* * *
As it turned out, they spent another full day and night in St. John's, with visits to lawyers and banks and the passport office. But this meant setting out bright and early for home—home!—and they pulled into Westerly Cove in early afternoon.
Lucy still felt slightly dazed from the abrupt turnaround of her fortunes. There had been no sight of Rodric and no messages from him, but she felt increasingly confident that she had actually managed to get the better of him, especially now that the papers were securely filed. The actual business of transferring the company and getting access to her funds again would take a while, possibly with some court visits, but she found that she didn't mind all that much.
In the meantime, there was work to do in Westerly Cove. She bet she could find some more clients in town who needed someone to do their bookkeeping. The money from the company would be nice to have—but she didn'tneedit.
"Have you thought about what's next?" Eren asked, as he maneuvered the boat into the bay. "I don't know if you have any thoughts on where you want to go or what you want to do."
"Right now, I don't want anything more than to live here for a while," she said, and saw his shoulders relax. "Oh—Eren, you didn't think I was going to leave, did you?"
"I wasn't sure," Eren admitted. "I don't know how fascinating Westerly Cove could be for someone who's used to ... I dunno, Paris and places like that."
"Westerly Cove is the place that took me in when I had nothing," Lucy said sincerely. "Your family welcomed me and gave me a place to stay out of pure hospitality. I think it might be fun to travel with you—on a houseboat, maybe?" She grinned and looked around at the fishing boat's modest amenities. "I'd like to try living on the sea for a while, one of these days. But right now, Westerly Cove is the only place I want to be. With you."
She ran a hand lightly across the back of his neck, stroking her fingers through the fine, soft hair there. They motored slowly across the bay. The colorful houses on the hill seemed to leap out at her, purple and gold and blue and red.
"About the griffin thing," Eren said. "You don't have to tell anybody. I'll keep your secret as long as you want. Do you want anyone to know?"
"I'm not sure. I'll have to think about it." She listened for the voice of her inner griffin. She couldn't hear it, at the moment, or feel it—but there was still a sense ofsomethingthere. Anyone who had a shifter animal could never truly be alone. And with Eren by her side, she knew she would never lack for someone to back her up and protect her. "Thank you. And I'll keep your secret too—about what happened to you and your bear. I'll never speak of it to anyone."
"Yeah, about that," Eren said. "I was actually kinda thinking about telling my family." He glanced at her, his blue eyes soft and troubled. "I know they've been wondering what's going on with me. I couldn't talk about it before, but now ... now I think I could. Because of you, and the peace you've brought to me and my bear."
Lucy laid her head briefly on his shoulder and kissed his ear.
The boat was drifting now, barely moving faster than the current as the dock approached.
"You want to pull her up to the dock?" Eren asked.
"You trust me that much?"
"I trust you with everything, Lucy," he said seriously, relinquishing the controls.
It was her first time maneuvering the boat in such precise circumstances, and she did bump the dock a bit, but only enough to rock the boat slightly.
"I've done far worse, believe me," Eren reassured her. As she ran through the motor shut-down procedure, he went out on deck and tossed a coil of rope onto the dock. "And let's not even talk about what I've seen some of the other fisherman do, and we're talking guys who've been on the water all their lives. One time my dad and some of his fishing buddies got into a drinking contest and somehow managed to get the boat, not just on the dock, but all the way up to the front door of the Westerly Inn. Let me tell you, Heddy Westerly was not happy about that."
Lucy giggled. "How did they get it back in the water?"
"Let's just say it involved a lot of guys, a lot of elbow grease, and waiting for high tide. Want to tie the boat off?"
Lucy carefully tied the knots as he had shown her. Eren inspected her work and declared it excellent.
They walked down the dock with their arms around each other's waists. She leaned into him, breathing in the male musk of him.
"Do you want to talk to your family about the—the bear thing right away?" she asked quietly. "I can give you some space, if you'd like."
"I don't mind if you're there," Eren said.
The front door opened onto the usual cheerful chaos. This time, it was the entire family. Tor was boisterously having a friendly argument with their dad in the kitchen, while Inga was on the couch, chatting with Bernie.
"There you are, boy!" Stieg boomed. He wrapped an arm around Eren, pulling him into the house. Lucy, startled, was caught up and towed along in the same sweep. "You kids must've had a grand time. Grand! Did you show her the sea stacks up along Rampart Bay?"
"We did have some adventures," Eren said. "I'll tell you about it later. Right now ..." He hesitated, looking at his family, all of whom were looking back at him with expressions of curiosity and welcome. "There's—well—there's something I'd like to talk to you about."
He looked around and caught Lucy's eye. She gave him a little nod and a supportive smile, and then she slipped quietly out the door, and left them to talk about it.
* * *