"Okay!" he chirped.
I opened the back door for him, and he climbed inside the car buckling himself in. I double checked before getting in and pulling off.
"How was the farm?" he asked. "Did you milk a cow?"
Laughing, I shook my head peering at him through the rearview. "I didn't milk a cow, but I saw a calf being born. I took a video for you to see."
"Wowww!" His mouth dropped open in awe. "That's really cool."
"Supercool," I agreed still smiling. "I had fun, but I'm so glad to be back home with my boys."
"Me too," he grinned. "I missed you, GG. Daddy kept playing sad music and staring out the window."
I bit back my laughter, heart fluttering. "Aww. Was he sad?"
"Very." Melo nodded. "You were gone a long time."
I sighed. "Yeah. A month is a long time, huh? But…I don't think I can be gone from you guys that long. I missed you too much."
"Good!" He nodded firmly. "Next time you go, you gotta take us with you."
"I promise I will, baby." I smiled at him through the rearview.
The last few months had changed me in ways I was still trying to fully understand. My parents stayed for two weeks before finally heading back home.
Recovery had been…humbling. Painful.Slow.
There were days I couldn't even stand up straight without wincing. Days where the scar stretching across my stomach made me cry because every time I looked at it, I heard the gunshot all over again. There had been emotional healing too. I stopped trying to figure out everything alone.
Ronnie practically moved into Remy's house half the time. His family checked on me constantly. Ms. Betty especiallyhovered over me so much that eventually I stopped fighting it and just let her love on me.
And Remy…my man loved me with a tenderness I still felt shocked by sometimes.
He helped me bathe. Changed my bandages. Rubbed my back through nightmares. Held me when panic attacks woke me up trembling in the middle of the night. Never once did he make me feel like a burden.
When I felt well enough, I decided to take that offer from my dad and visit the family farm for a month. I just needed to get away. Get out of Nevada and be surrounded by nothing but green grass, open air and people who loved me before the world got so complicated.
My mama flew in. Other family. Cousins I hadn't seen in years. What started as a quiet recovery trip somehow turned into a loud, chaotic family reunion full of food, laughter, and too many opinions. I needed it more than I realized.
But even surrounded by all that love… I was counting down the days until I got back home to my boys. They were my home for me.
I'm not going to lie, Ineverthought I could love this deeply. The kind of love that settled into your bones and made you want to protect and nurture. A love so deep, sacrifice felt easy because seeing them happy mattered more than my own comfort sometimes.
I spent so much time convinced no man would ever truly see past what I did for a living and accept me completely. But I realize I had to be rejected byall of themto get to Remy. Every disappointment, failed relationship and wrong turn led me to him.
To a man who loved me gently. Patiently. Wholeheartedly.
My past wasn't something ugly to survive, but simply a road that brought me to him.
And Kendrix knew it too. That beautiful woman loved her boys so much that even after death, she made sure they found their way back to love again.
And it led them right to me.
Chapter 63
Ialmost climbed on the wing of the plane when Gianna left for a month.
I was terrified she wouldn't come back. I knew she loved me, but the thought of her leaving so fresh in her recovery settled in my spirit raw and painful.
