Page 46 of The Truth

“All. All. And I don’t understand what it is I am supposed to do next.” He started pacing around the patio garden, more upset than Gunn had ever seen him. Except once.Then.

Three years ago. When Emerson’s world had come burning down around him.

All Gunn could do waslisten.

She knewthey had disappeared almost the instant they did. The air felt different without one Gunn Hiller nearby. Ayla looked up, just in time to see him going outside after Emerson.

She shifted a little. Shewantedto follow him, to make sure he was okay. But… it wasn’t her business. Emerson needed him right now. Her arms tightened around baby Mira, as the women around her kept talking. Her back had been hurting her a little; Greer had noticed and made her sit down before popping a teeny tiny baby into her arms. Greer couldhoverlike a pro, rather like her big brother. Ayla didn’t mind—it was nice to have people care about her. Besides Aubrey.

It had beenjusther and Aubrey for far too long. Genny was hovering over Aubrey now, too.

Jake’s sister and her friend from St. Louis were on the couch with her. They were talking quietly between themselves. Ayla was just listening, sitting next to Jake’s wife Celia, who held her on baby girl.

She knew Celia really well, too. Celia was an in-home physical therapist, who worked out of the same office where Ayla did her regular PT sometimes. Occasionally, Celia would fill-in for her regular therapist. And Celia was in the library with Jake all the time. Celia and Jake had two little boys and a baby girl. Jake’s sister had the little girl Kimber, who was currently chasing after her older cousins and the rest of the kids everywhere. Kyra’s redheaded friend Leina had four kids—two girls, two boys and she was three months pregnant again. She was married to an agent she worked with, too.

Giavonna was there, talking to them all.

Aubrey was curled up in a chair, resting quietly on Guthrie’s orders, a blanket Guthrie had covered her with pulled up to her chin. Her sister was recuperating, but… she still looked very puny.

Guthrie was taking care of her, completely. He hovered just as well as his youngest brother and sister—and his mother. Ayla suspected she knew where they’d gotten it from. Gunn’s mother had hovered over her and Aubrey both, every time she was out at the ranch. Ayla absolutely adored Gayle Hiller.

“You are thinking something,” Giavonna said, looking at her for a long moment. Greer was sprawled over half of the large ottoman, Hala right next to her—glaring across the room at Grady. “Talk.”

The other women were looking at her, too. “I am just thinking how lucky you Hiller creatures are to have each other. And how… nice it is here. How you welcome people. Noteveryoneis like that, you know.”

“No, they’re not,” Leina said. “My family certainly wasn’t.”

“This place became my safe place after my… family died,” Hala said. She very rarely mentioned the loss of her parents and slightly younger sister in an auto accident when she’d been eighteen. Now, she just had her older brother Hudson, littleRyan, and Ayla had met a cousin named Micah, once. A cousin who now worked in St. Louis with Cam Lake and his wife and Leina.

Interesting coincidence, that. There were so many connections between people in the world. Sometimes, that was hard for someone with very little connections to understand.

“I used to wish for a big family like this. When it was just me and Sleeping Beauty over there, in foster care.” No use denying it. She was okay with their story, and okay talking about it. Sometimes, she thought she was moreokaywith it than Aubrey had ever been. But… Aubrey had had far more responsibilities in their childhood than Ayla had, too. Aubrey had always been more hermomthan her own mother had ever been. What had happened to them had forced them to grow up fast. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, really. What makesfamilies,and everything.”

“I suspect we’re going to befamily,soon,” Greer said, nudging Ayla’s knee lightly, with one socked foot. She still looked a little green around the gills—Genny had made her sit down before she totally tossed the cookies. “As soon as Guthrie carries Aubrey off into the sunset, and Gunn carries you away so romantically.”

“He certainly likes to carry Ayla around,” Hala said. “Scoops you right up, doesn’t he? I don’t see you doing much complaining about it, either.”

“He does. He’s very good at it, too. I am not going to say I mind one bit.”

“You two are very cute together,” Celia said, quietly, her own baby girl Nadia in her arms. The two-month-old was sound asleep now, and had a shock of dark hair sticking straight up on her head. She had Celia’s face—and Jake’s hair and green eyes.

“Thank you.” What else was she supposed to say here? She looked at the baby in her arms. Mira looked just like Genny—and Gunn. And was utterly beautiful in every way. Tiny, too. She didn’t even weigh five pounds yet. “You three are all happily-ever-aftering with your guys, right?”

She looked at Jake’s sister. She had the same green eyes and dark hair as Jake—and her stomach was seriouslyround. “I think I’m going to ask the age-old question here… how do you know when he’s therightguy for… forever? Hala, Greer, and Gia don’t get to answer.”

It was Leina who answered. “You just… do. I knew it the day a pair of idiots involved in a cult abducted me and my friend, shot my other friend in a hospital parking lot, and I just knew,trusted,that Ken was out there looking for me. I knew… I wanted a chance to try forever with him. I’m glad I took that risk. My world… changed, then.”

Kyra laughed softly, one hand on her stomach, rubbing. “I am not sure I everdidn’tknow. When I got in trouble down here, and I called Cam… I knew I could trust him. Completely. Before I even dialed the first number. When I was… trapped… underground with Bailey… I knew. I just knew I wanted a chance forever. No matter what happened, I wanted the chance to even try.”

“Same. I just knew,” Celia said quietly. “Faster than I would have ever thought possible.”

“Great. So… forever love is just like a big whammy upside the head?” Hala asked, drily. She knew Kyra pretty well, she’d said. Even though they weren’t close. Kyra had been heavily involved with Hala’s cousin Micah for several years. Before she’d become involved with Ronnie and Celia’s brother. “Sounds a lot painful.”

“Love is definitely painful,” Ronnie said, from where she’d been sitting in one of the armchairs, nursing Max. “But… it’s worth it. I would do it all over again, to capture my own Hiller man. Except the part where he and Giavonna got shot, anyway.Thatwas not something I want to repeat.”

“Me, either, considering,” Giavonna added, turning her arm and looking at the scar there.

Ayla had heard the story. “I really wish there was a how-to guide here, you know. Gunn is kind of hard to figure out.”

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