Chapter 10
Devon
Five Years Later…
“Daddy!”
I look up from where I’m repairing the porch railing and grin as a tiny tornado with dark curls comes barreling toward me. Ella launches herself at me without hesitation. I catch her easily and toss her into the air.
She squeals with delight. “Again!”
I laugh. “Again? I thought you were supposed to be helping Mommy plant flowers.”
“I was helping,” she says seriously.
I raise an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
She nods. “I dug holes.”
“You dug one hole.”
“It was a really good hole,” she states.
I laugh and set her on her feet. Our daughter immediately grabs my hand and starts dragging me toward the house.
“Come see!”
“What am I seeing?”
“The treasure!”
That sounds dangerous, and I wonder what she could have found.
I let her pull me inside anyway, my gaze instantly landing on Suri. It’s always like that, always me searching her out, my body knowing when she’s close by. Even after five years, I still get the same rush whenever I see my wife.
Following her to Wolf Valley was the best decision I ever made. Now I have a wife I adore, a daughter who owns my whole damn heart, and a baby boy currently napping upstairs. Life is good. Perfect, actually.
Ella drags me into the spare room that we’ve slowly turned into storage. Boxes are stacked along one wall: Christmas decorations, old uniforms, and keepsakes. The usual. Except now one of the boxes is open, and papers are scattered everywhere.
I immediately recognize them.
Letters. My letters. Suri’s letters. Every single one I’ve ever received from Suri.
“Oh no.”
Ella beams. “I found them!”
I rub a hand over my face. “Baby, we don’t play in Daddy’s boxes.”
“But look!” She grabs one of the envelopes and thrusts it at me.
I freeze. The familiar handwriting hits me right in the chest. Even after all these years, seeing it does something to me.
I take the envelope carefully.
Ella climbs into my lap while I sit on the floor. “What are they?”
I smile. “They’re letters.”
“From who?”
“Your mommy.”
Her eyes get huge. “Mommy wrote you letters?”
“Hundreds of them.”
“Hundreds?” she whispers in awe.
“Yep.”
“Why?”
I laugh.
Jeez, how do I explain this? I could just tell her that she wrote to me when I was in the military, but that would be a disservice to what happened, to what Suri did.
“She wrote to me and saved my life. She gave me something to come home to. She taught me what love looked like.”
“Why?”
“Because Mommy is special.”
Ella considers that. “Did you love Mommy then?”
The question hits me harder than I expected. I look down at the stack of envelopes spread around us. Every dream, every fear, every piece of her heart. She gave all of it to me before I even knew her name.
A smile pulls at my lips. “Yeah.”
Ella blinks. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Before you knew her?”
“I knew her. Not her name, but I knew her.”
“That’s silly.”
I chuckle. “It probably was.”
“Did Mommy love you?”
I pick up one of the envelopes and trace my thumb over her handwriting. “Yeah, baby. She did.”
A soft gasp comes from the doorway.
I look up.
And there she is.
My girl.
Suri stands frozen in the hall, holding a basket of laundry. Her blue eyes are suspiciously shiny. Beautiful still, always.
She catches me looking and shakes her head. “You’re making her a romantic.”
“Damn right I am.”
“Mommy!” Ella cries as she jumps up.
She races across the room and wraps herself around Suri’s legs.
Suri laughs and sets down the laundry basket before scooping her up. “What are you two doing in here?”
“Looking at treasure.”
Suri glances toward the letters, and her expression softens immediately. “Oh.”
I stand and walk over to them. The second I’m close enough, I slide an arm around her waist, same as I always do. I can’t help myself, never could. Her head tips back against my shoulder.
“You kept all of them?” Ella asks.
I snort. “Of course I did.”
“Why?”
I stare down at my wife, at the woman who changed everything, the woman who wrote one letter and accidentally handed me an entire future. “Because they’re important.”
“More important than treasure?”
“Way more important.”
Ella looks horrified. Apparently, that’s a big claim.
Suri laughs, and the sound settles something deep inside me.
“What did the letters say?” Ella asks.
I smile. “They said everything.”
Suri turns, smiling softly up at me.
Ella sighs at our lovey-dovey behavior, and I hide my laugh in Suri’s neck.
Then a sleepy cry drifts down the hallway. Our son.
Suri immediately turns toward the stairs.
“I’ve got him,” I tell her.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
I lean down and kiss her forehead, the same way I have every day for the last five years, the same way I plan to for the rest of my life.
Ella grabs my hand as I start toward the stairs. “Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
She points to the letters. “Which one is your favorite?”
I stop, and my gaze drifts over the stack to the first envelope. The beginning of everything.
I smile. “The first one.”
“Why?”
Because it gave me hope.
Because it gave me her.
Because every good thing in my life started with that letter.
I look across the room at my wife, and she smiles back. Just like always, the sight of her steals my breath.
“Because,” I tell my daughter softly, “it brought me your mommy.”
And that was the best thing that ever happened to me.