CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Kol
IWANT DOUBLE STRAWBERRIES AND MAYBE SOME CHOCOLATE chips.” Skylar sent me a look that was a cross between hopeful and sly.
“Why do I feel like you’re turning this breakfast granola bowl into an ice cream sundae?” I leaned against the counter, giving my daughter an over-the-top, eye-narrowing stare.
She let out a giggle. My favorite one, the laugh that said nothing weighed on her shoulders and the world was her oyster. “Because I’m smart.”
“That you are, Little Princess. That you are.”
There was nothing like the normalcy of a kid trying to get away with everything they could to bring comfort after a tumultuous twenty-four hours. My gaze lifted to the ceiling as if on instinct, seeking out Nova. I’d left her sleeping hard when it was time to get Sky up. But she’d needed it.
Grabbing the chocolate chips from the pantry, I sprinkled a few on Skylar’s granola. A chuckle left me as she started dancing in her chair, raising her hands over her head, spoon in hand.
“Granola sundae for breakfast,” she singsonged.
“We’re having sundaes for breakfast, and nobody told me?” Nova asked as she moved into the kitchen.
I did a full head-to-toe sweep, surveying everything about her. She wore jeans and boots, with a figure-hugging tank peeking out from beneath a flannel. My flannel. God, I loved that she kept wearing my clothes.
Skylar’s eyes went wide. “Your hair, Supernova!”
A hint of nerves made its way into Nova’s expression. She did a twirl. “What do you think?”
“I think you look beeeeeeeeeautiful and sassy,” Sky said definitively. “And like you should have a granola sundae with me.”
Nova laughed. “Just what I was going for. And I’m always down for a sundae of any sort.”
I’d told Sky that Nova was going to sleep over because she had taken a fall off her bike and shouldn’t be alone. Sky had simply said, “She should sleep over every night. Everything’s better when she’s here.”
Some parents would take that as a failing, but for the first time in forever, I hadn’t. I’d taken it for what it was: the simple truth. Nova did make everything better.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, moving into her space and stroking a hand down her back.
Nova’s mouth curved as she looked up at me. “Good. Better than I have in a while.”
And I understood that. She’d released some of what she’d been holding inside. It wasn’t some magic bullet, but it helped.
Nova tugged on the corner of my shirt, moving us toward the makeshift granola bowl stand and away from Sky’s keen ears. She’d picked up the book her class was reading, thoroughly enthralled in that and her granola sundae.
I studied Nova’s face, her body. She twisted the corner of the flannel she wore between her fingers. “I called Aster this morning.”
I waited for more.
Nova let out a breath that trembled as she exhaled—not fear exactly but nerves with an edge. “She’s going to help me find a therapist. One I feel safe with. I need … I can’t keep pushing all of this down. It’s tearing me apart from the inside.”
Relief washed through me, but something else was hot on its heels. Pride. My knuckles skimmed across Nova’s cheek before I tangled my fingers in her hair. “That’s my girl. So goddamn brave.”
“Hold that praise until I actually make it to the office.”
One corner of my mouth kicked up. “You’ll make it.”
She nodded, inhaling deeply. “I will. I’ll make it. I’m going to head over to Aster’s ranch this morning to talk to her. She had an idea about a type of therapy I might like, and she said she wanted to show me.”
“I’m really glad you have her.”
“Me, too,” Nova whispered. “Thanks for walking with me through the darkness. For being the light when I need it.”
My fingers twisted in her hair. “You’re the same for me. And I think that’s what it’s all about. Being the light for each other when we’ve lost it. Life will never be perfect, but we can be here to remind each other that it’s still beautiful.”
Nova’s eyes glistened. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I rasped. The words came so easily. The only one it had come easily with before Nova was Skylar. Even with my brothers and Waylon, it was a struggle to get them out. But with Nova? It was as easy as breathing.
“Are you guys going to kiss now?”
At the sound of Skylar’s voice, Nova and I startled apart, as if we were two teenagers caught making out.
Shit. Apparently, she had been paying more attention than I thought.
Sky had never seen me with a woman in a romantic situation before.
Hell, it was only since Dex started helping Brae that she’d seen me with any women at all.
And I wasn’t sure how she’d react to the possibility of a woman entering my life as more than a friend.
I turned, studying my daughter. “What did you say?”
She looked supremely annoyed. “The prince is supposed to kiss the princess now, Daddy. I thought you paid better attention during movie night.”
I practically gaped at my adorable daughter. It seemed she had no issue with someone becoming more than a friend to me. She was just annoyed at how slowly I was taking it.
Nova let out a soft snicker. “Yeah, Boss. I thought you paid better attention.”
I sent the love of my goddamned life a scowl and crossed the distance to her in one long stride. I slid one arm around her waist while my other hand went to the back of her head to dip her. My mouth met Nova’s as I tried to prove a point, but the second I tasted her, I lost all sense.
Mint from her toothpaste still clung to her, but there was something else. Something undeniably Nova. And I drank it in.
Skylar let out a hoot and a cheer as she danced around us.
When I straightened, I met Nova’s dazed look. “How’s that for paying attention?”
Nova sent me a slightly drunk smile. “A for effort, Boss.”
Skylar’s chattering had slowed as we got closer to school. I knew my kid, and I knew she was puzzling through something in her mind. Sometimes, the topics were heavy, like her mom. Other times, it was as simple as wondering why goats liked to headbutt each other. I always just waited.
I never wanted to rush Sky the way my father had rushed me when I was growing up.
Even in the time before we found out the kind of monster he was, he was always busy, in a hurry.
Important business meetings for his import/export business, calls, and things that didn’t involve listening to us kids.
But maybe what he was really doing was hurrying off to kill another woman with brown hair and green eyes.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, Little Princess?” I asked, my gaze flicking to her through the rearview mirror as I turned on my blinker.
“Are you and Supernova boyfriend and girlfriend?”
My gut tightened. “I guess that’s what you’d call it.”
Just her asking had uncertainty filling me. Not about Nova and me—that felt rock-solid. But about the need to hide what we were. I couldn’t ask Sky to do that. And I shouldn’t have been asking Nova either.
I closed my eyes for the barest of seconds as I pulled to a stop in the drop-off line. Another time for me to cede control. Another stretch of what I could handle. I needed to hand off Travis’s case to someone else.
Because knowing that I would handle it the best wasn’t enough for me to make my family keep secrets. And it didn’t mean I’d stop working it. Not really. Not when my brothers and I could keep investigating from the shadows.
Skylar’s legs bounced against her booster seat. “What happens if you guys get married?”
A zing of energy zapped through me. Apprehension, nerves, fear, and … want. I wanted that. I never thought it would be in the cards for me, but I wanted Nova to be a part of our family in every way.
I put my truck in park and twisted around. “What do you mean?”
Sky’s legs bounced faster now. “Like, would she maybe … be my mom?”
I saw it then, the hope burning brightly in Skylar’s hazel eyes. She wanted that. Just like I did.
I reached out and took Skylar’s tiny hand in mine. “Little Princess, it’s usually a long wait before people get married. It takes time to get to know each other and make sure it’s a good fit.”
Sky glared at me. “Nova fits with us.”
I had to fight a laugh because I agreed. “I think so, too. But we’re still gonna take our time. I can tell you one thing I know for certain, though.”
“What?” Skylar asked, annoyance still in her voice.
“She loves you with her whole heart.”
A small smile tugged at Sky’s lips. “I know she does. She plays with me, and she listens and always has the best voices when we play princess warrior battle games.”
“It’s the voices that are the most important, huh?” I asked, still fighting a laugh.
Skylar shook her head. “It’s most important that I can be me with her. And she thinks I’m awesome.”
God, I loved Nova. I loved my kid. I loved the way they loved each other. I was becoming a sentimental sap, and I didn’t give a damn. “That is the most important.”
“Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“You gotta pull up. Everyone’s waiting.”
This time, I did bark out a laugh. It looked like our emo moment was over. Kids, man.
I helped Skylar out of the truck, making sure she had her backpack and lunch. But before I could even tell her I loved her, she was running toward Owen, who was waiting at the school doors. I was grateful she felt so confident. No fear. No worries. It was everything I’d ever wanted for her.
My phone rang, and I answered it as I climbed back behind the wheel. “Archer.”
“It’s Roger.”
The tone of his voice had my blood running cold. “What is it?”
“Heidi Ingram. We found her.”