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Grace craned her neck to check on Tess, who had her nose buried in a book, then turned to me and spoke quietly. “I had security cameras installed in the house,” she said. “Particularly in the guest areas, but also one in my bedroom and the living area.”
My grip on the steering wheel tightened, my knuckles going white. I would have helped with the cameras if she’d asked. “You should have mentioned. I would have been there to help.”
“I hired professionals to do it.”
“Even so.” Didn’t she know how much I needed to protect her? “Did something else happen to change your mind about them?” Last I’d heard, she hadn’t thought they’d be worthwhile.
She shrugged one shoulder. “I got the feeling someone had been in my bedroom and messed with my things, but nothing was taken.”
My jaw clenched. “That’s bad, Gracie. You should have called. I could have had a look around and then helped make sure the cameras were in the best places.”
She gave me a strange look. “I’d feel weird knowing you had access to a camera feed into my bedroom.” Her cheeks colored. “Not that I think you’d spy, but it was easier just to get them to do it when they delivered the system.”
The back of my neck heated at the thought of what I might see if I had a live video link to her room.
Stop it, I mentally scolded myself.She doesn’t need you fantasizing about her when she’s vulnerable.
“Fair enough.” I managed to sound calm, and I could sense her look at me in surprise, but I kept my eyes on the road. “But please tell me if anything else happens. It’s my job to keep you safe, and I could never live with myself if I let you down.”
She was silent for a moment, but then she laid her hand on my thigh and gave it a brief squeeze. I willed myself not to respond. “Okay, I will. But I’ve been keeping an eye on the camera feeds and, so far, nothing seems unusual or out of place.”
“Thank you.” I relaxed my shoulders, which had climbed up around my ears. “Your safety is vital to me, Gracie.”
I glanced over in time to see her expression melt into sweetness. “Yours is to me too.”
We drove in silence after that, and I took a moment to scan the road ahead of us. There were dozens of cars on the way to the ski fields, which wasn’t a surprise considering how perfect the weather was. Sunny with clear skies but low temperatures. In the back, Tess closed her book and put it on the seat beside her.
“Can you tell me about the story you’re writing?” Tess asked Grace. “The one about the man and woman who started the tradition of couples swearing their love at Destiny Falls.”
“Sure thing.” Grace smiled at her, putting our more serious conversation aside. “What do you want to know?”
“What were their names?”
“Pearl and Charles,” Grace answered. “But they went by Jewel and Rocky.”
“Why?” Tess’s tone was curious, but not demanding.
“I don’t know. Perhaps their nicknames felt like a better match for who they were than their real names did. Rocky was a miner. A lot of them used nicknames rather than their legal names. For Pearl, it might have been to keep her secret life with Charles separate from her family, who were rich and wanted her to marry someone else.”
“So it’s true that they weren’t supposed to end up together? Like Romeo and Juliet?”
Grace laughed. “Pearl and Charles had a happier ending than Romeo and Juliet. As far as I know, no one died from anything other than old age. They married at the falls and ran away together, then lived a long and happy life.”
“Huh.” Tess picked up her book and thumbed absently through the pages. “But if they had to go somewhere else to be together, why does everyone say that Destiny Falls is such a romantic town?”
I glanced at Grace, curious how she’d respond to the question. Many locals were defensive of the town’s status as a romantic symbol.
“That’s a good question.” Grace didn’t sound bothered. “Perhaps because it was at the waterfall where they married and promised to love each other. A lot of people find star-crossed lovers to be romantic, and in this case, it isn’t tainted by an unhappy ending.”
“I guess.” Tess didn’t sound satisfied. I thought that might be the end of the matter, but then she spoke again. “Do you believe in real-life love stories?”
“I do.”
Grace’s quick reply surprised me. I’d always thought of her as a pragmatist, and surely, it wasn’t pragmatic to dream of fairytale princes and happily ever afters.
“They just don’t always look like they do in books or movies,” she added. “I think real love is more about the small moments. It isn’t about grand gestures—it’s about being there for the other person every day and caring for them. Real love doesn’t have to be showy or dramatic. It’s steady and reliable. That’s what matters. Having someone who you know will be your soft landing place when you need one.”
“Like Mum and Dad are for me?” Tess asked, and my heart swelled so big, I had to blink back a few tears. Damn, I loved my daughter.
