Page 138 of Tattered (Lark Cove 1)

My phone rang in my pocket and I shifted my weight to dig it out. “Sorry. It’s Granny.”

“You should take it. I don’t mind.” She leaned away, but I pulled her right back in as I answered the call and put it on speaker.

Other than Charlie, I couldn’t think of anyone else I wanted to tell about our engagement.

“Hi,” I answered.

“Hello, Grandson. What are you up to today?”

“Not much.” I grinned. “I was actually going to call you today to tell you that I figured it out.”

“Figured what out?”

“The secret to life.”

Granny’s laughter rang through the speaker. “I take it you’re in Montana?”

“I am.” Right where I belonged.

“Well, it’s about time. Hello, Thea.”

Thea giggled. “Hi, Joan. How are you?”

“Much better now. I’ll let you two go, but please have Charlie call me tonight. I’d like to hear about her first day of school. And Logan?”

“Yes?”

“You have two weeks to get your house set up for guests.” With that, she hung up the phone.

“I guess we have some work to do,” Thea muttered. “We can’t have police tape by the garage when Granny shows up.”

“Hey.” I took her chin, turning it so I could see her eyes. “If you don’t want that house, we’ll find another one.” I’d never force her to live there, not after what had happened last night.

“No.” She shook her head. “I think it will be fine. It’s such a pretty home and in the best spot. It will probably take me hours to clean, but I don’t want to let it go just yet. Maybe we could go over later and you could give me the full tour. See how that goes and then move forward from there.”

“All right.”

I let the cleaning comment go for now. She’d never clean or cook or wash clothes another day in her life unless she wanted to. But we’d work into that after the dust from last night’s drama had settled.

The two of us went back to watching the lake, both yawning from time to time but neither making a move to leave. A fish jumped not far off and I made a mental note to take the boat out tomorrow. Maybe Thea could come with me and we could break it in properly. I wanted to talk her into forgetting the condoms from here on out. Call me a barbarian but getting her pregnant was the next item on my to-do list.

I just hoped she was as eager as I was to expand our family. Because this time, I wasn’t going to miss a thing. I’d be here for the pregnancy test, the doctor’s appointments and the midnight feedings. Every moment for the rest of my life, I’d spend with Thea.

“Logan?”

“Hmm?”

She looked up at me. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“It’s hard to believe this is really happening.”

I smiled. “Believe it. Always believe.”

Three years later . . .

“What are you doing here?” Jackson snapped as he walked into the bar and spotted me mixing a drink.