This scene takes place after the triple wedding in Finding Their Forevers. While our beloved AFK men and women were up in Snoqualmie getting married, Ryker arranged for Ripper and Cara’s place to be remodeled. Ripper’s place was decent sized, but only had one main room plus a bathroom. Ryker had the two units on either side of Ripper’s gutted so the newlyweds could have a space big enough for their forever.
Ripper
Cara’s curled up on the chair by the window when Charlie and I come back in from our long morning walk. Even though we didn’t fall asleep until well after 2:00 a.m., I was up three hours later, unable to stop my hands from shaking.
“Rip?” The uncertainty in her voice doesn’t do anything for my nerves. “I thought we agreed…you wouldn’t disappear on me.” She twists the glittering new wedding ring on her finger, and it catches the morning light.
“I know. I…couldn’t sleep, sunshine. Or stay inside.”
Charlie runs over to Cara and nudges her hand, looking for a treat, and she ruffles his fur. “They’re at home, buddy.” He looks to me, then whines once and curls up by the door. “Tell me what happened?” she asks and holds out her hand.
The window’s open enough to let in a hint of the cold winter air, and I slide into the chair alongside Cara and pull her into my lap. She tugs the blanket off her shoulders and drapes it over both of us.
“Don’t ask… Not…yet.”
“Ry came by twice.”
“Shit.” Glancing at the clock by the bed, I cringe. Close to 9:00 a.m. How could I have been gone for four hours? “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize, soldier.” Cara cups my cheek, and her gaze is full of understanding. “But we agreed…you wouldn’t keep things from me. And I’m worried that you’re worried about going home.”
I stiffen before I can control my reaction, and she stares down at my left hand clenched on my thigh. “Every time something changed,” I say, “it was because he’d broken me further. Forced me to do whatever it was I had vowed the last time I’d never do.” Forcing a deep breath, I let the cool, crisp air of British Columbia center me. It was never this cold in Afghanistan. Not even when he threw me down that well in the middle of winter.
“Joey…tracking her was the last time I remember him giving me something. A better mattress. Thicker. I couldn’t feel the wooden slats of the bed frame anymore. And…a lock on my door. It didn’t matter that he had the key. It was something I’d never had before.”
“And you’re worried about what now?” Cara asks. “That you’ll suddenly realize this isn’t real? That I’m a figment of your imagination?” Her lips find mine, and as soon as I taste her, I know she’s here with me. Or maybe…that I’m here with her.
Sliding my hands to her ass, I whisper, “How long do you think we have?” But before she can answer, three quick raps on the door make me groan. “I’m going to knock him on his ass.”
“No, you’re not.” Cara slides off my lap and pads over to the door of the suite. “Hey. He’s back. Give us half an hour and we’ll be ready to go, okay?”
Ryker swears under his breath. I can hear it from across the room. “Goddammit, Ry, you knew this was going to be a bad fucking day for me. Relax, will you?”
One of the two men I’m closer to than anyone barges in while Cara takes a quick stap back. “Have you ever known me to relax?”
The laugh escapes before I can stop it. “Once. In nine fucking years. And that was five days ago.”
The look on Ry’s face…it’s pure gold. And worth all the shit he’ll give me over the next few weeks once Cara and I get home and I acclimate to whatever our new normal is.
“We leave in forty-five minutes. Exactly. You aren’t ready, you’re finding your own way back to Seattle.”
The door slams, and Cara gapes before I grab her around the waist and throw her over my shoulder.
“Come on, sunshine. Let’s have a little fun in that waterfall shower before we have to spend three hours in the car with that attitude.”
“I love you, Ripper,” she says, and the joy in her voice is my favorite sound in the world.
***
Ry follows us upstairs, shouldering most of the luggage as I walk stiffly towards the door. Charlie stays pressed to my side, and Cara’s between us and Ryker. Close, but not touching me. Dax, his cane almost silent on the hall carpet, brings up the rear. At least Wren and Evianna stayed in the car.
I don’t need a babysitter—or two of them. Except my heart’s hammering half out of my chest.
The electronic keypad is the same. So’s the door. But what’s behind it? From the plans I saw, not a single wall will be where I remember it. The apartments on either side are gone, and Cara and I…we now have a two-bedroom place rather than the one-room open space I’d just managed to get used to.
We needed this. Cara needed this. Me? I don’t know how to feel. She’s my everything, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to make her happy. Even this. Walk into a place that’s not mine. Not ours. Not anything I’ve experienced before.
Charlie nudges my thigh, and I key in the entry code. The lock beeps and, reaching for Cara’s hand, I toe the door with my foot.
Eyes on the balcony. Focus on the view.
The crisp blue sky of a winter’s afternoon is just as bright as ever, and the balcony doors are the same. It’s something. A touchpoint I can hold onto.
“The bed’s still there,” I say to no one in particular, and Cara leans closer.
“Sort of.” When I lock my gaze on hers, she offers me a small smile. “Same exact brand and model of mattress. Same bed frame. Same sheets, pillows. Just…new. The one that was there is now in the master bedroom.”
I don’t understand, and my face must give that away, because she levers up on her toes and brushes a quick kiss to my cheek. “You can sleep out here. We can sleep out here. Until you’re comfortable. Then this bed can go in the guest room or into storage.”
“Her idea,” Ry says.
I can do this. With Cara at my side, I might be able to do almost anything—even all the things I thought I’d never be able to handle.
“Okay.” I take a deep breath, then blow it out slowly. “Give me a minute.”
The roar of my own terror in my ears fades, and I swallow hard. Pulling my…my wife with me, I take my first step inside our home.
It’s everything she needs, while not being as dramatic of a change as I feared. The couch is new. Leather. Sleek. The kitchen is twice the original size, with an island, a SubZero fridge, and a six-burner stove.
Charlie dives head-first into his water bowl, and Cara snags a couple of treats from the jar while I go directly to the balcony. I need fresh air—at least for a minute or two—before I can go into the other rooms.
The wind makes my cheeks tingle, but after a few seconds, I realize I’m almost…warm. “You put in…heaters?” I ask Ry. He and Dax are standing side-by-side a foot inside the door, and his lips twitch. It’s about as close to a smile as he ever shows.
“You want to freeze your ass off,” he deadpans, “there’s a switch. But just wait until we get a cold snap. A real one. With snow. And ice. You’ll thank me then.”
I need to thank him now. I want to. But the lump in my throat makes that hard. As I pass by him on my way back to Cara, I clap him on the shoulder and squeeze once. It’s enough. All he needs and all I can do.
“Cara?” The single word cracks slightly, and she and Charlie are both at my side in a single breath. “Show me the bedroom, sunshine.”
“That’s our cue to disappear,” Dax says. “Newlyweds.”
“Like you aren’t going to jump out of the car with Evianna the minute we get to your hotel.” Ryker elbows Dax lightly before they both head for the door.
“And you’re not going to break any land speed records getting us there so you and Wren can get home,” Dax mutters.
“Dinner, tomorrow,” Cara reminds them as I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her close. “All six of us. I need to give that new stove a workout.”