Once Celine and the kids were settled, I’d kept my promise, completely cleaning out the grocery store in the process.
Back at Chloe’s, armed with every type of junk food imaginable, I made a huge fire out on the beach, and the kids, bundled up in several layers to protect against the cold, had roasted hot dogs and marshmallows
Chloe and Celine stayed inside, taking a call from Chloe’s lawyers and making plans. I wanted to round up my brothers, get in my truck, and pay Donny a visit. I still didn’t know the whole story, but from what I understood, Donny had tried to hit Julian, and Celine intervened.
I shuddered at the thought. I had written Chloe off when she’d waxed poetically about murdering him and leaving his body in the woods, but now the plan was looking pretty damn appealing.
Once the fire had died down, we’d started a movie, and it wasn’t long before all three kids were yawning. Julian had roped me into reading him Pete the Cat, his favorite book, three times before he started to nod off. The thought of anyone touching a single hair on his head made me twitch.
Now, Celine and the kids were asleep upstairs, all huddled together in a king-sized bed, and I was outside, letting Clementine out one last time. Chloe needed to sleep, but she was alternating between obsessively checking on Celine and the kids and making sure all the doors were locked.
“He won’t come here,” I said as Clem and I came back inside.
She tightened the blanket she had wrapped around herself. “They went to arrest him, but he wasn’t at his parents’ house. The police are hitting up bars in the area and asking around.”
I put an arm around her. “Good. He’ll be in custody by morning.”
“It’s not enough,” she gritted out. “I need to make sure he goes to jail forever.”
“You should call Parker,” I suggested
She straightened. “Who?”
“Parker. She’s married to Pascal Gagnon. She was a private investigator. Former FBI too. She could probably dig up all kinds of dirt on Donny.”
Chloe’s face lit up, and she pulled away. “Excellent. Let me get my phone.”
Grasping her arm, I pulled her back into my side. “It’s two a.m., Dragonfly. Let’s call her tomorrow.”
With a nod, she bent at the waist and rubbed Clementine’s ears.
“Did you name her?” she asked, focusing on the dog, who was currently basking in her attention.
My heart stuttered. “Yes.”
“Because of—”
“Yes,” I breathed. “Not only because we saw it on our first date. But because the message that love is always worth it, despite the pain, has always stuck with me.”
She looked up at me, tears pooling in her eyes.
“Please don’t cry.” I rubbed circles on her back. “You’ve shed enough tears tonight. I could never forget you, not in a thousand lifetimes.”
She burrowed into my side again. “I love you.”
I kissed her forehead. “I love you too. Let’s go inside. It’s cold.”
We headed to the living room, where I refilled Clem’s water, and Chloe curled up on the couch.
“Sleep,” I said, dropping onto the couch beside her.
She sighed. “I can’t.”
I pulled her close and wrapped the blanket around us. “I’m here. I’ll sit with you as long as you need me to.”
After a few quiet minutes, after her breathing had slowed and I thought she’d dozed off, she spoke. “I owe you an apology. I’ve been selfish.”
I huffed a breath. “No you haven’t. You’re dealing with a lot.”
She sat up straight, glaring at me. “August Gabriel Hebert, let me finish.”
Biting back a laugh, I squeezed her. Okay, then.
“All my life, I’ve been hyper-independent. I’ve kept you at arm’s length, and you don’t deserve that.” She tipped her head back and locked eyes with me. “You deserve a real partner.
“And you were right. I do need you. We are better together than on our own. This kid is going to need us at our best.” She touched her belly with so much tenderness that my heart clenched.
I was so in love with the little person in there already. I’d set the grainy photo of my little bean as the background on my phone the day of the ultrasound, and I gazed at it every day, imagining how it would feel when I finally got to hold my child in my arms.
“I need you too, Dragonfly. We’re gonna do this. We don’t need all the answers.”
“That’s the thing. We do need some answers. I want to stay here,” she blurted out.
My heart lifted. “In Maine?”
“Yes. I want to have the baby here. I want to do whatever I can for Celine and the kids. And I want this baby to know Thor and Merry and the rest of our families.”
My breath hitched. Fuck yeah. I’d go anywhere with her, but raising my child in Lovewell, at least for a while? It was the one thing I’d been too afraid to even hope for.
