“If it's you hovering, I'm all for it.” It was me who needed to touch him. “I'm sorry.”
Fury replaced sadness as his expression turned thunderous. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“Poor Uncle Eddie and the girls.”
“They'll heal, Lark. We all will.” He pulled me closer and brushed his lips over my forehead and together we drifted off into sleep.
***
A week passed since my aunt had shot me—a week since she had taken her own life—and I was back at the little Cape on the bay. The image of my aunt lying in a pool of her own blood, was always right there in my head. The house had been cleaned, my dad hired a team to scour it, but still she haunted it, at least for me.
I hadn't fully come to terms with what had happened. A part of me wasn't sure I ever would. My aunt had been twisted; her hatred, and I'd like to believe guilt, warped her. That night, so long ago, when I found her sitting in the kitchen all alone. She'd been alluding to what she had done to her sister when she spoke about going to hell and so there was a part of her that, at one time, knew what she had done was wrong.
What I tried to take from the ordeal was that her treatment of me hadn't really been about me, but about her and what she had done. It wasn't much but I did find some solace in that fact.
The reunion with the Wrights, Caden and Sophia wasn't what I had planned. They arrived to find me in the hospital, recovering from a gunshot wound. We had missed the swordfish festival too and I felt bad about that knowing how much Saffron and Logan loved that festival. Under the circumstances, they thought I was crazy for even thinking about it.
My dad, I don't think I'll ever forget the look on his face when I woke after my surgery. If I doubted his love for me, I would no longer. He'd aged, in those few hours, he had aged and I felt badly about that too.
Bastian and my dad had moved the sofa from the living room into the garage and brought out one of the beds since I was ordered on bed rest. Lying on the bed with me, at my insistence, were Hunter and Reaper, the latter who thankfully was healing very nicely from his own surgery. My dad vowed that Reaper would eat steak, every day for the rest of his life, for the heroics he had shown.
My mind turned to my mom a lot since my nightmare. It meant so much to me to learn that my mom hadn't been weak, she had just been broken. Part of me hoped that I had given her some measure of joy. The Wrights had hit it off with my dad and Saffron and were becoming fast friends. I had everyone I loved around me except for my uncle. He had come briefly to identify the body and to bring my aunt home. We talked for a while, and though it had been really painful for both of us, I think the girls and Uncle Eddie were going to eventually be okay. He had a very difficult road ahead of him though, helping his girls deal with not just the loss of their mother but the way in which she died. Years of therapy were in all of their futures, but the girls had a very loving father and I had come to learn that that made all the difference.
I smiled to myself when I thought about what my dad had said to me right after my uncle had left. I'm sorry for what your mother went through and for what your aunt did, but I got you as a result and I'll never be sorry for that.
I was pulled from my thoughts when Bastian settled on the edge of the bed. “Do you need anything?”
“Just you.”
He touched my cheek, his gaze tender. He hadn't yet bounced back, I knew he was as haunted by that night as I was. I caught him often watching me and I knew what he was thinking as if he was speaking his thoughts out loud. He was confirming to himself that I was here, still with him, alive. It was going to take time, the therapist my dad and the Wrights insisted Bastian and I see, expressed that sentiment often. Time was something we had, thank God.
Settling himself on the bed, he pulled me up against him. “Better?”
“Perfect.”
***
A week later, Logan had everyone to the lighthouse for a cook-out, but Bastian and I detoured on our way, because there was something he wanted to show me. We were riding on the back of his bike. He objected because of my shoulder, but I really missed riding with him, so I pestered until he relented.
The ride was beautiful and I recognized where we were as the part of town where Broderick's house was located. The tangy smell of salt water teased my nose as I took a few deep inhales and filled my lungs. I really did love it here. The bike moved around a bend, then Bastian pulled over to an old tree and parked. I climbed off, he followed, before he took my helmet and placed it on his bike.
“How's the shoulder?”
“Fine.”
“I still think we should have taken Baby.”
His kissed me, allowing his lips to linger over mine a moment, before he pulled back. I noticed he looked odd, almost nervous. “What's put that look on your face?”
“I had a thought, but if you don't like it just say.”
“Okay.”
He reached for me and gently pulled me up a small hill. The landscape yawned out before us untouched and magnificent. The forest that stretched across this part of town curved around a patch of bright green grass and in the distance the soothing sweep of the river could be heard.
“It's beautiful, Bastian.”
He turned to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Remember we talked about the dream, the house by the river, the kids, the tire swing? We had it all right, just not the location—not the Hudson river. I want to build you a house here. I want the dream here. We go to Columbia, but then we settle here. I've been talking with Broderick, and he really wants to get into the restoration business in a bigger way, and so he's going back to school too, and when you and I graduate, he and I are going into business together. There's plenty of older homes throughout New England to keep us busy and you can paint and be near your dad.”
My heart swelled in my chest and not just because of his words, but because he was so excited about our future.
“I love it, Bastian—the location, the idea.”
“Really? You wouldn't mind forgoing Manhattan to live in a town of perpetual festivals?”
“Shouldn't it be me trying to convince you to move here and not the other way around?”
He looked up as his eyes focused on the river in the distance. “There's a wildness here, an untamed beauty, that is so freeing and inspiring. And being here with you, it's the dream for me.”
His warm hands wrapped around my face as his eyes looked deeply into mine. “If you don't want this, I will go wherever you want. Just say the word.”
“I love it, all of it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
His mouth crushed down on mine and I could feel his excitement in the humming of his muscles. He broke the kiss, looking both hot and sheepish. The contrast was so odd I asked bluntly. “What's the look for?”
“Well, your dad and Saffron may have brought me out to this place, but only because I shared my proposal with them.” He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and rolled back on his heels. “You're not mad, are you?”
“No. Is this land for sale?”
“Well, not exactly. Apparently, inheritances stick to Saffron like glue and this is a part of one. She offered it to us as a wedding gift.”
“What?”
“Yeah, and your dad and uncles will help build the house when we're ready.”
“It all sounds perfect.”
He tilted his head before he asked. “But?”
“I'm just thinking about our friends in Pearl River. We aren't that far from them, but I had always hoped we'd all settle near each other.”
“We've four years of college and I do know that Caden and Poppy really like it up here too. So, who knows, maybe they'll set roots here as well.”
I stepped into his arms. “Perhaps you should call my dad and put him out of his misery and let him know I'm all in.”
He laughed at that before pressing a kiss on my head. “You know me so well.”