Page 47 of Protective Assignment
“What is it?”he asked.
“I’m just…it’s so strange,” she confessed.“I’ve spent the last few years thinking about my family every single day.Thinking that when I got to them, everything was going to be okay.Everything was going to be different.I wasn’t going to have to run and hide anymore or look over my shoulder.I could leave everything else behind.But now…” She trailed off, shaking her head.
He rubbed her back softly and waited for her to continue.
She smiled gratefully at him.“Now that Ryker’s gone, and the Shepards are disbanded, I don’t have to get to them to be safe anymore,” she explained.“I want to see my family, of course, but I don’t feel as though New York is my endgame.I can have any kind of life I want for myself, and I don’t have to try and get to this certain place to make it happen.”
She smiled, a smile so huge it seemed to light up her entire face.Cade couldn’t help but return it.Seeing the weight lift from her shoulders like this was a gift he didn’t even know he had needed until now.
“Whatever you want, I’m here for you,” he told her, and he meant it.
He would do anything to help her achieve her dreams.She deserved it, even if it meant she couldn’t stay here.She deserved to chase down everything she had always wanted, without the fear of some monster on her tail ready to take it all away.
“I… I think I want to stay here,” she confessed, biting her lip as she looked over at him.“Do you think I could do that?I could keep mending up all the clothes to pay my way, I wouldn’t—”
A wide grin spread over his face.“Actually, I was just talking to Lawson, and he said that Sarah wants you to work with her.You’d need some training, but she can help with that, and then you can help other people who’ve been through hardships too.I know you would be amazing at it.”
Her eyebrows shot up, and her eyes widened.“Really?”she gasped.“Not under-the-table work, you mean?”
“No, real work,” he assured her.“If that’s something you want to do, of course.”
“I would love to,” she exclaimed.“Oh my gosh, I would love to!I really want to help people, Cade.I know there are so many people out there who’ve been through worse than I have, and I want to help them.I know what it feels like to be afraid…and now I know how it feels to finally be free of it too.”She clasped her hands to her chest in excitement.
“And it could help you work through your own stuff,”he pointed out.“I’m sure there’s still plenty you need to figure out.”
“I’m sure there is,” she admitted.“I just try not to think about it, if I can help it.But I don’t want to run from it anymore.I want to face it, and I want to put it behind me for good.And I… I want to make a life for myself.I want to get my GED, I want a real job, and I want to stay here.With you, Cade.”
She gazed at him, biting her lip and smiling.Her eyes shone with happy tears.
“I love you, Cade,” she breathed to him.
He didn’t even have to think before he said it back.“I love you too, River,” he replied, and he leaned across to kiss her.
As he pulled her into his arms, he realized that his mind wasn’t reeling like he expected it to be the first time he said those words to someone.Loving her was easy.He loved her, she loved him, and she wanted to stay here, with him.It couldn’t have made more sense.Or be more perfect.
When he pulled back, she gazed into his eyes for a moment, staring at him like she was trying to figure out if all of this was real.He planted another kiss on her lips, and she smiled, snuggling into him.
“Let’s make this place our home, Cade,” she whispered to him.“Me and you.Just the two of us.”
“Just the two of us,” he replied with a chuckle.“Well, and everyone else at the lodge.”
She laughed.“I meant in this cabin.”
He grinned.“In that case, yeah, just the two of us,” he agreed, and he lowered his mouth to hers to kiss her again.He couldn’t get enough of her lips on his, the way it madehim feel.The way she made him feel as though he was truly whole for the first time.He’d finally found his place and purpose after being sidelined with his injury.He finally felt like he belonged and he was truly happy.
But he would have gone through it all again, and more, if it meant ending up here with her.Where he belonged.
Once and for all.
Epilogue
It was a bright summer’s afternoon, the leaves rustling quietly as she followed the familiar path down to the cabin she shared with Cade.Hard to believe it had already been eight months since she’d arrived here, but the turning of the seasons reminded her how much had changed since she had first come to this place in the fall.
And now she might be looking at a whole new start.
With the letter gripped tight in her hand, River hurried, hoping Cade would be there when she arrived.She didn’t want to wait any longer than she already had to open this thing, but she had promised she wouldn’t check her application until he was back.
She wasn’t sure how much longer she could contain herself.She felt as though she was going to explode as she stepped into the cabin and looked around—no sign of Cade yet.
