There’s a plea in her voice, to stop being tough or trying to protect her and to think about myself for once—even if she won’t say it out loud.
I chuckle at how intense she glares at me and wince. “Okay, it’s not great.”
Lucky immediately flinches, her body tensing with the knowledge that I’m in pain, and I can see it in her eyes, the guilt she’s going to allow to overwhelm her.
“I would do it again, Lucky. Anything to keep you safe.” I tug her gently until she leans closer to me, until I can release her hand and draw her face to mine, pausing just before our lips touch. “You are now. No one will ever threaten you again.”
Tears brim in her eyes. “Everything horrible in my life that led me to McBride mountain led me to you. I know you would do anything for me. Even if I don’t deserve it.”
The reservation in her voice, the fact that she might actually believe those final words, hurts more than the gunshot did. “You deserve everything, Bluebell. You deserve the entire world.”
She kisses me softly. “I don’t need the entire world, Liam. I just need you to get better and get to sleep. You need your rest.”
I shake my head. “Not until you promise me something.”
“What’s that?”
Cupping her face, I hold her in place, ensuring she can’t look away. “You’re done running.”
Tears spill down her cheeks, and she nods. “I’m done running. The only place I’m ever going to run again is into your arms.”
EPILOGUE
TWO MONTHS LATER
LIAM
The vast, endless mountain sky spreads above us, millions of stars twinkling against the utter blackness. A high, full moon casts shadows from all the trees around the cabin, but I’ve finally forced myself to stop looking into them for lurking danger.
At least, beyond the natural ones that have always existed here on McBride Mountain.
But I’ve never feared them.
Only respected the animals who were here long before us.
I sit back in the new chair on the porch and stare up at the sky, like I often do, letting the vastness of it overwhelm me and make me feel like a tiny speck in the universe.
There was a time when I thought disappearing would be a good thing for me, for everyone around me, when I believed that the taint that had been brought by my father could lead me to do something as awful as he had. When I thought there would be no escaping who I was in my blood.
But one woman changed all of that.
I never could have sat here, in this chair, or even finished it, if she hadn’t pushed me to move past my fears and embrace what’s right in front of me.
This wood may remind me of what happened that day up on the mountain and of what my father did to Willow, but it also serves as evidence that something horrible can lead to something beautiful.
Willow and Killian’s new life with their son.
Mine with Lucky.
It might not have happened if I hadn’t been in that mental state that night. If I hadn’t waited downtown, lingering because I didn’t want to spend another evening with my nightmares. I might not have driven on that road at that exact time and found Gizmo…and ultimately her.
Lucky pushes out of the cabin with a glass of amber liquid in her hand and grins at me as she slides into my lap, handing it to me as she examines the chair. “You finished it.”
I nod, running my free hand over the arm of it. “I did.”
“It’s beautiful.” She laughs, grinding into my lap. “And sturdy.”
“Very.”
