Page 65 of Despair

He bent to kiss Daisy on the head and mumbled, “You did this, Daze. You brought them home safe.”

He didn’t say it to give Daisy public recognition, but Parker heard from where he’d stood next to Lilo. He murmured some words to her before locating Daisy. In quick strides he was with them, towering high with his face stern.

“He’s right, Daisy,” Parker said. “You did what none of us could do.”

Despite the sound of the fire department deploying their men and equipment, his booming voice carried over the yard. Enough to make every person pause and face Daisy as the weight of Parker’s words settled.

“It was luck,” she blurted.

Aw, hell no. She wasn’t going to palm this off as luck. “Maybe us getting here,” Axel said. “But not us getting them out.” He met Parker’s eyes. “We couldn’t open the attic window. It was some kind of bulletproof material—”

“Ballistic glass,” Parker said. “For an attic?”

“Your father used to lock Daisy up there when she was younger.”

“Oh, Daisy…” Liza’s hand flew to her mouth.

Daisy’s gaze turned downcast, so Axel tightened his hold around her shoulders.

“The point is,” Axel continued, “that when we failed to get in, when the building was burning down around them, she used her gift to get them out. Even though it made her nose bleed.”

Daisy coughed and refused to meet anyone’s eyes.

“Yeah, I noticed the bloody nose,” he said to her, voice low. “You endangered your health for these people.”

“For family,” Parker corrected, his voice tight. He stared at Daisy long and hard, and then he wrapped his big arms around her smaller form and squeezed her tight.

Axel stepped back as Liza rushed in, then Tony, then Wyatt, Evan, and Sloan. Lilo tossed her blanket off and joined them. With her acceptance, every single other member of the Lazarus brood joined the group hug. Axel lost sight of Daisy’s white hair as she was swallowed whole by love, and her childhood prison burned behind them.

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