“Are you going to let Luke be my new dad?”
Holly sighed. Why couldn’t her son ask the easy questions? “Simon, I—”
“Yeah, Holly, are you?”
“Luke!” Holly sprang to her feet. “You’re awake.”
“Hard to sleep with all this deep conversation going on.” His pale face twisted as he lifted a hand to his bandaged head. “Ah, man.” He groaned. “I hate hospitals.”
“You were like a superhero!” Simon announced, shoving himself between Holly and the bed. “You flew real high!”
“No kidding.” When Luke winced, Holly realized she needed to remove the enthusiastic member of the party. “Did anyone get it on video?”
“Simon, go tell them at the nurses’ station he’s awake.” She patted Simon on the butt and angled him toward the door. Only when he was gone did Holly surrender to the tears clogging her throat. Had she ever seen a more beautiful pair of blue eyes? “You kept your promise.”
“Told you I would. Holly...” He reached a solitary finger toward her face and she bent down, letting him catch a tear. “I don’t like you crying, either.”
“You saved him. If it wasn’t for you—”
A curtain of doubt draped over his face. “I did what needed doing. Nothing more. I’m glad he’s okay. Winters?”
Holly shook his head. “He’s gone.” Anger swelled like the tide. “I can’t believe you were going to go back for him.”
“It never occurred to me not to.” Luke pressed his hands against his ears, grimacing. Holly had been warned he’d probably sustained some hearing loss. “Whatever he did, he didn’t deserve to die.”
And that empathy was why she loved him so much. His capacity for love and understanding astonished her and was a testament to his survival.
“Was Simon right?” Holly had spent the past few days trying not to get her hopes up. “Did you tell him you want to marry me?”
“Depends.” He tried to push up, but he gasped and sagged against the pillows. “This was not the setting I had planned, but it is what it is.” He took a deep breath and turned those gorgeous, kind eyes on her. “I love you. And I love that frustrating, too-smart-for-his-own-good kid of yours, too. But I don’t want you doing anything you don’t want to do or say anything out of gratitude or obligation.”
“What if I want to because I love you?”
Luke’s brow furrowed.
“Why is this so hard for you to believe?” Because she’d come to know him so well, she’d prepared herself for this conversation. She sat on the edge of his bed and clasped his hand in hers. “I think I knew before you stepped foot in that cabin to get Simon that I didn’t want to spend another day without you. The ten-ton explosion only confirmed it.” More tears spilled from her eyes. Happy ones this time. “I love you, Luke Saxon. Bad boy, sheriff, any and all of you. What do you say? You gonna marry me?”
He grinned. “I don’t know. How long an engagement are we talking?”
“A couple of months? Before Simon starts school? July would be nice. Nothing big or fancy. Just friends and fam—” She gasped as he tugged her down and kissed her into silence. “Is that a yes?” She tapped a finger against his lips.
“I wouldn’t say anything else. I love you, Holly Campbell.”
“I love you, too, Luke Saxon.” She touched his cheek. “Welcome home.”
EPILOGUE
IF LUKE HAD to spend one more day in this bed, in this hospital, he was definitely going to lose his mind. He was ready to get out of here, get back to his life. Now that he had a life...with Holly and Simon.
A life in Butterfly Harbor. Who would have thought?
The room was overflowing with get-well cards, flowers and balloons of every color and size. His favorite gift was a crooked, ghastly card from Charlie with the biggest smiley-faced butterfly ever put on paper. He couldn’t wait to frame it.
His second favorite? A letter from the town council offering him their full support should he choose to run for another term as sheriff. As far as they were concerned, the job was his as long as he wanted it.
Gil Hamilton stopped by to reiterate the offer, a paper bag of burgers and fries in hand, and if Luke understood things, the visit left them on the verge of becoming friends. Odd and unexpected, but stranger things had happened.
Luke had been right about one thing. The board members at Simon’s new school had heard about his misadventures, but instead of expelling him before he could even start, they’d awarded him a certificate of merit. Just what Luke and Holly needed to help convince him not to take any more chances.