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“Of course.” I nodded quickly and kissed Kane. “I’ll be up soon buddy.”
“Okay, Dad.”
As the others left, I approached Summer and gently took her hand.
“Summer?”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “It sounds awful but what you did to him, I’ve dreamed of doing for so long so… thank you.”
“I’ve got you,” I promised quietly. “And, you’re welcome. I ask for only one thing in return.”
“What’s that?” She glanced up at me, her face open and honest and her eyes wide.
“Stay with us, Summer. Properly. Stay with us.”
40
SUMMER
New Year’s and the Helix anniversary party arrived with a flurry of activity. While all holiday it had been just the eight of us, suddenly the chalet became a hubbub of attention and chaos with people and investors from all over popping by to offer congratulations and ask nosy questions about Felix’s dramatic arrest.
News had spread quickly that he had slipped through security by attempting to follow Marina back to her own chalet and ended up in the wrong cable car. He’d fallen asleep there after having too much to drink and the lack of cable car function due to the impending storm meant that security didn’t inspect as closely as they should have.
A scary oversight that Jax fiercely reprimanded the security team for, and each one swore something like that would never happen again.
It satisfied me enough to know Felix was safely behind bars, and no amount ofgood behaviorwould be saving him this time.
I avoided the fuss, focusing on keeping the children happy and distracted. It was a blessing that they were so young, Felix’s attack was like water off a duck’s back, but that didn’t stop us from being extra attentive to their needs. Theo had set up therapy appointments for when they returned to the States. The length they went to protect those they loved was the main reason Theo’s request for me to stay with them permanently hadn’t left my mind since he’d uttered it.
They loved me. They wanted me to stay, outside employment, as part of the family.
It was surreal.
“Summer? Sweetie?” Tabitha pulled me from my thoughts as she stroked a brush across my cheek, and I blinked rapidly, refocusing on the task at hand. The party was already in full swing down at the resort and Tabitha, dressed to the nines in a sparkling pink dress complete with a pinned feather boa, was helping me get ready while the children played together in the next room.
“I’m so sorry.” I shot her a smile. “I was miles away.”
“Understandable,” Tabitha assured me. “It’s been a long week. A long month!” Her tightly scrunched curls bounced on top of her head as she chuckled. “Are you alright?”
“I was just… thinking. About everything.”
“Penny for your thoughts?” Tabitha, with a steadier hand than one would expect from someone her age, began to smoothly apply liner to my eyes, and I sank into darkness, trusting her. No one had ever done my makeup before, and having Tabitha do it was surprisingly more emotional than I had anticipated.
I’d never had something like this with my own mother.
“I think…” Words failed me as I focused on the cool, feather-light touches of the liner. “Theo asked me to stay. With him, with all of them, and I just… I’m not sure what to say.”
“Oh sweetie.” A dab here and a dab there, then Tabitha clicked her tongue, and I opened my eyes. “What does your heart tell you?”
“It tells me that I’ve only been with the family for about a month and a half. That I’m their nanny, and that complicates things. That I’ve brought too much pain to them already—”
“Summer,” Tabitha interrupted gently. “I asked what yourhearttells you. Not your head.”
“Oh. My heart…” It had been saying the same thing for days, a promise written in every heartbeat. “It says yes.”
“Then what’s stopping you?”
“All the aforementioned reasons,” I chuckled weakly. “It’s a lot of noise.”
