38. Cody

THIRTY-EIGHT

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hailey asked it from where she sat in the passenger seat of my truck, staring out the window at the modest house tucked in the middle of Time River.

My childhood home.

"What?" I asked her, needling her a bit since I could feel the frazzled nerves zinging through her body.

The woman had itched the entire way over here.

Hailey swiveled her attention to me, those eyes the color of the river washing me through, so intense as she looked me straight. "Take me in there."

Reaching out, I set my hand on her cheek, and I brushed my thumb across the apple. "Now why would I not want to take you in there?"

Hailey lowered her voice to keep it from her daughter who was anxiously waiting in the back. "Don't you think this has all become too much, Cody?"

"Nah, darlin', it's not close to being enough."

"Cody."

Hailey was still warring with it, her spirit dampening after the verbal altercation with Pruitt last night. Once she'd gotten back in my truck, she'd been quiet on the way home, almost distant, like she was looking for a way to put the walls back up between us when there was no chance that they could stand.

Not when she was meant for me.

Not when this was the way it was supposed to be.

I unclicked my belt. "Come on, all the most important people in my life are in that house which means you belong there."

I let that resonate, the truth that's what they'd become.

Maddie had no issues agreeing. "Yay!! Get me, my Mr. Cody!"

I slipped out of the truck, though I ducked my head back in to meet Hailey's uncertain gaze. "You'll see, Shortcake."

I shut my door then opened Maddie's, the kid kicking her adorable feet like it would propel me to get her unfastened faster. Since I wasn't in the game of disappointing my Button, I flew through the locks and swung her up into my arms.

Loving the weight of her.

The feel of her.

My heart pounding in the type of contentment I never thought I'd feel.

By the time we rounded the other side, Hailey was stepping out, and I took her by the hand, kissed across her knuckles, and gave her one of my best smiles.

"Prepare yourselves for the best breakfast you've ever had. You know Dakota runs the most delicious café within a thousand miles, and my mother taught her everything she knows."

A fresh round of nerves rattled through Hailey.

I chuckled, and I leaned in so I could whisper at her ear. "Are you nervous to meet my momma, Hailey Wagner?"

She looked up at me. "I don't want to be. I don't want to be afraid…of anything. But it doesn't change what's going on."

I nuzzled my nose in her hair. Filling my senses with the scent of strawberries and cream. "Let's just be, Shortcake. See where this thing takes us. Don't start pushing me away now."

"I just can't stand the thought of putting you in harm's way." She barely uttered it loud enough that it broke the air, the woman guarding her daughter, her worry given only to me.

I didn't say anything as we traipsed up the walkway to the two steps that led up to the front door, though I stopped right as we made it to them.

Turning to face her, I curled my arm around my girl's waist, her daughter tucked between us, right where she belonged.

I didn't quiet my words. Just issued, "I'm where you are, Hailey. Rest on me, just for now."

Her nod was wary though I felt her melt into me, and I reached out to open the door, but it flew open before I got the chance.

My baby sister Kayla stood in the doorway, her mouth gaping and her brown eyes wide.

Oh my God. I don't believe it. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.

A rough chuckle scraped out of me. "Believe it."

"Hi!!" Maddie lifted her sweet hand at my sister who stood there stupefied since I'd never brought a woman anywhere near here before. Had never even considered it.

And there I stood with an arm looped around one and her little girl held tightly in the surety of my arms.

Kayla finally gathered herself from where her composure had toppled to the floor and placed a giant smile on her face. "Hi. You must be Maddie who I heard all about."

"You heard about me?" Maddie said in that adorable voice that twisted through me. Each word like branches tangling in my spirit.

Permanently rooting themselves.

"I sure did…my big sister Dakota is here, and she said she got to meet you yesterday and I was going to be so happy to meet you today."

"Are you happy?" Maddie asked.

Kayla laughed. "Very happy."

But it was the presence coming from behind her that pummeled me, the soft sound that escaped my mother's lips as she saw us standing there.

She pressed her hand to her mouth like she could cover it, that love that had forever radiated from her pulsing through the space.

Then she rushed forward. "You must be Hailey and Maddie. Welcome to our home."

But I knew what she really meant.

She was thinking welcome home.

The exact same way as me.