Page 114 of Winter's End

Darlene had also been ecstatic, or as we called her these days, Momma D. We’d set her up in an apartment close by, and she’d gotten a job at a new insurance company, working her way up to manager in three years. She’d changed her name again since Antonio was alive and still very much doing business in our part of the world, but with Kellan monitoring things for us, we didn’t live with a target on our backs.

The Viking Spy was pretty much radio silent, though he checked in with Cam or Travis every few months, and we were now far enough removed from Cascade Falls we had no interaction at all with the twins. I only heard about Kellan through Hillary—they had continued their ‘on-again, off-again’thing. As much as she was totally willing to discuss his dick size, she was very tight-lipped about anything else. I already knew how big his dick was, so there was nothing to talk about.

Stanley Eccles had been missing since the FBI ransacked his home and found it empty. Camden made a mysterious plea deal that wasn’t public knowledge, and even Hillary couldn’t dig up that dirt on her father. She’d bought out all of his companies since he could no longer own the assets, and kicked him off of all the governing boards. She sat on her throne of billions, but I knew she was battling her own demons. I didn’t get to see my friend nearly as much as I wanted to, and I missed her.

She’d shipped me thousands of dollars’ worth of baby stuff already; so much so, we had to store it all in the basement. I was going to have to put a moratorium on baby gifts, or we were going to need a new house. And she had gifted us the house!

Georgio had met his demise in the showers at the maximum-security prison he was sentenced to. I didn’t know which Carlos’ brother arranged the hit, but I’d bet my spleen it was an inside job. I was grateful Travis and Cam had nothing to do with that side of the family. The Carlos clan were toxic, twisted creatures who caused nightmares and ate children in bedtime stories.

Speaking of toxic, twisted creatures; Carson Baker was attacked by his cellmate at the jailhouse in Carlisle before he could even be sentenced. He suffered a bad brain bleed from blunt force trauma, and no longer controlled his mental or physical faculties. He was a vegetable and I couldn’t bring myself to be sad about it. He had earned his end, and Karma was a feisty bitch.

Travis held my hand as we drove, stroking my fingers lightly and humming a light tune.

I loved seeing him happy, the most tragic hero of our motley bunch. He, Logan, and I had enrolled in counseling once everything died down with Georgio’s arrest. Carson had reopened my wounds. The almost-murder had reopened Travis’. And Logan never got the closure he’d needed from Stanley’s abuse. The cascade of lies in our small town brought us together and forged a love more fortified than any castle or kingdom, but Georgio had branded himself on our souls.

Luckily, therapy works, and today most of what we went through was a distant memory. But Travis held onto those scars the most.

“Ready?” he asked as he helped me climb out of the vehicle.

“Ready.” I smiled and gazed into his kiwi-green eyes, basking in their hope and joy and wonder.

I hadn’t just found one love to last a lifetime, I’d found five. It was time for this next chapter in our lives to share that incredible love with someone new.

And I was ready for it.