Page 95 of Operation Protector

“Quinn,” Colby began, but the man shook his head.

“Time enough for all that later. Cutter, on me. I think your work here is done.”

Cutter scrambled up, gave one last look at her, Grace and Colby, and she’d swear the dog was grinning.

“Yeah, yeah,” Quinn said with a chuckle. “You did it again. Now let’s go home.”

Ali liked the sound of that. Tried not to dwell on the clever Foxworth dog’s apparent matchmaking abilities. But it did suddenly occur to her to wonder where exactly that home was going to be.

Grace yawned widely. Ali didn’t blame her—the post adrenaline crash had to be close. She snuggled up even closer to her father, but she didn’t let go of Ali’s hand.

“Ali’s going to stay with us, isn’t she?” she asked her father as he got up, still holding her. “So she doesn’t have to look at that house next door?”

Ali felt Colby go still. But as if now that he had Grace back and safe, nothing could daunt him anymore, he looked over and met her gaze.

“That’s her decision, honey. But it sounds good to me. Really, really good,” he said.

Ali thought her heart would burst, her chest felt so tight. “I’d like to be with you. We have a lot of things to work through, Gracie.”

“But it’s over now, right?” the child asked, a trace of the old worry back in her eyes. “I don’t have to be with the mother anymore?”

“All over except the details,” her father said.

“Details?” She shifted her gaze from Colby back to Ali, still looking worried.

Ali smiled at her. “It’s like a big firecracker exploded,” she said. “Now the big bang is over, but there’s some junk to clean up.”

“Oh.” As if that made it all make sense to her, she settled back down.

“You know the rest of that unpacking you mentioned?” Colby asked.

“Yes?”

“Put that on hold,” Colby said.

And that, Ali thought, answered her big question. They were going to clean up the junk, and then…well, Colby was an amazing carpenter, a man who built. And now, with the weight that had been dragging him down gone, Ali had no doubt he could build an amazing life for them. Because this time he wouldn’t have an anchor weighing him down, but a partner. Her. So together they would build that most precious of structures.

A family.

A short time later they had indeed introduced Grace to Wilbur, and Colby made her laugh when he explained the name, which the child thought was exceptionally cool. And it apparently made her ask if she could please, please not ever be Brianna anymore, but be Grace forever.

“We’ll work on that, too,” her father promised.

At takeoff, the child’s sleepiness seemed to vanish at the excitement of flying in this smaller plane, or perhaps it was just because of her companions. In the end it didn’t seem to matter, as long as they were together.

Home. They were going home.

Ali looked away from the small window to find Colby watching her, with a smile that held so much promise it sent a thrillthrough her. With Grace beside them, they flew into the sunset, to prepare for the dawn of three new lives.

And behind them, Cutter yawned and settled in for a nap, his work done.

For now.