I’m grinning when he pulls back, which just makes him laugh, and when Nyx comes to a stop in front of us, I kneel down and tug on his hand, urging him to do the same. With our fingers still entwined, I hold them up to the very curious dog in front of us. She sniffs our hands, gives a soft whine, and then licks our fingers.
“Oh, you’re a sweet thing, aren’t you?” Damien coos at her, lifting his other hand up so he can pet her head. I swear she leans into his touch and grunts her pleasure when he massages her head and scratches behind her ears. When I look over, the smile on Damien’s face washes away any worry I’d had that these two might not get along. It would’ve broken my heart if he’d hated my dog.
When Hex and Ghost join us, I go through the introductions again, but I notice the way Damien keeps giving special attention to Nyx. She beams up at him, clearly enjoying the preferential treatment, and when she sits and leans her weight into his leg, I raise a brow at her.
“Picking favorites already?” I ask her.
Her tail thumps the ground at the sound of my voice, but she doesn’t budge from her new favorite spot. Ghost and Hex lose interest and trot back off into the woods, but Nyx stays with us when we sit in the two-seater rocker closer to my mom and Bran.
Switching to signing and speaking, my mom picks up where they’d left off and says, “I’m glad Bran brought you over, Damien. I wanted to talk to you too. It’s obvious Sitka’s head over heels for you.”
“Yep,” I say, not bothering to downplay the truth everyone can see.
Bran snaps his fingers, and when I look over, he signs,Way to play it cool.
I laugh and lean in closer to Damien when he puts his hand on my thigh.
“I don’t usually keep things from my husband,” my mom says, “but Sitka told me she’s telling him tomorrow. I can hold onto it until then, but I can’t do it any longer than that, and I’d never do this for anyone other than my daughter.”
“I understand,” Damien tells her. “I’m very sorry you have to keep it from him at all. It wasn’t my intention to come here and cause trouble.”
My mom grins at him. “So you didn’t make this trip just so you could see her? How disappointing.”
Damien huffs out a laugh and drags his fingers along my knee. “No, I definitely made the trip just to see her. I honestly didn’t think she’d give me the time of day, though.”
I laugh at that and turn my head to look at him. “Well, I busted right through that worry, didn’t I?”
He squeezes my thigh and says, “You did.”
When I look back at my mom and Bran, I see them sharing a look before my mom quickly wipes away a tear that she’s trying very hard to hide.
She notices me staring and says, “What? It’s the damn salty sea air making my eyes watery.”
Damien leans forward and says, “Well, since they’re already watering, I might as well tell you that I’m in love with your daughter, and I plan on marrying her as soon as possible. She’s it for me, and there’s no way I’ll be able to get on that plane without her.”
My mom sniffs, giving up the pretense of wind in her eyes and brushes the tears off her cheeks. “New York is a long way away,” is all she says, and those words break my heart a little bit.
“Oregon is three hours behind. We can leave at 8 a.m. from New York and land in Oregon by noon. My schedule is very flexible, so we could come back pretty much whenever Sitka wanted to. I would never keep her from you, Maddie.”
Relief floods me at his words, and he must feel the tension leave me because he looks down at me, brow furrowed in confusion. “I know how much you love this place. Did you really think I’d keep you from it?”
“No, I just worried we wouldn’t be able to visit a lot,” I admit.
“We can visit whenever you want, and Nyx will come with us, of course.” He reaches down to give her another scratch. “What do you think, Nyx? You ready to rack up some frequent flier miles?”
“It’s settled then,” my mom says with a sappy grin on her face. “We just need to gently break the news to your dad and brothers.”
Easy, right?Bran asks.
“Piece of cake,” my mom agrees. Standing, she walks over to us, and when we do the same, she gives Damien a big hug. “I’m glad you came for a visit,” she tells him. “I’ve never seen my daughter this happy before.”
“I promise I’ll always love her and take care of her,” he says. “You don’t ever need to worry about that.”
My mom pulls back and pats his cheek. “I know. You’d have to be a real dumbass to do something like that. We all know my husband and sons would kill you before you even had the chance to beg for her forgiveness.”
“Mom,” I start to say, but she just laughs.
“There’s no use lying about it,” she tells me. “Besides, I’m not worried about it happening, obviously. I’d never go through all this trouble if I thought he wasn’t good enough for you.” Turning back to Damien, she smiles and says, “Welcome to the family, Damien. I’ll do everything I can tomorrow to make this as easy as possible for the two of you.”
