The hospital put Charlie in a medically induced coma almost immediately upon her arrival. It was for the best, Finn knew that. It was a precaution to make sure the swelling from all the blows she’d taken to the head didn’t do any further damage. Her concussion was severe.

Henry was damn lucky he was already dead. Because seeing Charlie so silent and still was unbearable—so much worse than when Finn had her in his bed a month ago when she was sick. He wanted his hurricane back. Even though he may never get a moment of rest or peace, he wanted her in full force.

The tiny, battered, still woman on the bed wasn’t his hurricane.

Zac and Annie had stayed with Charlie while Finn had gone home to shower, change, and see Ethan. They’d had an important talk before going to Grandma’s house, so Finn would be free to stay at the hospital.

When he got back, Mrs. Devereux was in Charlie’s room. Of course, she would be; Sheriff Nelson knew how to get in touch with her now since Charlie’s condo had burned down.

He took a deep breath and stepped inside the room, praying the older woman wouldn’t kick him out. He wouldn’t be able to bear it. “Hello, Mrs. Devereux. You probably don’t remember me, but—”

“Finn!”

The small woman stood and pulled him into her arms for a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re here. Of course, I remember you.”

“Oh.” He couldn’t figure out anything else to say. He’d always thought Charlie’s parents hated him.

“Can you tell me what happened?” she asked. “Sheriff Nelson called to say Charlotte was in the hospital, but he didn’t have many details. That nice Dr. Griffin explained that they were keeping Charlotte asleep to help with the brain swelling and to give her body a chance to heal, but look at her, Finn.”

He already had, and he knew what Mrs. Devereux was feeling. “It’s hard to see her like this. But she’s strong. Dr. Griffin—Annie—is confident Charlie will wake up with no problems once they begin tapering down the meds.”

Mrs. Devereux sat back down and patted the chair next to her. “Tell me what happened.”

During his time in the Army, he’d been a part of missions where a fellow soldier had been hurt or died. When Finn had come to offer his condolences or well wishes to the families, sometimes months afterward, he’d never been able to talk about specifics because of security. He’d never dreamed he’d be in a similar situation involving Charlie. But he couldn’t give Mrs. Devereux the whole truth.

“There was a crazy person at her work,” Finn finally settled on. “He attacked her.”

“Did they arrest him?”

“I understand he died during the altercation.” He hoped Henry was burning in hell.

“This happened at her school job?”

“No, not at her tutoring job. Charlie’s other job.”

“Other job?” Mrs. Devereux’s lips pushed together into a thin line. “I knew it. I knew she’d been working somewhere else besides just teaching. Where?”

Shit. He wasn’t trying to blow the whistle on Charlie. But damn it, if she was working this hard to help provide for her parents they probably deserved to know that.

“Mrs. Devereux, I think we should wait until Charlie wakes up and talk about it then.”

“Ha!” she scoffed. “Have you met my daughter? Do you honestly think she’s going to give up information to me without some sort of knockdown, drag-out fight?”

No, he didn’t. He just didn’t want to be in the middle when it happened.

But then all the energy seemed to drain out of the woman. She watched him with the same blue eyes he saw every time he looked at Charlie. “It’s not fair for me to be upset about her having another job. I haven’t asked. I knew she was working hard, but I deliberately haven’t asked. Every month the medical bills get paid for Milton and that has been what’s most important.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “But I look at her now, beyond the bruises, and I see how wrong I’ve been to just live with my head in the sand. I see how tired she is. How thin.”

Three weeks ago, she’d been worse, but Finn wasn’t about to mention that. Charlie had been wrong not to let her mom know how desperate things had gotten.

“She has a second job as a bartender.” He didn’t mention The Silver Palace specifically in case Mrs. Devereux was familiar with the place. Because although he wanted some of the burden off Charlie’s shoulders, he wasn’t stupid.

“The care for Milton is expensive. It was necessary for him to be at that facility when he was part of the experimental drug trial eight years ago. But now he doesn’t need to be anymore. There’s nothing they’re doing for him there that we can’t do ourselves with just a little bit of help. He and I talked during his lucid times about moving back to Oak Creek, to be closer to Charlie. And because this has always been where we considered home.” She sighed tiredly. “Milton was always the one to make decisions in the family and I was happy to let him. But I think because of my unwillingness to make decisions, Charlie has paid the price. Literally.”

“She loves you,” he responded, because it was nothing less than the truth. “She wanted to provide for your needs the way you always did for hers. You raised her to be that way and it’s commendable.”

But commendable or not, he had no intention of letting Charlie continue to shoulder all this.

Mrs. Devereux sighed. “I’d like to move into her condo, but I know it’s not big enough for the three of us.”

Oh shit. Again. “Um, actually, there was a fire a couple of weeks ago and it burned down.”

She looked at him in shock. “What?”

“Charlie moved out a few months ago, so it didn’t really involve her.” Except for the whole somebody trying to kill her part, which was probably better left out of the story. “She’s living with a roommate now on the east side of town.”

He’d rather cut off his tongue than mention her being homeless for nearly eighteen months.

They sat in silence for long minutes while Mrs. Devereux processed it all, both staring at Charlie.

“It’s difficult to see her so still, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Almost impossible.”

Mrs. Devereux was holding Charlie’s hand, so Finn reached over to rest his fingers on her ankle over the blanket. Just touching her made him feel better. The movement did not go unnoticed by Charlie’s mother.

“How about you two? Considering she didn’t tell me she was working two jobs, or that her condo burned down, I assume she wouldn’t tell me if you two were dating.”

“I’m not sure that what we’re doing could be called dating, but I can promise you my intent toward your daughter is serious and long-term.” The longest of terms.

He prepared himself for an argument, but it didn’t come. “Good. It was obvious to everyone you two were meant for each other, ever since you were teenagers.”

Finn couldn’t keep the shock out of his tone. “I thought you hated me.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Honestly, I thought it started when I gave her the nickname. Then it just grew when you guys decided I couldn’t provide for her the way Kempsley could.”

Mrs. Devereux shook her head slowly. “Well, first off, I think we both know she’s always been closer to a Charlie than she ever was a Charlotte. I definitely never hated you for the name.” She stroked her daughter’s hand. “You were always the eye of her storm, Finn, not Brandon. Never Brandon. Do you know why she married him?”

He shrugged. “Honestly, it doesn’t matter. I plan to marry her now. As soon as I can talk her into it.”

That had been the big talk he’d had with Ethan. They were a team now. Finn couldn’t make these sorts of decisions without input from his son. He explained that he loved Charlie and if Ethan didn’t mind, Finn wanted to marry her. For them to be a family.

Ethan had agreed.

Then his son had proceeded to explain to Finn that he loved Jess and planned to marry her. That he would take care of Jess because she didn’t have a dad and babies needed a dad to protect them, like Finn had come and protected Ethan. Since Jess didn’t have a man around to protect her, Ethan was willing to fill in.

So evidently both he and his son were basically engaged to females who didn’t know it.

Could be worse. And it also explained Ethan’s desire to hang around the younger child so much. Because he wanted to protect her.

Could be a lot damn worse.

Tears filled Mrs. Devereux’s eyes. “It should’ve been you. It should’ve always been you. And while I truly appreciate that you’ve gotten past it no matter what, I want you to know that she married Brandon because he offered to get Milton into the experimental drug trial for his prion disease. Milton would’ve been dead years ago if it hadn’t been for that. Just another time when I let Charlotte carry the load rather than telling her to do what was best for her.”

Finn waited for the relief to come at Mrs. Devereux’s words. Relief that there had been a legitimate reason for Charlie to marry Kempsley rather than him.

It didn’t come.

And that’s when he knew he had truly forgiven her. Because it honestly didn’t matter to him why she’d done it. All that did was that they were going to be together going forward. Charlie. Finn. Ethan. And all the other babies he could talk her into having.

“Thank you for telling me. She probably never would’ve.”

Mrs. Devereux grabbed his hand with the one not holding Charlie’s. “She needs someone strong like you. A boulder who won’t get blown around by her winds.”

He would be what Charlie needed. And the first thing on her mind when she woke up would be the job and revenue she had lost.

Mrs. Devereux sighed and looked back at her daughter. “Charlie tries to shoulder too much. I can’t continue to let her be a little dictator.”

He had the perfect solution. “In that case, as soon as we can get someone here to sit with Charlie, I was wondering if I could invite you to my house to plan our own coup d’état.”