A week later, Rhett held Kinsley’s mitten-covered hand as they strolled down Main Street, the snow blessedly giving the town a break. The last three days they’d gotten more than three feet, and most businesses had been closed, with everything reopening only today. Except for one. Kinsley’s hand tightened around his as they walked toward her bar, where wood boarded up the door and the windows. While Josh had been located yesterday a couple towns over and arrested, with no one having any doubt the charges would stick, Rhett knew that news wouldn’t give Kinsley closure. She needed her bar to reopen to put all this behind her. He’d seen the reports. Fortunately, the fire department had managed get the fire under control quickly. The only damage had been to the interior of the main bar. The building had been deemed structurally sound, allowing for Remy’s magic shop and Peyton’s lingerie store to reopen. “We’ll rebuild,” he said to her.
Kinsley offered him a warm smile, her big blue eyes standing out against her white beanie and dark hair. “We will.” She stopped by the door and glanced up at the half-burned sign. “Do you believe in fate?”
“You know I don’t,” he said. “I make my own fate.”
“I wondered if your opinion on that changed after all this,” she said, finally setting those gorgeous eyes on him.
“Because we’re together, you mean?”
She slowly nodded her head, stepping closer until her sweet belly pressed against him. “It’s like the universe gave us absolutely no choice but to be together.” Her smile warmed her eyes further and melted something hard in his chest. “Have a one-night stand? No, still not together. Okay, here throw in a baby. Still fighting it? Bring danger, make you face what you feel. Do you think we had any choice at all in any of this?”
He brushed his leather-covered finger across her rosy cheek. “Do I think I had any choice in this once you set your sights on me?” His mouth twitched. “No. You are a force, Kinsley, warm as you are bold. If you really wanted me, I don’t think there was a damn thing I could have done to stop that or you.”
She laughed, leaning into his touch. “You think I have more control over my life than fate?”
“Absolutely,” he said immediately. “Fate would look you in the eye and run away with its tail tucked between its legs.”
“I’m that powerful, huh?”
Cars drove by on the road, splashing up slush. Luckily the snowbanks kept them clean. “Your soul is your superpower.” He dipped his chin and brushed his mouth across hers. “And I’d die to protect it.”
She reached up to finish the kiss, and he cupped her face, knowing that whatever life was before Kinsley told him she was pregnant, it wouldn’t be the same life going forward now. It’d be better. She had even brought him back closer to his family. Mom called every day now to check in. Somehow, she’d broken through those walls Rhett didn’t even know were there. And most important, she reminded him what happiness felt like.
He liked it. He refused to ever let her go.
With a final press of his lips, he backed away, “Thank you for being here with me today.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.” She smiled. “And say it again, you know…those three little words.”
He chuckled. “I love you.”
“Yep, that’s them.” She laughed and he took her hand again as they continued walking down the road, away from the past and moving into the future. One he’d get right. No more excuses. No more uncertainty.
When they reached the white-steepled church, he looked up the steps and exhaled deeply.
“Oh, there’s the girls.”
Rhett glanced across the street at the coffee shop, finding Peyton and Remy waving at them from the doorway. He turned to Kinsley again as she said, “I’m going to go stuff my face with hot chocolate and cookies.” She leaned in to give him a quick kiss. “Meet me there, okay?”
He nodded.
She took a couple of steps before he snatched her hand again, pulling her back to him. “Hey!” she squealed. “Missing me already?”
“Always.” He placed a harder kiss on her lips, and he knew it would be his life’s mission to put that smile she gave him on her face every day. “I’ll see you soon,” he told her.
“You will.” She walked away, finding a space in the snowbanks, then quickly crossing the street between cars. She hugged Remy and Peyton before she gave Rhett a final wave and entered the coffee shop.
Rhett turned to the church and trotted up the steps. When he went inside, he found the sanctuary quiet, all the pews empty except for one woman sitting in the front row. He turned left, heading down the stairs and into the basement, where he stopped in front of the first door.
“Dr. Adams? I’m Rhett West.”
Standing in the doorway of the small meeting room, Rhett took in the group of five men and two women sitting in chairs in a circle. A man with salt-and-pepper hair nodded and waved him forward. “Rhett, we’re glad to have you.” Dr. Adams gestured to the one empty chair across from him. “Please, come sit.”
His heart thundered as he took his seat, unable to look anyone in the face. Maybe he knew some of them. Maybe he didn’t. But right now, he couldn’t do more than sit down and keep his gaze fixated on the doctor.
Dr. Adams said, “Everyone, this is Rhett. Let’s welcome him.”
“Welcome, Rhett,” the group said.
Rhett swallowed and his gaze unwillingly shifted around the room to the strangers he found. He looked from face to face, recognizing the unrest he once saw in his own eyes. A pain that slowly had begun to fade. Because of Kinsley. She had made that happen, and he would never forget that. “Good to be here,” he told the group.
Dr. Adams smiled, his warm brown eyes creasing. “Listen, Rhett, we’re not going to ask anything of you. You don’t need to talk, unless you want to and you’re ready. You’re in good company here with people who aren’t great at talking about the shit going on in their heads. Isn’t he?” he asked the crowd.
Soft laughter and nods followed.
Dr. Adams turned back to Rhett. “The military gives you the tools to stay alive, to protect and defend, but they don’t train you to return to civilian life. And that’s what we’re all trying to do here. We’re figuring out how in the hell we go from being trained killers to people with everyday jobs and family that aren’t constantly at the ready for a firefight. All right?”
“Yeah,” Rhett said. “Thank you.”
He unzipped his coat and took off his gloves as Dr. Adams said, “Gerry, why don’t you get us started. Anything new you want to talk about?”
Gerry was a big guy. All muscle. Rhett was pretty sure he’d seen him at Theo’s a few times. “The nightmares are back. They’re…drowning me.” His voice lowered and his shoulders curled, making him look small. “Just so goddamn real.”
Dr. Adams smiled gently. “Nightmares are sometimes the brain reliving trauma, trying to heal through that pain.”
Gerry nodded, and his voice cracked when he added, “My wife won’t sleep with me anymore.” He lifted his head, tears in his eyes. “The screaming. She can’t take it.”
Rhett released a breath and stared at Gerry, feeling like they had once been the same man. He understood that pain in Gerry’s face. And for the first time, in a very long time, Rhett felt like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.
One day at a time. And eventually, he’d finally talk about those nightmares, not simply survive them. For Kinsley. For their child. And for himself. Because he had only one mission now—to love her right. Forever.