Chapter 12 - Wraith #2
I lean against the doorframe and just watch for a minute. Quinn's completely focused on Mariah, asking questions about the story, making the appropriate gasps and exclamations at dramatic moments. Mariah's glowing under the attention, animated and happy in a way that makes my chest tight.
This is what I wanted for her. What I've always wanted: someone who sees how special she is, who doesn't think she's too much or too loud or too demanding. Someone who shows up and stays.
Quinn looks up and catches me watching.
I mouth: I have to go soon.
She nods: I've got her.
"Mariah," I say, pushing off the doorframe. "Daddy has to go to the clubhouse for a few hours. Quinn's going to stay with you, okay?"
"Okay! We're reading about dragons and then we're going to draw our own dragon adventures!"
"That sounds perfect. I'll be back before dinner." I crouch down and pull her into a hug, breathe in the strawberry scent of her shampoo. "I love you, baby girl."
"Love you too, Daddy."
I stand and Quinn walks me to the door. At the threshold, out of Mariah's line of sight, I pull her close for a quick kiss.
"Be safe," she whispers against my mouth.
"Always am." I kiss her once more, passionately. "Take care of my girl."
"Our girl," Quinn corrects. "Take care of our girl."
Our girl. The words settle into my chest and take root.
"Our girl," I agree.
Hours later…
Church runs long.
Two hours of planning and strategy and Brick's proposed counterattack that's aggressive and risky. By the time we're done, I'm energized in a way I haven't been since this war started. We have a plan. A real plan, with contingencies and backup routes and a target that'll hurt Demon where it counts.
I ride home thinking about victory, about ending this war, about the future that's waiting on the other side of it.
The house is quiet when I walk in. I find Quinn and Mariah in the backyard, playing some elaborate game that involves Captain the rabbit being rescued from an evil wizard. Mariah's running around shrieking with laughter while Quinn chases her making exaggerated villain noises.
Two days ago I was alone. Exhausted. Running on empty and fumes and determination.
Now there's Quinn, there's hope, and there's the possibility of a future that looks nothing like what I planned but everything like what I needed.
"Daddy!" Mariah spots me and comes running. "Did you have a good meeting?"
"I did." I scoop her up and spin her around. "Did you have a good day with Quinn?"
"The best day! We drew dragons and read four books and made sandwiches shaped like dinosaurs!"
"Dinosaur sandwiches sound pretty cool."
"They were amazing." She wiggles to be put down and runs back to Quinn. "Can we show Daddy our dragon pictures?"
"Absolutely," Quinn says, and our eyes meet over Mariah's head.
Later, after dinner and bath time and the usual three bedtime stories, after Mariah finally falls asleep clutching Captain with a smile on her face, Quinn and I end up on the couch together.
She curls into my side like she belongs there, head on my shoulder, hand resting on my chest over my heart.
"We have a plan," I tell her. "To end this. It's risky, but it'll work."
"How risky?"
"Nothing I can't handle. Nothing that'll keep me from coming home to you."
She tilts her head up to look at me. "Promise?"
"I promise." I kiss her forehead. "This war's almost over, Quinn.
And when it is, when everything settles down and life gets back to normal, or whatever normal looks like for us, I want to tell Mariah.
Want her to know you're not just staying as her babysitter.
Want her to know you're staying as my girlfriend. As part of our family."
"I want that too," Quinn whispers. "Want all of it. The whole messy complicated beautiful thing."
"It's going to be messy," I warn. "I'm not easy to live with. I plan everything obsessively, I wake up at ungodly hours, I have nightmares about failing Mariah…"
"And I have nightmares about my father, about combat zones and the future I'll never have," Quinn interrupts.
"And I'm stubborn and independent and I've spent seven years not letting anyone too close.
We're both damaged, Dean. But maybe that's okay.
Maybe we can be damaged together and still build something good. "
"Better than good," I say. "Something great."
She kisses me. "Something great," she agrees.
We stay on the couch until late, talking about the future, making plans for when the war ends, dreaming out loud about what our life could look like.
Quinn talks about maybe teaching self-defense classes in town, about being more than just Mariah's protection but her friend, her role model.
I talk about maybe stepping back from some club responsibilities once things are safe, about spending more time at home, about the three of us taking a real vacation somewhere.
Eventually we go upstairs together. Quinn pauses at her bedroom door.
"Your room or mine?" she asks with a small smile.
"Mine," I say immediately. "Always mine from now on, if you want."
"I want."
We fall into bed together, and this time we make love slowly, quietly, learning each other's bodies without the desperate urgency of last night. This time it's about connection, about claiming each other in ways that have nothing to do with possession and everything to do with choice.
Afterward, Quinn falls asleep in my arms again, and I lie awake for a while just watching her breathe, watching the way moonlight through the window catches in her hair.
Two days ago, my life was duty and responsibility and fighting to protect what little I had. Now it's this. It's her. It's the three of us becoming something I didn't know I was allowed to want.
The war with the Vipers will end. Our plan will work. We're smarter, more motivated and we have everything to fight for.
And when it's over, when the dust settles and Demon's finished, I'm going to marry this woman. Going to make it official in every way that matters. Going to give Mariah the mother she deserves and Quinn the family she thought she'd never have.
But that's future-Wraith's problem.
Present-Wraith just holds his girl closer and falls asleep thinking about pancakes and the sound of his daughter's laughter mixing with Quinn's.
Thinking about coming home.
Thinking about family.
Thinking about how sometimes the best things in life are the ones you never saw coming, the ones that show up on your doorstep in yellow socks and turn your entire world upside down in the span of forty-eight hours.
I wouldn't change a single second of it.
Not one.