Just then, a pair of trucks come into view. The first is large and red, with bold white letters readingSummit County Rural Fire Protection, followed closely by a second, even larger truck bearing the same markings. A minute later, a black SUV rolls in behind them, headlights slicing through the early morning dark. Wildwood Sheriff’s Department is stenciled along the side.
I blink. “Why is the sheriff’s department from a town over here? Wouldn’t Heart Springs send someone?”
Bea shakes her head, tucking the girls against her sides. “That’ll be Memphis Calloway. He’s the sheriff in Wildwood, but he and his brothers are all volunteer firefighters with the rural district.”
“Like Kade,” I murmur, turning back to watch the trucks curve around the drive like they know exactly where they’re headed.
As I drove here, I passed a steady stream of trucks and headlights headed toward the fire. Some faces I recognized from mudding and around the farm, others I didn’t. But every one of them jumped in without hesitation, throwing themselves into the fray.
The five of us stand there, watching from a safe distance. The fire’s still burning, but it’s not raging anymore. The chaos has begun to ebb, but my heart hasn’t caught up.
Eventually, Bea breaks the silence. “Looks like they’ve got it under control. No point standing around here doing nothing. Let’s do what Archers do best and take care of the people around us.”
“I don’t wanna,” Colby whines, shivering. “Can’t Archers have a better hobby? Napping, perhaps?”
Clementine bobs her head, tugging her hoodie higher. “Or eating. I love food.”
“Same,” her sister says. “Can we have breakfast?”
Bea clicks her tongue. “Lucky for you, breakfast for the crew is exactly what I was suggesting, you rotten little toads.”
“Thank fuck,” Colby mutters, peeling away from us. “I’m freezing and starving.”
“Colby Mildred!” Bea hisses, eyebrows shooting up as she sighs. “What am I going to do with you?”
She shoots me a tired smile. “Only seventeen, but they’ve got mouths like they’re twenty-five.”
Clementine giggles and presses a kiss to her mom’s cheek. “At least we’re still virgins, Ma.”
With that, she chases after Colby, cackling at Bea’s groan.
I laugh, the sound shaky in my throat, but it quickly fades. I hesitate, torn—unsure if I’m meant to follow them into the house or maybe head back to Kade’s.
Before I can decide, Bea tucks her arm around me and presses a kiss to my cheek. “Soon-to-be Archers are included in that, dear,” she says with a wink that knocks the wind out of me.
I stumble, heart in my throat.
Bea chuckles, ignoring my panic, brushing her hand over Aurora’s hair as she guides us toward the Big House. “And tiny, new little Archers, too.”
My throat is so tight, I can barely swallow around it, but I let Bea lead us up the wide porch steps and through the front door of the house Kade grew up in.
The moment I cross the threshold, I feel it—love, history, home.
Their house is old but well cared for, the kind of place that wears time like a badge of honor instead of trying to erase it.
The floors creak, the floral wallpapered walls are lined with photos in mismatched frames, and there are scuff marks in the hallway that probably have stories attached to every single one.
There’s a sitting room off to the left and a long hallway straight ahead that opens into a big, warm kitchen. Two wings branch off the main living space, and a staircase curves up from the middle of the foyer like an old spine.
“How big is this house?” I ask, hugging Aurora a little tighter against my chest when she whimpers in her sleep.
Bea chuckles softly and shrugs. “Ten bedrooms.”
At my gasp, she winks and pats my back.
“Get your head out of the gutter, sweetheart. I’ve always loved to entertain.” Her smile falls and she looks away. “Not that we have a use for most of them now.”
I barely have time to process her words before my mind flashes to Kade—to that morning we walked around his nearly finished house and he told me his plans to fill every room.
