was about to say.

It was very different.

He mentally ran through a list, none of which he could tell a child.

Just last night, he’d experienced the joy of having her back, heard those soft, broken sounds she made for him in the darkness.

Rhys wasn't a man of effusive emotions, but last night he finally understood what the doctor meant by his 'emotions being locked away.'

Once that floodgate, closed for so many years, was opened, even he was overwhelmed by what poured out.

He wanted more.

Felix immediately puffed out his little chest and declared, "I am a big boy!"

"And don't big boys sleep in their own rooms?" Rhys coaxed, playing his trump card. "Have you forgotten what you said before? You said you'd protect Mommy when you grow up. If you can't even sleep by yourself now, how are you going to protect Mommy later?"

Felix was a little dizzy from this line of reasoning.

His little brow furrowed in concentration. He looked down at the pillow in his arms, then up at his father, engaged in a fierce internal debate. "But... but I want to sleep with Mommy and Daddy..."

That innocent plea warmed Rhys's heart, and he felt a pang of guilt.

For the first four years of his life, the boy had no father. While other kids were being lifted high by their dads or riding on their shoulders in the park, he was being bullied at preschool and called a kid with no dad.

During those years, the people who had stood in for him—Clara, Noah, Simon, Alex, Clara's parents—had all done so with everything they had.

They had held up the sky over Felix's head, while he was the one who had brought it crashing down.

Now that Felix finally had a complete family, was it so unreasonable for him to want to snuggle up with his parents?

Rhys almost wavered.

He couldn't go soft.

If he caved today, he'd be forced to choose between his son's flailing feet and the warmth of his wife.