Page 65 of Hutch (Minnesota Raptors #2)

Like that was going to happen. She’s told me countless times over the last three weeks that I make her feel safe.

I’m the one she reaches for when she wakes up from the nightmares.

I was already planning on finding a place close to campus if Jenny had booted us out.

A first-floor apartment Daisy could move into with us.

“Can’t get rid of me that easily.”

She relaxes, but I can still see her wince.

“You good?”

She nods slightly. “The sun is just giving me a bit of a headache.”

“We’ll be home soon. Just close your eyes and try to rest.”

“All I’ve done is rest,” she grouches.

“Robbie at least has settled into his base housing.” Collin is still on his phone. How he eats so much I don’t know.

Her brother had been transferred to a reserve base here in Minneapolis. He’s not a reservist, but his post is one of the few full-time postings at the base. That was his surprise. No more overseas for the foreseeable future.

“He asked me to help him decorate for Christmas.” The smile on her face has me smiling. When Daisy is happy, her smile is infectious.

“Christa said they are going to start decorating right after Thanksgiving. Speaking of which, Mom asked me to invite you and your brother over for Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Tell her thank you.”

“You can tell her yourself. You and Rob are coming to Sunday dinner.”

She nods and I see the strain in her expression. Robbie doesn’t have tinted windows, and the sun is excessively bright today. Even with dark sunglasses, the bright light has to be affecting her.

We make it to the house soon after and I can see the big Welcome Home Daisy sign strung up across the front porch. Daisy laughs when she sees it.

I hope to God Jenny kept the crowd inside small.

Collin and I exit the car. He holds the door while I swing her up into my arms to carry her inside. Walking is a no go for her and she can’t use crutches because both hands are encased. She’s stuck relying on people helping her. Which she hates.

They didn’t even realize she had torn ligaments right away. The surgeons had been so focused on her major injuries, it wasn’t until she complained about the pain that they did an MRI of her right leg and saw the damage. That was another surgery that delayed her coming home.

Collin runs up the steps, but the door opens before he even hits the porch. Smoke billows out of the house as Dylan and Mitchell stumble out.

“What the fuck? Is the house on fire?”

Dylan looks up at my question and his expression turns sheepish. “Hey, Daisy, good to see you home.”

She looks at the open door and the smoke. “What happened?”

“Uh, Mitch and I wanted to cook for you since you’re always cooking for us. A nice welcome home surprise.”

“It’s the thought that counts.” She gives him a smile. “Can we go in? The sunlight is giving me a headache.”

I don’t want to take her into the smoke, but I can’t keep her out here either, so I tell her to cover her nose and stride into the house. Which is empty.

Thank God.

“We found a pizza place that does gluten free crusts you and Collin should be able to eat.” Dylan is right on our heels. “I’ll order pizza.”

“Where’s everyone?” C asks as comes in carrying Daisy’s things.

“The girls went shopping for party supplies. They want to throw Daisy a party. A small one,” Mitchell hurries to add when I open my mouth. I’d already reamed them all out about the noise for at least tonight. She needs quiet.

“Did they know you two were going to try and cook?” Daisy looks around, her eyes zeroing in on the mess of bowls and ingredients spread out all over the kitchen island. It looks like a bomb went off.

“Uh, no.” Mitch smiles wryly. “They would have told us to wait for them.”

“I appreciate you guys trying to cook.”

“Why does it smell like…” Robbie trails off when he sees the mess in the kitchen as he comes in. “What the fuck happened in here?”

“We tried to cook.”

He eyes them. “Don’t try it again. Stick to your lanes.”

The two of them are athletes trained to respond to a commanding voice and Daisy’s brother has that. He’s in the military and used to giving orders.

“Yes, sir,” they both automatically say.

“I have to get back to base, but I wanted to make sure you got home, Sis.” He comes over and kisses my forehead. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Thanks for waiting with me at the hospital.”

He smiles. “You got it.”

Once her brother is gone, I decide to take her upstairs and let her rest. “Okay, let us know when the pizza is here, but she needs rest. I’ll see you guys later.”

Daisy laughs as I all but run to get her up to the attic. I may be in a hurry, but I’m extremely careful with her. I don’t want to jar her healing legs or her arms, or hell, any part of her. She’s so fragile and small in my arms.

I carefully put her down in her desk chair, run back down the stairs for her bedding and then lock the door behind me when I come back upstairs. It doesn’t take me long to make her bed.

“Can you get me some clean pajamas out of the chest?”

I look up to see her pointing at the small wooden chest of drawers. I nod and grab her pair of bottoms and a white t-shirt. It only takes me a minute to help her change. This is a routine we’ve gotten into over the last week or so.

Once I have her settled in bed, I can finally relax and let out the breath I’d been holding.

She’s home.

She’s safe.

She’s breathing.

Thank God.

Sighing in relief, I kick my shoes off and crawl into bed with her. She snuggles into my side, and I pull her close, thankful to simply hold her. I thought I’d lost her and yet here she is, alive and breathing. A true miracle.

“It’s good to be home.”

“Now maybe some of the nightmares will go away,” she whispers.

“Are you going to take the victims advocate up on the free therapy sessions?”

“I might. I hate feeling jumpy and scared all the time, even when I sleep. You’re the only thing that makes it better, you know?”

“I’m just worried about leaving you when we have our two week stretch of away games after Thanksgiving.”

“You have to go play. I’ll be fine. Not like I can attend classes yet, so I’ll be right here all tucked away safely.”

The dean agreed to let her finish the semester remotely given what happened to her. She’ll start attending classes in the spring semester. I advocated hard to let her do remote, and all her teachers were on board with it. Even our Statistic’s professor. He has a daughter.

“I got you a new phone.”

“Not again.”

“Asswipe ruined your other one.”

She sighs. “I could have bought one.”

“You would have bought a cheap one from Walmart.”

“Well, yeah.”

“Nope, I just got you the same model I bought you for your birthday so I know it’ll be reliable. Don’t argue with me for once, Red, please. I need to know you have a phone. It’ll make me feel better about going away.”

“I just don’t want you to waste your money on me.”

“Babe, I’m going to be wasting my money on you and our kids until the day I die.”

“Kids, huh?”

“Well, yeah. Not right away, obviously. We need to actually get married first, but eventually, yeah.”

“You keep assuming I’m going to marry you.”

“You love me.”

“I love you. Doesn’t mean I’m marrying you.”

“That’s fine, you want to live in sin for the rest of our lives, I’m down, but you can explain it to my mother and my grandmother.”

She looks horrified at the mention of my grandmother and the words living in sin.

I tip her face up to me. “I do love you, sweetheart. More than I can ever tell you. Married or not, we’re spending the rest of our lives together. I almost lost you once, I’m not doing that again. I’d put a ring on your finger today if I didn’t think you’d run screaming for the proverbial hills.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?”

“What? That I’d put a ring on your finger today?”

She nods hesitantly.

“I have the ring. I’m just waiting for you to be ready for it.”

She smiles. “I love you Jonathan Wayne Hutchinson.”

“I love you more.”

Leaning down, I kiss her. Really kiss her for the first time since the day she was attacked.

Her lips are soft and greedy. She needs this kiss as much as I do and I don’t hold back. I kiss her like my life depends on it. She’s all the air I’ll ever need, and I let how much she means to me bleed through into the kiss.

I deepen the kiss and she sighs into my mouth as my tongue dances with hers. When we come up for air, we’re both breathing heavily. As much as I want to take this further, her healing comes first.

We have a lifetime ahead of us for extracurricular activities.

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s both get some rest before the house descends upon us.”

She sighs contentedly and lays her head on my chest when I get under the blankets with her.

My girl is safe.

She’s happy.

And she’s breathing.

That’s all I can ever ask for.