Page 56 of Hollow Child

“Lazlo has told me that you have your own boutique, and you’re living with your girlfriend,” I said.

“The boutique is great, and Kimber is amazing.” She smiled, her face brightening a moment, and she fiddled with the cross necklace. “Lazlo told me that you were in town, but that you had been busy with some family issues.”

“My brother had a baby with his girlfriend,” I said. “Rafaella. She’s two days old and perfect.”

“I did hear about that,” Harlow admitted. “Emberwood is a very small town, and word travels like wildfire. That’s actually why I came here. I had heard you were wandering around town.

“People were gossiping about methis morning?” I asked, glancing around uneasily.

“You’re new, and you have a lion. People are gonna notice you,” she pointed out with a smirk. “I can’t believe you and Ripley are still together.”

I shrugged. “She’s a pack animal on the wrong continent. What else is she supposed to do?”

“She seems more tame now, with a collar and leash.”

“Time and domesticity have a way of doing that,” I said. “How have you been?”

“How much has Lazlo told you about my life?” she asked.

“Basically just what I said. You’re happy, you like drawing and making clothes,” I said. “He did mention that you’ve had some rough times over the years.”

She frowned and looked down at the teacup. “I know you’re curious about the burns. Everyone always is. So I’ll just get it out of the way. After theBCQZ fell, I escaped with Laz, Kimber, and some other people. Kimber and I ended up being held captive by these deranged people from the Loth Family Ranch. Have you heard of them?”

I shook my head. “No. Should I have?”

“It’s better that you don’t. They’re super fucked up and… and eventually, Laz and Nova rescued me and Kimber. Things were bad, there was a fire, and a lot of the Loth family died. We managed to get away though, and Laz and Nova brought us back to their homestead. We actually had a good life until February of this year.

“The Loths wanted revenge,” she went on. “But they had been hurt, and it took them a long time to find us. But when they did…” She trailed off and chewed her lip. “They burned everything down, and I nearly lost my life.” She shook her head, clearing it. “But we made it out alive. We eventually made it here, and we found happiness again.”

“I am so sorry all that happened to you. But I am pleased that you were able to find happiness here.” I smiled wanly at her.

Harlow was still staring down at her tea when she said, “It’s always so important to me that something good comes out of something bad. Emberwood has been that for me. Maybe it can be that for you, too.”

33

Stella

I had always imagined raising my children in the lakehouse, the home where I had grown up, where Max and I had fallen in love, where our family truly became a family. It was also the only place I had ever known, the only place I could even really remember. So maybe my imagination just didn’t stretch that far.

Whatever the case, my pregnancy and the birth of my daughter hadn’t gone the way I had thought or hoped. Not even close. So I really wasn’t bothered by the fact that our home would be different. All that mattered was that we had somewhere safe we could be together.

That meant that seeing our room decked out for me, Max, and Rafaella was a wonderful, overwhelming surprise. The floors throughout the house were a weird dirty gravel, but in our room, there was a rug that stretched to nearly all four corners. Our bed was soft and plush underneath quilts and pillows, and Fae had a sweet basinet hanging from the ceiling made from wood and macrame. Boden, Serg, and Remy had even managed to get a rocking chair, a few children’s books, and a basket full of cloth diapers and baby blankets.

I cried the day we all came home. I had never been happier or felt more blessed.

But I didn’t fully appreciate all the help that Jovie had been giving me. She helped Rafaella latch whenthe baby was fighting it, she knew how to burp her and soothe her when she cried, and most importantly, she knew when to worry and when the sound the baby made was normal.

I hadn’t really slept since we had been home. I was sitting on the bed, exhausted with a sleeping infant in my arms, and I knew that I should sleep. All the books and Jovie told me to sleep when the baby slept, but skin-to-skin contact was so important with preterm babies. They needed it to regulate their temperatures and breathing.

My arms ached, my breasts hurt whenever anything brushed up against them, and my eyes were burning. But if I closed my eyes or passed Rafaella off to her dad, I justknewthat something terrible would happen. It didn’t matter how tired and off I felt. The only thing that truly mattered was keeping the baby safe.

Out of all the ways Jovie had helped, the one I had most overlooked was that I had not needed to be so vigilant when she was around. I could relax and let my guard down for minutes or even hours sometimes. Blissful moments where I could sleep or thinking of anything other than Fae.

Then I would feel so guilty for evenwantingto think of anything other than her.

So I held my ten-day-old little girl, and I stared out the window while I wondered how I will handle the next ten days.

“Stella?” Boden asked, and I looked over to see him standing in the open doorway to my bedroom.

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