Without letting her go, I raised an eyebrow at Daniel in expectation.
“Jackson has offered to let us stay with him until we get ourselves sorted.” He gave me a pointed look. “And he wanted to make sure that you knew that he was including you in that offer.” His eyes softened when he continued quietly, “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to stay in Rockdale after yesterday.”
Rose let out a muffled whimper and, even though I didn’t know how it was possible, snuggled even closer to me. “Don’t go, Patriarchal Marshall. Don’t leave us.”
Daniel’s face scrunched up at her pleading words, his eyes squeezing shut. He took a couple of deep breaths to control his emotions before he choked out, “Rosey, please….”
I pressed my lips to her hair to hide my smile. I wasn’t sure what he was expecting bringing this up in front of her, but I understood his need to discuss it as a family. Whatever each of us decided, we needed to consider Rose in the equation.
And that’s what it boiled down to. We were a family now. Somehow, in the past few days, we’d started to look at one another as family, even if it was patently ridiculous to anyone on the outside looking in.
In our own way, we loved one another deeply.
How could I leave that?
“I’m staying, Daniel.”
I nearly laughed at how much he startled. Even Rose shifted in surprise before she finally relaxed into my arms and let out a relieved sigh.
“Are you sure?” Daniel asked, his eyes conveying how worried he was. “Our house isgone. There’s barely anything left. The only thing that survived the tornado was the storm shelter, andeven that sustained a fair amount of damage.” He chewed his bottom lip like it was his next meal. “I don’t know how long it will take to rebuild. And not just the house but the rest of the property too.”
None of that mattered. I understood what he was saying, but to me? It sounded like a challenge that needed to be worked on before it could be solved.
It felt like a dream and the answer to my questions about what to do in my future.
I shrugged. “I love you both and the farm. Why would I want to be anywhere else?”
Chapter Twenty
Daniel
“Iwanttoseethe house.”
Today seemed to be full of surprises, and they all seemed to be springing from Marshall.
Was this how my future was going to unfold? I found myself excited to find out.
“Are you sure?” I felt like this was the millionth time I’d asked him the same question, and maybe, just maybe, he agreed with me if the dirty look he sent my way from the passenger seat of the rental was any indication.
I’d been told that my truck had ended up a mile away from where I usually parked it, now wrapped around a huge but shredded tree, so I’d picked up a rental right after buying a new phone and some clothes to tide us all over for the next couple of days. I’d called Jackson to ask what groceries I should get on our way to his place, and he’d told me not to worry, that he’d duck out and grab some for all of us while we drove over.
I owed him so much for how he’d dropped everything to help us. After our divorce, I’d been so angry at him for how he’dtreated me and Rose, and then even more once he’d started seeing Brett. But now… seeing him as a shadow of his former self? It was high time for me to move past those feelings.
We both deserved better.
It was time to heal, and I figured Marshall had a lot to do with that. I didn’t know what I’d do if he ever decided to leave Rockdale.
“You and Rose have both seen it,” he grumbled. “I feel like it’s only fair that I get to see the aftermath as well.”
“You realize we both only saw it on our way out of the shelter? Neither of us have been back since.”
He grunted and turned away from me so he could look out the window at the chaos that we were only just starting to come across on our way to Jackson’s to drop Rose off.
A shiver ran down my spine. What would he think when he saw the ruins? Henry had FaceTimed me from the house when Marshall had been busy getting discharged, and it honestly looked like he was wandering around the remains of a warzone.
Henry and Blue, along with my parents, had flown in last night on a private jet that belonged to Roman Eckersley, the billionaire who owned the company both Henry and Blue worked for. I’d heard that they were all good friends, but I hadn’t seen any evidence of that until now.
Roman’s personal assistant had also apparently organized temporary accommodations in a neighboring town to Rockdale for them all, so they were near enough to help but not be underfoot of all the Rockdale residents who were now scrambling to find emergency accommodations of their own in town.
