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“S o you enjoyed going to Staci and James’s tonight, then?” Dan glanced over at Sarah as they drove back to the cottage.

“Okay, okay. You were right. Just like you were about me going to Jackie’s last week too.”

“Mister Right, remember?” he teased, recalling a long-ago conversation.

“Mister Right who is obviously so insecure that he needs to keep pointing it out all the time,” she grumbled.

He laughed. “What’s got you all riled?”

“Nothing. Sorry.”

He arched his brow. “I thought you just said you enjoyed tonight?”

“I did. I don’t know if it makes me a bad person to appreciate the fact that others have gone through the emotional wringer, but hearing James’s story made me appreciate a few more things.”

“I don’t know that I’d be so upbeat after having had people shoot at me.”

James’s honesty had surprised Dan. His willingness to talk about his mental and emotional breakdown after serving in Africa as a medical missionary had given Dan new respect for the power of honest sharing.

“Do you think he’ll ever want to go back?”

“I don’t think so.” Even though the worlds could hardly contrast more. From poverty to wealth. Fear to relative safety. “Do you think your parents would ever want to go back to PNG?”

“No.”

“Would you?” he asked, curious.

She glanced at him, as the lights of various houses washed paleness over her face. “I was just a child when we left, so no, not really. Sometimes it feels like a dream. Like it wasn’t really real.”

“And now?”

She turned more fully in her seat. Smiled at him. “Well, after last night, I think I’d much rather live in this reality.”

“Me too.” His heart thudded. Last night had proved a special time for both of them. He picked up her hand and kissed it. “I’d be very happy to revisit that again tonight.”

She laughed, and his soul seemed to relax a little more. It had been a long time since he’d heard her laugh the way she had in the last week, ever since she’d returned from Jackie’s with a smile, then proceeded to tell him about the funny conversations there.

“Is that a no?” he mock-complained.

“That’s a ‘we’ll see.’ It depends on whether your brother has finally decided to appear.”

His brother. Sam. He’d been on quite the spiritual journey in recent years, and his on again, off again relationship with a local photographer was currently off.

Dan had sent him an invitation to join them in Muskoka, and Sam had said he’d try to show sometime in the next few days, but Dan had come to not trust too much of what his brother said.

“I think we’d be safe.”

“You say that, but I can just picture us having fun married times and he knocks on the door, or worse, doesn’t knock, and just barges in.”

“Sam do that? You’re right. He would.”

“See? So that kind of kills any amorous mood I might be feeling.”

“Amorous mood, huh?”

Her glance at him held fire. “Very amorous.”

His breath hitched. He pressed down on the accelerator. Okay, he was getting them home, pronto.

Muskoka was slowly getting them back to where they used to be.

At ease with each other, relaxed, comfortable, tease as much as affection signaling their relationship was deep.

They’d been friends first, then attraction had set in.

He’d fallen first, while Sarah had battled with what a new relationship meant about her feelings for her dead fiancé.

But he’d had no doubts about her feelings since.

She’d made that very clear on their wedding night.

And every other night she could too. And it was only his husbandly duty to reciprocate.

Which was what he planned to do as soon as they got home.

Morning light streamed across the sheets.

Last night’s muggy temperatures, along with their adventures, meant they were tangled.

But then they always were with Sarah. Her sister had warned him before they were married that Sarah liked to burrow into the bedcovers, creating a nest. He glanced across, smiling as she lay there, true to form.

One arm under the pillow, the other hand bunching the sheet up to her chin, her eyes buttoned shut in that way he found adorable. “I love you, Sarah.”

She smiled, her eyes still closed. “I love you too.”

He could stare at her all day. The curve to her cheek that was approaching its normal fullness.

The milky white of her shoulder, with its smattering of tiny freckles.

She’d always said she found the contrast between their skin tones interesting, and that she’d wished her fair skin didn’t burn or show embarrassment so easily. He loved that it made her easy to read.

She was beautiful. And relaxed in their bed like this, after all the weeks of tears and fears, it fueled hope that one day they might find a way forward.

A noise came from outside. He frowned. What—?

He drew on his boxers and went downstairs. The window revealed a sports car out the front. He instantly pivoted, then rushed up the stairs. “Hey, Princess?”

“Mmm?” She stretched, and slowly blinked open her eyes. “Is my handsome husband here to have his way with me again?” She smiled provocatively.

He exhaled. She was tempting. Oh, so tempting. He’d locked the doors, but he didn’t trust Sam not to break in. “It’s Sam. But I can send him away.”

Her eyes widened, all trace of seduction gone. “He’s here?”

“I’ve locked the doors, but—”

“Hey, lovebirds! Let me in!”

Her mouth sagged. Then she pushed him away. “Go! Go fend him off. I’m not dressed.”

Dan eyed her appreciatively as she slipped from the bed and dragged on clothes. “I can lock this door, too—”

“Go!”

He laughed, and pulled on shorts and a tee, then descended the stairs, and opened the front door. “Sam?”

“Finally!” Sam clasped him in a bear hug. Pounded him on the back. “Good to see you, bro.”

“You too.” Even though Sam smelled like a brewery. His red-rimmed eyes looked like he’d slept at one too.

“I wasn’t sure you were here. Then I started wondering if maybe you and Sarah were getting your frisky on and couldn’t hear me.”

Dan’s cheeks burned.

Sam laughed. “Ha! So I was right. Where is she?”

“She’ll be down soon. She was asleep.”

Sam instantly looked contrite. “Oh, I didn’t mean to wake her. Mom told me she’d been unwell. How is she?”

“Doing better.”

“Good.” Sam’s head tilted. “But it is almost ten.”

“Exactly. What are you doing here so early?”

Sam punched him in the arm. “You invited me, remember? So here I am. Hey, any chance for a coffee? The line at Suzy’s was insane, which is what I’ll be if I don’t get caffeinated soon.”

“You drive up from the city?”

“Yep.”

Dan eyed him. “You okay?”

Sam shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Hey, here she is.” He swept Sarah up in a hug. “How’s my favorite sister-in-law?”

She smacked him, laughing. “Shh, you’re not supposed to say that out loud.”

“Circle of trust here,” Sam said, making a looping gesture between the three of them. “And at least Marguerite is nicer than her husband, who always acts like he has a stick up his—”

“Sam, play nice,” Sarah interrupted. “Now, how long are you here for?”

“As long as you’ll have me.”

“What happened to your job?”

Sam winced. “Oh, did the family gossip forget to tell you I got fired from the real estate office?”

“What?”

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “It was a misunderstanding.”

Of course it was. Dan folded his arms. It always was with Sam. Since a hip injury derailed his pro hockey aspirations, he’d had a series of jobs that had all ended too soon. He always laid out the other person’s faults and waited for someone to bite.

Like Sarah. “What happened?”

Sam went on with some convoluted story, which soon saw Sarah bite her lip and meet Dan’s gaze, as if she too recognized what Sam wasn’t saying.

“Does that mean you’re a free agent?” she asked Sam.

“You could say that.”

“Then you’re free to go with Dan on his camp this weekend?”

Sam’s nose wrinkled. “That’s this weekend?”

“Sure is.” Dan clapped him on the back. “And you know we always love you being there.”

Sam glanced at Sarah. “Are you going?”

She pointed to a fridge magnet which Dan hated but she refused to remove. The vintage looking woman was smiling in bed, with a “I love not camping” banner posted over it.

“Then I’ll stay with you.”

She smiled sweetly. “No.”

“Huh?”

“You need to go camping. With Dan.”

“Excuse me?”

“I can smell the alcohol on you, and I don’t know what’s going down, but I don’t want you staying here with me if you think that means you’ll just be drinking or whatever.”

Go Sarah.

Dan leaned against the kitchen cupboard as his brother whined, “Sarah, I thought you loved me.”

“I do.” She patted his cheek. “Which is why real love doesn’t let someone keep doing the wrong thing.”

“It’s not wrong to have a drink.”

“I know. But if you’re drinking so much that it can be smelled the next day, one has to ask why you feel the need to do so.”

“I didn’t come here for a lecture,” he grumbled.

“No, you came here because you know we love you and want the best for you. And this,” she gestured to his rumpled appearance, “isn’t it.”

“Wow.” Sam glanced at Dan. “Does she bust your chops like this too?”

“Sometimes.”

“Go, have a shower, and we’ll make you a nice brekkie.”

“Brekkie.” Sam rolled his eyes, but a smile played at his mouth. “Will you have avocado toast?”

“Yes, but whether there’s any left depends on how long you take.”

He chuckled. “I’ve missed you.”

She smiled. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Sam glanced at Dan. “At least she is.”

“Hey, I’m glad you’re here too.”

“I promise not to get in the way of your married people time.”

Sarah pointed to the stairs, her cheeks pink. “Hurry up, else there will be no avo toast for you.”

“You’re such an Aussie still, with your brekkie and avo.”

“Of course I am. Now go.”

He saluted her, then murmured, “she’s tough,” at Dan then disappeared.

“Was I too tough?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his waist.

He kissed her nose. “You were exactly what you needed to be. Like his big sister.”