Page 124 of Scarred

When her gaze finds mine in the audience, she grins wider, and my smile matches hers.

“She is amazing,” I finally reply, keeping my eyes locked on hers.

Something settles in my chest, and suddenly, it doesn’t feel heavy with everything I’ve lost.

It feels full with everything I still have.

THIRTY-SEVEN

LUNA

As soon as we step off the stage after our last encore, the backstage area becomes a flurry of excited chatter and chaos.

I team up with my mom and the other volunteers to get all the children back with their parents. Adrenaline is still rushing through my veins from my performance when I see Cayden walk in with his teammates.

He’s holding two bouquets in his hand as his eyes scan the room before finding me. A smile plays on his lips as they walk over.

“Daddy!” Scarlett runs to Cayden and jumps into his arms. “I danced on big stage!”

“I saw,” he chuckles. “You looked just like a ballerina up there. I’m so proud of you.”

“Those for me?” She points to the pink carnations, and he nods his head.

“They’re for my favorite girl. Every real dancer gets flowers after a big performance.”

“That’s me,” she beams, taking the bouquet. “I danced so big on stage.”

“So big,” Cayden agrees. “I think the guys have something for you, too,” he says, putting her down as she excitedly runs to them. I watch Hayes and the rest of them pull a single pink carnation from behind their backs as they gather around her.

These men, who battle on the ice for a living, who spend their nights hitting and fighting, are standing in the middle of a dance recital holding flowers for a two-year-old girl.

And, somehow, she looks like the one in charge.

It’s clear she has them wrapped around her little finger as she grins up at them and starts to tell them all about her moment on stage.

“And these,” Cayden says, handing me the other bouquet, “are for my other favorite girl.”

I stare at the huge assortment of pink roses and smile as I bury my face in their sweet fragrance.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “They’re beautiful.”

“Not even close to how beautiful you were up on that stage.” He steps closer, and I breathe him in as his green eyes hold mine. They are so different than when I first met him, yet they are still the same beautiful eyes I fell in love with.

I’m not seeing his guarded eyes anymore…the ones he uses to shut people out…

I’m seeing Cayden.

I’m seeing his light again.

“You danced my tattoo,” he murmurs, fingering a black feather on my dress.

“I wanted to surprise you.” My throat tightens because I know what that black feather represents for him. I know the last time he saw me dance it, he wasn’t ready. “The ending…”

His thumb stills on the feather before his eyes meet mine. “Was perfect,” he finishes softly. “It’s exactly the way it was always meant to be.”

I search his face, looking for the shadow that always used to appear when his past got too close.

But it’s not there.