Page 214

I look at Kira. “You know what’s happening.”

She smiles. “Maybe.”

“You’ve always been terrible at keeping things from me.”

“I kept your birthday present secret.”

“You gave me the receipt by accident.”

“That was one time.”

We reach the lake before I can interrogate her further.

Babs releases my hand and runs back toward Bane, with Biddy following close behind. Each girl takes one of his hands and pulls him toward me.

My heartbeat picks up when I look at Bane properly and realize he’s nervous, which makes even less sense when I’ve watched him face reporters, angry investors, security threats, and rooms full of executives without showing half this much uncertainty.

Mara catches my arm before I can move. “Stay here, sweetheart.”

When I turn toward her, tears are already slipping down her cheeks. “Mara, you’re crying.”

“My eyes are cold.” She dabs beneath them and catches whatever expression Theo makes behind her. “You can leave.”

“I didn’t say anything,” he tells her, wisely keeping his distance.

Bane reaches me before Mara can throw Theo into the lake, and Babs and Biddy stay close to him.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

He rubs a hand over the back of his neck. “Trying to remember what I planned.”

Theo apparently values his life less than I thought because he says, “This is why people rehearse,” then raises both hands when Bane turns toward him. “Helping quietly from now on.”

My laugh comes out with the first tears because Bane reaches inside his coat, and suddenly I understand why everyone has been acting strangely.

Biddy starts bouncing beside him. “Daddy, get the ring.”

Babs grabs her sleeve and whispers much too loudly that she wasn’t supposed to tell me, which earns an indignant explanation from Biddy.

Bane gives them a look before the argument can develop any further, and both girls fall silent, although Biddy continues bouncing in place.

He takes my hand, and my fingers close around his.

“I had more planned,” he says.

“You don’t need more.”

His thumb moves across my knuckles before he looks at me. “When you came into my life, I thought I already knew what the rest of it would be. I had the girls, Mom, and Wolf Shield, and I convinced myself I didn’t need anything else.”

My eyes burn harder.

“You changed that before I realized it was happening. Somewhere along the way, my girls started looking for you when they needed someone, Max and Lucy came along, and I stopped being able to picture this family without you in it. This became home again because you were here.”

Behind him, Babs presses both hands over her mouth, her eyes huge as she watches her father reach into his coat, and lowers himself onto one knee.

Biddy gasps loudly.

Babs whispers, “You already saw him practice.”