Layla had remained patient with me while I got my shit together concerning my father’s death. I was still dealing with it, and I knew I would be for a long time still, but I’d moved past those initial hollow feelings. Since then, I’d reconciled the events of that day in my mind and was okay with Marcus’s death. My only regret was that it had affected Storm. They were still dealing with the fallout of his death, and fuck knew how that was all going to play out.
“Donovan!”
I turned to look at Layla standing in the doorway. “What?” I asked.
“I was calling you,” she said, clearly frustrated.
“What’s up?”
Her face softened a little. “I changed my mind. You can come and disturb me now.”
Fuck.
I strode to where she stood, grabbed her hand and led her to the bathroom. “Clothes off,” I ordered as I began peeling mine off.
The look on her face gave her thoughts away. Layla fucking loved being bossed around, and I had no doubt she was going to fucking love being disturbed by me.
Four hours later, we collected my mother from her house on the way to Madison and J’s home. I sensed her nerves, and Layla and I did our best to put her at ease before we got there. As I listened to Layla talk to Mum, I realised she could talk her way into anything. She never failed to convince me of anything, and she singlehandedly convinced my mother that she had nothing to worry about where Madison was concerned.
When Madison threw her front door open and greeted us with a warm smile, I figured things might go smoothly. And when she reached for my mother’s hand and welcomed her into her house, I watched my mother’s worry fall away, and I knew everything was going to be okay.
My fractured family was slowly being put back together.
I watched the three most important people in my life chatting, enjoying themselves, and realised I was a fucking lucky bastard.