Maddie shut off the memory. Delia French wasn’t her mother. Her lies and bitterness would never touch her daughter, just as they would never harm another day in her own life. Bull had given her the key to be strong, but it had been her who needed to unlock her own power.
She was beautiful, kind, smart, loving, and no one could take that from her. Not another woman, not a man, not even Bull. She was the one with the power, and she was going to make sure her daughter felt the same way.
They closed the door, and Bull pulled her into his arms. “Time for a nightcap?”
“Only if it means getting naked while we’ve got twenty minutes before she tells us she heard Santa.”
“I only need ten,” Bull said.
Maddie threw back her head and laughed.
The End