Chapter 15
THREE WEEKS LATER
LUCKY
With the front door of the store propped open, the people of McBride Mountain wander in and out of the shop at will. Everyone wears a smile, excited to congratulate Willow on the grand opening and to have literally any reason to get together and celebrate.
And after everything she went through, she deserves this.
She stands in the middle of the shop, greeting everyone and beaming from ear to ear, excitedly talking about all the different offerings around the shop while people explore and buy the candles she crafted with so much care and precision.
Her product is the kind of stuff people pay a fortune for at the boutiques I’ve worked at in various larger cities—handmade, organic, one hundred percent natural.
Plus they smell incredible, the scents she’s created perfectly matching the mountain around us, as if she’s bottled them straight from the source.
I hang back near the entrance to the office, watching it all unfold, trying to stay out of the way and remain as inconspicuous as possible while witnessing her future happening before my eyes.
Despite how uneasy I am being here with all these people, I can’t stop myself from smiling seeing the way she interacts with everyone and how happy the entire town is for her today.
Liam finishes speaking with Killian on the other side of the room—for the umpteenth time since we arrived—and his gaze meets mine. The worry swimming in it mirrors what I’ve seen in his eyes since that morning he learned the truth.
A constant darker undercurrent floating beneath his usually evergreen gaze.
He approaches, weaving through the throngs of people, giving tight smiles and hellos on his way, and stops in front of me, pressing his large, warm palm against my stomach as he leans in. “Are you sure you want to be here, Bluebell? We can go back to the cabin.”
It’s a familiar question.
He’s asked me so many times over the last several days if I really wanted to come, if I wanted to be here, somewhere so public, with all of McBride Mountain coming and going through that door.
Somewhere so exposed.
After revealing the truth to him, I can understand why he would think I wouldn’t want to be here. Why I wouldn’t want to put myself out somewhere so visible. Why staying up at the homestead like I have been would be the safest place for me and where I would want to be like I have been for weeks.
But I just couldn’t do it.
Not to her.
I shake my head and turn it toward him, brushing a kiss over his lips gently as I rest my hands on his chest to feel the grounding, steady beat of his heart under my palm. “I’m positive. I want to be here for her. It’s her big day.”
One I could not miss.
Over the last several weeks, Willow has become the closest thing I’ve ever had to a best friend.
When she learned the truth, when she understood what the McBrides would be facing if I stayed, she didn’t hesitate for a moment to throw her arms around me and tell me how sorry she was.
To assure me that they would do everything in their power to protect me and to solve the problem.
To make sure that everything would be all right.
Even when she had no idea how we would get there, she never wavered in her belief that there is an end in sight that doesn’t involve me returning to the road alone or worse.
I wish I had the kind of faith she does. That faith Liam seems to share that though we don’t have the answer now, we’ll find it.
But I don’t.
Which is why I watch that door carefully.
Which is why Liam, Killian, and Connor are all here, spread out across the shop, looking more like security guards than members of the family celebrating with Willow.
Because even though they keep insisting we’ll figure this out, they also know the danger I’ve brought here, to this place, to them, and they won’t let down their guard.
Willow keeps admonishing them to stop scaring away prospective customers, but the people of McBride Mountain know the brothers well enough to understand who and what they are.
After reading the backlog of Raven’s posts—on what is absolutely a gossip site, whether she admits it or not—I also understand them so much better now.
Weeks secluded on the McBride homestead have taught me even more.
The important things.
They’re good people.
They’re good men.
They’re just…a little rough around the edges.
And Liam truly is different—like Willow said.
He’s their conscience. The one who always seems to be arguing in the role of the calm one while Killian and Connor want to fly off the handle, their baser instincts taking over their rational thought.
They would’ve been standing here with shotguns and axes, waiting for any signs of trouble, but Liam insisted that we don’t go that far. That there’s no reason to worry people in town when we don’t have any reason to believe anyone knows I’m here.
It’s been a month now, and the only familiar faces are the ones I learned working at the diner. None from my past, despite constantly looking for them.
And the McBride brothers’ presences don’t seem to be deterring any sales.
Candles are flying off the shelves Liam so expertly hung, and the register keeps dinging open as money flows into it with Raven behind the counter—actually helping, for once.
The entire community is here to support Willow, to help her rebuild her life after what happened to her, and it makes the promises Liam has made to me seem like something tangible instead of only placating words.
Now they echo in my head as I look around.
Once he knew the truth, he understood why I wanted to leave McBride Mountain, but now, seeing these people, watching the way they came together for Willow, I can’t imagine walking away. I can’t imagine going beyond McBride Mountain and being able to find anything even a fraction as good as this.
Because it doesn’t exist anywhere but here.
Liam dips his head to search my gaze. “If you’re sure you want to stay…”
I nod. “I am.”
The constant unease I’ve lived with for months still buzzes under the surface of my skin like an entire hive of bees, but having the McBrides here, watching my back, keeps them at bay, prevents them from bursting free and causing a violent sting.
Raven approaches holding Niall and hands him off to me hurriedly, her smile somewhat forced, her eyes darting toward the rear exit of the store. “I…have to go take care of something for a few minutes. Watch him and the register. I’ll be back.”
Liam tosses her a look as she bolts out the back door, but my focus is on the little one in my arms. Niall reaches up and pulls on a strand of my hair, clutching it in his tiny fist and tugging on it.
“Oh, there’s my smart, inquisitive boy!” I bounce him gently, trying to keep him entertained while his mom is busy schmoozing with friends and potential customers. “Are you having a good time seeing everyone? It’s soooo exciting, isn’t it?”
He smiles and coos at me, more interested in the vibrant blue of my hair than what I’m saying to him.
Liam stalks to the other side of the shop and leans in to whisper something to Killian, whose gaze cuts over to me. He offers me a tight smile that I know I shouldn’t take any offense to despite how cold he looks.
Killian’s a protector—the type of man who was willing to kill Earl Byers when he found out what he did to Willow—and when he learned what happened to me, what I was facing, it kicked him back into that mode.
He doesn’t like me being here any more than Liam does and would much rather have preferred I had stayed in the safety of the homestead.
But I can’t abandon my only real friend on her big day.
And it’s his wife.
He wants her to be happy.
Having me here makes her happy, so he wouldn’t deny her that, even if it means spending the day being constantly on guard.
I walk to the register with Niall to be prepared to check out any customers as he continues to play with my hair. People come and go, purchasing product and saying hello to me and the baby.
A few express surprise that I’m still in town since I’ve been hiding out in here with the windows covered, or up at the McBrides’ without real contact from anyone else for the past several weeks—very intentionally.
The seclusion was as freeing as it was stifling.
I thought I would be good today, but after that much time, being in such a tight space packed with so many noisy and nosy people is enough to make me happy I have Niall in my arms to distract me from my rising anxiety.
Elaine approaches and offers me a one-armed hug around the baby. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
I smile at her, genuinely happy to see the woman who truly made me stay in McBride Mountain and who made everything I have with Liam possible. “I didn’t know you’d come, either. What about the diner?”
She waves a dismissive hand. “I closed for an hour so I could come over. I figured everyone would be here, anyway.”
I glance around the packed space. “You’re not wrong.”
“And how are you doing? I miss having you around.”
Laughing, I shake my head, which only makes Niall tighten his fists on my hair tighter and tug. “No, you don’t.”
She pats me on the arm. “Well, my new waitress is a little steadier on her feet, but I liked talking to you. Come by and have a cup of coffee with me soon. Please.”
I nod. “I will.”
And I hope that’s true.
I hope I can.
I hope that this plan that Killian, Connor, and Liam have come up with will actually work and I’ll get my life back.
But not my old life.
A new one here that Liam has promised me, that I so badly want, that I never thought would be possible.
So many things have to happen before we reach that point. Nothing moves quickly. The pace feels glacially slow at times. But there is that flicker of light at the end of the dark tunnel that once felt endless.
I just have to keep my focus there, not on what might linger in the shadows.