But maybe it was hers too now.Maybe it always had been.
God’s light had been shining all along—in her mother’s voice, in Noah’s love, in Liam and Teague showing up exactly when they were needed, in second chances and grace she didn’t deserve but was being offered anyway.
The darkness had tried to overcome.
Jude’s accident.Her father’s death.Lydia’s death.Ryan’s gun.Jeremy’s rage.Her own panic and fear and self-hatred.
But the Light had won.
Was winning.Would keep winning.
Because that’s what the light of God did.It shone.It persisted.It refused to be extinguished.
And she was finally ready to stop fighting it.
Ready to let it shine through all her fractured pieces and see what kind of kaleidoscope the Lord could create.
Ready to be broken and beautiful at the same time.
Ready to be loved.
Meg looked at Noah—bleeding, exhausted, smiling at her like she hung the moon—and knew with absolute certainty that this was right.
This was home.
Not the canyon, though she loved it now.Not the clinic or the cabin or any physical place.
This.Him.Them.Together.
Home was wherever Noah was.Wherever they chose to build their life.Wherever the Lord led them next.
And she was finally brave enough to stay.
Sixteen
The late-afternoon sun painted the canyon in shades of amber and rose, the kind of light that made even the most familiar views feel sacred.
Noah shifted in his chair on the lodge patio, his side giving only a mild twinge of protest instead of the sharp stab it had been ten days ago.
Progress.
Meg sat beside him, her hand resting comfortably in his, her eyes on the endless expanse of rock and sky.
She looked more at peace than he’d ever seen her.Like she’d finally stopped running long enough to realize she’d found where she belonged.And he couldn’t be more grateful that she had chosen him.Chosen staying.Chosen them.
“You’re staring.”She tried to sound annoyed, but the smile playing at her lips betrayed her.
“I have always stared at you.”He squeezed her hand.“I’m just more blatant than I was before.Not really sorry.”
They’d spent the past week figuring things out.Meg had talked to Virgil about restructuring her role, focusing on the clinic while the new hire took over most of the fieldwork.She’d started seeing a new therapist, one who specialized in trauma.
She was still having nightmares, still struggling some days.
But she was staying.
Fighting.Choosing courage over comfort.
Letting Noah fight alongside her.Not trying to carry it all alone anymore.
