Page 37 of Annika's Aurora

“Good.” She smiled at him then, his face still between her hands. “Spanking good to see you, kiddo!” she said before giving him a smacking kiss. She let go of his face, and he stumbled back, shocked at her words. Hope was starting to flourish in his heart, and he felt like he was waking up from an extensive nightmare. He blinked a few times, letting her words settle inside him, wondering if it was actually possible to have the family of his heart back in his life. Johanna turned towards Annika. “Hello, Sweetie,” she beamed, giving her a hug. Annika looked at him over her mother’s shoulder and burst into laughter again.

“You should see your face,” she gasped between laughs. “You look like you think she’s going to turn back and sting you at any moment. That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.” Her laughter was infectious. He smiled, loving that his scolding had brought her delight.

“Logan,” Jansen said, holding out his hand, sobering him instantly.

“Sir,” Logan answered, shaking his hand. Then he was swept up in one of Jansen’s trademark bear hugs.

“You are a sight for sore eyes. Welcome home, son.”

“Thank you.” Logan felt the burn of unshed tears. He would not embarrass himself in front of the Northrups, but he was incredibly grateful to see them again. And to know that they still thought of him as family was a gift he would cherish, even as a tiny niggle of trepidation tugged at the back of his mind.

Jansen turned to his wife. “Excellent use of imaginative curse words, love.” This set Annika off into another laughing fit which warmed the coldest places inside him more than any fire could.

“Thank you, dear.” Johanna always had a special way of using the English language. Perhaps that’s where her daughter got her love of the written word. “What happened to your head, Sweetie?” Johanna asked, brushing Annika’s hair away from her temple to see more of the ugly bruise that had turned a multitude of colors.

“Umm,” she stammered, wincing when Johanna probed it with her fingers.

“She fell off the bluff.” Logan shot her a look with an arched eyebrow trying to stifle his own amusement. It was her turn to be in the hot seat. Annika glared back.

“What?”

“The ground gave way under me. It’s not like I did it on purpose,” she reasoned.

“But you know enough not to go too close to the edge,” Jansen scolded. “What were you doing there?”

“Apparently, there was a dog,” Logan informed them as he watched Annika’s ire flare in her eyes.

Johanna threw up her hands. “Of course, there was.”

“He was tangled in the bushes. What was I supposed to do? Let him die? It was snowing,” she argued.

“Are you okay?” Johanna asked with concern.

“Don’t I look okay?”

“She was hypothermic and has a concussion. But otherwise, she’s fine,” Logan told them.

“How did you get back up?” Jansen wondered. “The path up to the house collapsed last year.”

“I don’t know.” Of course, that confused them even more, so Jansen asked for clarification.

“She was unconscious,” Logan supplied.

“Seriously?” Johanna wailed.

“I had to climb down to her.”

“You saved my girl again?” Jansen asked. That stopped Logan in his tracks, his amusement at Annika’s turn being reprimanded fading.

Johanna gave a cry and threw her arms around Logan. She kissed him on both cheeks before letting him go. “You are a blessing, kiddo.” His face suddenly felt heated. He didn’t think there had ever been a time when he’d ever blushed.

Annika took his hand, leaned against his shoulder, and looked up at him with doe eyes. “My hero,” she quipped, with exaggerated, fluttering eyelashes.

His heart constricted, and his throat closed up. He’d never considered himself very heroic, despite the countless successful SEAL missions he’d completed. It was his job. He was not trying for heroism. Because of his failure to save his friend, he had never accepted his actions as anything other than a job. But now, the Northrups were all looking at him as if he hung the stars. He didn’t know how to deal with that and had to fight against the sting of tears that threatened.

“Johanna?” Jansen asked. They all turned to see her crying.

She waved them off. “Pay no mind to me. It just does my heart good to see you two together again.”

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