Maeve exhales a noisy breath and hugs Turner. I can’t do anything except watch. Maybe I’m the one who started this, by dating Maeve and realizing how amazing she is, but what I’m watching now between my boy and my woman is something that belongs to them and them alone. She kneels down to hug him and whispers something in his ear. I’m not sure what she told him, but his face lights up in a way I’ve never seen before. She stands and hands him the ratty stuffed animal from the dresser.
“I know it’s a little scruffy, but it’s just well-loved,” Maeve says, defending the stuffed toy.
Turner looks at it through narrowed eyes and with his tiny pursed lips, says, “I love it so much. He’s like me now.”
“How is that?” I ask.
“Well-loved,” Turner replies, beaming first at me and then Maeve. “I’m going to make him a collar before dinner.”
He zips out of the room without another word. “What did you tell him?” I ask.
“It’s a secret,” Maeve says, still playing with the hem of the new sweater. When she glimpses my face, she goes on, “Oh, fine. I told him he was my favorite.”
In mock outrage, I lay a palm on my chest and then tackle her onto the bed. Our bed.
“My dream is coming true, too,” I say, as Maeve laughs softly underneath me. “You in my bed every night.” My whisper sends a wave of chill bumps across her chest and up her neck.
Maeve pulls her face to hers so she can look me in the eye. “I’m sorry. Again. This isn’t going to go to shit.”
I smile while obsessing over how perfect her fucking lips are. “I know it’s not, Maeve. The devil himself couldn’t take me away from you.”
She bites her bottom lip. “But God, though.”
“Wouldn’t dare take you from me.”
Chapter 10
Maeve
“It was a rough week at work,” Aspen exclaims, extending her feet onto the railing. We’re sitting outside at Lincoln’s house because Turner is going to sleep. Ramona appears with another cocktail and sinks down into a chair bundling her jacket tighter. It’s a cool night, but not Colorado winter cold. It’s been so long since my conversation with Rufio and the text message, that I decided to stop worrying over it and just live my life.
I sigh. “We’re just catching up after taking time off after… the, well, you know,” I say.
Ramona’s new boy toy, Vin, went back to Italy, so she’s been hanging out with me more. Though I have a feeling she’s working up to telling me she’s going to be traveling again, but doesn’t know how to do it. She sold all of her new work at her show, and even she knows she’d be a fool to pass up the momentum she has in our area. Vin, though. I can tell the man might win the fight. He treats her well, and his best feature is that he would never cheat on her, nor has he ever cheated on a girlfriend in the past. Ramona and I did our homework to be sure.
“Do you miss your mountain house?” Ramona asks, sipping her Hot Toddy, keeping the mug by her face for warmth.
“Being here with Lincoln and Turner is better than any mountain house,” I reply honestly. “After what happened there, it wasn’t the same anyway.”
The stars flicker in the black sky. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been.”
Aspen stands up to lean on the banister to admire the sky as well. Ramona gasps when she takes too big of a sip. “I can tell. But I also know you enough to know you are terrified right now.”
Oh, little does she know. She’s also close to the mark. “I am only scared because I’ve never had this much to lose before. It’s like instead of doling out good things little by little, I’m getting everything, all at once and I’m not sure how to hang on to it. Like properly that is.”
“I never held onto Stavros and he kept coming back. Then again, what you have with Lincoln is different than anything I’ve seen before. He was made for you. And Turner.”
I choke on a breath. “Is my nephew. Of course we have a connection. Turner is my real family. He has my blood. He’s the only person I’ll claim happily at this point. You know how I feel about fate,” I announce, draining the rest of my own drink. Aspen and Ramona respond in the affirmative at the same time. “Well, do you think things happen for a reason. Like the crazy things that have happened with the dumb DNA test and Rena, and her being in love with Lincoln? Like, is it all connected?” I’m buzzed and rambling. I refuse to drink too much when I’m the adult responsible for Turner.
Chonk starts barking aggressively and my heart pounds in response. There’s a quiet knock on the front door, and my friends follow me into the house to the front door, both have their phones in their hands ready to make the call. I pull up the security footage on the app on my phone and see a lady at the front door. She’s unassuming, but that means very little these days. I press the button on the system to talk to her from inside. “Hi, can I help you?” My voice shakes and it pisses me off. Rena took something away from me, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get back. I shouldn’t be scared right now. I silence Chonk with a look and send him back to Turner’s bedroom by pointing and saying his name. He obeys the command quickly.
“Oh, sorry, I’m Riley. I live a few houses down. I wanted to come drop off some cookies.”
Aspen hisses, “Let her in! Let her in! I want cookies!”
Ramona looks at me quizzically, trying to get a read on my decision before I say it. I shrug then shake my head, and text Lincoln with the situation. I tell Riley to hold on for a second and apologize in case she is being honest. Lincoln told me he can’t take calls on this particular training trip, especially at night, but he will always reply to my texts. He got special permission from his boss to be able to keep his phone with him, given what recently happened. It takes about forty-five seconds for his reply to ping. It says,She’s a legit… neighbor.It’s a brief reply, so I know he’s probably busy.
I open the door. “I’m so sorry. Just needed to double-check something,” I say, letting my gaze flick over the woman and the tin of cookies in her hand.