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Taking her chin in my hand, I tipped her head back. “What’s that mean?” I sure as hell didn’t like the sound of it.
“It means I am The One Who Lived. All my mom’s hopes and dreams were pinned on me. I haven’t spent a minute of my life without the pressure to be as perfect as I can be for her. To make up for all she lost. That’s why I rode horses for so long. It’s why I dated boys my parents wanted me to, made the right friends, took the classes they thought I should. It’s why I visit my mother when my father asks me to, even thoughheshould be there. It’s why I didn’t tell them about the horror show that was Nate. It’s why, by the time I got to high school, I was a bitter, jealous, angry girl.”
She raised her head, staring down at me like she’d been cracked open and was spilling all her secrets over me. I’d take them and keep them if it relieved some of that pressure she lived with.
“Ellie…” Cupping her cheek, I tried to think of something to say, but I had nothing. Except, I understood her more than I had a few minutes ago.
“I love my mother, Lachlan. My father too. For my whole life, we were a trio of brokenhearted people who expressed that in vastly different ways. My mother has never gotten over it, and I’m not sure my father has either.”
“Seems like a hard thing to get over, I’ll give you that. But you’re here. They have you, and they’re lucky because you’re something special. Not because you’re The One Who Lived. It’s because you’re you.”
Her nose wrinkled, and she pushed at my face. “Don’t say incredibly sweet things like that to me. I’ll have to bite you or destroy property to tilt the world back to where it belongs.”
Grinning, I pulled her on top of me and took her face in my hands. “You deserve sweet things said to you, only because they’re true. You don’t need to go destructive.”
She balled her hands into fists and lightly pounded my chest. “Smash, smash.”
“You’re so fucking cute.”
“Even though I have a tragic backstory?”
“Yep. Still cute. And I feel like I get you more now. You’re a caregiver, the protector of your family. So am I. We didn’t get there the same way, and our methods are different, but we’re more alike than not.”
And just like me, she’d never leave her family. They were her responsibility, and she’d be here for them. I saw it more clearly than I ever had.
“Lachlan,” she sighed.
“Yeah. I have you, Ellie.”
She laid her head in the crook of my neck, pressing her lips to my pulse. “I trust you.”
“I want you to.”
When I walked away from all this, I’d take this moment with me. The ice queen melting for me and showing me more of her damage inside. Trusting me not to damage her further. And I wouldn’t.
I don’t break things. I fix them.
I looked up at the stars, promising myself I’d do anything not to add another wound—even if it hurt.
