I reach the end of the road and glance up and down, trying to find another driver who could lend me a phone or give me a ride downtown.
That's when I see the approaching car. It's a cherry red Mustang, a convertible, and there's a woman driving it with chestnut hair. In the back seat, a young girl sits with two little children. One's still in a baby carrier.
The sight almost fucking kills me.
Dove pulls up in front of me, kicking up dust. I can't erase the smile off my face as Willa kisses her baby brothers' foreheads and runs up to me embracing me.
"Hi, Nox!" she says, giddy.
I hug her back, staring at the back seat where the older boy is staring at me curiously. I see something in the boy, like my own darkness. But I think he's smart enough to keep it under control.
The younger boy is a toddler, but he's smiling wide, stretching out his arms toward me.
"Hello." I turn my attention to Dove now, my vision in black, except she let her hair go back to its natural color since I last saw her. She looks so fucking stunning. It takes me a moment to realize she has a scar. But then I remember my own, self-consciously touching my fingertips to my cheek.
"Dove," I breathe. My voice is ragged and pained, but her name still feels good on my lips. "You came."
"We all did!" Willa exclaims and I laugh as Dove embraces me, too.
Fuck. This is emotional beyond anything I could've ever imagined. I thought I couldn't feel anything, not after what my father did to me. But Dove and my new family have shown me my full range of emotions, and for the first time in my fucking life, I'm happy.
And I deserve it.
I sit in the front with Dove while Willa watches out for her brothers behind us. Dove slowly drives down a road I know, leading back to the house where she used to live all those years ago. I have to force myself not to keep glancing at the back seat, but I also can't tear my eyes off Dove. She looks fucking stunning. Irresistible. Sexy. Like everything I've ever dreamed of sent here to haunt me. But now I can finally have her. Now she can finally be mine.
I'm still staring when we pull up in front of her house. It looks just like it used to, except there are more plants, and toys scattered around the yard. I get out of the car and help Dove out too before turning my attention to the kids. The older one, Kellan, takes my hand trustingly and smirks at me. I'm gonna have to be careful around him, because so far, he seems exactly like me.
"What's your brother's name?" I ask Kellan as he helps me unstrap his brother.
"Zane," he says, and I grin. Dove picked cute names. I'm trying not to get too emotional but I already know it's no use fighting these emotions.
I help the younger kids to the house while Willa and Dove follow. Inside, it's chaos, but the kind of chaos I've been dreaming of while I was locked up. The boys run to their toys, and Willa, Dove and I sit down at the dining room table.
"How hard was it to find Willa after I left?" I ask Dove, still not quite able to believe I finally get to ask all the questions I've carried in my heart the past five years.
"I had help from her friend," Dove smiles, squeezing Willa's hand. The two look nothing alike, with Dove's darker hair and Dove's light locks and freckles. But I can tell their relationship is like mother and daughter. Dove adores my friend – my daughter – and Willa is looking up at my woman with pure adoration in her eyes. "After that, since her stepfather disappeared, it was easy to get custody. Too easy, almost."
"And what about Zane?"
"I realized I was going to have a baby a few weeks into getting custody of Willa," Dove smiles affectionately.
"Yeah, we went through it all together," Willa nods. I'm still marveling at the sight of her and how much she has changed since the last time I saw her. She's a young girl now, no longer a little kid. And I can tell her heart hasn't changed in the slightest. "Zane was a healthy baby and we were really happy."
"Even though he screamed all night for the first year." Dove winces, making me laugh. This feels like home. "But it was a learning curve. We get along better now."
"What about Zane?" I ask.
"He's two," Dove nods. "We just celebrated his birthday. He fell face-forward into his cake..."
She and Willa convulse into giggles and I smile along though deep down, I feel like I've missed out massively. But I put on a brave face, because I owe it to my family, and regardless of the past, I'm blessed to be here with them.