Page 135 of At His Beck & Call

She chuckles. “I’d like him to be with us tonight, too.”

I squeeze her gently. “I want you both to live with me.”

She lifts her head off my lap, her eyes wide. “Oliver, that’s crazy.”

“Is it? You need a quiet, safe space for him to recover. I have a stupid number of rooms I barely use. If we get sick of each other, you can always go and hide in one of them.”

Snorting quietly, she lays her head on my chest now. “I could never get sick of you.”

I smile contentedly. “Alright then, we’re in agreement.”

“Are you making decisions without me again?”

“Hm. Probably. It can be temporary. But you need a nicer place to live. You said so yourself, and I want you here with me.”

She looks up again. “Then why did you send me away?”

I shake my head slowly. “If I’m honest, I’m not sure I even knew at the time. It just felt… safer. I think I was convinced you were better off without me. All the time we’ve spent together hasbeen on my terms, for my needs. I didn’t know if you would ever want to be withme. Not the man I am in that room. The real me, with all my flaws.”

“Well, I do,” she says simply. “I think I’ve wanted to see the real you since the very first day.”

I run the back of my hand over her cheek, curling a lock of hair behind her ear.

“You’re so beautiful, Lissa.”

She rolls her eyes, never comfortable taking a compliment, and I shift beneath her, making her look at me again.

“You are. You’re beautiful, inside and out,” I whisper. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life reminding you of that.”

“Is that so?” she says, her eyes softening. “The rest of your life, huh?”

“At least,” I say, kissing her on the tip of her nose. “Shall we go pick up Henry? Bethany’s welcome to come too.”

“Don’t worry. She won’t want to be the third wheel; she’ll just be relieved you didn’t chuck me into the street.”

I go still, with my phone held loosely in my hand, as I look back at her. “That would never have happened.”

“I wasn’t so sure.”

“I was so stupid. I’m sorry,” I say earnestly. “The minute I saw you on the doorstep, I knew you were here to stay.” My chest aches as I look into her large, stormy-blue eyes. “I think if I’m being honest with myself, I knew it the second you walked into my office.”

She beams at me, her eyes crinkling at the edges. “Really?”

“Really really,” I say, kissing her temple. “Do you need to call Bethany to let her know we’re coming to get Henry?”

“She can bring Hen here in an Uber, then take it back to her place once she drops him off. He’ll be so excited.”

“To see me?” I ask uncertainly, as I feel my heart thud.

“To seeTruman,” she says with a mischievous grin, and I can only smile back as she sits up on the couch, the light of the fire playing over her face as I order an Uber.

“Or to trade out some of your books for some new ones,” she says. “We’ve been reading nonstop lately.”

I glance up, seeing my mother in the hallway watching us. I don’t think she’s stopped smiling since Lissa arrived.

Epilogue | Lissa

One year later…