Page 104 of Wilde In His Arms

Karl nodded.“I believe it.”

“Thank you,” Aria said, standing to leave.

“Teach her to stay away from gambling men like me.”

Aria stared right back at him.“I won’t have to.She’ll see how Nick treats me and she won’t settle for anything less than someone who looks at her like she’s their everything.”

Nick pulled her to his side and kissed her forehead.

They left with what they came for, ecstatic and hopeful, leaving the past behind for a brighter future as a family.

He headed out of the depressing building with the love of his life at his side and toward his car and his new life with Aria.

He couldn’t wait to call Stacy and dialed the second his ass hit the driver’s seat.He cranked the engine just as she answered the phone.

“Did you get it?”The anticipation and stress in her voice made him smile.She wanted this as much as he and Aria did.

“I got it.You’re ours.Or at least you will be once a judge signs off.Guardianship should go through in a couple of weeks.The adoption in about six months.”Maybe he could get it faster.He knew a couple of judges.Neither of them wanted to make Stacy wait to be with them a second longer than was necessary.

He had a lot to do and very little time to do it.

Luckily, he was still on leave from the FBI.

“I can’t wait to go back to school.”Stacy sounded excited about all of it.

“Soon,” Aria replied.“Until then, keep working with the tutor they lined up for you, so you can catch up.I know you’ve been working hard and passing all your tests.”

“I like school.”She hesitated, then admitted, “I miss my friends back home.”

Nick frowned, sad for her.“I know you do, sweetheart, but you’ll make new friends in Wyoming.Aria already started the enrollment process by getting your records from your old school sent to the one in Wyoming.You can start as soon as we move you to our new home.”

Stacy sighed.“Maybe it’s better to start over somewhere new, Anne says.No one will know what happened to me.I can just be me.No one will stare at me or say bad things.”

Nick’s heart couldn’t take her unhappiness and trepidation about others judging her.“You know what happened isn’t your fault, right?”

“Yes.But I still did it.”

That softly spoken confession tightened his chest.“No.You wereforcedto do it.That’s different.You didn’t have a choice.”

“Yeah.Still.I miss Nicole and Emma and Toby.”

“You get to visit with them during group therapy, right?”He’d set that up for them before he moved to Wyoming.

“Yes.And Nicole has her own phone, so she’s called a couple of times just to talk.”

“Well, that’s nice.See, you haven’t lost touch with them.And Aria and I will make sure you can contact them anytime you want.”

Stacy seemed satisfied with that and asked, “About my room…the bedroom that looks out over the back garden.”The one closest to the primary bedroom.

Nick figured it made her feel safe to be closest to them.

“The flowers are so bright and cheerful.And I love the bench seat in the window.I could sit and stare out the window all the time.It would feel like being outside.”

Scratch Nick’s first thought.She wanted to feel like she had space and freedom.After being locked in a cellar for so long, she deserved the prettiest view and feeling like she wasn’t closed in.

“Anything special you want for the room?Besides a dog.”He foresaw a trip to the nearest animal shelter in his future.

“Books, so I can read by the window.”

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