Chapter Forty-Nine Ava Angelhart
Chapter Forty-Nine
Ava Angelhart
For the first time in three years, seven months, and twenty-three days, Ava Angelhart woke up next to her husband.
She began to cry.
Cooper rolled to his side and pulled her into his arms. She cried harder.
“Ava, Ava, I’m home. Our family is safe. It’s over.”
She only cried harder.
He held her until there were no more tears. She wiped her face, looked into her husband’s brilliant green eyes, and had no
words.
“It’s over,” Cooper repeated.
She nodded and snuggled into him. “I love you so much. I’ve yearned, I’ve prayed for this day, but never thought it would
come.”
He held her, stroked her hair. There really was nothing more to say.
Ava didn’t know if they had made a mistake when Cooper confessed to killing Devin. At the time, their fear was real. Cooper said he would spend eternity in prison if it saved his family. They didn’t know who was behind it, and if they had looked then, would one of their children now be dead?
It was something Ava had thought far too much about. It had consumed her. That thought had kept her going: That her husband
was a hero, even when others saw him as the villain.
“It’s going to take time,” Cooper said quietly. “The kids are still coming to terms with our decision.”
“It’s the secrets more than the decision,” Ava said. “I’m grateful they are alive, but I don’t know that they’ll forgive us.
That they’ll forgive me. I feel like I’ve lied to them every single day.”
Cooper tilted his head on the pillow so he could look at her.
“They will forgive us,” he said softly. “They love us, and they will understand if they don’t already.”
“I love you,” she said and wiped away tears.
He kissed her lightly. “I remember the first time I saw you. I was the TA for your biology class. You walked into the lab.
A beam of morning light from the high windows illuminated you, like an angel showing me my future. Your hair glowed. Your
eyes sparkled. Your shirt was blue, my favorite color. You wore a skirt when every other girl wore pants or shorts. And you
had on these big chunky sandals with high heels and still were one of the shortest in the class. I watched you that morning.
Looked you up, saw that you were a history and prelaw major. And I knew it was fate that the one science class you had to
take was mine.”
She smiled. “You saved me from failing.”
“When you flunked that first test, I offered to help not because I cared if you passed or not—well, I did, I didn’t want you
to have to repeat the class—but because I wanted to spend time with you.”
“I got a B on the next test.”
“And you kissed me.”
“Impulsive.”
“I was already in love with you. Deeply, irrevocably, in love.”
She touched his face, kissed him slowly. He was here. He was safe.
Her family was whole.