Page 114 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
“Zoe,” JD began, reading from a small card, “you are my best friend, my partner in crime, and the only person I’ll share my fries with… sometimes.”
A ripple of laughter moved through the crowd. JD smiled at Zoe, and it was a look so full of love, it made Leah’s throat ache.
“You’re my home, my heart, and my forever,” he continued.
Leah sniffed quietly and, she hoped, discreetly.
“For someone who doesn’t cry a lot, you’ve really got that down these days,” Dan murmured in her ear, his warm breath brushing her skin.
She elbowed him lightly without taking her eyes off the couple.
“I promise to love you, Zoe, no matter how many Duke family debates you drag me into,” JD said.
That had everyone laughing, especially the Duke brothers.
Life had been close to perfect for Leah over the past three months. Perfect in a way that still made her uneasy sometimes, as if she were holding something too fragile in her hands and afraid to grip it too tightly.
After the mess with Grill, who was now serving a long sentence alongside her father, Dan had been relentless in nudging her forward. He’d urged her to use some of her tax refund—only it hadn’t actually been her tax refund—on her pottery shed.
When she’d found out, she’d been furious. Not at the money itself, but because he’d kept the truth from her. Dan had finallyadmitted it hadn’t been tax money at all, but a gift quietly arranged by the Duke family.
She’d tried to give it back. Marched right over to the Dukes’ place and told them she didn’t want charity. That had lasted all of two minutes before the entire family had shown up and talked at her until she’d relented and said she’d keep the money.
“You can call it a gift, or you can call it an investment,” Asher Dans had said, “but either way, you’re keeping it.”
Even now, it didn’t sit entirely right with her, but she was learning to let herself accept kindness without suspicion.
With the money, she’d converted one of her barns into a pottery studio. Dan had helped, once his arm was out of the sling, alongside Uncle Callum and Hudson. They’d built shelves, painted walls, and strung fairy lights along the rafters so the space would feel warm even in the dead of winter.
Her shade houses were another joint project. The day they’d planted the first rows of vegetables in the second house, Dan had shown up with coffee and food from Ryder and then spent the day helping.
The biggest surprise had been her uncle following through on his decision to stay in town for good. He’d converted the smaller barn into his own place, though she suspected it sat empty most nights. He was spending more and more time with Robyn Duke. The sight of Sawyer shaking Callum’s hand last week had been one for the record books and was a small sign that things were starting to thaw in that direction. Her uncle was nothing if not patient, however.
Leah’s gaze now flicked to Dan standing beside her in a pale shirt and navy trousers, looking so at home among his family. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him this relaxed, though with Dan, relaxed still came with a constant awareness of his surroundings. Once a cop, always a cop.
He caught her looking and gave her a quick smile—one that softened everything in her chest.
Being with him, openly in love with Dan Duke, was nothing like their first time around. Back then, she’d been too guarded, too quick to run. Now, he didn’t let her hide. He made her laugh, made her feel safe in a way she’d never thought she’d have.
And she loved him. Not as effortlessly as he seemed to love her. She still stumbled over the words sometimes, but she did. Completely.
Hudson was blossoming too. He argued with her now over bedtime and thought nothing of debating her on the merits of pancakes for dinner. She knew Cassie would be proud of him. He’d also come to love Dan. They spent a lot of time in his tree house.
“You may kiss the bride,” Bart said from his place as officiant.
JD leaned in, kissing Zoe as the crowd clapped and cheered. Potato the donkey brayed loudly, which set Velma the duck off in what Leah decided was her version of applause.
“Do you want this one day, Leah?” Dan asked quietly. “We could do it at your place… or, by then, our place.”
She turned to look at him. “Our place?”
“I’m moving in there soon, too, just so you know,” he said, smiling in that way that told her the decision was already made.
Her heart did that soft, achy thing it sometimes did around him. She placed her hand on his chest, feeling the steady beat beneath her palm.
“Okay,” she said, keeping her voice even. “I’ll clear out some drawers for you.”
His grin widened. “Guess that’s a yes, then.”
