"Stop," I say, but I'm smiling.
"I'm serious! You got kidnapped, caged, rescued, and then your husband went to Houston and killed a bunch of bad guys. That's like, movie shit."
Shadow's hand finds the small of my back. "It’s all behind us now."
Mom appears from the kitchen, takes one look at me, and immediately pulls me into a hug. "Baby girl. You're really okay?"
"I'm really okay, Mom."
She pulls back, examines my face—the fading bruise on my cheek, the healing cut on my lip—and her eyes fill with tears. "You're safe. You're really safe."
"Thanks to Shadow," I say, reaching back for his hand.
Mom looks at him, and her expression is complicated—gratitude, respect, maybe a little bit of motherly concern. "You brought her home. You protected her. Thank you."
Shadow looks uncomfortable with the gratitude. "It's what I'll always do."
"I know. I can see that." She wipes her eyes. "Now sit. Both of you. Breakfast is ready."
We settle at the table—me between Shadow and Dakota, Mom bustling around serving food. It's so normal, so domestic, so perfectly ordinary that I want to cry.
This is what I fought for. What Shadow fought for.
The front door opens and Dad walks in, still wearing his cut from last night, looking tired but satisfied.
"Morning," he says, helping himself to coffee. "Everyone sleep okay?"
"Like the dead," Dakota says, then winces. "Poor choice of words."
"It's fine." Phantom sits at the head of the table, and his eyes find mine. "Grace. You good?"
"I'm good, Dad."
"Good." He looks at Shadow. "We need to talk. This afternoon. At the clubhouse. Reinstatement ceremony."
Shadow's entire body goes still. "Prez?"
"You heard me. This afternoon. Four o'clock. Be there." Dad's voice is firm but not unkind. "You too, Grace. This concerns you."
My throat gets tight. "Okay."
The tension at the table is palpable, but Shadow's officially getting his patch back.
After breakfast, Shadow and I head back to our house.
We have a few hours before the ceremony, and I can tell Shadow's nervous even though he's trying to hide it.
"You okay?" I ask as we walk through the door.
"Yeah. Just... didn't think this would happen so fast."
"Dad doesn't waste time once he's made up his mind."
Shadow pulls me close. "Thank you. For standing by me through all of this. For being there."
"Always."
Charlie demands attention the second we’re through the door, and we take her for a walk around the property—just the three of us, enjoying the normalcy of it.
