“I know, andyouknow, it’s not selfish to lean on the folks you love. But Law… He’s spent so much of his life making sure everybody else is happy. I think he’s only just realizing he can ask for the same. Give him some time to get used to it.”
Colton nods slowly, Noah’s hand resting on his thigh. “And your intentions?” the Darling brother asks, his lips tipped into a smile.
“Easy,” I answer. “I intend to give that man every single thing he asks for and everything he doesn’t know he needs. I’ll make him happy. I swear it.”
A moment of silence passes, apart from the snap of the fire and the wind slowly whistling by.
Ash breaks the quiet. “Now about that rope…”
“Nope,” Remi shouts, snagging the bag of marshmallows from beside Colton’s chair and tossing the whole thing Ash’s way.
The blonde man laughs, Remi shaking his head all the while. I can see Lawson heading our way as his family bickers, a bottle of whiskey making the rounds as his silhouette gets closer in the dark.
Yeah. It’s damn good to be right where I belong.
Chapter 33
Lawson
“I remember when you got that,” my mom says, her voice coming from the doorway.
I look down at the copy ofPeter and WendyI’m holding, having paused in my packing to rifle through the pages. “Yeah?”
“You were six,” she says, stepping into the room. Her eyes sweep the space, this bedroom I was raised in. It looks far different now than it did back then. “It was your grandpa’s first. Do you remember him?”
“Barely,” I admit. My memories of Grandpa Darling are fuzzy. But I do recall sitting with him on the old couch downstairs, back before my parents replaced it, my grandpa reading to me. Most likely this book.
“You’re like him in a lot of ways,” my mom says, sitting at the edge of the bed. “He was always quiet. Spent a lot of time in his head. I worried for him, at times. The same I worry for you.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being quiet.”
“No, there isn’t,” she agrees. “But even as a child, you were so serious, Lawson. When Jackson came along, that stayed the same. You looked out for him. Then Colton. Eventually, Remi. The only kid you ever really played with was Oakley.”
I nod, my fingers tracing the aged corner of the book. “We played Neverland a lot.”
“I know,” my mom says, a smile in her voice. “And I was so grateful to see it. Any good parent only ever wants the best for their children. Seeing you now, the way you’ve been these past few months…” She blows out a quiet breath. “It’s like you’re a kid again. The version of yourself that would steal wooden spoons from the kitchen so you and Oakley could pretend they were swords. He’s always been good for you, Lawson. He complements you. And you him. I couldn’t ask for anything more for my son.”
From the corner of my eye, I see movement at the door. I don’t look, but I recognize the flash of Oakley’s belt buckle as he steps out of sight, giving me and my mom privacy. I’m glad he heard some of that. Proof that my family loves him just as much as I do.
“He’s the reason I see pixie dust,” I tell my mom.
She cocks her head gently. “Lawson, dear… Is that some euphemism I’m unfamiliar with?”
“What?No.Ah, God.”
My mom laughs as I groan.
“No,” I say again, more firmly. “I just mean… If there’s magic to be found in this life, he’s it for me.”
My mom’s eyes are wet when she squeezes my hand. She doesn’t say anything more, but she doesn’t have to.
When I get downstairs with my last box of books, Oakley is waiting.
“Everything all right?” he asks, opening the front door for me to pass through. His truck is parked just out front, the back filled with everything I packed up from my brief time living back at the ranch.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “Everything’s great.”
I slide the box into the bed of the vehicle before looking at the house. The cabin-style siding. The big windows. The metal roof reflecting the sun.
