Chapter 52
The sky had gone from black to the color of a fading bruise by the time Luke found Jenna on the porch steps that morning.
They hadn’t slept. There hadn’t been any time.
She sat with a blanket draped over her shoulders, her hair still damp from a shower. He’d showered too, the smoke and ash washed off. But it hadn’t done much for the exhaustion underneath everything.
Freya lay curled against Jenna’s hip, the dog’s chin resting on her knee. The lab seemed to have found her person in Jenna.
Luke stared at the horizon. Orange no longer flared through the dark. Praise God.
Micah had told him a couple of hours ago that crews had officially declared the fire out around four in the morning. It had been contained, then dead and gone, like it had never been anything but a bad dream the property was waking up from.
Micah had also mentioned that Sutter—the man who’d run from their confrontation—had been found literally hiding under some rocks in the woods. He had some burns, but he would be okay. He was also in police custody now.
Luke sat down beside Jenna on the steps.
For several minutes, neither of them said anything. The birds had started singing somewhere up past the cottages, oblivious to the night the rest of them had just lived through. The sound of their singing felt almost rude.
“You should be sleeping,” Luke said.
She threw him a side glance. “So should you.”
Fair enough.
Neither of them moved.
They watched the sun come up slow over the ridge, the gray going gold at the edges. It caught Jenna’s face in a way that made the tiredness look almost soft, and something in Luke’s chest cracked open.
“I thought I lost you tonight,” he said.
“I know.” Her voice cracked. “I thought the same thing about you. The whole time Sutter had me, I kept thinking—if I don’t make it back, at least the kids have their dad. I knew you’d take care of them—just like you always have.”
“Jenna.”
She rubbed her throat. “I mean it. I made peace with it. Out there, I made peace with the fact that I might die. I was okay with it—but only if I knew you were safe, and you’d be with the kids.”
He squeezed her hand. “I don’t want you making peace with that. I want you making plans instead. For all of it. The kids, this place, whatever comes next. I want you in every version of my life from here on, not just the one where I survive you.”
Her eyes were wet now, and she didn’t try to hide the tears.
“I told myself I’d made the right choice leaving.
That it was the only way to keep them safe.
To keep you safe. I believed that. I still believe it.
” She looked at him. “But I never stopped loving you. Not for one day of it. Whatever happens between us next, I want you to know that.”
“I never stopped loving you either.” His voice dipped low with emotion. “I told myself I had. Some mornings I almost believed it. Then—” He shook his head as he tried to find the words. “My love for you never went anywhere, Jenna. It just waited.”
She pressed her free hand to her mouth, and a tear slipped loose before she could stop it.
He reached into his jacket pocket, and he pulled out his and her rings. “I never could make myself put these away. Not in a drawer, not in a box. I needed them close. I told myself it was so I wouldn’t lose them. But I think really it was because I couldn’t let you go, no matter how hard I tried.”
Jenna stared at her ring sitting in his palm, and her eyes widened. “Luke—”
“I’m not asking you to decide anything tonight.” He held her ring out to her. “I just don’t want to keep this ring for myself anymore. I want another chance. I don’t want any more secrets—but a fresh start instead.”
“I want that too.” She made no effort to hide her tears. “I want another chance. I want us.”
She held out her hand, and Luke slid the ring back onto her finger. His hands weren’t quite steady. Neither were hers.
She took the other ring from his palm and slid it onto his finger. “There. It’s back where it belongs.”
Luke stared at her, his heart racing out of control. He still couldn’t believe she was here. That she still loved him.
He scooted closer and cupped her face in both hands. For a moment he just held her there, taking her in—the woman he’d spent two years believing he’d lost, close enough now that he could feel her breath against his wrist.
“I thought I’d never get to do this again,” he said.
“I know.” Her voice came out unsteady. “Me either.”
Then he kissed her, slow and certain. Whatever he’d been holding back all this time went into it—every night he’d lain awake wondering, every prayer he hadn’t known how to finish, every mile he’d have crossed to find her if he’d only known where to look.
She kissed him back the same way, one hand fisted in his shirt like she didn’t intend to let go again.
When they finally broke apart, neither of them moved far. He rested his forehead against hers and stayed there, breathing her in, learning all over again that she was real.
“You’re really here,” he said.
“I’m really here.” Her thumb moved along his jaw. “I’m not going anywhere. Not ever again.”
Freya lifted her head, glanced between them once, and settled back down against Jenna’s hip with a sigh, as if she’d just confirmed something she’d already suspected.
The sun cleared the ridge fully, gold pouring down over the porch, over the two of them, over a night that had nearly taken everything and somehow hadn’t.