Chapter 34
“ T his isn’t a Donut, and you aren’t babysitting her,” I said for the umpteenth time and forced myself to take a steadying breath before continuing. “Just be...mindful of what she’s doing.”
Silence filled the call for long seconds before Evans mumbled, “Sounds a lot like babysitting.”
“You have your life. Wren has hers. But if you see her getting into something she probably shouldn’t, find a way to stop it.”
“Right,” Evans said with a subdued laugh. “We talking about drugs, partying, or the guy she’s currently leading into her apartment?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and drew in a slow breath. “All of the above.”
Hesitation poured through the phone. “Not our business who she’s with, Briggs.”
I knew that, but in the past three months, I’d also witnessed Wren dart between guys until one finally gave her the time of day. I’d watched her “fall in love” with guys she’d met minutes before, only to be wrecked over them if she hadn’t already moved onto another. I’d listened to Lainey’s worry over her sister’s carelessness as Wren desperately sought the love and recognition she’d never gotten from her parents.
Wren was going to destroy herself long before she ever realized what she was doing.
“I’m aware,” I finally said, “but she needs someone to disrupt this destructive cycle she’s trapped in.”
A heavy sigh left Evans before he muttered, “Yeah, all right. I’ll, uh...figure out a way to ‘disrupt’ them.”
“Appreciate it.”
His only response was a grunt before the call ended.
Anyone else, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about them ending the call that way. Who was I kidding? Anyone else, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed the way the call ended, period. But this was Evans, and I’d been paying close attention to everything he said and did ever since he’d shown up for work a week and a half after the office had been destroyed.
Like I’d assumed it would, finding out about his dad had changed Evans completely.
He was no longer the excited guy, ready for whatever our work threw his way, so long as he could help people. He was angry and silent, letting his bitterness seep out into the world to try to hide the shame and betrayal he felt.
Granted, he was still at work every day and doing all I asked of him for the job, and more. He’d still agreed to move in next to Wren, even though he’d muttered, “I’m not a babysitter,” a couple dozen times since. But he needed someone to watch him the way I was having him watch Wren.
Even though Evans and I had wildly different childhoods with parents on opposite sides of the law, I knew all too well what happened to kids whose parents fell from the pedestal we put them on. We either did everything in our power to turn out nothing like them, or we followed in their steps.
With everything so fresh, it was too soon to tell which way Evans would fall. But with the Wreckers—and, in turn, Evans’ dad—still on our radar as much as we were on theirs, I knew he’d be forced into making a choice soon enough. As much as that worried me, there was only so much I could do without pushing him the wrong way.
With a heavy sigh, I got out of my car and headed into the house from the garage. Vowing to let Evans’ frustration go—to push it away for another day like the other worrying things in my life.
Like my sister’s cryptic voicemails between her weeks of disappearances, and my endless fear that the Wreckers would retaliate again, tearing the peace I’d found from my grasp. Like Kaia’s social worker, who still wasn’t sure about me, and my frustration with Lainey’s parents because her mom was still getting on her for not working at the farm, and her dad wanted nothing to do with me.
Well . . . almost nothing.
I passed my hand across the small box in my pocket, my heart hammering as I moved through the mud room and into the kitchen. The corners of my mouth lifted at the sound of the girls even as my eyes narrowed on where a half-drunk iced coffee sat on the island. From how watered down it was, I had no doubt Lainey had forgotten about it in the middle of cooking whatever she’d made for dinner, the way she often did.
Forcing myself to leave it there instead of giving into the urge to clean it, I followed Kaia and Lainey’s laughter into the living room of my new house in Huntley. Passing all of Lainey’s furniture and decorations that went way past absolutely necessary. Stepping over toys I was sure Kaia had thrown as she’d gone tearing through the house, since that was her new favorite thing. Breathing because I could handle those things.
I knew I could.
For how trying the house could feel to me at times, I was getting better at ignoring the clutter and embracing life with Kaia. Without a doubt, I owed that growth to the woman who’d just caught my niece in her arms, her head tipped back in laughter as Kaia attempted to tackle Lainey.
“She’s a vicious one,” I warned Lainey, earning a gasp that was equally shocked and excited as stormy eyes snapped to me.
“You’re back!” she said as she stood, already releasing Kaia so she could toddle over to me, babbling, “Assa, Assa, Assa,” the whole way.
Her social worker had glared at me when she’d heard the only word Kaia decided she wanted to say. I hadn’t cared because it was mine .
“Hey, little Starfish,” I muttered as I lifted her into my arms. “You ready for bed?”
“I thought you’d wanna see her first,” Lainey explained, “but she’s ready.”
I nodded in acknowledgment and pulled Lainey close. Capturing her lips for a long, slow kiss that had her swaying into me with a soft, beautiful smile once it was over. “How was your day?”
“Exhausting,” Lainey said as her smile widened. “I loved it.”
“Yeah?” I asked as I slipped my hand into hers and started leading her toward Kaia’s room. “Tell me.”
I listened as Lainey excitedly told me about her day of teaching at Huntley Academy, where Kaia was also enrolled for daycare. A couple weeks of teaching, and she was still just as excited at the end of each day as she’d been the first day. Maybe even more so now that she felt more confident in what she was doing. And I loved it for her.
She was clearly where she was meant to be. Granted, I’d never witnessed her work at the farm, but I’d seen what just the thought of it had done to her. The difference was night and day.
Now to just get her here . Because she was clearly meant to be here too.
Not just for a few hours at night before heading back to the house she was sharing with Chloe. Not just when I had to work late, like tonight. I wanted her in my arms when I fell asleep. I wanted her to be the first thing I saw when I woke. I wanted her in every part of my and Kaia’s lives.
So, I slipped the little box from my pocket and pressed it into Kaia’s hand. Waiting until her tiny fingers formed a tight fist around it before passing her back to Lainey the way I usually did, since putting Kaia to sleep was one of her favorite things.
“What about your day?” Lainey asked as she rubbed the tip of her nose against Kaia’s. After a whispered, “Love you, sweet girl,” her attention drifted to me. “How was the security detail tonight?”
“I love you,” I told her instead, and watched Lainey’s expression light up the same way it always did when I told her those three words—as if I was giving her the greatest gift when she was mine . Just as quickly, her face shifted into confusion as her gaze drifted to the little hand she’d just grasped.
Then she stilled.
But the emotion that burst from her and filled the room before those captivating eyes snapped back to mine? I wanted to savor it. Drown in the intoxicating clash of happiness and joy and love because it was pure Lainey.
“I wanna know if you’ll raise Kaia with me.”
An emotion-filled laugh tumbled from her lips as tears gathered in her dancing eyes, as if she was remembering that night months ago when I told her I’d do exactly this: Buy her a ring and ask her these questions.
Her head bobbed shakily as I added, “I wanna know if you’ll spend the rest of your life with me,” my voice soft and low.
She responded by pressing up on her toes and crushing her lips to mine. Her free hand curled around the back of my neck in an attempt to pull me closer as I deftly took Kaia from Lainey’s grasp to set her in the crib—I’d let Lainey put her to bed tomorrow.
With one last sweep of my mouth across hers, I turned to Kaia and carefully pried the box from her fingers. “I need this,” I muttered when she tried tightening her hold and felt Lainey’s muted laugh.
Passing my hand over Kaia’s head, I turned to the woman at my side and took in her unshed tears and soft gasp as I removed the ring from the box.
“Before you and Kaia, my life made sense to me,” I began and took her left hand in mine. “Then the two of you crashed into my life, and now nothing makes sense without you.” I placed the ring on the tip of her third finger, then met her joy-filled eyes. “Raise her with me. Spend your life with me. Marry me.”
“Yes,” she said on a slightly delirious breath before her lips were on mine again. “Yes to everything.”
Once I had the ring fully seated on her finger, I drove my hands into her curls and tipped her head back. Coaxing her mouth open and deepening the kiss until the world started falling away around us...only for Kaia’s giggle to bring us crashing right back to the reality of where we were.
I stilled, but Lainey just breathed out an embarrassed laugh as her forehead dropped to my chest.
“Right,” I murmured before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “We should finish putting Kaia to bed.”
“Honestly, Mr. Briggs?” Lainey began as she lifted her head enough for me to see her bright smile and the way her eyes danced. “You should ask me to marry you more often.”