“Jesus, fuck, Lark. Are you okay?” he asked, and I turned to take in his face.
He hadn’t even tried to stop the tears, and I reached up and wiped one away. “I’m okay. A little bruised, a bit battered, but okay.”
I had just faced my worst nightmare head-on and was still here to tell the tale. But the better accomplishment was looking around at the people surrounding me and knowing that I had earned this level of commitment. I deserved it.
I felt it from everyone in the room. In their worried gazes and looks of determination. Their willingness to put themselves in harm’s way for me.
Mostly, I felt their love. Especially from the one cradling me now as if I were the most precious treasure in the world.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered and closed his eyes. I cupped his cheek more fully, and he turned his face to press a kiss to my palm.
“I’m right here,” I said. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
He opened his eyes, those bluebell orbs looking so intently at me that I felt as if he were peering into my soul. He swallowed hard. “I—”
“Pardon me, Miss Larken,” Desmond interrupted.
I shifted in Kholt’s hold with a wince and looked up at the soldier. But as I did, another spirit winked into place behind him. I took in the shimmery, strawberry-blond hair, fern-green eyes, and chiseled cheekbones. My breath rushed out.
“Mom?” I gasped.
She took a few steps forward and came to stand just in front of Desmond. “Hi, baby,” she said, tears glistening in her eyes.
“Did . . .?” The lump in my throat thickened, and I struggled to get the words out. Despite what I was seeing, I couldn’t reconcile that fact with what I had known for those twelve years at the ranch. She’d never stepped in. Had never put my wellbeing above hers and especially not Lionel’s. Now, she’d quite literally saved my life—and all after losing hers.
I tried again. “Did you send Desmond for help?”
She nodded and wrung her hands in front of her.
“Thank you,” I said.
She swiped away an ectoplasmic tear and sniffed. “I should have done something sooner. I’m so sorry for what I put you through. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to see the truth.”
I felt the war inside me. The tug of my heart at odds with the tumble in my belly. The day I left Balance of Light, I had basically written my mother off. I had convinced myself that I didn’t need a mom. But now, here we were. She had saved my life, and I wanted nothing more than to pull her in for a hug. And that confused me even more. Because while I couldn’t forget, I did kind of get it.
“I can’t tell you it’s okay, Mom, because it’s not.” I sat up a little straighter in Kholt’s hold. “But a part of me understands. He was a master manipulator. The vilest of the vile. Pure evil.”
She only nodded and looked at her shoes.
I peered around the room, not seeing Turner. My stomach dropped, remembering what Lionel had said.
“Kholt?” I jerked around to face him. “Where’s my brother?” My voice shook with the question.
“His father knocked him over the head and shoved him in the back of Pax’s truck. He had a nasty concussion. Harper was seeing to him and calling an ambulance. That’s why a few of us were a little late getting over here.”
I looked at my mom. “Did you . . .?”
“I saw him. My poor baby,” she said with a soft smile. “I went to him once I knew you had help and we got to talk a bit before the paramedics arrived.”
That, more than anything, brought tears to my eyes. “I’m . . . I’m glad. I didn’t want to think about what it would do to him that he didn’t get to say goodbye to you.”
“Yet another thing that Lionel stole from me.” She turned to look at the man, still thrashing beneath Aaron’s considerable bulk.
“All that is over now. You can rest in peace.”
She shrugged, and I saw a twinkle in her eye. “Maybe. But I thought I might stick around for a while and get to know my kids a little better.”
I found myself smiling, despite the situation. “I’d like that, Mom,” I said and meant it.