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Seth pulled me aside while Joy said goodbye to Emmie.

“You’ll take care of her?”

“With my life.”

He studied me for a long moment, then held out his hand. “Then we're good.”

Little Grandma was the last to say goodbye. She touched my face with her weathered hand.

“You're a good man, Graham Wallace.”

“I try to be.”

“No. You are. And now you're ours. That's both a blessing and a warning.” She smiled. “Magill women are worth it, but their families? We're a lot.”

“I can handle it.”

“I believe you can.”

I helped Joy into the truck. The porch was full of her family, watching us leave.

“That was intense,” Joy said as we pulled away.

“Seth still doesn't trust me.”

“He doesn't trust anyone with his little sister.” She took my hand. “But he'll come around.”

“What about your dad?”

“He's trying. It's hard for him, knowing I won't be under his roof.”

We drove in comfortable silence until Joy spoke again.

“Thank you. For understanding about the family drama.”

“Every family has it.”

“For being patient with Seth.”

“He loves you. I can't fault him for that.”

She squeezed my hand. “Take me home, Graham.”

“Your place or mine?”

“Yours. Ours.” She corrected herself softly. “Whatever you want to call it. Just... home.”

I brought her hand to my lips. “Home it is.”

We'd survived stalkers and surgeries, broken ribs and overprotective brothers. We could handle whatever came next.

Together.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

In some ways, it hadn’t been the most comfortable night's sleep I’d ever had. Making sure I didn’t jostle Graham’s ribs and not rolling on my side, I never did sleep. But having him lie next to me was worth every moment of discomfort.

“You can stop pretending to be asleep,” Graham whispered.