Page 63 of Endlessly Yours
“Brooks has got her,” he said, and I realized I hadn’t called anyone. I had just held this little girl and knew I needed to get her to Rory.
Because, damn it, I loved this family. With everything that I had. And, as Rory and Cameron ran towards us, and we held each other close, it was all I could do to hold them even tighter or run away.
And the scary thing is, I didn’t know what the answer should have been.
CHAPTER TWELVE
RORY
“Thank you for saving my sister,” Cameron whispered, and I leaned against the doorway, watching as Cameron wrapped her arms around Brooks’s waist. The man I had slowly fallen in love with, without even trying, held her close, his shoulders tense.
“She would have found her way back up. But don’t worry. We found her. So many people were looking for your sister. You guys are never alone. Do you understand that? You have been adopted by the Wilders. We sort of take over.”
I ran my hand over my heart, watching as Cameron’s eyes widened and a small smile played on her face.
I’d rarely watched that little girl smile, as she didn’t do it for me. But if Brooks could do it, I would take that as something.
I let out a breath, watching as the two talked about soccer, of all things, and I made a note to sign Cameron up for a local team. She hadn’t told me a thing, said she wanted to do nothing, but, if she and Brooks could talk about it, maybe it was something I could help with at least quietly.
Alice came out of the bathroom, all spick and span from her bath, and I lifted my arm so she could slide next to me.
“My knee doesn’t hurt, which is nice. But Brooks said it might hurt later.”
“As I, too, have been hurt by a barb from a cactus before, I can tell you it might hurt in a bit. But don’t worry, we will keep an eye on it, okay?”
“Does Brooks have an owie too?”
“I’m all good, Alice. Don’t worry,” Brooks said as he lifted his arm.
Alice looked up at me then, and my heart caught. Because that was my sister’s smile. My smile.
Every once in a while, it was like a two-ton truck to the chest, reminding me that my twin was gone.
I hadn’t had peace to grieve. To realize that the person that I had thought would be with me until the end of time, my other half, would be out of my life forever.
First by choice, then by fate.
But as I watched Alice scramble onto the couch next to Brooks, the three of them with their heads bent together as they looked at something on his tablet, I couldn’t help but stare and wonder at the fact that part of my sister was here.
And I had almost lost one of them.
Emotionally, I had almost lost the other. But Cameron smiled at me softly before going back to look at whatever Brooks had in his hands, and maybe, just maybe, I could figure this out.
“What are guys looking at?” I asked, clearing my throat.
Cameron looked up at me, her gaze going wooden, but didn’t say anything. Alice grinned. “We’re looking at different soccer teams to pick our favorite local one.”
I raised a brow at Brooks, who gestured for me to sit on the other side of Alice.
I sank onto the couch cushion and took the throw off the edge, wrapping it around the four of us. Cameron didn’t push away, nor did she look at me.
Was it because she saw her mother? Or was it because she just didn’t like me. I was going to give her a little more time, and then we would get to the root of it. Because this was it. This was our family. The three of us. And I couldn’t fix it. Of course, it wasn’t just the three of us on this couch. And that was something I was going to have to make a decision about soon. But for now, I leaned against Alice and looked at the teams on the screen. “We don’t have a local team?” I asked.
“No, there’s one in Austin and Houston, at least in this league for women. There’s a men’s team, but I have a feeling we want to become fans of a woman’s team?” he asked.
“Duh.”
“Cameron,” I warned.
