I gave in to him, in to his light. I went on my toes and framed his face with both of my hands. “I love you, Charles.” Then, I erased the gap between us and kissed his lips. “Forever, until you won’t have me anymore, I’m Team Brisken.”
Chapter 44
Charles
Eight Months Later
As I held Becky’s hand and we watched our girls run to the park ahead of us, I wondered how I’d gotten so damn lucky.
I would never have predicted that I would get a second chance at love. I’d thought the love that Nat and I had was a once-in-a-lifetime love, but love had struck me twice and in the best, unpredictable way. Not only had it struck me, but it’d also struck my girls.
Becky loved them like they were her own flesh and blood, and the girls—our girls now—adored Becky.
Tragedy could teach you things, and one thing it had taught me was to never take things for granted, to enjoy every moment, to live your life to the fullest. And that was what I did day in and day out—with the girls and with Becky.
Every Friday, after work, we went to the park to have a picnic. I planned this event like I planned my meetings, putting it in the calendar and making sure I set the time to go.
Becky stopped mid-step and turned around, peering at something behind her. My eyes followed her line of sight.
“What are you looking for?” I asked.
She squinted and narrowed her eyes at something in the far vicinity.
“What is it?”
The inclination to give in to panic was still there, even after all these months. Even though we knew Paul was dead and her mother would be in jail for a long while. I had hired the best lawyers who were relentless in their pursuit in making Kate serve the maximum time in jail for her crimes. She’d gotten twenty years for aggravated kidnapping.
Becky released my hand and took two steps toward where she was focused, which was away from the park. “It’s crazy, but I feel like we’re being watched.” She pointed to someone past the trees.
I squinted against the sun. I couldn’t make out who it was, only that the person was tall, broad, and male. I reached for her hand, shoving that panic back down. “He’s just taking a walk.”
She didn’t budge. “He isn’t. He’s been watching us walk here for the last ten minutes. Look, he’s right by that black SUV. It’s the same one that followed us here.”
Then, realization hit. “Shit,” I said under my breath, rolling my eyes. Seriously? Not again. I plucked my phone from my back pocket and dialed my brother. “Mason,” I shot out, “are you having someone tail us?”
“Oh, hey. Uh … well—”
My jaw tightened. “Call them and stop the tail, all right?”
“I’m sorry,” he said, not at all apologetic. “There has been a string of robberies around the neighborhood, and I wanted to make sure—”
“Call them off, Mason.”
He sighed. “Okay. I will.”
I shook my head, and Becky laughed. This wasn’t the first time that Mason had had our security guards tail Becky or the girls. After Mary and Becky had been kidnapped, Mason had had a tail on them for a month. It was only when Becky had gone head-to-head with the security personnel following them that we discovered that Mason had hired them.
Becky was cautious, still always aware of her surroundings, still getting spooked from time to time when she heard loud noises. I guessed that was a good thing to a point, as long as fear didn’t own her.
“Your brothers …” she said, laughing and cuddling close.
“Are over the top,” I finished for her.
“In the best possible way,” she added.
We sat at the bench. I’d liked to call it our bench now because it was where we sat every time we came here. We’d watch the girls jump from the monkey bars, run up the slide, and rush to the swing.
“I can’t believe how time is flying,” Becky said absently as I rubbed her shoulder. “The school year is over, and now, summer is here.” She pushed her hair out of her face, but the wind blew it forward, causing her to huff and push it back again.
“Here.” I pulled back her hair and tucked it in the back of her shirt, which caused her to laugh.
She threw me a look—her playful, annoyed look—which made me pull her closer and into my lap.
“I’m going to have to secure you right here