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Sage took a shuddering breath. “And you need me.”
Cal closed his eyes, nodding and suddenly they were in each other's arms holding tight as they cried. Sage whispered into his hair. “Cal honey, I’ve got you. You hear me? I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
The storm was growing around them.
Sage gathered him closer, this enormous man folded into her smaller body like he was made to fit there.
She sat back in the deep snow, legs spread so she could cradle all of him against her chest. Cal’s massive shoulders shook as he buried his face between her breasts, sobs still tearing out of him in raw, ragged waves. One of her gloved hands stroked slowly through his snow-dusted hair; the other rubbed firm circles over his broad back, feeling every hitch and tremble beneath his thick jacket.
Snow fell around them now, blanketing the broken pine and the blood-stained ground. Brutus emerged from the treeline, respecting their pain until the worst of it passed. The huge grizzly padded over and laid his enormous shaggy head across Cal’s thigh, warm breath puffing against denim, dark eyes solemn and steady. Three broken creatures — each pulled from their own darkness — holding the man who had saved them all.
A long time passed before Cal finally lifted his head. His face was wrecked, wet with tears and melted snow. Sage’s cheeks were just as wet. He stayed in her lap, searching her eyes like he was terrified of what he might find.
“You really mean it, don’t you, princess?”
“I really mean it, baby. With everything in me.”
“Even though I — I’ve done what I’ve done. I’m an old, broken—”
She stopped him with a kiss. Their tears mixed, salty and warm on cold lips. When she pulled back, forehead still pressed to his, she whispered, “Listen to me. I know this is going to be hard for you. But you have to trust that I will understand. That I would forgive you—”
“Sweetheart,” his voice cracked. “How can you forgive me if I can’t forgive myself?”
Sage smiled through fresh tears and wiped his face with both hands, thumbs gentle over his cheekbones. She kissed his forehead, slow and reverent.
“If God can forgive you, and He can forgive me, then maybe we can just forgive ourselves.”
A long beat. Cal closed his eyes. Two more tears slipped free, tracing down his weathered face. He pressed his forehead to hers, breathing her in.
“Okay, princess.” He whispered the enormity of what he would need to do falling upon him. She could see him summoning every ounce of courage, and then after a pause he said, “Okay.”
Sage felt the weight of that small word in her chest. She smiled through her tears.
He really is the strongest man alive.
Eventually they stood. Cal was unsteady at first, his massive frame swaying like a tree that had finally been allowed to bend. Sage stayed solid beneath him, arm wrapped tight around his waist. Brutus rose too, and walked a respectful distance behind them.
Cal took her hand — the same hand that had snapped a tree in half fifteen minutes earlier — now folding so gently around her smaller one, knuckles still raw and bleeding.
“Princess,” he said softly, his voice barely loud enough through the storm. She looked at him with all the love and fierce pride she had for him.
“I’m sorry. For what I said. I will never do that again. I promise. Even if it kills me, I’ll never leave you.“
Sage was in his arms before he could finish, her mouth over his as her heart soared. They kissed deeply as he held her tightly against him.
She piled back and smiled brightly. “I know. You know how I know?”
He paused with a very very faint smile on his tired face.
“How?”
Sage hugged him and whispered, “because I’ll kick your ass if you ever try.”
He smiled then. “Deal, baby. Now let’s get you back home. I owe you…” he paused again. “Everything.” He took a deep breath “...And I’ll spend my whole life trying to give it to you.”
Sage smiled as he set her down. As she tore part of her shirt and wrapped it around his knuckles, she said in her brattiest voice, “I better not have to wait that long before you give it to me.”
Cal shook his head. “Really? Even after—“
