No. Wait. There was still my first family—Mom, Dad, Taggart, and now Ariel. There was Artemis. I had a job that I loved there at the sanctuary, and I’d proved I could make new friends.
I was still Stone Wilder.
I would always be Stone Wilder, no matter what happened to my face. If I could prove I still had Stone Wilder inside me, then maybe Serena and the kids could seemeagain. Maybe they could forgive me for losing myself for so long.
All I had to give Ariel was a nod.
She put my eye patch back in place. “The eye patch just makes you mysterious, you know. It’s jaunty.”
I said, “Hush, you.”
“If you need anything…” She left it open ended.
“I’ll let you know.”
I slid into Tag’s SUV and he took off for my cabin which was a short distance—but felt like an entire world—away. How was I to begin building a bridge between me and the family I’d walked away from. Could I even do it?
Four years was a long time to go without seeing someone.
At the kids’ ages, four years was a lifetime.
They didn’t know me. They couldn’t possibly trust me.
What did I have to show for the time we’d been apart? A cabin in the woods? A few friends? From the cargo area, where Tag had put Morrigan, a long snout nudged me behind my ear.
“Yeah, I know.” She leaned her head against the back of my neck. “I get it, Morrigan.”
On my other side, Sebastian pressed against me. I glanced down to find him sleeping, arms carefully placed on a pillow in his lap. He’d turned just enough so he could rest his head against my shoulder. I brushed his fine hair off his face and tucked what I could behind his ear.
When I lifted my gaze, I saw my brother watching me in the rearview mirror.
“Glad to be home, brother?” he asked.
Yes, I was glad to be home.
Chapter Sixteen
Bast
Stone’s cabin really was a “cabin”made of actual logs with some fieldstone accents in a grove of aspen trees.
“I think we died,” Molly whispered, “and heaven is a Hallmark movie soundstage.”
“There aren’t any stairs after these,” Stone said as we walked up to the wide porch. He unlocked the door and held it open for Molly and me. “This is the living room. That way is the kitchen. Bedrooms are down this hall to the right.”
I’d barely gotten a glimpse of leather furniture and a Franklin stove before he moved us along.
“This is my office.” He tapped on the first door. “I’ll be sleeping in there. Bathroom. Guest room.”
He opened the door for Molly, whose things had already been placed on the bed. Her room was cozy with simple country quilts decorating the bed. There was a dresser and a nightstand with a lamp.
“The master is back here.” Stone entered the last room. “You’ll have your own bath.”
“Thank you.” Like in Molly’s room, there were colorful quilts on the bed. The furniture was simple and utilitarian. Stone had a queen-size bed, and sure enough, there was a massive U-shaped pillow dominating it. A recliner sat next to an overburdened bookcase that matched the dresser and nightstand.
He had a deck off the bedroom. The view from the sliding door was spectacular. Outside, there were two rocking chairs amid an army of potted plants.
“I can’t take your room, Stone.”
