“I think we’ve seen the last of his ass,” Dad said, following Mom into the room. Her face was still flush, but she remained quiet which had me a little worried, made me glance at Dad, moving my head a little to motion at Mom. But he bypassed my worry, waving a hand to keep me quiet. “I’ll call Ethan later tonight, let him share what we found out with that girl's lawyer, let him know it’s over.”
“Cass convinced her to say the baby was your father’s,” Mom said, rubbing her neck like she did when tension packed up too much in her joints. “The girl isn’t his cousin. She’s his ex and that baby is his.”
“God, what a complete and utter douche bag,” Aly said, shaking her head.
“He is and a coward too.” Dad walked to Mom’s side, but set his gaze on Aly, his face relaxed, his expression warm. “Speaking of assholes, I hear you have it in your head that I have expectations you think you can’t meet.”
Aly only dipped her head once, but it was a movement that didn’t keep and she stared my father in the eyes, chin lifted. “I know I can’t, Kona.” Color rose in her cheeks.
What he thought just then, I couldn’t tell. Dad held Aly’s gaze, watching her face, frowning as though he wanted her to see what his guilt had done to him and what admitting that guilt cost him. “I was completely out of line to you when you left Miami. I’m sorry, Aly Cat.” When her expression didn’t change, Dad took Aly’s hand, holding between both of his palms. “I really am. I’ve been an asshole a lot lately.” He glanced at me, nodding before he refocused on Aly. “Whatever happens, if you stay in this family, even if you decide to build something with Ethan, know that you’re ours. Pēpēs or no pēpēs, we love you. I’m sorry if I made you think that wasn’t true.”
Aly’s body relaxed when Dad leaned down, kissing her forehead. She hugged him back, seeming to enjoy how easy it was for her to accept the hugs and affection my parents gave her then. I marveled at how much pain she must have been carrying around inside of her all these months, and was genuinely happy to actually see a burden seem to lift off those slim shoulders.
They broke apart, and everyone - all of us - broke into relieved smiles. It was hard to believe that a number of crises seemed to be behind us now, but before I could think about the one lingering issue still hovering over me, Dad turned to Mom and, like it was normal, usual, like there had been no anger, no betrayal at all, he extended a hand to her. Mom blushed, smiled, and took his hand, but not before she gave Aly and me a wink, before they walked arm in arm up the stairs.
“How long will Koa and Mack be with Tristian in Biloxi?” Aly asked, voice sounding amazed.
“Not long enough,” I said before I walked her out of the back patio door. “A couple more hours, maybe. We better get comfortable outside.” I glanced back toward where my parents had disappeared. “Neither one of us wants to hear what I bet is about to go down in that bedroom. Not for a long while, I expect.”
The exaltation of a kiss starts like this:
A need not met.
A promise not kept.
And the unbearable urge to forgive.
Soft, wet, warm
And in its touch
The face of Heaven.
The promise of forever.
Twenty
This is how I knew I wanted my life with Ransom back: I wanted to stop missing the weight of him. It wasn’t his size or strength I missed. It was the way the thought of him set heavy in my mind when he wasn’t around. That weight that didn’t disappear when Ethan touched me. Ransom kissed me like a five alarm fire—taking over, stealing from me any resistance, any control I stupidly believed I wanted. Ethan loved me, made me feel cherished, special, but he couldn’t keep that weight from me, no matter how hard I tried to pretend it wasn’t there, that it wasn’t something I needed.
I needed it. All of it.
He laid next to me with his little brother and sister asleep on the double bed in the pool house close by. Keira and Kona had been silent with the exception of their muffled voices and, if I wasn’t mistaken, her low crying. Not exactly the noises we’d anticipated but Ransom hadn’t wanted to take the chance of his kid brother and sister hearing something they shouldn’t. When Tristian dragged a half sleeping Koa and completely unconscious Mack into the house, both were too tired to hear anything from their parents’ room but we settled them in the pool house nonetheless.
Facing Ransom, I smiled, tracing his profile with my eyes—an invisible stroke along his forehead, down the slope of his straight nose. He was so beautiful with the light from the pool jumping over his features. Once he’d been completely mine.
“Stay the night,” he whispered, eyes still closed. “They won’t wake up until the morning. We can sleep in my old room.”
“No,” I said, smiling when he sighed. “Let’s stay here.” My alternative had Ransom smiling, scooting close to me with his legs straightened on the pool house bed and his arm reaching out to pull me against his chest. “What are you doing?”
“Keeping you warm.”