“He is?”
“Yeah, kid,” Deck says softly. “He’s awake. Banged up, but awake. Concussion’s got him tired, but he’s here. We’ll get him to the hospital, get him checked over.”
A tear slips down Eli’s cheek. “He was so scared.”
Deck nods. “I know.”
“He kept trying to be brave.” Eli’s words hit me hard. Finn shouldn’t have had to be brave like that, not at his age, not in that place.
Something shifts in Deck’s face, pain flickering through it. “Yeah,” he whispers. “That sounds like him.”
Eli looks down at his shaking hands. “He knew you would find him, Deck.”
Deck clears his throat. “Yeah.”
Eli lets out a broken laugh that turns into a sob. “He kept telling me,Deck will find us.”
Deck reaches forward and pulls him in, careful of every injury, like he’s afraid Eli might shatter if held too tightly. For a moment, all three of us are holding on again.
“He’s waiting for you, Eli,” Deck says quietly. “He’s safe.”
Deck nods. “Yeah. He’s safe because you saved him.”
Eli shakes his head immediately. “No.”
Deck looks at him.
“You did, Deck.”
I step in and lift Eli into my arms, carrying him away from his monster. Deck carries Adrian away through a side door without a word, and we move back to the house. I sit with Eli on my lap in a deck chair outside.
Silence settles around us. It’s quiet in a way I almost don’t trust. For the first time in what feels like forever, I’m not waiting for something to go wrong.
Eli is here. His hand is in mine.
And I keep looking at him because I still can’t believe it: That I almost lost him. That thought twists in my chest, tight and painful, robbing my lungs of air. If he hadn’t held on, if we’d been seconds later… I can’t even let myself finish the thought.
I pull him closer, pressing a kiss to his hair. “I need you to know something, Baby Boy.”
My voice breaks, but I don’t stop. “I love you. I love you because you’re you. Because you survived everything they threw at you and still have the biggest heart I’ve ever known.”
I swallow hard against the knot in my throat. “You are my home, Eli. You always have been.”
He looks up at me, tears shining in his eyes. I wipe them away before they fall.
“We almost didn’t get this,” I whisper. “We almost didn’t get our chance.”
He squeezes my hand. And I smile because he’s here. My Baby Boy is here. Safe. Free. Mine.
“I don’t know what forever looks like yet,” I tell him quietly, “but I know who I want it with. I want every morning. Every bad day. Every laugh. Every stupid argument about what movie we’re watching. I want all of it with you.”
Eli smiles through his tears.
And I watch my boy with those honey-colored eyes, the boy who slept in his car, who fought every monster thrown at him, who survived.
He speaks, his voice soft and steady. “I love you too, CJ. I held on because I knew you’d find me. I was so scared. So scared I’d have to leave you. But, CJ…”
He takes my face in his hands and kisses me softly.
