For a beat, he stared at me, his lip trembling while that powerful gaze bore into me. Then he smiled. This slow, amazed, adoring smile. “Because of you, Rynna. Because of you, Frankie’s going to be just fine.”
More tears fell. But these were pure, unbridled relief. I released them as if I were pouring them into the heavens. Gratitude for the prayers I’d been granted.
Rex angled the rest of the way into the room, footsteps eating up the floor, the bed shifting when he gingerly eased down at my side. He brushed back the matted hair stuck to my forehead, voice cracking when he repeated, “She’s okay . . . because of you.”
All the turmoil I’d held back suddenly came spilling out.
“I should have told you from the beginning. If I had, this never would have happened. I’m so sorry.”
Rex gave a harsh shake of his head, big hand cupping my cheek. “Don’t you dare apologize, Rynna. I could accuse myself since I should have known the whole time Janel was no good. That only a fool wouldn’t have known she’d been stealing from me from day one. Our relationship, our daughter, nothing but a ploy for her to get close to me. To gain access to my accounts so she and Aaron could embed themselves deeper into my life.”
His hold tightened on my face. “But all the blame? It’s on them. What they did to both of us is on them. They’re the ones who are guilty, and they’re going to be paying for it for the rest of their lives.”
“Did they catch them?” My voice quivered.
He gave a slight nod. “Twenty miles out of town. Cargo area loaded down with cash that most definitely didn’t belong to them. Apparently, there was a tape, too, one that implicated Janel in the original embezzlement charges that Aaron went down for.”
Tone laced with the significance, Rex continued carefully, “The video was from right before Janel left and was recorded at Pepper’s, Rynna . . . in the back office. Both she and Aaron were there.”
His statement hovered in the room. Permeating. Seeping into my consciousness.
Realization settled slow. “My gramma knew,” I finally said.
He nodded. “Yeah, I think she did. Now that I got a few more details, everything makes sense. The fact your grandma was right there the day Janel was driving away, shaken up, supporting me with the blow of both Janel leaving and finding Missy on the street. I think your grandma might have scared her away, probably why Janel came back after she heard she passed.”
Sorrow bloomed, weaving through that hollow space, the loss of my gramma a wound I was sure would never go away. But in it was something sweet and tender and gentle. Knowing. Just like my gramma had always been.
Rex’s jaw ticked. “I just . . . I’m not even sure I want to know what happened that day. Leading up to that moment. And even though it destroyed me at the time, the only thing I’m doing right now is thanking your grandma for everything she did. For protecting my daughter. I might not know exactly what happened, but after Janel tried to take Frankie tonight? Pretty sure I would have lost my daughter a long time ago if it wasn’t for your grandma.”
Adoration pulled at the corner of his mouth. “All the Dayne women, saving my little girl. Both coming into our lives exactly when we needed you.”
And that spot inside? It glowed. Warmth and light.
A soft smile fluttered at my mouth, and I shifted, ignoring the pain that burned hot on my left arm. “Maybe my gramma knew it all along, Rex. Maybe she knew it was supposed to be us. Maybe that’s why she was so insistent I come back here. She had a way of seeing things long before they happened.”
He smoothed his hand over the side of my head. Comforting. Soothing. I wanted to fall into his touch. Forever disappear. “You think she knew you were meant for me?”
My smile was timid, and I gave a slight nod. “Gramma always said we’d just know. That it’d be magic when it happened. Maybe she felt that magic long before either of us could.”
“It is magic, Rynna. Frankie’s here. You’re here. We’re together. And that’s all that matters.”
As soon as he said it, he winced, and a hard gush of air left his lungs. “I’m so sorry, Rynna. About the restaurant. So goddamned sorry.”
Reaching up, I wrapped a hand around his wrist, brought his palm to my mouth and kissed him there before I tugged it flat against my beating heart. “I would have given up anything to save her, Rex. Anything. The restaurant. My heart. My life.”
I clutched him a little tighter. “And I thought I was going to. I thought both of our lives were slipping away. And then you were there. Saving me. Saving Frankie.”
His expression tightened, almost grim in its emphasis. “Maybe that’s what being a family is all about. I’ve always been terrified of losing Frankie. Knowing I would never survive that kind of loss. When it became a possibility—losing either of you—I would have sacrificed everything. Anything. Sold my soul. Lost my life. And you . . . you, Little Thief . . .”
Thumb brushing across my cheek, his head angled to the side. Those sage eyes speared me, finding their way to my soul.
“You saved my daughter, Rynna.” He blinked at me, as if he were struggling for the right thing to say. “I knew the moment I met you that you were different. I fought it and fought it while you just continued to fight for me. To fight for us. But every time our paths crossed, I knew my life changed a little more. Truth is, I was terrified to take the chance. But like you said, it’s all about taking the right ones.”
He edged in, so close that our noses brushed and his breaths became mine. “You and Frankie? You were the best chances I ever took. And I was terrified both times. But if something doesn’t scare you? Maybe it’s not important enough. You are my life. You and Frankie are what it means to be a family. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
My heart went wild, flailing against its boundaries.
He dipped in and pressed his lips to mine. So sweet. Before he pulled back, pinning me with that mesmerizing stare. “I love you, Rynna Dayne. I love you so much, and I’m not ever going to let you go.”
Love. Love. Love.
It surged and spread and flowed. Filling every crevice. Every void. And my heart. I think maybe it did manage to split in two. Held in the hands of two people. Two people who’d become my center. My focus. Etching themselves into my being.
Mounting Rex Gunner’s walls had seemed impossible. Those towering obstacles insurmountable.
Impenetrable and impossible.
But my gramma had always told me that life was just one long string of possibilities.
That chances were worth taking.
And this man and his baby girl? They were worth every single one.
The Epilogues
Epilogue One – Rex Gunner
“Are your eyes closed?” I asked, unable to keep from peeking over at her. At the incredible woman who rode in the front seat of my truck.
Just looking at her had every inch of me tightening.
In need.
In want.
In this mad kind of love.
She was beautiful.
So damned beautiful she was hard to look at. Rynna was the kind of beauty that shined and blinded and radiated. Inside and out. Flush with goodness and grace. That body still my greatest temptation.
Though, I had zero qualms about giving in.
“Yes. And you put this blindfold on me.” Rynna pointed at the strip of purple fabric, like I wasn’t already well aware it was there.
I suppressed a chuckle while she continued her little rant.
“Seriously, I’m not sure what you think I’m going to see because it’s pitch black in here.” Rynna almost whined, all of it done behind the most brilliant smile, the girl biting at her lip, totally failing at trying to keep her excitement contained. “And I’m pretty sure you’ve been driving in circles, trying to throw me off. Or get me sick. There’s that.”
But she was grinning so wide that I knew she was loving this every bit as much as me.
“Hold tight, baby. Your surprise is right around the corner.”
I eased the truck into a parking spot and killed the engine. I leaned across the cab, enjoying the way she inhaled sharply when I got close to her face, the way a shiver rolled down her spine when I leaned around her and gently untied the purple silk fabric from her eyes.