Page 41 of PenPal Hero

He snorted. “Thanks for pointing that out.”

“You’re welcome.” She shoulder bumped him again. “I’m falling for you, too, cowboy.”

“By falling,” he drawled, hardly able to believe his ears. “You mean…?”

“I love you, Holt Winchester,” she confessed breathlessly. “It’s one of the few things I’m sure about these days. Everything else is…” She shook her head.

“Who cares?” With a whoop of exultation, he slung an arm around her and tucked her against his side. “My girl just used the L word on me. This calls for a celebration!” He nuzzled the soft tendrils of hair against her temple.

“Or you could just say it back.” Her lips twisted into a pout.

“Babe, you own my heart,” he assured, swooping in for another very tender, very thorough kiss. “As if you didn’t already know that.”

“I still want to hear it.” She chuckled softly against his lips.

“Fine.” He was grinning inside and out. He was probably going to be grinning like an idiot in his sleep tonight. “I’m head over heels in love with you. Satisfied?”

“Mmm.” Her smile was dreamy. “Maybe one more kiss to seal the deal?”

He was all too happy to indulge her.

It was a very long time before they got around to dialing her oldest brother. Like Holt had done with the sheriff, he put the call on speakerphone so she could listen in. The phone rang so many times that he feared it would roll to voicemail.

Then Jackson picked up. He sounded out of breath, as if he’d jogged a mile to reach his phone. “Yo! What gives?”

With respect to time, Holt decided not to beat around the bush. “Bonnie is remembering. Thought you’d want to know.”

“Man!” Jackson blew out a breath. “Anything specific?”

“Yep. A car trunk lined with carpet. Darkness. A white curtain blowing in the breeze. A woman’s voice singing a song to her. Bits and pieces of stuff that could be from when she was very small. Or something more recent.” Holt suspected it was a bit of both.

“Is she alright?” Jackson’s voice grew hoarse.

“I’m working on that.” Bonnie sounded hesitant as she joined the conversation.

“Bonnie, I’m sorry.” Jackson’s voice cracked. “For everything.”

“Me, too.” Her eyes misted with emotion. “I completely unraveled when I found out about my adoption. I could’ve handled it better. A lot better,” she stressed in a mournful voice.

“Nah, that’s our fault,” he said quickly. “You had a right to know this stuff a long time ago. We just didn’t know how to tell you.” He paused to swallow a groan. “We honestly thought we were protecting you.”

“You were.” She swallowed. “I can see that now that you’ve given me the time and space I asked for.” She sucked in a breath. “How are Mom and Dad?”

“Not gonna lie. They’re worried sick about you.” He cleared his throat. “Mad at themselves for how they handled things with you. We pretty much screwed everything up that could be screwed up.”

“Whatever. We could hash and rehash what happened until the end of time.” She waved a hand in agitation, indicating to Holt that she no longer cared about stuff like that. “All I know is that I love you guys. I’ll admit there are times when I’d like to strangle a couple of you.” She gave a damp sniffle. “But I will always love you.”

Jackson gave a chuckle that crackled with emotion. “If you’re willing to repeat that to Mom and Dad, I think they’d really like to hear it. Especially the part about loving us.”

Holt waited until they got some of their much-needed reconciliation out of the way. Then he jumped back into the conversation. “So, uh, Jackson? Someone claiming to be her birth parents, possibly more than one someone, reached out to Bonnie with a text message a few days ago.”

“Oh?” Jackson’s voice sharpened.

“Long story short, she typed a response that she didn’t intend to send to them, but she accidentally bumped the send button. They wrote back asking to see her in person.”

“Over my dead body!” Jackson snarled. “It’s a bogus claim, and I can prove it.”

Bonnie stared wide-eyed at Holt. “How?” she gasped.

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