Let It Be (Butler, Vermont #6) - Marie Force Page 0,30

you.”

Hunter kissed her, sighing with the same pleasure he experienced any time she was nearby. “Not sure I can stand even one night away from you.”

“It’ll be fine.”

As he wrapped his arms around her and held on tight to the love of his life, he could only hope that was true.

Chapter Nine

“When you’ve seen beyond yourself, then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there.”

—George Harrison

Hannah arrived home to a large bull moose standing in her front yard, mooing loudly enough to wake the dead, and a younger moose inside her house, mooing back in anticipation of what she’d taken to calling the daily playdate.

In her car seat, Callie, who’d soon be one, joined in the mooing.

Nolan despaired that his baby girl had mooed before she’d talked.

Hannah was secretly thrilled that her daughter was growing up with the same love for animals that Hannah had. “Take it easy,” she said to Fred when she got out of the car.

He came right over to her, nudging her with his cold wet nose. Nolan would lose his mind if he saw Fred that close to his pregnant wife and baby daughter. But what he couldn’t seem to understand was that Hannah knew down to her soul that Fred would never hurt her. How she knew that, she couldn’t explain. She just did. She had such faith in him that she even let him nuzzle Callie, but only when Nolan wasn’t around to lose his shit.

Fred was family. They didn’t need to worry about him.

From inside, Dexter was making a racket and possibly damaging the new steel door Nolan had installed after Dexter had gotten a little too enthusiastic one day and split the wood door right down the middle.

Naturally, Nolan had taken advantage of that incident to remind Hannah of why moose belonged outside and not inside their home. And she’d reminded him that Dexter was part of their family, and as such, he had every right to split the door if the door could be split to begin with.

Nolan had been unamused, but he’d replaced the door anyway. Hannah was well aware that it wasn’t easy to be married to her, but, as she liked to tell him, he knew she was a loon when he married her.

“I had no idea the level of looniness I was signing on for,” he’d say every time she reminded him that he’d taken her on “as is.”

Hannah opened the door to let Dexter and their dog, Homer Junior, into the yard for their daily playdate with Fred.

Callie squealed with delight as the three friends greeted each other with jubilation that filled Hannah with joy the likes of which she’d once thought she’d never experience again. It had taken many years, as well as Nolan, Callie, Homer Junior, Dexter, Fred and the routine that framed their days, to finally recover as much as she ever would from the devastating loss of her first husband, Caleb, in Iraq.

As she sat on the stairs in the cold December chill, holding her baby girl while the animals frolicked, Hannah was filled with contentment. Today, however, her contentment was tinged with sorrow after hearing her father’s story. She’d been curious all her life about his side of the family, about whether she had grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins. Now that she knew the full tale, she wasn’t sure how she felt about people who should’ve been close family to her and her siblings but were instead strangers.

What they’d done to her dad defied belief.

She held on tighter to Callie, who squirmed to get free and then let out a happy scream as Nolan’s truck came into view.

Her daughter was an unrepentant daddy’s girl.

When Nolan was out of the car and done scowling at the frolicking moose, Hannah let Callie go to toddle her way to him, her gait reminiscent of a drunken sailor. Hannah had never seen anything more perfect than the way her husband lit up at the sight of his daughter, scooping her up and making her shriek with laughter that had both moose and Homer stopping their game to make sure their little girl was all right.

Seeing Nolan, they resumed their game.

Their little family was unconventional, but Hannah wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I see it’s the usual circus around here,” Nolan said as he leaned in to kiss Hannah. “No Savannah today?”

Hannah normally took care of Dani’s daughter during the week. “Dani’s parents are here for Christmas and staying at a B&B two towns