Page 110 of Always Be Mine

She was home.

Finally.

“Lucy?”

She spun around, and instinctively moved to slip away from Craig’s arms, but he held her tight and wrapped his arms around her, as they both turned to see a very sleepy Meri in the doorway. The unicorn she’d given her for her birthday dangled from one hand.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “You’re home?”

Tears once more sprang to Lucy’s eyes, but this time for a very different reason. She craned her neck to look at Craig, whose eyes also shone with emotion. Lucy exhaled and untangled herself from Craig’s arms to go to the little girl.

“Hey, kiddo.” She wrapped her up in a tight hug. Meri twinned her arms around Lucy’s neck and hung on. “I missed you so much, Meri.” She swallowed hard against the tears that threatened.

“I missed you, too. And so did Garfield.” She pulled away and nodded very seriously. “But don’t worry, I took really good care of him, didn’t I, Dad?”

“You did a great job, kiddo.”

Craig joined them, and they all sank to the floor, right there in the middle of the kitchen, but Lucy didn’t care. Meri climbed up on her lap, and Craig wrapped his arm around both of them. For the first time in almost a week, Lucy felt complete.

Still sleepy, Meri rested her head against her chest and looked up at both of them. “So, did you fix things, Dad?”

Lucy’s eyes grew wide.Fix things?What kind of conversations had they been having while she was gone?

“I think I did, kiddo.” Craig nodded. “And you know what else? I finally told Lucy that I love her.”

Lucy’s stomach flipped and clenched all at the same time.

“It’s about time, Dad.”

They both laughed, and Meri sat up again.

She looked at Lucy with a serious expression. “Do you love my dad?”

“I do.” Lucy nodded. “And you know what else? I love you, too. Very, very much.”

She wrapped her little arms around Lucy’s neck once more, and Lucy buried her face in her silky hair as they embraced. She didn’t think it was possible to feel so much love for another person…fortwopeople…and her heart overflowed in the best possible way.

When Meri finally untangled herself from Lucy’s lap, her eyelids were drifting shut.

Craig stood and lifted the little girl into his arms. “Time for bed, kiddo. It’s been a big day.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, okay, Meri?” Lucy pressed a kiss to her cheek.

Meri dropped her head to her dad’s shoulder, and as they left the room, Lucy heard her ask a question that filled her heart and once more brought her to tears. “Dad? Does this mean Lucy can be my mom now?”

Epilogue

October

It wasthe kind of fall day where if you closed your eyes, you might believe it was still summer, but the golden leaves decorating the trees and falling softly to the ground told a different story. Winter would be coming soon, but it still felt a million years away.

It was perfect.

Craig walked through the plaza with the leaves crunching under his feet until he got to Alpenglow. Of course her storefront was gorgeous. Decorated with pumpkins, dried wheat, and bright blooms he’d been told were mums.

The bells over the door chimed when he walked into the flower shop. “I’m in the back!” Charli called and a moment later, she appeared, her ballooning stomach coming into view first.

“I swear, you get bigger every time I see you.”

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