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A gentle chuckle left her mouth. “You gave me good instructions. I believed your fear. It was incredible to watch, and a little scary how…good you guys all are at all that shit. I wasn’t entirely sure how you were going to get out of there on your own. But then you turned into some modern-day superhero.”

My cheeks burned a little warm because for a moment the fear had been real. If anything in the plan had gone wrong... “That’s probably the nicest compliment you’ve ever given me. But it was just about leverage and angles, and I had help from some adrenaline.”

Her smile deepened as my gaze flickered down to her plump lips. “Thank you for coming home. And for never giving up on me, even though I certainly didn’t make it easy. I love you, Ford Thibodeaux, and I always will.”

“I love you too, Cher, and I always have,” I replied with a gentle whisper.

She rocked onto her tip toes as I scooped her into my embrace.

And she kissed me.

No other kiss ever experienced was as gentle and caring as this one. It spoke words that would never need to be shared and patched together anyfinal holes missing between us. It mended the shattered pieces of my heart and broke down those walls that caged away what little light remained within me.

She’d seen me. For I was now. She hadn’t shied away during my crazy explanations of the plan. She hadn’t shut me down or left or frozen at what was going to be required of her. Instead, she’d accepted it and played her part well.

She knew all of me—the good, the bad, and the devil that I danced with on the daily. Yet she stayed. She wanted me and loved me.

I smiled against her swollen lips. In fact, it seemed she was and always had been just as crazy as I was.

Chapter 36

COLETTE

It had been years since I’d seen the Thibodeauxs’ house this busy. The sizzle of a crawfish boil in the back danced behind chatter from people who had turned into family in the span of the week. Plus, half the town was here in celebration of Azelie’s birthday. I leaned against the railing of the back porch and watched as she cuddled up against Cory with eyes full of stars, and narrowed my gaze.

I knew that look. It was the same one I’d given Ford for a year before our relationship escalated from simple make-out sessions to more, and I wasn’t about to see our daughter fall into the same pattern. Though, if I had to admit, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Here we were, happy and together again. Officially together. With O’Connor out of the picture, things had gone back to the regular small-town gossip. Police statements were done, and the destruction he’d brought had barely been a thought since.

I’d taken over the clinic full time, and whether from guilt or what, my parents also agreed to expand their little restaurant, and Ford’s parents now served their menu from the same kitchen. It actually helped profits, and within the week, business for both of them was booming.

Our house wasn’t quite rebuilt, but it was Ford’s late-night confession yesterday that weighed heavily on my mind. I’d pursued being a doctor because everywhere in the country needed doctors, and that meant I could follow him everywhere. I loved my home here in the bayou, but when he mentioned that we should buy a home together, he’d also added that he wouldn’t mind being closer to the guys on his team.

Luckily, the options were small towns in Idaho and the bordering state of Montana, but it wasn’t the South. It meant going somewhere I’d never been before in a place I’d never thought of. Yet, the excitement that fluttered in my chest every time it crossed my mind only grew.

It was a big decision, and one we wouldn’t make without also consulting Azelie, considering her entire life was here, and a specific boy, but Ford had seemed to almost outgrow this place, and maybe I had too.

This would always be home, and we’d always have a place to come back to. But spreading our wings and living somewhere else sounded thrilling.

Mostly because it would be with Ford.

I smiled as the big oaf himself walked out the back door with a massive platter of what I guessed was his mawmaw’s steaming gumbo and over to his dad, who waited with the crawfish boil. Turk patted him on the back and said something; Azelie scowled at him as he “accidentally” bumped into Cory and separated the two teenagers momentarily.

There was my heart. My world.

A booming laugh startled me as Bernie stepped out from the house and shouted some dumbass thing at Ford. All Ford did was flip him off and curse him out in Cajun-French without even looking back at him. And Kat, Jane, and Scottie giggled behind Bernie. They were wonderful. Over the past week, we’d become close, and for the first time in years, I actually enjoyed girls’ nights.

Even with Mikey, Griffin, and Dom. It felt like we’d always known each other. They were as much family as Ford was, or Azelie. I understood why Ford enjoyed their company, even when they said shitty things or their humor turned extremely dark. I loved this. I wanted more of this. Even more so, I loved seeing Ford in his element. He was the man I knew with his team. Witty and full of life in a way I’d never seen with anyone else except for me.

A shadow fell beside me, and I smiled up at Ford. A cut-off T-shirt and a pair of shorts showed off the tattoos that covered half of his body, which reminded me that I still had no idea why he’d decided to design them that way.

“Why only the right side of your body?” I blurted out and slid my gaze down to his ankles.

“For what? The tattoos?” He faced me directly, and I nodded. “Well, because I was saving the side closest to my heart for when you became my present and future.”

My heart pattered softly in my chest as his words softly fell in the summer breeze. Despite the crowded back porch, it was as if we were in our own little bubble. There were just the two of us. “But there was no guarantee,” I muttered and raised a hand.

“I knew that,” he replied as I slid my fingers along his arm. Goosebumps danced beneath my touch on his skin as I traced art that I hadn’t seen in years.