Damn.
He met Lexi’s gaze and saw nothing but love there, and he knew they were going to be okay. “You belong here with all of us. We have a house to build and a life. For the four of us.”
She hugged him tightly. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you too, sweet girl.” She was shivering, and he knew he needed to get her inside and warmed up. Picking her up, he asked, “How about we go up to the lodge and have breakfast, huh? I’ll make you whatever you want.”
She peered over his shoulder to look at Jonah. “Should we have waffles or pancakes?”
“Waffles!” he cried out.
“Okay, then. Let’s go make waffles!” he announced. His daughter was in his arms, but his free hand reached for Lexi’s, and he felt like his world was righting itself.
When they stepped up onto the path, the only people standing there were Slater and Axel. “Walker went and talked to the cops,” Slater told him.
“And we told everyone else to just head up to the lodge to give you guys some time to yourselves,” Axel added. That included Connor’s parents, so he was sure that didn’t go over too well.
“What about…?”
“Harlow took care of them,” Slater said with a grin. “I wish I could have gotten it on video.”
The laugh was out before he could stop it, but he sobered quickly.
“Thank you.” He had a feeling he was going to be saying that a lot over the next few days. Each and every member of the staff had jumped in to help him find his daughter. And as much as he wanted to know exactly how Lexi had found her, he was going to wait until they were alone later to ask. Right now, he needed everything to feel normal, like this was just another morning and they were going to breakfast.
They were almost at the stairs leading to the back entrance when he reconsidered.
“How about we go to the cabin instead? This way you can warm up and put on clean clothes.”
His daughter agreed, and he motioned to Lexi to stay with them.
“Call us if you need anything,” Slater said before clapping him on the back and walking away.
“And don’t worry, we’ll take care of keeping everyone away for as long as we can,” Axel assured them.
“Give us an hour,” Connor said, and prayed he’d be ready by then.
They walked the rest of the way in relative silence, and he had to wonder if his daughter had been up all night or if she had left early this morning. Either way, she was resting her head on his shoulder and she seemed exhausted.
“Do you have everything you need to make waffles?” Lexi asked, and he was thankful for a break from the silence.
Inside the cabin, he put Annabeth down and told her to go and get changed. Jonah went over to the small toy box Connor had bought not too long ago and pulled out some trucks to play with. When he and Lexi were alone in the kitchen, he finally allowed himself a moment to just breathe.
“I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to her,” he said gruffly. “I was almost afraid of what we were going to find.”
She nodded. “I know. At one point I almost wished that Jonah wasn’t with me, and…maybe this isn’t the right thing to say, but…he’s the one who knew where to look.”
That wasn’t what he had expected her to say. “He did?”
Another nod. “We asked him where the two of them liked to play or hide, and when we got to the third spot, thankfully, she was there.”
“Third time really can be a charm,” he said wearily before he met and held her gaze. “I don’t know what we would have done without you.”
Her smile was shy. “You would have found her eventually. Slater was going to get the drones going, and luckily, she wasn’t hurt. She was just hiding.”
Raking a hand through his hair, he mumbled, “From my parents.”
Yeah, that had been like a punch to the gut. He had no idea if his parents had heard because they weren’t far behind him, but it killed him that Annabeth had been so worried that she thought the only thing she could do was run away.
