Trinity's voice had taken up residence in my head, echoing the worst thoughts I'd ever had about myself.Greedy. Desperate. Nobody ever wanted you.
I was working on silencing it. Some days were better than others.
Today was a good day. The morning had dawned clear and cool, perfect autumn weather that made me want to spend every moment outside. I'd harvested the last of my late tomatoes, pulled up the spent plants, and started preparing the beds for winter. Physical work that kept my hands busy and my mind quiet.
My phone buzzed around noon.
Oliver: Can you come to the house this afternoon? There's something I want to show you.
I smiled at the screen, brushing dirt from my fingers before typing back.
Daphne: Mysterious. Should I be worried?
Oliver: The opposite. Trust me?
Daphne: Always.
The word came easily now, and I marveled at how much had changed in such a short time. A month ago, trust had been a foreign concept, something other people had the luxury of giving freely. Now I was texting it to a man I loved without a second though.
Time went by quickly and now it was the afternoon. Oliver was waiting for me on the porch when I pulled up, a barely contained excitement visible in the way he bounced slightly onhis heels. It was so unlike his usual composed demeanor that I found myself grinning as I climbed out of the truck.
"You look like Levi right now," I teased, and he laughed.
"Don't tell him that. He'll be insufferable." He came down the steps to meet me, pressing a kiss to my forehead before taking my hand. "Come on. It's around back."
"What is?" I asked, curiously bubbling in me.
"You'll see." He led me around the house, past the garden where I'd worked with Garrett and Micah, past the back porch where we'd had dinner that first night. The property stretched out behind the house, open land giving way to a small grove of trees, and beyond that?—
"Close your eyes," Oliver told me, giving me a small smile.
I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
"Please?" His blue eyes were bright with anticipation. "I want it to be a surprise."
I sighed, but I was smiling. "Fine. But if I trip?—"
"I've got you," he promised, his hand warm and steady on my lower back. "I'll always have you."
I closed my eyes and let him guide me forward. The ground changed beneath my feet—grass to gravel to something softer, freshly turned earth. The air smelled like autumn and growing things and something else, something sharp and new. I could hear birds in the trees, the distant sound of wind chimes, and... was that Levi's voice, quickly shushed?
"Okay," Oliver said, his breath warm against my ear. "You can look."
I opened my eyes.
And forgot how to breathe.
A greenhouse stood before me, not the skeleton I'd glimpsed on my first visit to the property, but a completed structure, its glass panels catching the afternoon light like captured pieces of sky. It was larger than I'd expected, maybe twenty feet longand fifteen wide, with an arched roof that reminded me of old Victorian conservatories. The metal frame was painted a deep forest green, almost black, elegant against the weathered wood of the raised beds that surrounded it.
Standing in front of it, grinning like idiots, were Garrett, Levi, and Micah.
"Surprise!" Levi burst out, apparently unable to contain himself any longer. "Do you like it? Please say you like it. We've been working on it for months."
"Months," I repeated, my voice strange and distant to my own ears. "You've been building this for months?"
"Since before we officially met you," Garrett admitted, ducking his head in that shy way he had. "We started it as a pack project, but then... well." He glanced at Oliver. "It became something else."
"It became yours," Micah clarified. "If you want it."
