Page 53 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

“I’m not saying you didn’t,” he stated, lifting his hands to appease me. “I’m just saying we never received a letter from you.”

I blew out a breath, calming myself before I spoke to him again. “I asked my mom about it,” I admitted. “She said she sent them, but—“

I stopped myself. Sebastian was someone I barely knew. I didn’t want to confess to him how I didn’t trust my mom fully.

He didn’t push me to say more. He just opened his door and hopped out, coming around to open mine for me.

“Where are we?” I asked him as I stepped onto the sidewalk, glancing around at the small, single-story cookie-cutter homes on the street.

“This is what I wanted to show you,” he told me.

“A street of typical American houses?” I teased.

“No, Sparkles,” he joked back. “I wanted to show you what’s insidethishouse,“ he finished, pointing at the little blue house in front of us.

I looked at it, but I saw nothing particularly special about it. It was just a house. A house similar to all the others on the street. A small house with a tiny porch, wood siding, and white faux shutters on the exterior.

Sebastian had already started making his way down the front walk, so I fell into step behind him, Maya walking behind me.

The front door opened before Sebastian reached the steps, and someone said, “Sebastian! This is a pleasant surprise! We weren’t expecting to see you today.”

I froze. It was impossible. Eleven years had gone by since I heard that voice. It couldn’t be her. She couldn’t be in California.

“I know, I would have called, but I wanted to surprise you!” Sebastian said as he bounced up the stairs. “And I brought someone with me,” he told her as he turned and nodded at me.

Our gazes collided, and her hands flew up to her lips to cover them as she gasped. Sebastian looked back and forth between us, beaming, proud as a peacock. Maya came up next to me, reaching out to me to make sure I was all right, but I was already gone.

There was no mistaking who was standing in that open doorway. No mistaking those soft blue eyes, that kind smile. They were exactly the same as they’d been almost twelve years before. She was exactly the same. Maybe a few more wrinkles, a few more gray hairs streaked among her brown strands, but otherwise, the same.

I ran the rest of the way to her and found myself in her tight embrace, and the memory of every hug she’d ever given me flashed through my mind like my own personal movie.

She pulled back to look at me, but I kept my arms wrapped around her, clinging to her like she was a lifeline. Her hands came to my face, cupping my cheeks as her eyes scanned my face.

“You’re so beautiful,” she choked out in a hoarse voice. “My beautiful girl, all grown up,” she whispered, pulling me back into her chest.

“Shirley? Who is at the door? Was that Sebastian I heard?”

My heart stopped. I couldn’t believe it. But I’d heard it. Heard the voice I thought I would never hear again.

I looked up at Shirley, and she smiled, then stepped aside so I could walk into their house.

It didn’t take long to find him. The living room was just off the entryway, and he sat on the couch, a cane within his reach. Again, he looked almost exactly like my memories of him, although his salt and pepper hair was now fully gray, and the right side of his face didn’t match the left side as well as it used to.

His crooked smile wavered when he saw me.

“Haven?” he murmured, and I nodded, unable to form any words at the sight of him.

I took slow steps forward until I was right in front of him, and his eyes tracked my every movement. I sat on the edge of the couch next to him, and a tear fell from his eye. He lifted a trembling hand to brush it away, then leaned forward and pulled me into a hug.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered as I clasped him in my arms.

“We live here,” Jack chuckled.

I leaned back. “No, I mean,howare you here?”

“Wesley—well, his parents, really, although it was his idea—they helped us. We moved here so I could get better treatment and physical therapy.”

I swallowed and nodded, blinking and pushing down the words that threatened to spill out. I didn’t want to upset them, and I didn’t want to get upset in front of them. They didn’t need to see me crying and angry. This was a joyful moment for us, for them. And it was all thanks to Wesley Stone.

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