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My eyes widened as I remembered something. “The cigarette that set my shed on fire...”
He nodded. “She confessed to starting that one. Her list of felonies is longer than my arm. She’s going away for a long, long time.”
The fact that she was already behind bars was a relief, as was the knowledge that I didn’t have to worry about Keith’s threat to try and take my daughter from me ever again.
“I remember... I remember seeing Ford.”
Owen smiled and jerked his chin, and when I looked in that direction, I noticed the dark mop of hair lying on the bed by my hip for the first time. “He’s been here the whole time. Hasn’t left your side since he carried you out of that building.” Owen’s throat bobbed on a thick swallow. “I’ll be indebted to him for the rest of my life for saving you. While the rest of his team worked to put out the fire, he charged into that building and pulled you out.”
Another tear fell, then another, and another, until they became a steady flood. “He pulled me out,” I whispered, my tone reverent.
“Give the man a chance, sis,” Owen said quietly. “He fucked up, but he loves you.”
“How—”
“A man doesn’t run into a burning building for just anyone,” he said with a wink. Leaning over me, he pressed a kiss to my forehead before taking a step back. “I’ll go tell everyone else you’re awake. Try and relax, okay?”
“Okay, big bro. I love you.”
“Love you back, even though you’re a pain in my ass most of the time.”
He shot me a wink, then moved out of the room, leaving me with a sleeping Ford.
I lifted my hand and gently dragged my fingers through his silky hair. It was longer than it had been the last time I saw him, like he couldn’t be bothered to get it cut over the past week and a half, but even somewhat shaggy, it still looked good.
My touch stirred him, and a moment later he opened his eyes. He shot up as soon as he saw my eyes were open, moving in close so he could brush his fingers across my cheekbone. “You’re awake,” he said, his voice ravaged and raw. His eyes clenched shut, squeezing out a single tear as he leaned in to rest his forehead against mine. “Thank Christ.”
“No. Thankyou. It was you who came in and carried me out. I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for you.”
He sat back in the chair he’d been sleeping in but pulled it closer to the head of my hospital bed. “I wasn’t going to lose you,” he said with a determination that made my belly flip. “I told you about my wife and daughter, about the car accident, but what I didn’t tell you was that I was on the scene.” My breath lodged in my throat. “We didn’t know who’d been hurt when the call came in. It was just one of those things. The odds were incalculable that they’d wreck on that stretch of road or that it was my station that would answer the call.” His eyes grew glassy as he continued. “When I went into work that day, I never in a million years would have thought I’d be called to the scene of an accident that had taken my entire family from me. It destroyed me.”
Understanding crashed into me at that very moment. “So when you got the call about the fire at my house—”
He nodded, finishing my sentence for me. “I thought it was happening again, and I couldn’t take it.”
“That’s why you ended it.”
He took my hands in his, clasping them in a protective grip. “I lost the two best things in my life five years ago, and I convinced myself I’d never get a second chance at that kind of love ever again. Then you came along.” Oh man, that was a direct hit, and I clutched his hand tighter, wanting to get closer, to ease the pain he’d been suffering with for so long. “I thought, if I ended it, I’d be saving myself from pain if anything ever happened to you. But it doesn’t work like that. The worst could happen tomorrow. I could lose you, and whether we were together or not wouldn’t change the fact that I’m in love with you. I wouldn’t be saving myself from anything.”
My breath hitched. “You love me?”
He brought my hands to his lips, pressing a kiss to my knuckles. “With everything I am, Hardin. I don’t deserve a second chance, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to pull out all the stops to earn back your trust. I want you to be a permanent part of my life.”
I wanted to believe him so badly it hurt, but that self-preservation was a very strong thing. “Why should I believe you now, Ford? What’s changed since you ended us?”
“Nothing,” he said definitively. “That’s the thing. Absolutely nothing’s changed because I was in love with you then, and I’m still in love with you now. The only difference is I’m not going to let fear dictate my life anymore. I finally decided that being happy with you, even if it’s only for one day, would be better than never having you at all.”
“Hazel and I are a package deal,” I started. “There is no me without her. If you can’t—”
He silenced me with a kiss. “I’m crazy about that little Hazelnut,” he said as he pulled back. “I want the whole package, baby. I can’t imagine it any other way.”
I sniffled, my bottom lip trembling as I tried my hardest to keep from crying. “Well then, I guess it’s a good thing I love you too, huh? If not, that whole speech you just made would have been really awkward.”
He chuckled, bringing his lips against mine. “I guess so,” he teased just as the door to my hospital room swung open.
“Mommy!” Hazel cried before racing across the room. She launched herself toward the bed, but before she could make a crash landing, Ford caught her. “Whoa there, you little tornado.” The muscles in his arms bunched intoxicatingly as he gently eased her onto the bed beside me. “We have to be careful with your mom a little while longer, okay, Hazelnut?”
She nodded, her expression so serious it made me laugh, and as I wrapped my arms around my little girl, with the man I loved sitting only inches away, I felt a peace wash over me. Because I had my family with me.
