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“Oh, Mr. Outen…what a blessing to have you back. I am so sorry for what you’ve been through. You didn’t deserve to be treated this way. I’ve removed Miss Fiona’s clothing and toiletries from your bedroom. Given the circumstances, I didn’t think it would be something you would want to come home to.”
Wolf was surprised by her loyalty.
“Thank you, Miss Dee. What a thoughtful thing to do. I’m happy to be home.”
Dee beamed. She’d been worried about overstepping her authority. “Shall I tell Chef Able you’re here for dinner, or do you have plans?”
“Here for dinner, and ask him to make it steak.”
“Yes, sir, right away,” Dee said, and hurried off to the kitchen, while Wolf made his way upstairs.
He dumped his suitcase on the bed, then looked around the room, noting the absence of anything feminine, and it was good.
Wolf called Amalie the next morning before leaving for his office. He wanted to check on her and on Sean, andto let her know he was calling off the security team, that the danger had ended.
Her grateful tears broke his heart.
“Thank you for everything,” Amalie said. “Your guards have been wonderful, patient, and thoughtful.”
“I’m envious they have seen you and I have not. I can’t wait to meet you in person,” Wolf said. “Take care of you and your Sean. Much success on your new office. I’ll see you soon.”
“Thank you, Dad. Looking forward to our first hug.”
But it was Wolf who was crying when the call finally ended.
He’d never been called Dad.
It felt good in his heart.
Five days later, Sean Pope was home.
At Amalie’s request, his brothers had taken all of his computers back to his office, so they’d be there when he was released, and left them for him to reconnect.
While Sean was still in the hospital, he’d seen Amalie every morning and every evening, and even though they talked and planned, it was as if the light had gone out inside her. Everything he was going through now she considered her fault, and nothing he could say changed it. She needed something else upon which to focus besides his healing, so he began urging her to get back to her office, reminding her she’d promised appointments,and breaking them might cause her to lose the momentum she had gained.
The first day she went in on her own, without guards at her heels, she noticed they had begun repairs at the school. It was another sign of healing.
When she met with her first client, it was like finding herself all over again. She hadn’t done this since before her accident, but she was in her element doing what she knew—what she loved to do best.
And after that first day, Sean could see she was moving past the trauma and the guilt. Now, she was his happy blue-eyed girl again, lighting up every corner of his world.
Even after Sean was released, he still wasn’t allowed to drive, which meant he was going to miss their daily visits, but that too would pass.
His second day home, he’d opened his office up again and eased back into work. As long as it didn’t involve lifting or driving, he could chase an online virus to the ground without breaking a sweat.
Once B.J. learned what had happened, he had called Sean every day. The shock of it had put B.J. in a whole different frame of mind. He was so far away from all the people who mattered in his life that it no longer seemed worth it. He had accomplished everything he went to New York to do—graduating from the Culinary Institute and training in big restaurants.
But thinking about how close Sean had come to dying made him refocus on his future. He wanted to come home to the mountains and find a place for himself within the tourist trade. Whether it involved opening his own place, or working in one of the hotels didn’t matter to him. As long as he was in Jubilee doing what he did best, he’d be satisfied with life. He had to talk to Cameron about a new dining area in Jubilee, but he’d do that when he came home at Easter. It was enough that life was getting back to normal and his family was okay.
Jubilee Elementary School was well on the road to recovery.
Amalie watched men coming to work in the morning and saw them leaving to go home at night. It was evident that more than repairs were being made. The brick on the whole south wall was also missing, and new brick had been hauled in, along with new windows. The blast from the crash had really done a number on the school, and she couldn’t help but wonder how the children would be affected once they returned. The campus where the middle school and high school were located was on the far side of the football field, and school was still in session there. The littles were the ones who were going to be traumatized going back. She knew, because she remembered what it felt like after she was finally able to drive again.
Then in the middle of the building reconstruction, she saw a truck hauling in what looked like new playground equipment, and when she came home that evening, they already had a large slide, two different sets of swings, and the bare bones of some climbing equipment going up.
Going back to school was going to be hard for them, and having new things to play on was a great way to distract them from the charred crash site beyond the fences.
It was a little over ten days after Sean’s release from the hospital. It was just after 10:00 a.m. and Amalie was at her office, working on an account for a client when she got a text from Wolf.
