A Lot Like Home

“It did not.” She quirked a brow. “She’s been issuing predictions like candy since I can remember, and they’re never that specific.”

“She said I’d meet my soul mate, and I did. The redheaded part was just a bonus. What did yours say?”

“That I’d meet someone through work. Damian. I made sure of it.”

“Of course you did.”

No surprise there. She’d tried to control the outcome of Serenity’s prediction because stacking the deck was Havana’s MO all day long, and he loved that about her. The beauty of it was that apparently she returned the sentiment, and the magic of Superstition Springs had done the trick after all.

How did one man get so lucky anyway?

Or was it luck? “Do her predictions always come true?”

Havana shrugged. “I generally don’t pay a lot of attention to them, because you know. I always thought of it as hokum. This is the first time she’s directed one at me, so given my limited experience with taking this kind of thing in stride, I’d say she nailed it.”

Yeah, and then some. Serenity had made other predictions with the guys’ names on them, but he’d never asked them to share. Now he was curious if all five of them were in line for romance Superstition Springs style.

Somehow he’d also gotten to a place where he could believe all this had unspooled exactly as fate had intended. But he couldn’t quite believe it was that easy.

“So this is it?” he couldn’t help but ask. “We’re done dancing around, and you’re in it for the long haul? Or is there another land mine I need to look out for?”

“Here’s the thing, Caleb,” she said, her blue eyes sincere and full of the magic he hoped would never fade. “Control is just an illusion. I’d rather spend a lot of time figuring out how we complement each other, what we can accomplish together, what loving you looks like next year, in ten years. How many pigs we can take down on a weekly basis. That kind of thing.”

“The answer is as many as come at us,” he told her just as sincerely. “I suppose you think I’m going to marry you now.”

She quirked a brow at him in that no-nonsense way that said she was about to tell him exactly how it was going down. “You better believe it. You’re stuck with me now.”

“That wasn’t even close to the proposal you deserve. I can do better.” Just as soon as he checked a few boxes that he would have already cleared if he’d known what Havana had intended when she’d dragged him from Ruby’s. “Give me a few.”

And then kissed her because he could, whenever he felt like it. After he got her good and breathless, like a good boy he sent her back to her floor and went in search of Serenity. His surrogate mom was a loose end that was poking at his conscience.

He found her at Voodoo Grocery chatting up Augusta Moon and Mavis J, so he hung back instead of disturbing them. But he should have known better.

“I told that boy he had to slow down and stop taking so many silly dares—” Serenity paused midspeech as she caught sight of Caleb, then beamed in his direction. “Hi, honey, you come on over here. You’re not interrupting. I’m explaining how Isaiah’s prediction is going to play out. He’s got some soul-deep healing to do before it’s all going to work out for him.”

Well, that answered the question about whether Serenity had lobbed love predictions in the other guys’ direction. Caleb couldn’t wait to hear more about that, especially if Isaiah’s touched on the worrisome tendency that the man had developed to do crazy stuff simply because Tristan had dared him to. Isaiah had always looked for the best way to motivate the team, especially if he could get a laugh or take their mind off things, but since Syria, the dares and bets had gotten a lot more dangerous.

He’d have to ask Isaiah what Serenity had predicted. Later.

“I need to ask your permission to marry Havana,” he told her bluntly.

Everyone would hear about four seconds after he’d asked anyway. No reason to be secretive about it.

Mavis J and Augusta offered their congratulations immediately, but Serenity gushed and stuttered and blushed so much that he started to wonder if she’d mistaken his intent and thought he’d asked her to marry him.

But then she pulled him into a hug and said, “I couldn’t be happier that Havana finally figured out that she was meant for you. I have something I’ve been saving for her that I want to give you. Come with me.”

Mystified, he followed Serenity back to the hotel and soon found himself ushered into her bedroom. It was covered in quilts, amateur oil paintings, stuffed animals, crystals, and all manner of books and knickknacks. She crossed straight to an antique armoire and pulled out a small black box, then flipped the lid to show him the sparkling ring inside.

“It was Janelle’s. My sister,” Serenity explained quietly, her eyes on the band with a simple diamond in the center. “She would have wanted Havana to have it. I wish she could be here to give it to her daughter herself, but she’s not, so I want you to. It’s fate.”

Caleb could only nod as he swallowed back the hot, slick emotion that had coated his throat, and it was a toss-up whether the prick of tears at his eyelids would stay put or fall. He accepted the box from Serenity and pocketed it. Under normal circumstances, he would never have accepted something of such value unless he had a plan to pay for it, but there were other forces being balanced here that he couldn’t disrupt.

He would have promised Serenity that he planned to love, honor, and protect her niece for the rest of his life if he could have talked, but words weren’t happening. Besides, he had a feeling she knew. Came in handy that Serenity had the ability to sense things.

He hugged her, and that’s when a lone tear escaped. He might not be done building the town to his satisfaction or anyone else’s, but the spirits of the people whose lives he’d had a hand in destroying didn’t feel as restless all at once. Maybe they’d found a home themselves among Serenity’s ghosts, fading into the walls of this old hotel as if they’d always been there.

Or else, this was simply what peace felt like. Either way, he was exactly where he was supposed to be, and he couldn’t wait to take the next steps of his new life.