Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
W ard hobbled through the front door of his house, wishing like hell Della were with him.
Somewhere in the past month, it had become their house. It didn’t feel right to be here without her.
He hated leaving her behind at that hospital. He didn’t care how big her security team was or how many people they’d surrounded her with.
Annie and Spencer followed him in, a little too close and a little too ready to catch him if he fell. They’d been hovering ever since he’d gotten out of surgery.
“You want help up the stairs?” Annie used the carefully bright voice she broke out with children or old people.
“No.” He waved the crutch they’d forced him to use. “I’m going to the office to check the security feeds.”
“I can do that,” Spencer offered a little too quickly. “They did say you should keep your leg elevated for the next forty-eight hours.”
Ward huffed out an annoyed sigh. “Don’t you two have somewhere else to be? The job’s done. You can both head back to the city and take a few days. Our next job doesn’t start for three weeks.”
“Oh no.” Annie shook her head. “Rule five. No injured left behind. Remember?”
“You’re injured too.” He hated how defensive that sounded. Like he was back in high school. “You were in a car wreck two days ago.”
“Yes, but unlike you, I have been cleared for duty. I was Tased, not shot.” She looked smug. Now accept help like an emotionally intelligent person whose personal value is not tied up in society’s narrow view of what it is to be male.”
Ward sneered at her. “I never should have hired you.”
She walked with him toward the living room. “Think of it this way, you are the principal now due to your close proximity to our celebrity.”
“That’s right,” Spencer agreed. “We’re your security now. I planted false trails across social media about Della’s location, but it’s possible the savvy fans will see through it and head here. You’ll need us as backup while you’re, um, recuperating.”
“What I need ,” Ward stressed the word, “is a little peace and quiet. The more bodies circle this house, the more nosy neighbors will show up with casseroles. Trust me.”
“I’d love a casserole.” Annie gave him an unapologetic smile. “I’m starving. That hospital food was pathetic.”
Ward’s stomach growled as if to emphasize her point. He turned away from the knowing look on her face and limped into the living room. “Fine. Spencer, set up in the office. Any word on my special delivery?”
His leg was starting to ache, along with his head, but he’d be damned if he’d ask for a painkiller.
“ Your delivery?” Annie said, her face carefully neutral.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You know what I mean.”
“I do,” Annie agreed. “Do you ?”
“Get out.” He pointed the crutch at the door.
“Somebody is cranky…,” Annie sing-songed.
Spencer drifted toward the fireplace, his attention mostly on his phone. “He might be suffering from a lack of sleep and dehydration. A study showed that nocturnal noises in a hospital disrupt the circadian rhythms, resulting in?—”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Annie interrupted before Spencer could spew more data about the sleep Ward had not had.
She moved the coffee table out of his way so he could get to the couch, which he refused to acknowledge. “I think somebody is missing a certain someone with red hair. Well, orange clown hair now.”
He shot her a dirty look.
She gestured to the couch with a flourish. “Have a seat, gimpy.”
He didn’t sit down, despite the intense desire to sink into it and never move. He didn’t want to give Annie the satisfaction.
She was right. He knew it. She knew it.
This house wasn’t a home without Della. Walking through the front door without her had made all the spaces in his chest tight.
Spencer glanced up, then frowned at him. “You know, he could be hangry. It’s been a while since we ate. Maybe I should?—”
“Stop. Coddling. Me,” Ward barked like a drill sergeant.
“This isn’t coddling,” Annie said. “This is bare-minimum care given to a boss who’s also a friend who’s unable to use his leg.”
“I’m perfectly capable of using my leg.” Ward thought about kicking her with it to prove his point. Then the wound twinged, and he thought better of it.
“You can gripe all you want.” Annie’s face turned serious. “We’re not leaving. Now sit.”
He gave in to the inevitable and lowered himself onto one end of the couch so that he could still see out the window. The aching in his leg immediately eased. “What’s the ETA?”
Spencer checked his phone. “They’re about fifteen minutes out. Diggs says the plan worked perfectly. They weren’t followed. All clear.”
“Good.” Ward stared at the big black van with its unmarked sides and blackened windows now sitting in the driveway. It was exactly the kind of thing kids should avoid. Unless things had changed a hell of a lot since he and Brick were kids, that meant every nosy brat in the neighborhood would be checking it out in the next five minutes. “It won’t take long for word to spread. We need a plan.”
“ We already have a plan,” Annie said. “We will secure the area. As the principal, your job is to rest and relax.”
He raised an eyebrow at her.
She grinned. “It’s not so easy being on the other side, is it.”
“Not the point.”
“Oh, I know the point.” Annie nudged Spencer’s arm. “Our boss is in l-o-v-e, love.”
Spencer glanced between them. “Are we allowed to say that? Doesn’t that violate some kind of HR code?”
“It definitely violates The Rules, according to Donovan Ward,” Annie said.
“Get out. Both of you.” Ward poked Annie’s thigh with the crutch. “Don’t you have a perimeter to check? And, Spencer, get that van out of the driveway. It’ll scare the neighbors. Park it out back under that tree by the wood shop.”
“On it.” Spencer appeared relieved to have a reason to get away from Ward and Annie’s teasing.
Ward’s phone dinged. He checked the incoming text.
Heads up. Incoming. Sorry! — Brick.
Ward swore.
“What?” Annie asked, all business now. “Something happen?”
“Yes.” He realized what he’d said and corrected, “No. Not with the delivery. Brick opened his big mouth.”
Ward – You told them?
Brick – Yes.
Ward – WTF man?
Brick – Dude…your mom asked me straight if Della Bellamy’s injured bodyguard was her Ward. I’m not lying to your mom.
“Coward.” Ward hissed under his breath. He muttered a string of creative swear words. “My family’s headed this way.”
Annie plopped down on the couch next to him and peeked at his texts. “Well you were shot. No mother could ignore that. Might as well get it over with. They’ll feel better when they see you being your usual grouchy self.”
Ward shoved his phone into his back pocket. “You haven’t done the math. They’re headed here now . Della and her family are fifteen—no, ten minutes out.”
Annie’s eyes gleamed with delight. “An in-law meet and greet. Bold move. Especially since you haven’t even taken her on a real first date. You know, as herself. Not your fake girlfriend.”
“They aren’t in-laws.” Ward scowled at her.
“Yet.” Annie’s eyes twinkled.
He ground his teeth. “The last thing we need is more people creating security risks.”
“They’re not people. They’re family.” She patted his shoulder. “You survived the Marines, you’ll live through this.”
“Go away.”
She winked at him, then stood to leave.
“You’re enjoying this,” Ward called after her.
“Yes. Yes, I am.” She paused at the door. “Because…and I really, really want to stress this because it’s a phrase I’ve been longing to say to you since this assignment started…I told you so.”
“You’re fired.” He pointed at the door. “Get out.”
“You can’t fire me.” Her grin was wicked. “I’m a founding partner.”
He heard the back door shut just as his dad’s old Volvo pulled in a little too fast and parked as close to the front door as he could get.
Ward considered following her out the back, but he’d never make it. Not on his injured leg.
Besides, Della was coming.
A few seconds later, the front door banged open and his stepmother called out in a loud, somewhat watery voice, “Donovan Jeremiah Ward, where are you?”
“Here.” Ward slipped the crutch under the couch and leveraged himself up on his feet. Hopefully, his sweats covered the bandage on his thigh well enough that they couldn’t tell he even had an injury.
Wishful thinking.
His family crowded into the living room.
Elyse carried a worried expression and a glass casserole dish covered in aluminum foil.
Samantha’s eyes were wide and rimmed with red. It made her seem a lot younger than her fourteen years.
Guilt squirmed awake in his gut.
Mason crossed his arms and scowled at him.
Dad’s hair stuck out in all directions. Ward felt like there was more gray in it now.
Guilt poked him in the ribs and gave him a dirty side-eye.
“Ah, hell.” He felt every inch of that guilt pound even deeper into his chest. He’d been a complete jackass. He should have called. Ward held up his hands in surrender. “I’m fine. I’m sorry I worried you.”
“You’re not fine.” Elyse shoved the casserole dish at Dad and descended on him. He had no idea what she saw, just that it made her eyes fill with tears, which made him feel even lower than he had a second ago. “It’s true, isn’t it. You were shot. You were shot and in the hospital and you had surgery and you could have died and you…didn’t… call ?”
Her tears spilled over.
“Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.” Ward only thought he’d felt low before. Guilt picked him up and tossed him into a pit, kicked dirt on him.
Ward moved toward his sobbing stepmother, trying his best not to limp, so that he could put his hands on her shoulders and offer what little comfort he could. “I didn’t want to worry you. I’m sorry. I should have called. I should have… I should have done a lot of things. I’m really sorry.”
His father dumped the casserole dish into Mason’s arms and clasped Ward’s shoulder. Ward refused to flinch when he squeezed the exact spot the bullet had grazed. “He looks okay, Elyse. How bad is it, son?”
There was a tremor in his voice.
Ward winced at that and the pain he saw in his father’s eyes. “It’s not bad at all. It was a through and through. No major harm done. That last game against Brownville was worse.”
“Yeah, I don’t remember you being shot at a football game,” Mason stalked off to slam the casserole down on the hallway table.
Samantha pushed in between him and his parents. “Are you going to be okay? They said in the fan group that Lucy…I mean Della…was beaten up and you were shot fifteen times. Nobody knew if either of you was even still alive. I mean, Piper posted on her channel that Della was stable and recovering, but she didn’t say anything about you .”
Her face crumpled as the tears she’d been trying to hold on to escaped.
Ward’s heart twisted itself into a knot he’d never untie. He opened his arms, and she threw herself at him, jostling his injured leg. He breathed through the pain while he hugged his sister tight. “It was twice, not fifteen, and one was just a graze. You can’t believe the internet.”
He’d actually been struck three times, but one had been caught by the vest, which was why his chest looked like an impressionist painting. As far as he was concerned, that didn’t count.
“We wouldn’t have to believe the internet if you’d told us what was going on,” Mason said with derision.
“I know.” Ward met his gaze. “I screwed up.”
Samantha hugged him tighter. “You could have died . We just got you back and you almost died .”
Pond scum. He was pond scum. No, whatever was worse than pond scum, that’s what he was.
He kissed the top of her head. “I didn’t come close to dying, and I’m not going anywhere. I promise. All I need is a little downtime to let the muscle heal up. I’ll be as good as new.”
He met his parents’ eyes, knowing that some of their trauma wasn’t just about him being shot. They were probably having flashbacks to the trial after his mother’s death and how he’d been shipped off to the Marines. They were probably worried he’d go to prison this time. “It was a clean shoot. Self-defense. The police and the FBI say the case is closed.”
Elyse took a deep, shuddering breath. “That’s good news. That’s…”
She glanced at Dad. He put a comforting arm around her shoulders. “It’s a relief. Glad to hear it, son.”
“You had time to talk to the cops but not us?” Mason asked, sounding a lot less like a teenager and more like someone’s judgmental grandfather.
Ward had a whole list of reasons why he hadn’t called. He’d been bleeding out, for one. In surgery, for another. The first people he’d seen when he woke up were state troopers. After that, he’d known he was fine, and it hadn’t seemed important. He figured he’d tell his family all about it when he saw them.
Staring down the barrel of their collective worry, he realized that had been a bad call. “I wasn’t thinking straight. It’s been a distracting couple of days. No excuse.”
“I’m just so grateful you’re all right.” Elyse put her arms around Ward and Samantha.
“Well, I’m not,” Mason said.
Heads swiveled in Mason’s direction.
“Mason.” Elyse’s stern tone made Mason stand a little straighter.
“Not like that.” Mason rolled his eyes. “I’m glad he didn’t get dead. I just don’t think that’s a good reason to let him off the hook. He said things would be different. When he brought his so-called girlfriend here to meet us, he said he wanted to fix things. That he’d been thinking about us and wanted to spend more time with us, but what he wanted was a place to hide his pop-star client. It wasn’t about us at all. That I-want-to-be-part-of-the-family bullshit was just a fucking lie.”
“Mason…language,” Dad said, but it didn’t have any bite.
“It’s not a lie.” Ward held up a hand. He wasn’t ready to have this conversation, but he had to admit his brother had a point. A lot of things had changed, and some of it had to be said out loud. “When I brought Lucy here, it was just a job. At first. But that changed. I fell for her. I shouldn’t have, but I did. And because I did…she helped me realize what I’d been missing. This place. This town. All of you. I lost…I lost my mother. But I didn’t lose you. So things are going to change.”
He glanced at his surly kid brother. “You can be as mad at me as you want, Mason, because I’ll be around for you to be mad at.”
“You promise?” Sam said, sounding delighted. “Will Lucy—I mean, Della—be here too?”
“Good question.” Elyse’s hopeful smile reminded him so much of his mother’s that it nearly did him in. “Will she?”
“If I have anything to say about it.” Ward glanced out the window. “She should be here in five minutes. You can ask her yourself.”
“Good,” Mason said, sounding a little choked. He coughed to clear his throat. “She’s definitely the coolest thing about you. Besides,” he shot Ward a pointed look, “I want to thank her again for that guitar.”
The irritation that surged through Ward was the kind only his brother could inspire. “ I bought you that guitar, you ungrateful little shit. Not her.”
“Ward,” Dad said. “Language.”
“Uh-huh,” Mason said with a smirk. “Because you know so much about music.”
“I know more than you think—” Ward’s tirade was cut off by the sound of tires crunching on the driveway.
The entire family abandoned the argument to crowd at the window. Ward felt like a teenage boy about to go on a first date, but it didn’t stop him from joining them.
The delivery van from Sunny’s Flowers and three SUVs filled with extra security were right on time.
His heart tripped in anticipation.
Della was here.
“Well, that’s a sight,” Dad said. “All that for our Lucy?”
“Did you order flowers?” Samantha asked, frowning.
Ward grinned. “Sunflowers, actually.”
The three SUVs opened and security spilled out. They swarmed the area like ants, setting up in a standard formation Ward recognized as one of his own. Diggs was a fast learner. He’d already translated the initial training Ward had given him into boots-on-the-ground protocol.
Not bad.
The driver, a boy probably fresh out of high school, climbed out and ran to throw open the van’s back doors.
Diggs hopped out first.
Three men with the combined star power of a small planet jumped out after him. The four spoke briefly, then Diggs moved out of sight behind the van.
Ward groaned. He hoped like hell the neighbors weren’t watching this. His yard was about to be filled with enough celebrities to make the entire town lose their collective minds.
“Hey, I know that guy!” Mason’s excitement made him sound a lot younger, and, Ward was relieved to hear, less antagonistic. “That’s Adam Brooks! He’s the lead singer for Delusions of Glory! Wow. What’s he doing here ?”
“He’s Mattie Bellamy’s fiancé,” Sam informed him with an air of superiority. “Which you’d know if you knew anything about music.”
“I know plenty about music, I just don’t stalk The Bellamy Sisters the way you do,” Mason said. “Who’s the other guy?”
Elyse’s hand fluttered to her throat. “Th…that’s Blake Ryan. He’s a fantastic actor. My goodness. Who’s the other man? He’s quite something. Is he an actor too?”
“No.” Ward would rather they not meet the third guy, but he didn’t see a way around it. Maybe if he avoided job titles, Mason wouldn’t notice the star-maker. “That’s Renic. He’s Della’s brother-in-law.”
Samantha slipped her hand into Ward’s. “Are all of The Bellamy Sisters coming? Even Piper?”
“Better be,” Ward muttered. He still didn’t see any sign of Della.
The rational part of his brain knew she was here. Diggs wouldn’t be here without her. Neither would anyone else.
The irrational side knew that if she didn’t show her face soon, he was going to rip all the doors off that van.
Lizzie appeared next. Renic held out his hand to help her down. She frowned at it. He flashed a pointed look at her obviously pregnant belly, then lifted her down.
Mattie emerged, then turned back to the van. Piper handed her two vases of sunflowers.
She immediately shoved them into Adam’s arms.
“Mason, let’s go help them with those flowers,” Dad said.
“Yeah, okay.” Mason gulped. “Wow. Adam Brooks.”
Ward squinted at the front window of the van. He was about to go find out exactly where the hell she was, injured leg be damned, when Diggs appeared at the front of the delivery van with Della holding on to his arm.
Relief, palpable and painful, flooded him.
She wore a simple yellow dress that revealed all the scratches and bruises on her legs, and her hair glowed in the afternoon light like a fiery orange beacon.
Ward was at the front door before Della made it to the steps.
Della’s eyes met his, and her face lit up brighter than her hair. “There you are.”
She limped up the steps and flung herself into his arms like it had been weeks since they’d seen each other.
He savored the feel of her in his arms as he buried his face in her curls.
“Don’t make me do that ever again,” Della said in his ear. “I don’t want to go anywhere without you.”
“You won’t have to.” He kissed her cheeks, then her lips.
For a second, or maybe a century, it was just the two of them. He wanted to take her upstairs, shut the bedroom door behind them, and keep it that way for a long, long time. They could take their time…recovering.
“Hey, love birds, go nest somewhere else,” Piper said. “You’re in the way.”
Ward lifted his head enough to scowl at her.
Della giggled. “We really should move. There’s an embarrassingly large display of sunflowers headed this way.”
Ward pulled her to the side to give Piper enough room to get by. “They could just leave them on the porch.”
Della shook her head. “Don’t be silly. They’ll last twice as long inside.”
Lizzie paused in front of them with two vases of sunflowers braced against her belly. “You should both get off your feet, you just got out of the hospital. Della, be careful of that ankle as you go up that last step, sweetie.”
Ward pulled Della up the last step and into the house. “She’s right. You should sit down.”
“My ankle isn’t that bad. I’ve had worse on tour.” She took one of the vases from Lizzie. “I want this one with me.”
Renic appeared behind Lizzie, arms full of flowers. “They aren’t the only ones who should get off their feet.”
Lizzie wrinkled her nose at him. “I’m pregnant, not disabled,” she said before she sailed into the living room with the vases she carried.
“We don’t have to unload them all in one trip,” Mattie said. “We could take two or three trips.”
“No, we can’t,” Adam said. “The faster we get this done, the faster we can jam it out with that sweet new guitar I’ve been hearing about.”
Mason almost dropped his vases as he followed them through the door. “You serious?”
“Almost never,” Adam teased. “But in this case, hell yeah.”
They headed for the kitchen, talking excitedly about the make, model, and potential of Ward’s birthday present to Mason.
Ward watched them go, concern starting to gnaw at him. “That can’t be good.”
Della leaned into him and sighed. “Thanks for the flowers. I love them. I especially love the card. ‘Always’ sounds really, really nice.”
He liked the way the sunflowers made Della smile, but he really wished their well-meaning visitors would find somewhere else to go.
“It’s too crowded in here,” he muttered.
“Oh, it’s not that bad.” Della patted his arm. “You should see the inn at Christmas.”
Elyse appeared at the doorway. “Donovan, how many people do you think we have here? I count thirteen, but I don’t know how many security people are in the yard. They’ve all blended in with the trees. I don’t think I made enough casserole.”
Ward saw the plan spinning behind his stepmother’s eyes with growing horror. She was ready to host a potluck. The kind that lasted for hours. “We don’t have to feed the whole neighborhood.”
“Don’t worry about that, Elyse,” Lizzie said. She rubbed her belly absentmindedly. “We’ll send Adam and Blake out for pizza or something.”
“Oh hell no,” Ward said at the same time Dad said, “Oh no you won’t.”
The last thing they needed was those two showing their faces at the town square. Thank God Dad saw the lunacy in that idea too.
“You’ve all had enough takeout,” Dad cut in as he set a vase of sunflowers on the hallway entry table. “We’ll cobble together a barbecue. This house has a great setup out back. That yard was made for entertaining.”
Ward watched the horde coming and going with increasing frustration. “Parties just pop up around you, wherever you go, don’t they. Like a circus.”
Della giggled. “Why do you hate parties so much?”
“Today?” he growled. He was tired, his leg hurt, and he wanted to be alone with her.
“I love a cookout,” Adam said as he strolled by with more flowers. “We should get a bonfire going.”
“Do you think they’d notice if we sneak out?” Della whispered.
The look in her eyes was warm and inviting and filled with all kinds of promises he intended to investigate. They needed to be alone. Now. “This is our house. We aren’t the ones who need to leave.”
She stiffened. “Ward…”
He gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Attention!”
Blake startled as he passed by, but he didn’t stop. Nobody else reacted.
Della put a hand on his chest. “Ward. Don’t. This isn’t like the pool party. This is your…our…family.”
“I know. Believe me. Strangers tend to do what I tell them. Family never does.” He let out a loud, piercing whistle.
“What was that?” someone asked from the kitchen.
“Fire alarm?” Lizzie called out.
“No,” Mason said from the front door. “That’s Ward doing a quarterback call to attention.”
“Oh, nothing serious, then.” Piper took a vase from Mason. “Are all the flowers in?”
“Yeah.” He lifted his chin at the door. “Think the driver is waiting for a tip.”
“Right,” Renic said. “I got it.” He disappeared outside.
Frustration built in Ward’s chest. “Hey!” he bellowed loud enough to make his old drill sergeant proud.
Heads swiveled in his direction, and finally it was quiet enough to get a word in.
“Thanks for stopping by, everybody,” Ward said, “and thanks for your help unloading the flowers. We appreciate it. Now get out.”
Mason snorted.
“Donovan,” Elyse chided.
Mattie slapped a hand over her mouth, but her body shook with laughter.
“Dude,” Blake said, “I like your style. You remind me of my mom.”
Ward frowned. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. He had no idea who Blake’s mother was, but he suddenly felt old.
Elyse grimaced. “He’s right. They really should get some rest. They don’t need us all here right this second. Though honestly, Donovan. Yelling? Really?”
“What he means …,” Della said as she wrapped her hands around his arm, “is that we both really appreciate everything you’re all doing for us. You’re so sweet, and I know you were all worried, but?—”
“You’re tired and you’d really like some quiet time to rest,” Piper finished.
“I doubt they’ll be resting,” Adam said.
“Adam.” Mattie poked him in the ribs.
“The whole point,” Piper said as she gave them both a hug, “was to get you home safe and sound. I guess we did that.”
Lizzie took her turn giving them hugs, then gestured at the door. “Okay, everybody, you heard the man. Let’s take this party to the hotel on the square. I think they have a banquet room we can use. We’ll order pizza.”
“She’s really been craving pizza,” Mattie said.
“There’ll be no hotel or pizza on my watch,” Dad said. He took Lizzie’s arm in his and led her to the front door. “Everybody head to Sevens. Cider’s on me. And I make the best grilled cheese sandwiches you ever ate.”
“That sounds fantastic.” Lizzie licked her lips. “I can’t wait to see this place. Della’s told us so much about it.”
They left, only to be replaced by Mattie and Adam.
Mattie folded Della into her arms. “We’ll stop by tomorrow. I have wedding plans and bridesmaids’ dresses to go over with all of you, and it’s super handy we’re all in one place.”
Adam gave Ward a friendly slap on the shoulder. “You saved Della, which means you saved all of us. That means we get to bombard you with attention. Don’t worry. We’ll give you at least twenty-four hours all to yourself.”
“Gee, that long?”
Adam’s grin was malicious. “If you’re lucky.”
Mattie pulled him away with a well-practiced “Ignore him.”
Della elbowed him in the ribs. “Smile, Warden. They love us and we love them.”
“Right.” Ward had never been hugged so often in such a short amount of time by so many different people. If it didn’t stop soon, his leg was going to give out.
Finally, it was down to Elyse and his little sister.
“I left the casserole in the fridge,” Elyse said. “There’s heating instructions on the foil.”
“Thanks.” Ward supposed he could spare one more hug. He gave his stepmother a long one. “Love you.”
“I know, sweetie. I love you too. We all do.” Elyse sniffed. “We’ll check in on you tomorrow.”
“Lucy, will you still run lines with me?” Samantha sounded tentative but hopeful. “I mean, now that you’re Della again?”
Della threw her arms around the teenager. “Oh, sweetie, I’ll always be Lucy for you. Of course we’re running through those lines. I can’t wait to see you in that holiday play.”
It took a lot longer than Ward thought it should, but finally it was just the two of them in the house.
The woods around them swarmed with security, but he could ignore them.
Della tucked her hands around his arm, an unconscious gesture of possession he was really starting to like. “So now that you have me alone, what are you going to do with me?”
He led her away from the door. “First, we’re going to help each other up the stairs.”
“That could take a while,” she commented as she eyed his sore leg. “You’re limping.”
“So are you.” He grasped the rail with his free hand. The first step hurt like hell. “But it’s this or sleep on the couch.”
“Come on, Warden.” Della put his arm around her shoulders and gripped his hand tight. “Lean on me.”
They made their way slowly upstairs, then down the hallway toward the master bedroom.
There were at least a dozen sunflower-filled vases scattered throughout the room, and two big sunflowers rested on the pillows. He wondered who’d added that little touch.
Della picked one up and twirled it through her fingers as she eyed him. “What do we do now?”
“I was thinking of doing this.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her, slow and soft. Her arms went around his neck, and she melted into him.
“That sounds…promising,” Della murmured. “Then what?”
Ward glanced at the bed. “Then what I’d really, really like us to do…is take a nap.”
“That,” Della breathed, “sounds amazing. Let’s do that.”
They climbed into bed and he pulled the blanket up over them with a satisfied sigh. Della rested her head on his chest. He tightened his arm around her. “I love you, Lucy.”
“I love you too, Warden.” She sighed. “It’s good to be home.”