I need to get inside.
Need to assure Lav that everything’s okay.
But I need to love Cricket too.
Need her to know how much I appreciate that she’s part of my family.
Everything I’ve needed, even if I didn’t know it.
“I really would go naked on the internet to defend you if it’d piss off your mother-in-law enough.”
I believe her.
I truly do.
Do it for herself?
Never.
But do it for the people she loves?
She would.
And I’m the luckiest man on earth to have found someone who’d face her worst fears to make life better for me and my daughter.
“Please don’t though,” I murmur. “The internet can get out of hand.”
She squeezes me tight. “If you change your mind…”
I actually laugh.
“You’re the best punch I’ve ever taken,” I tell her.
“You’re the best punch I’ve ever given.”
“Do I get in on this hug action too?” Pip says. “Feeling left out here.”
Cricket and I look at each other, and then we pull Pip in for a hug too.
“Thank you for giving us a home,” Cricket says to her.
“Eh? Who’s flipping a bone?”
This place.
This life.
These people.
They’re everything.
Our home might be tenuous, but our family—it’s forever.
42
BEAVERSHACK
Cricket
