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“And now?” She leans her head against my shoulder and the comfort it brings should surprise me, but she’s always had this effect on me. It didn’t come easily, she struggled when facing me for the first time after so long. It’s not like I can blame her. I did break her. In a different but just as devastating way as what those monsters did to her.
Scar hums a song under breath. It feels familiar, some far away, all but forgotten memory that tickles the back of my brain. So close, and yet just out of my reach. Emotion chokes me as the memory crashes into me like a freight train. It’s that Taylor Swift song she used to always sing to the twins. She was always singing to them, but this was one of their favorites. If I could just remember the name.
“For so long, I had to separate myself from who I was back then.” I squeeze her hand encouragingly and nod. It’s a feeling I understand a little too well. “I wouldn’t have survived all these years if I was still her. Even the good parts.” She wouldn’t have. The Charlotte I knew wasn’t strong like the woman in front of me. She had her own quiet strength, it shined in her fierce love for the twins, for me, for Josie. But she wasn’t formidable. Not a threat. She was naive and sweet and forgiving of people’s flaws. Everything that had made her soft has been sharpened into talons and claws. Weapons to tear down those who stand in her way, who threaten the family she’s built. She’s moved up the food chain until there was no one left higher than her. The predator that tracks and hunts not prey, but other predators. The ones who thrive on feeding off of the weak.
“You’re the strongest person I know,” I tell her, my voice shaking as the words tear from my throat.
“It’s comforting now,” she sighs. “To know somehow some of the good survived the storm. That I’m strong enough now to be weak and still survive. To love and trust and feel things again without buckling under the weight of it all.”
“It did,” I assure her. Before I can say more, Roe runs up to us squealing.
“Mommy, hide me!” she giggles as Scar swoops her up into her arms.
“I don’t think this is a very good hiding spot, Roe baby,” she teases as Roe settles in her arms.
She shrugs her little shoulders. “They can’t tag me if they can’t reach me.
I lean over and bop her on the nose. “That is an excellent point. I like the way you think.” Her smile heals something inside of me, and I can see how this little girl, this little bundle of light, was able to pull Scar out of the darkness.
“Thank you, Uncle Charles.”
The name stops my heart in my chest. “You’re so welcome,” I whisper, the words soft and hoarse. Understanding shines back to me from Scar’s gaze. I’ve only met Roe a handful of times, not even really that, yet she’s easily adapted to my presence. Someone to be expected in her new home. She’s Scar as a child. Open and bright and caring. Welcoming.
The boys come running up to us, promising Roe to not tag her if she comes back to play with them. Scar puts her down, but rather than running away to continue their games, she pulls one of the twins down to her side as they sit on the floor. The other two boys are quick to follow suit, and faster than I can even comprehend, they’re lost in a new game they make up on the spot.
“It’s not only the twins she reminds me of,” I say after a moment of watching them play at our feet. “I see you in her, and I see Charlotte in you when you’re with her. The good survived.” I finally understand why the guys took such an issue to me calling her that name after they kidnapped me.
She isn’t Charlotte. She’s Scar.
Her smile is sad but content, her eyes still locked on her daughter. “She brought me back to life.”
I track her men around the room. “She wasn’t the only one.”
She tilts her head in acquiescence but her smirk gives her away. Each one of her men brought a piece of herself that she lost back to her. “She lit the match, they just kept the fire burning.”
“Dirty,” I tease, drawing a chuckle in response. Five heads snap in our direction at the sound of her laughter. Five expressions quickly morph into variations of irritation, anger, and annoyance when they see me standing with Scar still. I nudge her with my shoulder. “Something else hasn’t changed from the old you either.” She arches a brow in question and it’s my turn to smirk. “There are some things you’re still absolutely oblivious to.”
She smacks my arm, looking affronted at my observation, but I just nod to emphasize my point.
“You’re wrong,” she declares.
“Oh yeah?” I taunt her, watching Luca and Kade excusing themselves from their conversations across the room. “I will bet you ten thousand dollars two of your husbands are about to walk up to us and two of the first five words out of their mouths will bemy wife.”
She snorts and flips me off. “They’re not saying it that much.”
It’s my turn to roll my eyes and snort. “I’ve heard it at least a hundred times in the last few hours. No exaggeration.”
“Leave them alone, they’re just excited. It’s still new.” Her own indulgent smile tells me how much she herself is enjoying her new title. I can’t think of many people who wouldn’t have wanted to be a part of their own wedding, but somehow this fits her.
Luca and Kade are halfway across the room now. “Sure, but how many of those hundreds of claimings have been in front of Joe? Or Holden? Or Ian?”
Suspicion and amusement dance in her eyes. “No,” she drawls, finally understanding.
“Ten thousand dollars,” I repeat, sticking my hand out.
Her gaze narrows, but she shakes my hand. “Ten thousand dollars.”
Roe’s eyes dance back and forth between us. Just as two of her dads reach us she asks, “Can I have ten thousand dollars?” at the same time as Luca wraps his arm around Scar’s waist and Kade kisses her temple. “How’s my wife?”
