Roy Dashiel's eyes softened, so slightly that no one else would have noticed, but inside him,it was seismic. All he could see was a daughter shrouded in pains, trembling with the fear of loneliness.
She reminded him of Pa Louis, the old man who had raised him, whose life now hung by a thread, like a ticking time bomb, his survival each day was already a blessing.
He thought of the gnawing fear he buried beneath layers of control, the same fear Tessa Marvins wasn't hiding at all.
"You don't have to bear this alone.", he murmured almost like it wasn't meant for her to hear.
Her head snapped up, not by his words but by the gentleness threaded through them. Was he talking to her? Did he really understand what she was going through?
She finally turned to meet his gaze, but what she saw st
