Page 98 of Chasing Honor

“I couldn’t stop him. I was too afraid your dad would show up with Carson and she’d get hurt. I didn’t know what fucking video the dumb bastard wanted. But I had to get him out of the house.” She continued to yell, her sobs turned into venom, and she angrily swiped a tear from the eye that wasn’t covered by my dad’s shirt. “He kept threatening to hurt them. He killed my mom. The asshole killed her. Oh my God. All those years I lived under the same roof as the man who killed my mother. And he did it, not Sam. I told you that bitch was covering for him. He tried to kill me and Carson. Fucking prick.”

I rocked her back and forth and let her get it all out. I was thankful she wasn’t bottling up her anger. I knew we’d have other things about Frank kidnapping her to deal with down the line, but for now, this was good.

“I’m so sorry, Honor.”

“I fucking hate him. I hate him so much. I wish he could die all over again. He killed her and hurt Lily.” Her shouting turned back into tears and she pinned me in place with the saddest look I’d ever seen. “I just want you to take me home. I want my family. Please, don’t leave me at the hospital.”

“Honor I’ll never leave you anywhere. You’re coming home with me. Carson will be there. My mom will be there. You will be surrounded by your entire family. I promise you. None of us will ever leave you.”

“That’s the goddamn truth,” my dad choked out. He, too, was overcome with emotion.

“Blake and I will be there,” Uncle Levi added.

“Regan and I are staying,” Clark put in.

“Nowhere else Em and I would be,” Jasper told Honor.

“You’re one of us, Honor. And family always sticks together. You’ll never be alone again. And that’s a promise you can take to the bank,” my dad finished.

“I love you, Honor.”

“God, I love you. Thank you for saving me.”

“You saved yourself with the secret message you left me. Smart and beautiful. You’re a special kind of dangerous, Honor Sullivan.”

She smiled, just as I’d hoped.

The wooded area we were in was suddenly swarming with men and women in uniform. I didn’t move a muscle. I had Honor in my arms, safe and sound, and there wasn’t a damn thing I was going to do but hold my woman.

Epilogue

“You really do love this statue, don’t you?” I laughed at Carson posing.

“She’s waving hello to all the ships coming home. And goodbye to the ones leaving on their long voyages out to sea.”

Carson was something else. She certainly had a flare for the dramatic.

“I love it down here.” I sighed and cuddled closer to Ethan.

It had been three months since that horrible day in the woods with Frank. Three wonderful months. My breakdown, as I called it, Ethan called it a moment of cleansing and closure, whatever you wanted to call it, it seemed to bring us closer. All of us. Not only me, Ethan, and Carson. But it seemed to reinforce the family bond of the uncles too. Lily had commented last week how much she loved that the family was all getting together more. The four families all had individual families of their own and schedules didn’t always coincide, but these days more of an effort had been made. Even Jason and Kayla had come to as many get togethers as Kayla felt up for. Her cancer was progressing quickly. It was heart breaking to watch. She was shy and reserved, but once you got her talking, she was the sweetest, kindest person I’d ever met. She didn’t have a mean bone in her fragile body. I was going to miss her.

Carson had opted to pass on cheer camp but still wanted to go to her dance classes. As it turned out, the girl was talented. And that wasn’t me being biased, even the teacher was impressed. After a few weeks, she was switched to a competition squad, which meant more classes and practices for me to take her to. I loved every second. I loved cheering her on and watching her grow.

“Honor?”

“Yes, darlin’?” I chuckled at her antics. She was on one knee in front of me smiling like a loon. I loved how silly and playful she was when she wasn’t acting like she was a mini version of the adults around her.

“Will you please do me the honor,” she giggled but quickly recovered, “of being my mother?”

She opened her little palm and nestled there were two bands. One adult size and one much smaller.

Tears filled my eyes and the rings disappeared behind the watery haze.

“What?” I whispered, praying I hadn’t heard her wrong.

“It’s a fancy way of asking you if you’ll be my mommy from now on. I want you to be my mommy, and Daddy said yes and told me all I had to do was ask you. Daddy said you can make it official and adopt me if you want to. I don’t know what that means. As long as it’s all right with you that’s all that matters to me.”

“Yes, Carson. Yes, I want to be your mommy. Forever and ever.”