I take in a ragged breath at her words.
“I’m not saying to jump in headfirst, but allow your feet to get wet.Get to know who you are now as adults who have paved their own way over the years.Allow yourself to be open-minded, and if in the end it doesn’t work out, that’s okay.At least you’ll be able to move forward with no regrets.You’ll know you tried everything within you to make it work.And yes, you’re strong enough to endure it a second time, if that’s what it comes down to, because you’re Ellison Moran.Our big sister, who picked up all of our broken pieces and held us together.Allow us the opportunity to do the same for you.”
I nod, tears in my eyes.
“For the record,” Leighton adds, “I don’t think we’ll have to.”She glances over at Copeland, and when I follow her gaze, I’m met with the intensity of his.
No matter how hard I try, I can’t look away.I hear my sisters and my traitor of a best friend exit the room, and the soft click of the door as they leave us alone.
“You’re worth it,” Copeland says.“You’re worth every fucking thing, Ellison Moran.”In a few long strides, he’s standing before me.He lifts his hand and cradles my cheek in his palm.“I’m so damn sorry I ever made you feel like you weren’t enough for me.”I can hear the pain in his voice, in the rasp of his words.
“You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“I needed to hear that, Ells.I don’t expect us to go from not speaking for seventeen years to happily together overnight.What I do expect is to work for it.I expect to give you every single piece of myself.I need to know what’s going on in that beautiful brain of yours so I can tell you my side of things.You think you’re not worth it, but to me, you’re worth it all.”He drops his hands from my face and pulls me into a hug.
I hesitate for maybe two seconds before I slide my arms around his waist and grip the back of his shirt.His scent and strong arms surround me, and I could stay here like this all night.
I don’t know how long we stand there.Neither of us makes a move to pull away, and I somehow know that he won’t.He’s waiting for me, and since my emotional madness started this mess, I need to be the one to finish it.
Lifting my head, I peer up at him as I loosen my grip on his shirt, let my arms drop, and step back.I open my mouth to apologize, but Copeland must be a mind reader now because he places his index finger over my lips.
“No apologies, Ells.I want your honesty, baby.I want your pain.I can’t repair what’s broken if you don’t give it to me.”
“This isn’t all on you,” I tell him.“I could have reached out.I was just as stubborn.”
“Maybe, but that was so last week,” he says, pitching his voice, his eyes crinkling at the corners with a smile.I can’t help but smile at how ridiculous he sounds.“We’re past that.Only looking ahead and healing this,” he says, pointing to my chest, “and this,” he says, leaning in to press his lips to my temple.
Stepping back, he offers me his hand.“Dinner?”
I smile and nod.“Dinner.”I place my hand in his and allow him to lead me downstairs, where no doubt we have an audience waiting for us.
“You have our girl home by midnight,” Courtlynn says as soon as we clear the bottom step.
“She might turn into a pumpkin.”Baylor laughs from the iPad.
“Just tell us if you’re not coming home,” Leighton says.“So we don’t worry.”
“I like where your mind went, Lei.”Kinzie grins.“We just might corrupt you yet.”
“I’ve been working on her.”Courtlynn cackles with laughter.
“No way,” Baylor says from the screen.“She will forever be our quiet, sensible sister.”
“Hey!”Leighton says, as if she’s offended, but we all know she’s not.
“I love you.All four of you, even if you’re a traitor,” I say, my eyes landing on Kinzie’s.
“I’ll always step on the battlefield with you, Ellie, even when the war’s not mine.”
“She’ll be home tonight.I don’t know what time,” Copeland tells them.He looks down at me.“Before you go disappearing into the beautiful head of yours again, it’s not because I wouldn’t give everything I have to spend the entire night with you.It’s because we’re doing this right.I'm going to show you you’re worth it.”
“Worth what?”Baylor asks.I can hear the amusement in her voice over the speaker.
The corner of Copeland’s mouth tips into a grin.“All of it.The work, the pain, the heartache, the smiles, the laughter, the love.She’s worth all of it,” he says, his voice growing quiet.
“Right, well, you kids have fun.”Courtlynn waves, and with that, Copeland gives my hand a gentle tug and leads me out of the house and to his truck.He opens the door for me and waits for me to be buckled in before closing the door and rushing to his side to slide behind the wheel.
“Where are we going?”I ask once the truck is in motion.
