“Lady?” Quinn sputtered. “What lady?”
Milo stepped back with a gallant flourish. “Of course, good sir!”
Flustered, Quinn’s gaze darted from Jonas to Milo to Jonas. “What are you doing?”
Jonas grinned from ear to ear. “May I have this dance?”
Nonplussed, Quinn mumbled a half-coherent response.
“I think that’s a yes.” Jonas took Quinn’s hand.
For a second, she looked like she might shake off his hand. Or bite him. Instead, her face turned an equally bright shade of red, and she managed a nod.
Jonas fumbled, suddenly nervous, unsure what to do. With a roll of her eyes, Quinn put her hands over his and placed them around her waist. They both grinned like Cheshire cats.
Hannah held back a laugh as they danced, awkward but sweet. This was a good thing. Quinn needed some joy in her life. And Jonas was kind; he would be good for her.
“No way I’m missing out on this.” Reynoso’s eyes flashed with mischief. He spun and searched for someone in the crowd. “Perez?”
Perez crossed her arms over her chest and gave an adamant head shake. “Don’t even think about it.”
Reynoso faltered, looking disappointed. But he recovered quickly. “Bishop!” he yelled over the din of conversation, music, and laughter. “I need you!”
Bishop, who was still deep in conversation with Travis, half-turned. He wore a bright purple Hawaiian shirt covered with yellow pineapples. “What?”
Reynoso grinned and beckoned to Bishop. “Dance with me!”
Bishop handed the baby to Evelyn and winked. “With a proposal like that, how could I resist?”
Everyone laughed as the two burly men danced merrily, goofy as teenagers, knocking into each other and chortling when they stepped on each other’s feet.
When ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” burst from the speakers, others got up as well, including Dave and Annette. They moved to the music, basking in the sunshine and soaking in this rare moment of peace.
Her stomach fluttered. Her heart raced, her mouth dry, but it wasn’t water she craved.
Hannah turned to Liam and held out her hand. He laid Molly’s cane against a nearby camping chair and took a hesitant, cautious step.
And then the hesitation vanished, and he took her in his arms. She melted into him. They shuffled, awkward and clumsy at first, then they found their rhythm. They danced to the sound of Steve Perry’s iconic voice melding with the strumming guitar and lilting piano. I’m forever yours…
Liam took her hand and threaded his strong calloused fingers through her deformed ones. His hand closed over hers and held it. Gently, tenderly.
The song faded, and a familiar tune played next: U2’s “All I Want Is You.”
“Quinn’s grandpa had good taste,” Liam murmured into her hair. “I think he was a secret hopeless romantic.”
She felt herself smiling. “Are you?”
“I am now.”
He held her, and she held him. He was alive. She was alive.
They had more than they could’ve ever asked for.
After a while, Liam took a break and headed to the cooler for a glass of water, limping heavily but on his feet, moving with slow but dogged resolve.
Ghost trotted across the yard and pressed his snout against Liam’s side, his plumed tail gently wagging. They looked so regal, the two of them: wounded warriors. Every inch of them exuding strength, dignity, and valor.
Hannah watched him, the man she loved, something bright and glittering inside her chest. She stood back and surveyed Molly’s yard, taking in these people she loved.
Once, she’d been trapped, isolated, a victim. Now, she was part of a community. A survivor. A leader.
Sometimes the destruction of one thing could become the birth of another thing. New life, starting over, freedom.
In the middle of winter, with the scouring wind and brutal, shocking cold, you believed spring would never come. That spring had never existed in the first place. What else could possibly exist but this vast wasteland of snow and ice and darkness?
But that was a lie. It did exist. And it would come.
The sun returned, and beneath its nourishing warmth, the whole world opened up like a flower reaching for the sky.
You had to endure. You had to hold on. No matter what lay ahead, what challenges and hardships, she knew they would meet them.
They were a family.
They were together.
And, in the end, wasn’t that everything?
Liam glanced back at her over his shoulder. A slow open smile creased his features, his gray-blue eyes shining.
Hannah smiled back. And she lifted her face toward the sun.
I hope you enjoyed Edge of Valor, the epic conclusion to the Edge of Collapse survival series.
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If you knew the apocalypse was coming, what would you do?
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Author’s Note
Endings are bittersweet.
I admit, I shed a tear or two while writing a few scenes, particularly Quinn’s last scene when she fully comprehends what it means to be a warrior—how much it takes from you, how to live with the scars.