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Eventually we got everything squared away. The cops went to Leo’s front door but there was no answer and there didn’t appear to be anyone home. I wasn’t surprised. The guy had been thrown out of the house, he had to have known that we’d call the cops—and on top of that he’d be humiliated. He was probably hiding out, maybe at a bar somewhere he could drink his woes and anger away.
Maggie didn’t like the idea of not knowing where Leo was, but I promised her that it was going to be okay. He would turn up eventually, and we’d serve him with so many papers it would make his head spin.
I helped Maggie to pack as much as she could, all that she needed, and then we bundled Fern into my car. I drove to my house, with Maggie following behind in her car. We left most of her stuff in our cars for the night. We could unpack it in the morning. It wasn’t really about needing it all right this second, it was about having it at my place, and not at hers, so that we would only have to go back for the big furniture items.
Maggie picked Fern up and I led them to Fern’s bedroom, where Maggie gave a small gasp as she saw the mural for the first time.
It was all of Fern’s stuffed animals, playing on an adventure in the forest. Fern’s stories featuring her stuffed animals were so vivid, I’d wanted to bring them to life, and it had been ages since I’d done a nature scene. I’d devoted myself mostly to cityscapes, to people, that sort of thing—along with abstract work when it suited me. Capturing the beauty of nature was new, but it had seemed to fit Fern.
The look of warmth and happiness in Maggie’s eyes was all I could’ve asked for.
“The rest of the furniture we can switch out,” I whispered, pulling back the covers so that Maggie could carefully lower Fern into the bed. Fern was basically still asleep, a little confused but trusting the both of us about this ‘sleepover’ thing. “Bring in her stuff from her room. I can even call a moving truck company tomorrow, if you want.”
We arranged all of Fern’s stuffed animals onto her bed with her, and then tiptoed out. “It’s perfect for her,” Maggie assured me after we closed Fern’s bedroom door. “And I know that you won’t want to hear it, but thank you. You’re going to say something about how of course you did it and it’s nothing but you really did save me. You could’ve walked away but you didn’t.”
“Of course I didn’t.” I pulled her into my arms the way I’d wanted to this entire night, through all of it. I was nervous that Maggie wouldn’t want to be touched, really, after that entire ordeal, but she sank into me and rested her head on my chest like it was all she’d wanted to do.
Maggie wrapped her arms around me, holding on tightly. “I was so scared,” she admitted at last. “You saved me. Thank you.”
“Hey, I’d do it all over again. Or worse.” I kissed the top of her head. “Babe, I’d do anything for you.”
Maggie pressed a kiss to the base of my throat, and a hot shiver ran down my spine. “I gotta say, it’s a pity I didn’t get to really appreciate seeing you in that outfit. The idea of you getting all dressed up for me…”
“I got all dressed up for you on our first night, remember?” Maggie said playfully. She pulled back, taking my hands and inspecting them. “You’ve got a few scrapes, c’mere.”
Punching someone hurts, although nobody really bothers to tell you that before you punch someone. I was lucky that my knuckles hadn’t swollen up or gotten bruised.
Maggie led me into the master bathroom and made sure that my scrapes on my knuckles were taken care of. Watching her look out for me and take care of me made my heart swell up in my chest. We looked out for each other, and that was how it should be. Although hopefully usually not with a damn asshole trying to assault her.
She finished up and kissed my knuckles softly. Seeing her give such tender care, automatically, like she wasn’t even having to think about it never mind second guess it… I had worked hard to earn her trust like this. I hoped I would always be worthy of it.
“Would you like to see the bedroom?” I asked.
Maggie smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.”
I already thought of this bedroom as ‘ours’ instead of just mine. Maggie hadn’t said yes to the whole moving in thing, exactly, and I didn’t want to pressure her too much, but the look on her face as she stared around the space, like she was cataloguing it and figuring out how she wanted to redecorate it, her eyes narrowing… it gave me hope.
