Page 129 of Alec’s Dream

“Okay. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

And he did.

Alec Hall loved me.

His love lived and breathed, it filled the room. I couldn’t help but to feel it—absorb it. It filled me up.

Now and always.

37

Chasin Murray

“Uncle Chasin?”

“Hey, Rory,” Chasin answered Rory as the call transferred from the SUV’s Bluetooth to his cell.

“What are you doing today?”

“Going kayaking,” he answered, scanning the empty marina.

“Bummer.”

Chasin smiled at the disgruntled response from the little girl who’d stolen his heart.

“What are you doing today?”

“We’re taking the Pooper Cooper to Aunt Kennedy’s. Alec said we were gonna barbeque,” Rory announced in her sweet, singsong voice.

Chasin snorted. Pooper Cooper was Alec, Macy, Caleb, Rory, and Jocelyn’s new puppy—his name was Cooper, but Pooper Cooper was of the tamer nicknames Alec had given the pup.

“Don’t think I’ll make it out this time, doll.”

“Total bummer. I wanted another ride in your race car.”

“Sports car,” he corrected. “Besides, I’m not driving it today. My kayak doesn’t fit on the roof, silly.”

“Oh, right.”

Rory was silent a beat and Chasin patiently waited. This was something that had started after the little girl had been taken and was forced to witness the murder of her grandfather, made worse by the killer being her biological father. Aurora now clung to those she loved. She called Nixon, Jameson, Weston, Holden, and Chasin often. She also called McKenna, Kennedy, Silver, and her Aunt Becky with great frequency.

None of them minded, even when she grew silent thinking of something else she could say just to keep them on the phone. In the months since she’d been taken, Rory was making progress, she was nearly back to her old six-year-old fun self. Something Chasin knew Alec took great pains to make happen.

“School’s out next week,” Chasin reminded her, breaking the silence so she didn’t have to. “Wanna go bowling then have lunch after?”

“Yes! But you can’t be a sore loser when I bet you again.”

Damn, but, he loved the little girl.

“Deal. Now I’m gonna let you go so you can get over to Aunt Kennedy’s. Tell your mom and brother I said hello.”

“Jossy, too?”

“Yeah, sweetheart, Jocelyn, too.”

“Okay. See you next week.”