“Auntie Crystal?” David repeated, and she turned to look at him.
He took in her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” said Larry. “I just asked Auntie Crystal to marry me.” He paused. “And she said yes.”
“You’re getting married?” asked Jennifer, coming to a halt, her expression wary.
Larry nodded, but Crystal paused, watching the girl closely.
“So,” said David, his lips pursing as he moved toward Larry. His little chest expanded with a slow breath. “It’ll be like you’re my dad, but with a plane?”
“Yes,” said Larry soberly. “It’ll be exactly like that.”
David whooped and threw himself into Larry’s arms.
Larry’s eyes closed, and he held David’s little body tight against his chest, his arms wrapped protectively around him.
Jennifer had stayed silent, and Crystal glanced her way again.
The young girl’s shoulders were shaking.
“Sweetheart,” Crystal asked, leaning toward her, frightened.
Jennifer stared at David in Larry’s arms. Relief flooded her expression, and she choked on a sob.
Suddenly Crystal got it.
Jennifer had been holding it together for her little brother. She’d been protecting him for so long, she didn’t know how to stop. She couldn’t grieve herself, because she didn’t know if David was going to need her.
Crystal pulled the shaking girl into her arms, holding her tight while Jennifer buried her face in Crystal’s neck.
“Larry’s going to be there for David,” she whispered. “And I’m going to be there. And Grandma and Grandpa, and Larry’s entire family. We’re all going to make sure David’s okay.”
Jennifer nodded against her shoulder, the tears and sobs flowing freely.
For long minutes, Crystal simply held her.
Larry’s and David’s voices were low murmurs next to them on the bench.
Finally, the girl’s grief seemed to ebb.
“Is Mommy in Heaven?” Jennifer’s small, watery voice asked against Crystal’s damp shoulder.
“Mommy,” Crystal managed, “is most certainly in Heaven.”
“And my dad is going to stay in jail?”
“Yes.”
Jennifer reached a small, shaking hand inside the pocket of her shorts and retrieved the little black cell phone. “Then I don’t need this anymore?”
Crystal’s hand closed around the phone, her chest squeezing with pain. “No, honey. You don’t need it anymore.”
Crystal’s gaze caught Larry’s as a deep, shuddering breath of relief whooshed out of Jennifer’s lungs.
The little girl still had some crying to do. And they would grieve together for a long while to come. But there was a bright new future waiting for all four of them.
Crystal reached for Larry’s hand, and it joined solidly with her own.
BARBARA DUNLOP
is a bestselling, award-winning author of numerous novels for Harlequin and Silhouette Books. Her books regularly hit bestseller lists for series romance, and she has twice been short-listed for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA® Award.
Barbara lives in a log house in the Yukon, where the bears outnumber people, and moose graze the front yard. By day she works as the Yukon’s film commissioner. By night she pens romance novels in front of a roaring fire.
