Vivian is home now, where she belongs, where she has me as her protector.
And I’ll kill anyone who forgets it.
TEN
Vivian
Five Years Later…
The porch creakssoftly beneath the rocking chair as I push it back and forth with the tip of my sandal.For a long moment, I sit there and breathe it all in.The mountain air is cool and clean, carrying the scent of pine and damp earth.Late afternoon sunlight filters through the trees, turning everything gold.In the distance, birds chirp, the wind rustles through the leaves, and from somewhere behind the cabin comes the steady thunk of Logan working in his shop.
It’s my favorite sound in the world.
Five years ago, this place terrified me.Now, it’s the place that taught me what peace feels like.
I glance down at the laptop balanced on my knees and finish typing in the last number on the spreadsheet in front of me.Saving the file, I close the lid with a small sigh of satisfaction.Logan’s business books are done for the month, and the expense report for Midnight Haven is almost finished.I still need to double-check one reimbursement and make sure the emergency housing fund transfer went through, but most of it is done.
Not bad for a Thursday afternoon.
“Mommy!”
I look up to see a blur of dark curls and chubby little legs come barreling across the yard toward me.Laughing, I set my laptop aside on the table next to me as my daughter crashes into my legs.
“There’s my girl,” I murmur, smiling as I scoop Rosie into my lap.
She’s four years old and all wild curls, rosy cheeks, and boundless energy.She has Logan’s green eyes and my dark hair, and from the moment she wakes until the moment she falls asleep, she is in constant motion.She also has Logan completely wrapped around her tiny finger.
Rosie throws her arms around my neck, grinning up at me.“I made somethin’.”
“Did you?”I ask, pressing a kiss to her temple.“Let me see.”
She wriggles around in my lap and proudly holds up what appears to be a wooden bear with three legs and one ear that’s slightly bigger than the other.
My heart melts on the spot.“Oh, Rosie.”I take it carefully, like it’s the finest treasure in the world.“This is beautiful.”
She beams.“Daddy helped.”
“I can tell.”
From behind the cabin, I hear the workshop door open and close.A second later, Logan steps around the side of the house, and my breath catches a little, the same way it always does.
Five years later, and he can still steal the air from my lungs with a single look.He’s bigger somehow than I remember when I first stumbled into his yard.Maybe not physically, though the man is still six-foot-three and built like a wall, but in presence.He fills every space he walks into, all broad shoulders and thick muscle and dark hair that’s gotten a little longer over the years.He has a streak of sawdust across his black T-shirt, his forearms are dusted with fine wood shavings, and the sight of him makes something deep inside me soften.
His green eyes find me instantly.They always do.
The second he spots Rosie on my lap and me in the rocking chair, his expression shifts.The hard focus he wears when he’s working melts into something warm and possessive and unbearably tender.
“Thought I told you to stay in the shade,” he says as he walks up the porch steps.
I roll my eyes, smiling.“Hi to you too.”
His gaze drops to my stomach, rounded beneath my sundress, and softens even more.“I mean it, Vivian.”
“I am in the shade,” I point out.
He glances overhead like he’s personally evaluating the angle of the sun, then grunts.
Rosie giggles.“Daddy, you’re bossy.”
