“OK. I’ll walk you to your car,” he says, sliding his arm around my shoulders in comfort as he does just that. And as I drive toward my mother’s house—the place I used to call home—I can’t help but pray that this really does turn out to be nothing. Because this morning I woke up feeling like I was living a dream come true, and after seeing those articles I feel like I’m in the middle of a nightmare. I just want to wake up and go right back to living my happily ever after…
Dylan
“Hey, Dylan! I’ve just finished with the last of the plumbing jobs,” my brother, Nelson, calls up to where I’m hammering away at roof shackles. “And since the electrician signed off on the wiring this morning, the boys are busy putting in all the drywall. You want me to help them or you?”
“Maybe take Ajax or Rafe into town to pick up the carpet order?” I suggest, watching the way my brother’s face falls.
“Isn’t that something ourcousinsmight enjoy a little more?” he suggests, making chuckle as I glance over at Kellen who’s up on the roof helping me.
“He’s not wrong,” Kellen booms. “Remy and Otis will be more than happy to head down the mountain. I have it on good authority Jade and Yvette were planning on coming up with food for us all later, so maybe they can expedite that too.”
“Works for me,” Nelson calls up, disappearing back into the cabin to deliver the news.
After almost of week of solid work, we’re already putting the finishing touches on Millie’s cabin. It’s amazing what eight men banding together can do when they put their mind to it.
On the morning after the storm and after Millie had left, Kellen and Jade made their way up here to check on me and my brothers in case we needed extra hands cleaning up if the storm felled a tree or something. But what they found instead was me emerging from the tree line with no shirt, no shoes, bleeding feet, and miserable as fuck.
When I explained to them what had happened, they asked me what I needed, and I told them I needed her. But barring that, I needed to keep busy. And what better way to do that than to continue work on Millie’s cabin? No matter what happened between the two of us going forward, I still love her enough to want the absolute best for her. And that leaky trailer of hers just won’t do.
So, with the assistance of my three brothers, Nelson, Rafe and Ajax. Plus my four cousins, Kellen, Vaughn, Otis and Remy, we put our muscles and our heads together to re-build the cabin in alignment with Millie’s vision. We even had my cousins’ wives, Jade, Charity, Sam and Yvette, to help us convert Millie’s stylized imaginings into a three-dimensional reality.
Millie came to Whisper Valley with a plan for her future, and I’m going to do my damndest to make sure she gets it—even if it means I’m not a part of it.
Above everything else, I just want her to be happy. And even more than that, I want her home. The world just isn’t as bright without her in it.Please come home, sunshine.
Millie
Sitting at the island in my mother’s lavish kitchen, I chase the final Cheerio around my bowl with my spoon, my head in my hand as I watch it go round and round.
“Looks like you’re having a fun start to your morning,” Wes says, entering through the back sliding door. He’s in his police uniform and has a folder beneath his arm, the sit of which has me sitting up straight, heart in my throat.
“Is that what I think it is?” I gasp, sliding off my stool and rushing to him.
“Good morning, Wes. How are you?” Wes teases as I stop in front of him with an outstretched hand. “I’m wonderful, Millie. Thanks for asking. Say, I happen to have the background information you were looking for on your reclusive boyfriend.”
“Give it,” I say, making grabby hands.
“What? This?” He holds it above his head and I jump to try and reach it.
“Wes! Come on! You’re too tall and I’ve been waiting for this all week!”
“OK,” he says, planting it in my hands. “I’ll put you out of your misery, but only because you’re no fun when you’re mopey.”
I poke my tongue out at him before I rush it over to the kitchen counter and start pouring through it. “What am I looking at here?” The folder is thick and there are lots of official-looking reports and I’m not sure where to start.
“Most of it is just his service record. But if you look at this one”—he sifts a few pages to the side and pulls out a document—“It’s the findings of the investigation into the night Valentine got shot. Him and his partner were called out over a home invasion. But when they got there, it turned out it was some abusive ex refusing to take no for an answer. Shots were fired. Dylan’s partner went down, then Dylan took aim, and just as he fired, the asshole grabbed his teenage son and used him as a shield. Dylan lost it when the kid went down and took his anger out on the father with his fists. At some point in there, he got shot in the leg too, and they kind of used that injury as a way to retire him on full disability. He left the force clear of all charges, the asshole went to prison and the mother, well, she was already gone.”
“Oh god,” I gasp, covering my mouth with my hand, my heart completely breaking for my sweet bear of a man. “No wonder he didn’t really talk about it. That would have been horrifying. Oh god. And I just ran away from him without a word!” I shoot to my feet and grab my brother by the vest. “Wes, I have to go back. I have to see him. Now.”
Releasing him as fast as I grabbed him, I push away and run from the kitchen to the stairs, panting once I reach the landing but surging forward because there’s no time to waste—it’s already been a whole week and I need to get back to Whisper Valley and beg Dylan to forgive me.
“Tell Mom I said thanks and I’ll call her soon, OK?” I say in a rush as I run past Wes toward the garage door.
“Drive safe!”
“I will!” Jumping into my car. “And thank you!”
After white knuckling the wheel all the way from Kismet Cove to Whisper Valley, I pass the welcome sign and release a hopeful sigh. I’m returning to my new home with a rejuvenated body and mind. Spending the last few days at home with Mom with Wes was a good idea. While I missed the hell out of Dylan every day, it gave me the chance to feel sure about my feelings toward him while also learning thefactsbehind those newspaper articles.
