Page 64 of Declan

“Ash, it’s not like that—”

“What that man feels for you is bigger than anything you can imagine. He is wildly in love with you. I wouldn’t be here otherwise. Trust me. Let go and be free.”

“And you? When will you be free?” I asked sarcastically.

“When I find my Declan. Then I’ll walk away from all of this and never look back.”

Shit.

Ash let me go and turned to my parents. “It was a pleasure to meet you both.”

My mom didn’t acknowledge Ash, she didn’t even blink, she just stared at me while my dad walked Ashaki to the door.

“Well? What are we waiting for?” my mom huffed. “Where do we find this Declan?”

“Meggy,” my father warned.

“Justin, either you find this man right now and take me to him or I’ll go by myself. Our girl’s got a man who is wildly in love with her and I want to get to know him. After that, you’re taking me to see Emerson.”

“Meggy, my love, we promised—”

“Yes, I know what we promised. We promised to love, honor, and cherish one another until we drew our last breath. We promised to raise a family together. We promised to be good parents. The way I see it, we’ve broken all of those. And I’m not going to stand here and allow it to go on any longer. Our girls need us, we’re putting this family back together. Too much time has been lost.” My mom speared me with a look I hadn’t seen since I was a child. “Autumn Anne, go pack your bag.”

What the hell was happening?

“Mom—”

“Now.”

“You know—”

“I know when we got you back that I messed up. I know I did everything wrong. And right now, I’m setting about making it right. This family fell apart and I am putting it back together. Go get your stuff, we’re leaving in ten minutes.”

Putting it back together?

Was that possible?

Emerson thought it was.

Mom obviously did.

I looked at my dad and he smiled.

“Your mama’s right, sweetpea. It’s time we all found our way home.”

Home.

After all these years, I loved the sound of that.

Chapter 22

I glanced around Thad and Emmy’s backyard and continued to count down the minutes until I could excuse myself and leave.

I was thrilled that Emerson had made it fourteen weeks into her pregnancy and her doctor was confident she and the baby would be fine. She had a clean bill of health but Thad wasn’t taking any chances. While he agreed to have a housewarming-slash-baby party, he refused to allow Emmy out of the chair she was currently sitting in.

I would’ve laughed at his nervousness if I wasn’t dying inside. Every day was a battle. Every day I warred with myself. I picked up my phone no less than fifty times a day, needing to hear Autumn’s voice but not having the balls to actually make the call. I wanted to ask Garrett to track her down but I was too afraid when I found her I’d toss her over my shoulder and run away with her.

Eighteen days was a long time to go without the woman who fed your soul, who allowed you to breathe.