Page 188 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
“We’d better get Finn inside,” I said, voice rough.
Piper barely nodded. “Yeah. We should.”
In it was an agreement.
Thewea clear issuing of surrender.
I stepped back for the rear door and opened it to a sleeping Finn.
My chest squeezed. A tightening so fierce that I felt it twine with my spirit.
The child’s face lax with exhaustion from playing nonstop all afternoon and evening, though I could still see a halo of joy radiating from his being.
The fun he had.
The way he fit right in with Maci and Nolan like he’d been there all along.
Like he belonged there.
And I was struck with the urgency to make it real.
Not some temporary transition as Piper was finding her way.
I…my throat nearly closed off as the realization hit me.
I wanted this.
Forever.
Finn only gave a tiny moan as I unbuckled him and pulled him into my arms. He snuggled right into them, his chubbycheek pressed to my shoulder as I shifted around and nudged the door shut with my hip.
When I turned around, I was slammed all over again by the way that Piper looked at me.
It felt like every edge of her face had been carved into my existence.
Scored and inked.
“Let’s get inside. It’s cold out here,” I muttered.
She barely nodded, and she turned and followed the path that wound from the parking spot around to the porch.
I followed close behind, my footsteps heavy against her dainty thuds.
My breaths serrated and harsh as I panted them into the back of her neck.
Chills lifted across her flesh, and energy scattered between us.
She tapped her keycard against the reader and the door gave, and she let us into the quiet stillness of their cabin.
The colorful lights on the tree still twinkled in the muted glow of the room. Tranquility holding fast to the atmosphere.
Piper started for the stairs, and I followed close behind. Breathing her in as she led me up and into her room.
I carefully laid her son into the small crib that sat on the far right wall, and Piper came forward, pulled off his shoes and jacket, then covered him with a soft blanket.
Her touch was tender as she ran it over his head before she shifted back to look at me.
This woman who I wanted to see everything that I was.
