When I’m discharged from the hospital I take a cab back to my father’s house. After asking the driver to wait a few minutes, I decide to pack a suitcase of clothing, turn off the lights, and lock the door.

Then I return to Hawkin’s cabin.

He is still in surgery, and I don’t even have a phone or wallet with me, let alone a car to get me over the mountain pass to Seattle Regional Hospital. If I even could get there— the snow has piled up and the news on the hospital television blasted coverage of the mountain pass being closed due to an avalanche.

My heart aches at not knowing, but once I’m inside Hawkin’s cabin, I am able that least breathe for the first time since I woke up this morning.

His dog, Whiskey, greets me, and I head with him to the kitchen getting him food and drink with pats after. He was probably terrified after all the commotion last night.

So much unnecessary pain.

The house is a mess, the medics had pushed furniture aside and the police officers were clearly here during the early morning hours. Before I set to cleaning it, though, I call the hospital using Hawkin’s phone.

“Yes, I’m family,” I tell the nurse.

“What sort of family?”

“I’m his… his fiancée.”

It’s bold and not true, but I want it to be. I want to be Hawkin’s now and forever and I want to be able to tell him that on my own.

“Well, actually, would you like me to connect you to his room?” the nurse asks.

“He’s out of surgery?” I ask, my eyes filling with tears.

“He is, the bullet missed bones, arteries, and internal organs. It seems like he had an angel watching over him. He woke up a little over an hour ago.”

I press a hand over my mouth as she connects me to his room.

“Heaven?” he asks. “Please don’t tell me I’m dreaming.”

“It’s me.” Hot tears fall down my face. “I wish I was there. You’re all alone…”

“Where are you?” he asks, his low gravelly voice such a soothing comfort.

“At your cabin. With Whiskey. Poor thing was here all alone last night. I was at the hospital last night but was discharged a little bit ago. I went to my place, then came here. It’s all so much, Hawk.” I begin to cry into the phone, feeling so all alone, wishing I were with him.

“It’s going to be okay, Heaven. I promise. Your father—”

“I know. He didn’t make it.”

“Did you speak with any police officers? I’m guessing they came to you at the hospital?”

I explain to him what Officer Smith told me, and I know Hawkin is able to read between the lines and not say anything damaging.

“You did good, Baby Girl.”

My heart swells will pride at his words. He thinks I did a good job. It’s all I want, to make him proud and happy. My body craves his, and I wish he were here now.

“God, I wish I were with you,” he says. “You’re all alone, grieving your father’s death.”

“I don’t care about it, Hawkin. He hurt me. And the doctors and police know, they saw the bruises, the swelling. They know he was a bad man.”

“I’m so glad no one can hurt you anymore,” he says, his voice managing to soften the jagged edges in my heart.

“But how are you, Hawkin? What happened during surgery? What do the doctors say?”

“They say it was a goddamn miracle. That if the bullet had gone inches to the left or right, I wouldn’t be here today.”

He explains that he will need to stay for the next five days or so.

“Maybe I can drive over the pass? If it opens?”

Hawkin clears his throat. “Sweetheart, please don’t. Don’t do something that might risk your life. I need you too badly. You coming to my cabin was a grand enough gesture, do you understand me?”

Even though I hate the truth of his words, I nod. “I understand, Daddy.” I hear him groan through the phone. “Is something wrong?”

He grunts. “Baby Girl, hearing you call me Daddy gets me all spun up is all, and you’re across the mountain, too far away to pull you into my arms.”

“Soon enough you’ll be back.” Counting the days in my head I say. “I think you’ll be home for Thanksgiving.”

“That so?”

“I’ll make you a feast. Would you like that? Me cooking you a dinner? I’ll spend the next five days getting it all ready for you.”

“Don’t you have school to attend?”

“I do. But I’m a senior, I’ll be finished soon enough.”

“Not quite though. You need to take school seriously, Heaven. I’m not joking around.”

“But can I move in?” I ask. I hate the idea of being anywhere but in his cozy and safe cabin. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Now don’t talk crazy, you hear?”

I bite my knuckles, not expecting him to send me away. I sucked his cock and he licked my pussy and he said I tasted like the sweetest cream he’d ever had. Why would he send me away now? “You don’t want me?”

“Oh, Princess, I didn’t mean that. I meant it’s crazy to think about you anywhere but my bed. Of course, you are staying at my cabin. I heard you told the nurse you were my fiancée?”

My cheeks burn and I’m glad he can’t see. “Are you mad I said that?”

He chuckles. “Baby Girl, I don’t think you could do a thing that would make me mad. But listen, when you become my fiancée, it’ll be because I asked you properly, you understand? So, you need to wait until that happens.”

“Yes, Daddy,” I say, beaming at his words. He does want me. Forever. I know he does.

“Oh, Baby, you’re killing me with that Daddy thing.”

“In a good way or bad way?”

“In a way that makes me so fucking glad I didn’t die.”

I smile, wanting to please him in every way. “But when you get home, you come to Heaven.”