“What brought this on?” Leo asked.
Cassidy shrugged. “I don’t know. I just sometimes feel as if I’ve taken more from you than I’ve given back in return.”
“Listen to me,” Leo said sternly. “You’ve given me everything. Without you, I was just going through the motions of life. In the last twenty years, I’ve laughed more, felt more, than I did the previous forty-five. You’ve given me a son, and I can’t imagine going through one day without you by my side. The only thing I regret with regard to our relationship is not having the balls to claim you when I was eighteen and you were fifteen. We could’ve had so much more time together. But you’re mine now, and I’m yours. We’re making the most of the time we have left. Understand?”
Cassidy smiled. “Understand,” she told him.
“Crazy woman,” Leo muttered under his breath as he hugged her to him once more. “If I was any happier, I’d be locked up in the loony bin.”
“There aren’t loony bins anymore,” Cassidy informed him. “And that’s a derogatory term nowadays.”
“Sleep, Cass. I mean it.”
He tried to sound stern, but Cassidy simply shook her head. “Okay.” A few minutes went by, then Cassidy said, “I like us. I like how we are together. I like our laid-back life that many people would probably say was boring. I like our friends, and I like how much time we spend together. Thank you for giving me this life, Leo.”
In response, Leo merely kissed the top of her head. But she’d felt his breath hitch and knew he was doing his best to hold back his emotions. She loved him all the more for it.
Leo might be in his sixties, but she had no doubt he could still protect her from anyone who might want to do her or Mario harm—and look damn good doing it too. But he wasn’t so macho that he couldn’t tell her that he loved her, or get choked up when she got too mushy.
Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, Cassidy let herself relax.
Life was crazy. Full of ups and downs. It wasn’t easy, was damn hard a lot of the time. But she’d learned over the years that she was stronger than she’d ever thought she could be. She’d made mistakes, but she’d learned from them and done her best to stay positive. She didn’t know how much longer she had to live, but she was determined to eke out every morsel of happiness from every day.
She’d continue to do so at brunch with her Silverstone family tomorrow.
Cassidy fell asleep with a smile on her face, contentment in her soul, and a bone-deep knowledge that no matter what tomorrow might bring, she’d get through it with her friends and family at her back.
Thank you for reading the Silverstone series! If you haven’t read the Mountain Mercenaries by Susan Stoker, check out book one, Defending Allye.