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Flynn scooped her up and moved through the house into the living room. He sat on the couch and cradled her in his arms. “Tell me what you’re feeling.”
Tessa snuggled in and held out the photo. “I’ve never seen a photo of my mom before.”
That jolted Flynn. Her youth had been so cold. “I’m glad you have it now.”
She held out the photo and he got a look at it. A woman with Tessa’s curls and glowing smile held a baby girl—Tessa—in her arms. Rosa sat on a porch swing with flowers growing in pots all around her. “You can feel how happy she is.”
Tessa nodded. “I never knew if she wanted me. I pretended she did. Pretended she had been thrilled to be a mom and had been devastated to leave me behind when she died.”
He kissed her hair and his own voice was shaky when he spoke. “Now you know those things are true. She loved you. I think your grandfather did, too.”
She nodded. “It was so strange to see him again. He looked older, tired. At times just as hard and cold as I remember, but there was something more there, too.”
Flynn touched the photo. “Love. There was love there, too. Maybe some regret along with it.” And a shit-ton of anger directed at Karlo.
“So, I didn’t imagine it?”
“Not unless I did, too. I don’t think he had a clue that Karlo was behind your mother’s death. Or the explosion at your house.”
She nodded. “It’s weird to feel such relief at that. Not everyone hated me. He didn’t want me dead.”
Flynn squeezed her closer. “He didn’t. He doesn’t. You’re free from it all, Tessa. You did it.”
When she looked up at him, tears tracked down her cheeks, but she smiled at him. “We did it. I wouldn’t be free without you. I love you.”
“I love you too, Tessa.” And while he knew she would have figured her way into the future without him, he was damn glad they’d done it together.
Chapter24
Cowboy Christmas
The next morning, Tessa sat in Flynn’s Jeep and worked to keep her breathing normal. She’d asked him to take her back to the street where she’d grown up and she wasn’t going to change her mind. She wanted to come full circle, to see what had happened to the home where she’d lived. Been blown up in.
Flynn’s soft voice reached her ears. “We don’t have to do this. You have nothing to prove. You survived a crappy childhood, a horrific attack, and you’re successful in every way imaginable.”
His words warmed her even though she wasn’t sure he was right. “I don’t know about that, but I want to do this. I don’t want to be scared of the past anymore. Maybe seeing will help me believe it’s over.”
“We’re almost there.”
She nodded. “Can you go slowly?”
He grinned mischievously. “I can go slowly, very slowly, while I drive you over the edge. But for this, as long as there’s no traffic behind me.”
A laugh burst out of her. He could always make her laugh. Some of the tension ebbed with the laugh and she studied the neighborhood. A few houses had been updated, but the feel was the same. Snotball City.
When Flynn turned onto the street where she’d lived, he slowed again, then pulled over to the side. He slid the Jeep into park and turned to her. “Okay?”
She nodded. “I never googled the past, not even once. I don’t know if the house was wholly destroyed. If someone rebuilt it or if it was bulldozed for something new.”
He squeezed her hand. “There wasn’t much left. It was taken down and the property was empty for a while. Eventually another house was built and then put up for sale. I’m assuming that was Grigor at work, but I don’t know.”
Relief surged through her that she wouldn’t have to see the dregs of a house that had been broken as badly as she had been. “I wonder where Mrs. O ended up.”
Their cook had been Tessa’s favorite person growing up. Brisk and efficient but always with a twinkle in her eye and a cookie to pass along. Tessa hadn’t been allowed to mingle with the staff, but Mrs. O had been unfailingly kind and calm.
“That I don’t know, but I bet we can find out. I have a connection at the FBI.”
That elicited another chuckle. She leaned over the console and kissed him. “Thanks. I’m okay now. Let’s have a look.”
