Page 269 of Enthrall Shadows
“I never thought I’d leave Chrysalis,” she said wistfully.
“You’re happy?”
“So happy.” She let out a sigh.
“I feel like a completely different man.”
“How?”
“My emotions were locked down, before you.”
She looked at me with a gentle expression, kindness in her eyes.
The rawest feeling of loneliness was lifted.
The Alps were less intimidating compared to the mountains I’d once climbed with my captors, when they’d led me off into the darkness.
In life, when you finally reached the safety of the shore, it was more comfortable to remember the storm that brought you there.
“Tell me what you’re thinking?” she whispered.
I pulled her closer until she was sitting next to me. “I see my life in two parts—the time before I met you and the time after.”
“I want to make you happy.”
“I know you do.”
She reached over and took my hand in hers. “Your dad seems to approve of me.”
“Don’t care if he doesn’t.”
“It matters. Your mom invited me back.”
“Mom’s way of showing she likes you.”
“I’ll be an asset. I hope they see that.”
“Already do. You chased away my past when it came back to haunt me.”
Reese had returned to being just a memory.
Knowing she’d fulfill her life’s purpose brought solace. Her daughter would thrive, too. Their good work would continue.
The state park had been saved.
Whenever I thought of the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve, I’d think of Lotte.
I tipped her chin. “Let’s go back to Florida.”
“We can.”
“I want to see where you grew up,” I clarified. “I’ll show you Manhattan.”
“You spoil me, Henry.”
“Get used to it. Favorite memory so far?”
“Dancing to Neil Diamond’s ‘Holly Holy’ both times,” she answered, beaming.
