Only Her

Staring out a window, wearing someone’s jacket because the precinct was freezing cold and she was only wearing a tank top; she thought about what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. She was tired. Tired of fighting what she was feeling. They were never going to not be together and Skylar knew that now.

She could fight until she was dead and buried but she loved Luka Shaw and he loved her. He would never go away again. She wasn’t sure that she wanted him to anymore. They were good together as a family.

Yesterday before Tag took her, she was on the phone with Luka, giving him instructions on what to get at the store. It felt like they were already married. At times, they were already in a routine. Doing things together as a family. Making meals. Going to soccer practice. Games. Recitals someday if Ava wanted to take dance again. She hated ballet but Ava was talking about doing tap and jazz. Skylar couldn’t imagine him not being there.

A knock on the door caused her to turn. A female office was standing in the entrance. She stuck her head in the room with a smile on her face, “Hey, your family is here if you want to follow me I’ll take you to them.”

She was excited. Skylar went around the table in the middle of the room and followed the officer out into the hallway. She could hear them. Hell, did they all come? There was a lot of noise at the entrance to the police station. They turned a corner then she saw them.

All four Shaw brothers. All of her sisters. Chloe, she hadn’t even seen yet because Tag took her before she got inside the house. She hugged her first. She was closest to her.

“I’m glad you came home. I’ve missed you.” Her sister laughed at her.

“I’ve missed you too but this wasn’t the homecoming I expected.”

“Yeah, me neither.” She shrugged. “What can you expect around the Bradford house?”

Luna was next, standing behind Chloe. Then her sister Ramona by Brett. “He knows thanks to Luka,” Ramona told her. Skylar smiled at her sister.

“About time,” she told her.

Then she smiled at Brett. “Hi Daddy,” she said to him. She hugged him the hardest.

“When this has passed I have a bone to pick with you,” he said to her but he smiled at her and she knew that everything would be fine with him and Ramona. He would be a great father to their child.

“Really, you do?” She shook her head at him. “I don’t think so.”

Then she saw them. Holding hands at the back of the pack. Tears in her daughter’s eyes. Sky dropped to her knees by Ava. “I’m okay baby.”

“I know. I’m just happy to see you,” Ava told her. “I reassured Daddy that you would be all right when he was crying like a baby.”

Skylar’s head shot up to Luka’s handsome face staring down at her and their daughter. He lifted her from the floor. His hands slid around her waist and he drew her against him.

“I just need to hold you for a moment,” he whispered. Her feet didn’t come close to touching the floor with his arms wrapped around her. Skylar clung tightly to Luka’s neck. She was where she belonged. He kissed her cheek. His breath warm against her skin made a shiver run the length of her spine.

“He didn’t hurt you right?” He had to ask. He had been frantic; worrying about Skylar.

“No, he didn’t.”

“Good.”

He was relieved. She could hear it in his voice. “I need to tell you something Luka.”

He sat her on the floor. Then he looked down on her and began to laugh. “This is why I always tell you to wear shoes Sky.”

“No kidding.” She held onto his forearms for a moment staring at his broad chest. She took a deep breath. It was like jumping out of an airplane with a parachute for the first time. She had to take that leap and trust that it would open taking her safely to the ground. Luka would always catch her though. She was sure of it. He would never hurt her again. “Luka, I love you.”

The statement was simple. She didn’t need to make a flowery speech as she spoke straight from her heart. Three simple words that he had been waiting to hear. Luka crushed Skylar to him and held her for what seemed like minutes but was only seconds.

“I didn’t think I would ever hear that again from you.”

“Funny how life and a kidnapping has a way of showing you what is important to you. I wasn’t sure if I would see you again.”

His hands gripped her tighter. “I wasn’t so sure myself.”

“So you were crying?”

He touched his forehead to hers. “I was. I thought I had lost you. Mom received a phone call from Tag’s mother letting her know you were all right. The relief was overwhelming.”