Page 98 of More Than a Hero
He froze, and his heart plunged. Then the sparkle in her eyes caught his attention.
She smiled and shrugged. “I’m uncertain if Queenie will give up your bed.”
He laughed, shoulders loosening as everything inside him settled into place. “She’ll share. As long as you don’t try to move her blanket.”
Angie grinned. “Fine. But you’re on litter box duty.”
“Deal.”
They sat in silence for a moment, wrapped up in each other as the light stretched long across the floor, the last shadows of the day fading into peace. Her head leaned on his shoulder, her fingers laced gently with his.
He turned to her, voice low. “I love you, Angie.”
She looked up at him, eyes shimmering. “I love you too, Pete.”
The kiss was soft, slow, unhurried—like neither of them needed anything more than this right now. Not safety, not heroics, not even words.
Just this moment. The warmth of a sunlit room. The hush after a storm. The quiet promise of forever.
The smell of grilled burgers and charcoal drifted lazily through the backyard, mingling with the scent of blooming roses and freshly cut grass. Angie stood near the picnic table, one hand resting on her cane, the other wrapped around a lemonade. Her knee was still tender, but she didn’t care because everything else in her world was perfect. Preteens and teens darted through the yard in a flurry of shouts and laughter.
“Kyron! Quit throwing corn cobs like they’re grenades!” Angie called, half laughing as Pete swiped one off the grill just in time.
“I wasn’t gonna hit nobody!” Kyron shouted, grinning.
Robert sat in one of the folding chairs beneath the oak tree, watching the chaos with quiet amusement. Next to him, Caleb and Jimmy were deep in conversation—probably rehashing the Great Rescue for the hundredth time.
“Hey, Jimmy,” Tony yelled, “tell it again—how you got Mr. Marty out and didn’t even trip!”
“Yeah!” Darius added. “And how Pete shot the guy right in the arm!”
“I was there, too!” Jalen shouted. “I saw it!”
“Oh Lord,” Rosetta said, waving her lemonade as she joined Angie by the table. “These boys’ll be seventy and still telling this story. By then, Tamarcus will be ten feet tall and shootin’ laser beams.”
Angie laughed, her cheeks flushed from the heat and happiness. Hannah and Harold were gathering paper plates, and Bertram was sneaking his second slice of peach pie. George had somehow gotten hold of the Bluetooth speaker, and one of the kids showed him how to use it to play old Motown, his feet tapping like he wanted to teach the boys how to do the twist.
And Marty sat in a shady spot near the hydrangeas, cane across his lap, beaming like the sun itself. His bandage was gone, his hearing aid freshly fitted, and Hannah hovered like a mother hen.
Pete came up behind her and wrapped an arm gently around her waist.
“You good?” he murmured.
She leaned into him, smiling. “I’m great.”
He pressed a kiss to her temple and passed her a deviled egg from the tray in his other hand. “Your grandma’s been watching me like a hawk. I think she’s testing my commitment to you by food quantity.”
“She is,” Angie deadpanned. “Next is her potato salad.”
“God help me.”
Queenie—their cat now, though Pete still pretended she was too spoiled to share—was sprawled under the patio table, her tail flicking lazily as she watched a butterfly.
Angie looked around and let the moment settle into her bones.
Her grandparents Stan and Dorothy were chatting with her parents near the patio, while Grammy Ellen swayed in a rocker, humming softly to the music. The seniors were all telling the tale of how the kids “saved the day,” each version more dramatic than the last. And Pete was beside her at their home.
She looked up at him. “We really did it, huh?”
“We did,” he said. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
Angie smiled, heart full.
Behind them, Rasheem ran past with Mike, chasing Curly and Darius. A football sailed over the grill. Someone shouted about lemonade refills. Queenie yawned.
The music rose, the laughter swirled, and Angie let herself sink into the pure joy of it all.
It wasn’t just happily ever after. It was exactly right.
