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And now here he was, bound to protect a mother and child, when he'd failed to protect his own family. Fate had given him a second chance, and he would not fail this time. Whatever the future held for Rory and her mother, he would keep them safe. After all, Rory and her mother had already survived the girl's birth. Any other danger, he could handle.
Even if he did have to watch them from the roof and the outbuildings.
It wasn't like he needed a roof over his head any more. He was made of living stone, after all.
As if to test his resolve, the clouds above him decided it was time to rain.
Wystan raised his eyes heavenward. He was a gargoyle. People had set gargoyles on their buildings to protect them from the rain for centuries. He would endure.
Then it began to hail, and Wystan let out a stream of curses unfit for any woman's ears.
TEN
"Good night, Rory," Tacey said as she clicked her daughter's bedroom door closed.
"G'night, Mummy," Rory mumbled from the other side.
Tacey immediately felt guilty. She probably shouldn't have let her stay up so late, watching TV with Octavia, but she liked the series so much, and it was the only time she'd had to even see Octavia, what with her working up at that mine site for weeks. Even Octavia hadn't wanted to take the contract, but when Mum had told her not to, because it was too dangerous, that'd been enough to change her mind. Not because the work was dangerous, but because Mum had said not to do it.
So when Rory wanted to spend time with her Auntie Octavia...no. Tacey hadn't been able to refuse. Even if she did have school tomorrow. But then there'd been the cricket in the bathroom basin, so Rory wouldn't brush her teeth until it was gone, and catching crickets was way harder than it looked. A pity the cat hadn't been around to deal with it. And then Rory had laughed so hard she'd accidentally spat toothpaste down the front of her baby Yoda nightie, and the only clean replacement had been the Moana one she'd gotten for Christmas, which she'd liked fine at the time, but now she screamed blue murder at being made to wear it because Moana was a princess, and Tacey had told her she wasn't, and...
Tacey leaned against the wall, wishing she could just slide down the floor and fall asleep right there on the rug. If she did, she'd probably wake up to find Callie's gargoyle statue looming over her, giving her a good view of the underside of his dangly bits.
Except it looked like Callie had hidden the statue. In her room, most likely, unless she'd taken it with her to the wedding. As long as it wasn't showing off its naked masculine glory where Rory could see it, wherever Callie had put it was fine by her.
Ah, but she couldn't sleep yet. She still had to do the grocery run, and the shops were only open for another hour. She'd written a list of all the things they needed in between cooking dinner, and Octavia had said she'd add what she needed to the list while Tacey was putting Rory to bed, but Octavia hadn't written a thing.
"Octavia! Last chance to add stuff to the shopping list, because I'm headed out!" Tacey called, trying to keep her voice down.
No answer.
And no sign of Octavia in any of the main rooms of the house, or her bedroom, either.
"Octavia!"
Still no answer.
Swearing under her breath, so that Rory wouldn't hear her, Tacey reached for her phone to put it in her bag. Only to be greeted by a swarm of blinking message and missed call icons.
Shit. She scrolled through the messages, most of which were alerts about voicemails. What was wrong with people? Couldn't they send a simple text message, instead of making her listen to them drone on?
By the time she'd listened to all the messages, she was ready to strangle Octavia. She needed her here, at home, to stay with Rory, like she'd promised, while Tacey went out.
She was probably doing yoga in the garden again. Or stargazing. Or something that occupied all her attention so she didn't even hear her sister calling her name.
It was times like these, Tacey wished she wasn't a single parent. That she had a partner, someone she could count on when she needed HELP...
For a moment, she closed her eyes and wished, sending out a plea to the universe that there was someone out there like one of the heroes in Callie's romance books, a hero who would both take care of her and support her while she pursued her dreams.
Just one man, among millions.
Who she'd probably never meet, or not even recognise if she did meet him, because there were more men like Matt in the world than perfect heroes.
And yet...she could see lights on the winding driveway. A car headed up toward Bell House.
Had the perfect romance hero taken a wrong turn that would turn out to be right?
Tacey held her breath, as the car came into view.
