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Luke felt tears sting his eyes as he pulled up to his apartment.
“Thanks Dad…”
“I love you—and don’t you ever forget that,” his father said softly in a husky voice. “We’ll get through this together. Now, go get barricaded in your place and I’m about five minutes away – which means Valkyrie might get there first. I think I see his taillights in front of me on the road.”
“Yep. I’m going.”
“Love you, boy.”
“Love you, too.”
Luke flew out of his truck, launching himself up the stairs, only to hear a car coming in the distance. He didn’t even bother to look over his shoulder. Instead, he hurried to let himself in.
Shutting the door behind him, he threw the deadbolts, yanked the couch that he’d bought at a yard sale over towards the door, and silently called Niki.
She answered on the first ring, sobbing.
“Baby, I never meant to have any of this happen,” he whispered openly. “Please don’t cry.”
“Is my father there yet?”
“I think so. Honestly, I’m doing exactly what my dad said right now and… wanted to check on you. Are you okay?”
“My heart is breaking because I just want him to understand…”
“I’m so sorry, Niki…”
“It’s not you. You’ve been the best part of my world the last few months, and I want my daddy to understand that.”
“He will. I promise.”
“We’ve got to get married again,” Nicolette said – and he caught his breath. His heart filling with joy and understanding that she wasn’t rejecting him, but instead choosing him all over again.
“I need to mend this with my daddy. He wanted to walk me down the aisle… but I didn’t know because we never talked about it. Can we get married again?”
“I would marry you every single day for the rest of my life,” he murmured openly, closing his eyes as he heard tires squealing and yelling outside. “Might only be another day or two – but yes.”
“Don’t say that,” she admonished.
“Niki… your dad is definitely here, and I need to let you go for a few. I feel terrible that we kept this a secret now. How’s your mom taking all of this?”
“She’s here with me, furious at my father and everything happening, but I’ve been talking to her about how it all happened. Oh—and Mom said you are coming to dinner Sunday night, period. Your whole family is.”
“Sounds good to me,” Luke said tenderly, feeling himself smile and letting himself grab at that glimmer of hope to keep some of the panic at bay.
“I love you…”
“Baby, I love you, too.”
Hanging up the phone, he looked out the window to see Nicolette’s father get tackled by his best friend, Reaper, knocking him into the grass as several other pilots tried to hold him down.
Luke watched in disbelief as Nicolette’s father easily tossed them off of him like they were nothing… only to see her brother, Toby, suddenly appear, tackling him again.
… And his own father was coming up the stairs to the apartment.
He could see his dad’s tight expression, full of concern, as he got closer. Pushing the couch out of the way, he opened the door silently to let his father in… and threw the locks again.
Peering out the window, he heard his father speak.
