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I’d been drowning

Pure and simple

The second we’d gotten to the hotel room and we’d been safe froiven in to the nu I’d spent hours in a place in my mind where my sister was still alive and I was back on that boat with Caleb, conte what our future would look like

Now I had to contemplate a different future

One in which I was now a father

I didn’t even knohat to do with that

But I’d known that hat I was as soon as I’d picked Willa up thispretty loudly when I’d woken up The fact that Caleb had slept through it had been proof of how exhausted heWilla wake rief all over again Acknowledging thatto figure out what Willa needed from me at that moment

Silver had been right

The second I’d picked her up and she’d looked at , watery eyes, I’d felt it And the resentment I’d felt had slipped away as if it’d never been There’d been no question that Willa was my future

It hat Maggie had wanted

It hat I wanted

I hadn’t been one hundred percent sure about Caleb, but I’d hadme and Willa The look of contenth to assure , he’d be at my side

What I hadn’t been expecting was all the help that Caleb brought with hiht when I’d been trying to figure out how to get Willa out of Germany hadn’t been to reach out to Ronan and Mav I’d been trying to determine if Dalton would be able to ith et me what I needed The fact that Caleb was the one who’d had to remind me that Dalton wasn’t the only one in my corner had been an eye-opener Despite my behavior toward Ronan, Mav, and Memphis, there was no chance in hell they would have left me to my own devices, even if Caleb hadn’t been with me

Asking for help wasn’t so I kne to do, and I’d need to work on that

For Caleb’s sake

And Willa’s

While Mav had been the one Caleb had talked to, it’d been Ronan who’d flown to Germany to pick us up, passport and aWilla out of the country, and Caleb and I had practically passed out on the plane, leaving Ronan to take care of Willa

Caleb's fingers tapped againstcloser to the house that Ronan and Seth owned on Whidbey Island Ronan had inforone to the house to escape the crush of reporters that had descended after Jack's acquittal Fortunately, Eli had h his finals for his second year of medical school before all hell had broken loose with the trial, so he at least had some time to recover from the ordeal without the added stress of school Ronan had determined that it made sense for Caleb and me to stay at the house as well, since it already had top of the line security Caleb still hadn't been is’ house, but I also had no clue what kind of progress, if any, Ronan, Mav, and Me who'd put the hit out on Caleb Until we had souard