Page 130 of Time to Bounce

Then Gable’s eyes went altogether serious. “Ande.”

Her eyes went to him. “Yeah?”

“I saw her.”

This was another thing I’d wanted to hear about.

“You did?” she asked, sounding desperate.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I think she was real, too. That all…” He whipped his head toward me. “I saw your brother.”

My heart melted. “You did?”

“I did,” he nodded.

Then he told us about what had happened in that in between place.

He told us about Gavrel and him staying where he was to make sure I was okay before he moved on. He told us about Addison and how happy she was in the white peace, as he called it. He also told us about how it felt to be there.

“It was weird,” he admitted. “I had no pain there. Things didn’t ache. My eyes were wide open, and I could see everything. I had this inner peace, like it just felt right to be where I was. Like I could be perfectly content there.”

“I’m glad you didn’t stay,” I mused.

His eyes were sparkling when he said, “You weren’t there, Athena. Why would I stay anywhere where you weren’t?”

A small sniffle had me glancing over to the side to see Garnett smiling despite the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.

“I’m glad she’s happy and at peace.” She breathed. “That’s all I could hope for all of my children.” Her eyes went fierce. “And did I mention how tired I am of nearly losing all of y’all? I raised y’all for thirty some odd years with no issues, got you through puberty, your sixteenth year, and out of the military. Then all of you meet your significant others and I feel like yeah, this is it. I can finally stop worrying. Then bam. One by one all of you have broken my heart. If not you, then the women you decided to bring into your lives. And I’m downright sick of it.”

“You know what I’m not sick of?” Tex asked. “Watermelon.”

That had me giggling. “Oh, yeah?”

Tex nodded decisively.

“On that note,” Ande snorted. “I gotta go. The other kids are probably going wild. I just wanted to stop in to see if this bonehead woke up today. Now that I’ve confirmed proof of life, I better go help my husband or he’ll close down his circus.”

They all filed out one by one, leaving Maven, Lola, Gable, and me.

Maven gathered Lola up into her arms and tucked her back into the front carrier at her chest.

When she was done, she walked up to Gable’s free side and looked down at him.

He gave her a ‘what now’ look.

“I’d like to tell you I’ll kill you if you hurt her,” Maven brushed an invisible piece of lint off Gable’s shoulder. “But you’ve already proven that you’ll come back for her no matter what.”

Gable winked. “I’ll make her happy, Maven.”

She nodded. “See that you do. Or else.”

Maven left, leaving Gable and I alone.

“Athena.”

I looked at Gable, my eyes taking in his chest tube, the bullet holes in his chest, and the beard that was getting perilously close to his collar bone, before finally gaining the courage to look into his eyes.

“Will you marry me?” he asked. “It might be a while before I can get on my knee. And I want you to say it now.”

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