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Shelby eyed her left hand. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Not yet. But Hunt and I have talked about getting married. I mean, I live here now. We have a baby.”
Shelby grinned, but her eyes were a bit wary. “A lot has happened to you recently, most of it traumatic. Are you sure you don’t want to take some time now that things have settled down?”
“Nothing is going to change the way I feel about him.After what happened at your rental, I couldn’t go back there. But deep down, I also knew I didn’t want to be without him anymore. I didn’t want to spend a single day or night or moment away from him. When I’m with him, everything seems right. It’s so perfect. And when I see him with Lana, the way he cares for her, I melt and think about how lucky we are to have him. For a long time now, I’ve wanted a husband and family of my own. When Hunt showed me the nursery he created upstairs for a baby that was only a dream to him, I knew he wanted what I wanted. A family. A place where we belonged, with people we love. Somehow in all the danger we faced and the desperation of trying to find my sister and Lana, we found that with each other. He was the calm in the storm. This house was the only place I wanted to be because he was here. At first, I fought the pull between us. But when I surrendered to it . . . I had everything I ever wanted.”
Shelby put her hand on Cyn’s shoulder. “You don’t have to explain. I know just how you feel.”
The doorbell rang.
Cyn sighed. “I hopetheyunderstand and accept that Hunt and I will be Lana’s parents now.”
“After what their son did, they should be grateful you’re so welcoming of them in Lana’s life.”
“They’re her grandparents. She’s lost so much. I don’t want her to lose them, too.” Cyn opened the door.
Mr. and Mrs. Harmon stood on the porch. Mr. Harmon carried two big moving boxes. Mrs. Harmon had a wrapped gift.
“Hi. Can I take one of those boxes?” Cyn asked.
“Just point me to where you’d like me to set them down,” Mr. Harmon said, his eyes a bit wary.
Mrs. Harmon looked even more insecure.
“Please, come in. Just set the boxes on the floor, there by the closet door.” Cyn pointed to where she meant. She’d go through her sister’s things later, when she felt stronger and capable of looking at them without falling apart. “This is my friend Shelby. She’s marrying Hunt’s brother Chase.”
“And you’re living here now?” Mrs. Harmon stared at her without a trace of whether she liked that or not.
“Yes. I was renting Shelby’s house in town, but it needs repairs because of... And after what happened, I...”
Mrs. Harmon nodded. “I understand.”
Mr. Harmon wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “We wanted to get in touch with you sooner, but felt that maybe you needed some time.”
“Thank you. I did. I still do.” She quickly added, “But to grieve my sister, not because I don’t want to see you.”
They let out a collective sigh.
Mrs. Harmon held the gift out to her. “This is for Lana and you. A kind of... oh, I don’t know, shower gift now that you’re going to raise Lana.”
“You know?”
The Harmons exchanged glances. Mrs. Harmon spoke. “We assumed you would want to keep Lana. We’d, of course, like to have some sort of visitation. Nothing formal or anything, but maybe set a time once a week to see her, so she gets to know us as her grandparents. If that’s okay with you and fits into your schedule as well. We’d be happy to babysit anytime, too.”
Cyn took it in and released her worries that this wasgoing to be difficult. “Yes. That would be great. I hoped we could work something out. I was afraid . . .”
“That we’d try to take her from you?” Mr. Harmon shook his head. “We talked about what’s best for Lana. We think that’s you, someone who is young and the next best thing to her mother. We know you love her and will take care of her. Despite what happened, you haven’t shut us out and we appreciate that. We’re here to help.”
Cyn wanted everything to be clear. “Angela left a will and custody to me. She even had adoption papers drawn up for me.”
Mrs. Harmon’s eyes teared up. “She knew something bad was going to happen.”
“Yes.” Cyn didn’t feel the need to sugarcoat it. “Hunt and I plan to get married and we will adopt Lana together. We will be her family, her mom and dad. We will tell her about Angela and your son in an appropriate way as she grows up, but for all intents and purposes, Hunt and I will be her parents from now on.”
Mrs. Harmon gave her a firm nod. “She’ll have a mom and a dad and a whole family of Wildes, plus us and your mom and stepdad to take care of her. She’ll be surrounded by so much love, maybe it won’t hurt so much to miss her mom.” Mrs. Harmon’s optimism matched Cyn’s hopes.
“Open the gift,” Mr. Harmon encouraged.
