Page 88 of Damned
Her dad squeezed her tight, like he’d never let her go. “This is the first time since you came back to us that I feel—”
“Downright chipper?” Bree interrupted, trying to inject some levity into this awesomely heavy meeting but failing miserably.
He choked. “Exactly. You’re finally home, baby. And that young man of yours is the one who gave you back to us.”
“We never gave up hope, sweetheart,” her mother murmured, as she joined the group hug. “Your dad never quit looking for you.”
“Me, me, me,” Robin called out. “I wanna hug, too.”
Bree grabbed her daughter in one arm and her parents in her other. For so long, she’d thought they didn’t understand. But they did. They always had. “I’m sorry. I’ve been so awful to you,” she confessed as she held her family tight.
“No, sillykins, you’ve been healing,” her mother whispered into her ear. “And we owe Kruze everything. Because of him, we can all finally heal. Without him—”
“There is no ‘without him’, Mom. I’m going to marry that man. All he needs to do is wake up and say yes.”
“I love you, Mommy,” Robin said brightly, burrowing deep inside the huddled Banks family. “And I love Mister Kruze, too.”
Bree closed her eyes and inhaled a deep, cleansing breath. Before she married Kruze, she needed to tell her daughter exactly who he was.
