The restaurant was mid-breakfast service when I arrived, the smell of coffee and fresh pastries making my stomach growl. I got Finn’s coffee, black and hot the way he liked it, and my own cold brew before grabbing a couple of breakfast sandwiches and heading back toward our room. Maggie found me on my return and trotted next to me, waiting patiently when I opened the door until I told her she could come in.
Finn was on the phone when I returned, his voice low and measured as he spoke while he paced around the room. He looked up when we entered, and I set breakfast on the dresser before turning to leave and give him privacy. He reached out, catching my wrist gently and tugging me closer. His fingers wrapped around mine as he continued talking.
“Yeah, she just got back. Hold on.” He pulled his phone from his ear and held it out to me. “Dom wants to talk to you.”
I accepted the phone as Finn pressed a quick kiss to my temple and headed toward the bathroom.
“Hey, Dom,” I grabbed my coffee and a throw blanket as the shower turned on, moving to the balcony with Maggie on my heels.
“How are you holding up?” Dom asked, his voice softer than usual. I settled into one of the chairs with the blanket, leaving my coffee on the side table. Maggie rested her chin on my knee, and I sank my fingers into her soft curls.
“Well, I successfully navigated breakfast service without burning down the lodge, so clearly I’m crushing it.”
Dom was quiet for a beat too long.
“Was it this bad?” The question came out sharper than I meant it to. “In the hospital, when you were with him. Did he…” I felt Maggie press closer against my leg and scratched behind her ear, taking a deep breath. “I need to know if this is normal. If this is just how it goes.”
“Yeah,” his voice went rough. “And sometimes it was worse. There were days he didn’t know who I was. Days he’d swing at nurses who were trying to help him, days his hands shook so badly I had to hold the water cup for him.”
He continued, “I lived in that damn hospital for months watching him fight just to stay alive and present, and some days I wasn’t sure he was going to make it.”
“So this is just…” I stopped, watching a family head toward the stables. “This is part of recovery?”
“This is different, but it’s the same fight. His body remembering how to panic,” Dom’s voice cracked slightly. “This latest doesn’t erase all the progress. It just means his brain’s still healing.”
“It felt like losing him,” My throat tightened around the words. “Like watching him disappear into something where I couldn’t reach.”
“I spent four months watching that exact thing happen. Some days he’d be there, almost himself, and then something would set him off and he’d just... vanish into whatever hell he was reliving. First few times I damn near lost my mind trying to pull him back.”
“And he came back?” Maggie laid down at my feet as I pulledat the blanket, my fingers finding the edge to worry at. I heard the shower shut off behind me.
“Every time. Sometimes it took hours, sometimes days, but he always fought his way back to us.” A pause. “This isn’t him getting worse, Alex. It’s just... I wish there was a straight line between broken and healed, but that’s not how any of this works.”
I blinked hard, the ranch below blurring until I forced myself to focus.
“You still there?” Dom asked quietly.
“Yeah. Just thinking,” I took a sip of coffee, the bitter sweetness sharp on my tongue. “I found out about the testosterone injections yesterday. From your dad, of all people. When Finn brought me lunch to the office, Nolan just casually asked if he was ready for his injection, right there in front of me, like it was no big deal. We didn’t even talk about it until last night after dinner.”
“Shit,” Dom’s exhale was slow and heavy. “He hadn’t told you?”
“Weeks of injections and I had no idea. Just another thing he decided I didn’t need to know about. Claiming it was because he was afraid I’d leave.”
“That idiot,” Dom’s voice was full of frustration. “I told him after the whole fertility thing that he needed to stop protecting you from everything.”
“He said he didn’t want me to see him as broken,” I murmured.
“That sounds like Finn. Even when he was barely conscious in those first weeks, he’d try to wave off the nurses when I was in the room. Once he was really awake, he spent weeks trying to hide how much pain he was in. Wouldn’t let me help with basic stuff because he didn’t want me to see him like that.”
“So he’s always been like this?”
“Pretty much since we were kids. But here’s the thing… he eventually figured out that me knowing the truth didn’t change how I felt about him. He’s just slower to learn that lesson than most people.” Dom’s voice softened. “He told me what you said about trusting you or not. You were right to call him out on it.”
“Yeah, well…” I felt my cheeks warm.
“It’s good. He needs that.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “Look, I’ve known you for what, four years now? And I’ve watched you two together, really together, for months. Do you know what Finn was like when you first started your ruse?”
I pulled the blanket higher. “What?”
