“I appreciate that,” I told him.“I do, but I can defend myself.Don’t forget I’ll have Mom, Bracken, and Faith with me.I’m not doing this alone.”
His chest vibrated with a low grumble.“I hate sitting home while you’re walking into a dangerous situation.Can you call me as soon as it’s done so I know you’re okay?”
“I can and I will.”I rested my hand on his stomach.“Not to worry.Most people are scared of me.”
“As well they should be,” he said.“All it takes is one person touching you, though.”
“Yes, but that’s been true my whole life.I’m very good at protecting myself, and you’ve never seen my mom in full protector mode.No one will get anywhere near me.”
“See that they don’t.”He stood and pulled me up beside him.
I peered around him, to make sure we weren’t disturbing the little raccoons, and saw them waddling quickly toward the far gate.“Wait.How did they—” Answering my unfinished question, they climbed onto a bench, to the back rest, then over the lower edge of the gate.
I smacked Declan’s arm.“Is that why you designed the gates that way, so my furry friends could visit me?”
He pulled me in for a quick, strong hug.“I didn’t want them locked out.Plus, I liked the idea of the top edge of the gate echoing your tentacles, so it was a win-win.”
I grabbed the front of his flannel and pulled him down for a kiss that quickly turned heated.When we finally broke apart, I whispered, “Thank you.”
“Wait here,” he said.“I’ll put the pizza in the fridge, grab your backpack, and turn off the lights.”
While he did that, I went to the railing.“Goodnight, Cecil.”A tentacle lifted above the surface in a wave.“Say goodnight to Poppy and the babies for me.Sleep well, Wilbur.You too, Charlie and Herbert.”Wilbur’s snout popped out of the water.“You can tell my dad I’m okay.”Wilbur nodded and dove back underwater.
Declan returned a moment later, my backpack over his shoulder.He wrapped an arm around me and I flicked my fingers to lock up the gallery.
As we walked through the gate, I called, “Have a good evening, Bracken.I’ll see you tomorrow.”
A chuckle floated to us from his invisible RV.“I enjoy being a part of your goodbyes.Sleep well.”
When we got home, I changed out of my work clothes, thinking we’d finish watching the mystery we’d started the night before.Unless Declan had already finished it when I fell asleep.Instead, when I came out of the bathroom, the lights were off, the fire was on, and Declan was in bed.
“You’re exhausted, love.”He flipped back the covers as I made my way around the big bed.
I set my phone on the charger, took off the pearl necklace, and crawled in.Snuggled up against Declan, my head on his chest, I dropped off faster than I thought possible.
When I woke, I was alone and the flat smelled like bacon.Declan was cooking for us again.The bed moved and I opened my eyes to see Declan sitting on the edge, a small glass of juice in his hand.
“I added a drop of Bracken’s anti-nausea potion in it so you can keep breakfast down.”When my eyelids drooped, he said, “None of that.You need to take this glass so I can get back to the stove before the bacon burns.”
I forced myself to sit up and take the glass.“We can’t have that.Thank you.”
He kissed my forehead while I took my first sip, then was jogging back to the kitchen.I made a pit stop to the bathroom, then followed him.He took the glass from my hand to refill and nudged me toward the table.
“I made us toad-in-the-holes with bacon.Does that sound okay?”
I shook my head in wonder, taking the seat by the window overlooking the ocean.“You’re so good at this.If it were up to me, we’d starve.”
He poured himself a glass of juice and sat.“You take care of all our carb needs.I’ll handle the protein.This is your loaf of rye.I took it out of the freezer.”
I considered my juice glass and the hole in the slice of bread on my plate.“Did you use this glass to make the holes?”
He nodded.“My aunt used to make these for breakfast on Sundays.I hadn’t thought to make them since she passed away.”
He’d made a perfect hole in each piece of bread, put them in a hot skillet with melting butter, then dropped an egg into the hole and sprinkled cheese on top.I had two eggy slices on my plate and he had four, with a plate of bacon between us.
“I had a hard time sleeping last night,” he said.“I kept seeing Quinn and Mac in my head.More than anything, I want to be a good mate and father.”He reached over the table and squeezed my hand.“I don’t want to screw this up.Eventually, thoughts of our future transitioned into needing to take care of you now, so we can have that future.First up: breakfast.”He pointed at the toad-in-the-holes with his fork.“I thought maybe I’d continue the tradition and make these for us on Sunday mornings.”
My throat got tight.He was such an earnestly good man.“Today’s not Sunday.”
