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"You can tell her whatever you want," Ria said. "We have no more secrets." She just hoped that Megan's past and her ties to a drug smuggler wouldn't affect her relationship with her friends. But she didn't want Megan to have to hide her true self anymore.
"Can I stay for dinner, too."
"If Lindsay's mom is okay with it, but you still have to be home by nine," she added. "I don't want you walking alone after dark, so I'll meet you. And that fear has nothing to do with Enrique."
"Fine," Megan said with a little exasperated sigh. "But I am sixteen you know."
"Believe me, I never forget," Ria said dryly. "Text me when you get to Lindsay's."
Megan rolled her eyes, then headed out the door.
"I never understood why my mother got so nervous when I was a teenager," Ria said to Drew. "Now I do. I thought I was invincible. She knew I wasn't."
"Megan will be careful. But it's important for her to feel her independence," he said quietly.
"That's why I let her go." She swallowed, knowing that the conversation she'd been putting off all day really needed to begin. "About what you said last night, Drew. If you got caught up in the moment, I would understand."
"I didn't get caught up in a moment," he said, tenderness in his gaze. "I meant every word." He got up from the chair and sat down next to her on the couch. He took her hand in his. "Let me say it again. I love you, Ria. I fell for you the first time we met. That night in the bar, I had no idea that a beautiful stranger was about to steal my heart."
"You stole mine, too," she said, looking into his eyes. "But I have Megan. We're a package deal. Where she goes, I go."
"I think Megan likes me."
"She adores you, but that's not the point. Actually, it is the point. I don't want her to get hurt if you decide later on that you don't want this kind of relationship or life."
"I want you and I want Megan. I'm not afraid of a sixteen-year-old, especially one as great as Megan."
"Are you sure? Our life is not very exciting—homework, school nights, parent-teacher conferences. Is that really the kind of life you want to lead?"
"Yes. In fact, what you just described sounds damn good to me."
"Really?" she asked doubtfully.
He laughed. "Why are you always trying to get rid of me?"
"You seem a little too good to be true."
"I'm not." His expression grew more serious. "But is it me you're worried about? Or is it you? You're free now. You could grab a boat and hit the high seas. You could hand Megan over to your mom, or even take her with you."
She shook her head. "No, I'll never turn Megan over to anyone. And I've been all over the world, Drew, searching for a place to call home. I finally found it. It's here." She put her hand on his heart. "Wherever you are, I want to be."
He put his hand over hers. "I feel the same way, Ria." He took a breath. "When we first met, you told me that you needed the sea to be happy."
She nodded. "And you said you needed the sky."
"But the truth is all I really need is you. I'm never letting you go, Ria. This is it for me."
"Me, too." Her gaze fell to his lips. "I haven't kissed you in way too long. What time do we have to meet your family?"
"Not for a couple of hours."
She smiled into his eyes. "What will we do with the time?"
"I have a few ideas."
"Show me."
Epilogue
Six weeks later
"I can't believe we're in a wedding," Megan whispered to Ria as they posed on the steps of the church for bridal party pictures with Sara and her other bridesmaids.
"I know," Ria said, adjusting the bouquet in her hand as the photographer set up his camera.
In six weeks, their entire lives had changed. They were no longer on the run, no longer worried about getting caught by Valdez or law enforcement, and they had been welcomed into the Callaway family with warmth and love.
The photographer snapped several shots, then said, "Now, just the sisters."
Megan and Ria stepped away from the group as the bride, Sara, posed with the Callaway women, her maid of honor, Emma, and her two future sister-in-laws, Nicole and Shayla, on the steps of the chapel. Behind the church was a wide grassy area and a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay.
