I leaned into him. Let him hold me.
Somewhere behind us, Brian was attempting to teach Zoe a line dance and failing spectacularly. Millie was laughing at something one of the firefighters said. The music shifted to something slow, and couples drifted toward the dance floor.
My wedding. My family. My life.
It didn't look like anything I'd imagined at seventeen, terrified and alone and certain the world was going to prove me worthless.
It looked better.
I spent my whole life waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Waiting to be left. Waiting to be replaced. Waiting to prove that I wasn't worth the effort.
Shane Briggs walked into my life and refused to leave.
He stayed through the hard parts. He showed up when it mattered. He chose me—again and again—until I finally believed him.
I used to think I didn't need anyone. That needing people was a weakness. That the only person I could count on was myself.
I was wrong.
The bravest thing I ever did wasn’t raising Zoe alone, or building a career from nothing, or walking into a burning building to save a boy who wanted to destroy me
The bravest thing I ever did was letting someone stay.
And letting myself stay, too.
Several months later.
It had been about two years since Mrs. Patterson hit me with that cabinet door and I woke up in Shane Briggs's arms.
Two years since I met Shane. Married for several months now. And sometimes I still couldn't believe this life was real.
I woke up next to him every morning. His warmth beside me was the first thing I felt when I opened my eyes, and most days I lay there for a few minutes just breathing it in. Just letting myself have it, without waiting for it to disappear.
Shane cooked dinner most nights. He sang off-key while he did it, and Zoe pretended to be horrified, and I sat at the kitchentable grading papers and thought:how did I get here? How did I get so lucky?
His mother called every Sunday. She asked about Zoe's grades, my students, and when we were giving her more grandchildren.
Zoe had started calling him Shane-Dad a few weeks ago. Just once, casually, thrown over her shoulder on her way to school. Shane hadn't reacted.
But that night I found him on the balcony, staring at nothing, his eyes wet. When I asked if he was okay, he just pulled me close and said, "I never thought I'd have this."
Neither did I.
I still worried when he left for a shift. That never went away—the cold twist in my stomach when he put on his gear, the way I held my breath until he walked back through the door.
Loving a firefighter meant loving someone who ran toward danger when everyone else ran away. I'd made my peace with it. Mostly.
But he always came home. He always came home, and he always reached for me first, and I'd stopped waiting for it to end.
This was my life now. Messy and loud and full.
I never thought I'd get to keep something this good for long.
We were cleaning up after dinner that night. Zoe had already retreated to her room. Music was already thumping through her door when Shane's phone rang.
He glanced at the screen. Frowned. "Unknown number."
