Falling into You (Falling Stars 3)

Rhys had pushed to standing. The brawny, hulking man with dimples in his cheeks actually cracked his knuckles in a show of support.

From where Royce remained sitting like some kind of tatted king in his chair, violence came on a rush, his own show of loyalty, even though he didn’t need to say a thing.

My father pushed back from the stove and stood staunch.

I understood it immediately. The fact that everyone was there for me. That they were surrounding me in a hedge of protection.

Steadfast.

Unfailing.

Daisy lifted her unbroken arm and curled it into a fist, her voice a shout of solidarity. “Hell, no. No one’s touchin’ my mommy!”

I choked out a shocked laugh, and Emily slapped her hand over her mouth to hold hers in, while Melanie fell into a fit of cackled giggles where she sat at the table. “Oh my god…I think Daisy is my soul mate.”

Rhys stampeded like a bull across the kitchen and swept my daughter into his arms. He tossed her in the air. “No way, Daisy Mae! We’ve got her, don’t we?”

“Heck, yes!”

“We will prevail!”

“We will prevail!” she parroted.

“We won’t back down!”

“No’s backin’ down!”

“And we won’t say bad words!” Rhys slid that right in there like he was still chanting his war song.

Her mouth popped open. “Oopsie.”

“You probably shouldn’t talk like that, little miss, yeah?” He ruffled her hair. “You know what my mama used to do when she’d catch me saying things I shouldn’t say?”

Her eyes went wide. “What?”

“She’d wash my mouth out with soap.”

Horror struck her little features. “Soap? But my mouth isn’t dirty. I already brushed all my teeth.”

“But you’re spouting dirty words. You don’t be careful, they’re gonna grow in there just like the weeds out in the field.”

Daisy stuck out her tongue and frantically wiped her tongue with her hand. “Eww…I don’t want nothin’ growing in there. Yuck.”

Rhys chuckled.

She grinned in all her adorableness, and she reached out and tried to pry his mouth open. “I bet you got somethin’ real gross growin’ in there with all the dirty bad things I bet you say.”

Richard released a snort through his nose, trying to contain it, my poor baby girl having no idea the undertone of what she was saying.

Melanie cracked up, her hand smacking the table. “Watch out for that cowboy, Daisy. There are definitely all kinds of dirty, filthy things going on in there.”

“Cowboy? How many times do I have to remind you? It’s stallion, baby. You know this,” he tossed out to Mel.

He turned back to Daisy, dimples denting his cheeks, and he opened his mouth wide. “Anything? Tell me I’m clear. I can’t take it. Help. Save me,” he sang on a playful plea.

She inspected his tongue before she gripped him by both cheeks, her little fingernails scratching into the scruffy beard he was sporting. “Nope. You’re all in the good and safe. Just like we’re savin’ my mommy.”

“Yes, we are.”

He glanced at me, the ferocity in his eyes belying the lightness in his tone.

Gratefulness tugged at my mouth.

My daddy clapped his hands together. “Okay, my beautiful people. Let’s eat.”

Rhys bounced Daisy in his arms. “Woohoo! I’m starving.”

“Woohoo!” Daisy sang, too.

Richard wound an arm around my waist like that was the way it was supposed to be.

Casual.

Natural.

Again, like it was done every day.

“Dude’s always hungry. You all better make your plates before there’s nothing left,” he said.

Rhys smacked a hand over his heart. “As if I would be so selfish. I’m nothin’ but a giver.”

He winked at Maggie when he said it.

Redness climbed her neck and blossomed on her cheeks.

I glanced at my mama who was watching Richard at my side. His hand curled into my opposite hip.

Sinking in.

Standing firm.

And I knew we had so much to talk about.

But right then?

Right then, I needed to rest in this.

In peace.

In family.

In the spark of hope that I could feel illuminating at the edges of the darkness.

Richard pressed a kiss to my temple. “Why don’t you go sit down and rest? We’ll talk soon.”

I felt the undercurrent. There were hard times coming, hard discussions and hard decisions, but they’d gathered here to give me a moment of reprieve.

I nodded and untangled myself from him, kinda wishing that I didn’t have to.

I ambled over to the table.

Melanie beamed a smile at me and patted the seat between her and my mama. “Come sit your sexy butt down next to me.”

“Sexy butt. Sexy butt.” There went Daisy, her little ears way too keen, the child jumping up and down and chanting it where Rhys had set her back onto her stool. “My mommy is a sexy butt.”

Melanie covered her eyes. “Crap. Where’s my filter for five-year-olds?”

“Pretty sure you left it on the schoolyard in kindergarten,” Emily teased, mischief dancing around her while she finished scooping the diced fruit into a big bowl.