She smiles against my chest. "I hope you realize it’s not a one-time thing. She’ll keep doing it.”
"I hope so."
"And eventually, people are going to assume you're her father."
"I know that too."
"And you're okay with that?"
I think about it. About the implications. About the commitment that represents. About the fact that I'm claiming a child who isn't mine, building a life with a woman who doesn't even know my real name.
"Yeah," I say finally. "I'm okay with that."
She kisses my chest, right over my heart. "Then so am I."
We fall asleep like that, tangled together, and for the first time since I woke up with no memory, I don't have nightmares.
I just dream of sunlight and laughter and a little girl calling me Daddy.
Chapter 22: Isabella
I wake to the sound of Lupo moving around the bedroom, getting dressed for work. I watch him through half-closed eyes as he pulls on his work pants, his shirt. The scars on his back are visible in the dim light. A map of violence I've learned to accept.
He's mine. Scars and all.
"I know you're awake," he says without turning around.
"How?"
"Your breathing changed." He glances over his shoulder, smiling. "And you're staring."
"Can't help it. You're nice to look at."
He crosses to the bed, leaning down to kiss me. "Go back to sleep. It's early."
"Can't. Too much to do today."
"Like what?"
"Laundry. Garden. Market." I stretch, feeling pleasantly sore from last night. "The usual."
"Be careful at the market."
It's something he says every time I go. A reminder that we're still hiding, still vulnerable. That Draco might be gone but his people could still be looking. Though after a month of silence, I'm starting to believe we might actually be safe.
"I'm always careful."
He kisses me again, deeper this time, and I'm tempted to pull him back into bed. But he has work and we need the money.
"Tonight," he promises against my lips.
He leaves, and I lie there for a few more minutes, listening to Elena start to wake up. One month of this routine and it already feels like forever. Like this is how it's always been.
Lupo in my bed. Elena calling him Daddy. The three of us playing house on this failing farm.
It shouldn't work. A man with no memory, a woman on the run, and a little girl caught in the middle. It's a recipe for disaster.
But somehow, it works.
