In a room with her brother and sister, the last thing Parker was going to do was pry. “You’re okay. He isn’t going to hurt you here.”
Erin opened her arms and Parker gave her a hug.
The screen of her phone lit up the room at her feet.
She broke off the hug to look at the message.
They shut off the line.
She blew out a breath, showed Erin the text from Colin.
“Yes,” Erin said.
Parker replied. Thank God. That’s a relief.
This has been the longest night of my life. Colin texted.
I’ve had better, too. I’m exhausted. We all are.
Go to sleep, honey. You’re safe now. I’ll be back at first light.
She smiled. Thank you for looking out for us.
The three little dots flashed for quite a while before Colin’s last text came through. Be warned, Miss Oakley. I’m going full-on Neanderthal on you the first chance I get. Love you.
Her heart warmed, despite the chill in the room. Love you, too.
Parker lowered the phone and looked at her sister and brother. “Should we wake them up?”
Erin shook her head and sat down. “It’s been a long time since I had a slumber party.”
Parker joined her. “Me too.” She pulled a blanket up to her chin, shoved a pillow under her head. “I’m too tired to talk about boys.”
“Another night, then,” Erin said.
Before she closed her eyes, she heard Erin say, “Thanks for being here, Parker.”
Parker reached out, and grabbed Erin’s hand. “If he ever shows up here, I’ll kick his ass for you.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Lucifer was still sputtering, but the bulk of his wrath had filtered east.
It was nearly eight o’clock in the morning and Colin had yet to hear from Parker. Which was completely unlike her. The woman was up before he was.
He stood outside his truck as misty rain continued to fall.
The wash was an inferno.
But his structures held.
The mudflow that had seared off the gas line and caused the night’s chaos had built up against a retaining wall between the Sutters’ and their neighbors to the west of them. Somewhere in the night, the wall gave way and took a chicken coop and a shed with it.
The houses still stood.
Two of his men were on skip loaders clearing the driveways, while Russ sat in his excavator waiting for a break in the rain to start digging.
Matt showed up with Grace, and right behind them his parents drove through the gate.
“Holy cow, son. You weren’t joking about the scale of this project.” His father greeted him with a hug.
It was the first time his dad had been to the house.
His mom hugged him long. “How are you holding up?”
“I’ll be better once my eyes land on Parker.”
“She isn’t answering her phone?” Grace asked.
“No.”
“Call Mallory.”
“I don’t have her number.” Colin would fix that before the day was over.
“I know who will have her number,” Matt said as he put his phone to his ear. “Hey, Jase, it’s Matt. Are you in touch with Mallory?” Matt nodded a couple of times. “Ah-huh . . . tell her to wake her up and get her butt outside so Colin can stop sprouting gray hair.” More nodding followed by a smile. “Thanks.”
“She’s on her way.”
“She was asleep?”
“They all were, apparently.”
He spotted the dog first. Scout darted down the stairs and ran to a tree and lifted a leg. One by one, all four of them walked into view.
Colin’s chest rose and fell with thankful breaths.
“You brought the whole family?” were the first words out of Parker’s mouth when she got within shouting distance.
“You can’t keep us away,” Nora shouted.
“I was starting to worry again,” Colin told her.
“My phone died. And there are no windows downstairs, so we didn’t notice when the sun came up.”
He shifted from foot to foot.
“Is it safe to—”
He turned his ear, still didn’t quite make out what she was saying.
The beeping of the loaders behind them made it even harder.
“The gas line . . . generator . . .”
“I think she’s asking about the generator.”
He nodded. “Yes.”
Behind them, Russ turned over his long reach excavator.
Colin grinned and walked toward the man.
Russ leaned out of the cab of his rig. “Mornin’.”
“I need you to get me over to the other side.”
“You got it.”
Russ moved the equipment, and Colin walked to the edge of the wash.
He looked over to his mother. “Mom. Don’t watch.”
“What are you doing?”
Matt grinned.
Colin stepped into the jaws of the arm and held tight as Russ tilted it so he wouldn’t fall out. He crouched down and held on.
Russ extended the arm of the excavator the span of the wash and slowly lowered Colin to the ground.
The second his feet touched the mud, Parker was there with fire and brimstone. “You crazy son of a . . . was that payback for last night?”
He didn’t answer, he just picked her up in his arms and held her as tight as he could without squeezing the air out of her.
“You can put me down now,” she laughed in his ear.
“Nope. Not done yet.”
She giggled. “You’re crazy.”
He set her down just so he could kiss her.
When he let up, he held her face in his hands. “Last night is never going to happen again.”
“I hope not—”
“No. It’s not. I’m staying with you, or you’re coming with me. I can’t do that again.”
“Okay, Colin. I won’t fight you on that.”
He kissed her again. “And another thing . . .”
“Yes?”
“I’m redefining our relationship.”
“You are?”
He looked up and saw his family watching them, but was fairly certain they couldn’t hear what he was about to say. Not that it mattered. They’d figure it out soon enough. “When two people love each other, they don’t stay boyfriend and girlfriend for very long. They acquire new titles.”
The silly smile on Parker’s face started to slip.
“I’d get down on one knee right now if I had a ring . . .”
“Colin?”
“The only way I can prove to you that I’m not going anywhere is to give you my name and make you mine.”
Her hands clenched to his chest. “I come with a lot of baggage.”
“I knew that going in, Parker . . . And you know what? It’s part of what I fell in love with. All the things that put you in my life, from your parents’ accident, to the fire and all this flooding, all of it paved my way to you.”
“What about kids?”
He placed a hand on her cheek. “Let’s get the teenagers out of the house before we have that conversation.”
“And if that doesn’t happen?”
“I love you. Your desire to have or not to have children is not a deal breaker for me. I don’t know what the future holds except that we’re in it together. Don’t let all that you’ve been through be in vain, Parker. Let’s redefine what we’re doing here.”