“The only thing I’m worried about, at this point, is what damage is left behind from what we removed. We thought it was a clean surgery, but you’ve lost the movement in your left leg and most all movement in your left arm. So I need you to realize it won’t be a fast recovery.”

Standing beside Declan, I watch as my ma nods, her hand in my da’s. She looks as if she may cry, and it turns my stomach. “Above all, you’re lucky to be alive.”

She scoffs. “In a broken-down body.”

“Ma, this is a blessing,” Declan says, and she nods, meeting his gaze.

“I know, I’m sorry,” she exhales, and then she waves off the doctor. “Fine, so when can I go home?”

“Tomorrow—as long as your blood pressure stays where it’s been.”

“Thank God. Two weeks here has been bloody hell.”

I smile. She’s been impossible. Hating everything about the hospital, even when Da hasn’t left her side. Declan has been working his ass off, while I’ve been doing what I said I would do. Be her. It’s event season, so I’ve been busy, and I haven’t hated it.

Mostly because Jackson has gone to everything with me.

It’s been perfection. He’s the best person to attend an event with, I’m convinced of that. He keeps me laughing the whole time, and everyone who meets him adores him. He can talk about anything, and I enjoy listening to him, especially when he speaks of his travels. When we were lying in bed last night, since he hasn’t stayed in the housing while Ma has been in the hospital, I made him promise to take me to all the places he’s traveled.

I want to see them the way he did, but with him.

“Well, Mrs. O’Callaghan, I’ll miss you.”

That makes everyone in the room laugh. We all know darn well this doctor hates my ma. She’s been unreasonable from the beginning. “Of course ya will. Thank you, Doctor.”

“My pleasure,” he says before leaving the room. As the door shuts, I look to the bed as she leans back, shaking her head. “I’m ready to go home.”

“We want ya home, Ma,” Declan says, and while I do want my ma home, I don’t. I know that means Jackson will probably have to go back to the housing. It’s the last thing I want. I love spending time with him, I love sleeping with him, and I totally love waking up to him. He always wakes with his hair in his eyes, and it’s adorable. I’m not ready for that to stop, and I have actually thought about talking to Declan about building me a little cottage on the land. I’m not saying that Jackson wants my forever, but for the time being, I want to be alone with him.

Maybe, in time, he’ll want my forever.

I know I want his.

Desperately.

Shaking my head, I walk toward the bed, sitting in the chair beside my ma just as she says, “I’m sure Lena feels differently.”

With my brows together, I ask, “Huh?”

“About me coming home.”

Her eyes meet mine, and I give her a look. “Of course I want ya home, Ma.”

“Means your boy toy won’t be able to stay anymore,” she sneers, and I roll my eyes. Ma hasn’t brought Jackson up at all, but I knew it was coming. I’ve seen the blogs and the papers; I’m just surprised she’s waited this long. “Not in my house will you lay with scum.”

“Ma, he isn’t scum,” Declan says, but she ignores him.

“It just pisses me off how candidly you ignore what I ask.”

“Noreen, your blood pressure. Ya want to come home, right?”

“Oh, hush, Ivor! I’ve been sitting on this for weeks.” Reaching for her little table that holds her things, she picks up one of the papers and clears her throat. “When asked who her handsomely clad date was, the princess replied, ‘My boyfriend, Jackson Tremblay.’ Within seconds, everyone was yelling for answers, but I had the princess in my grips. ‘Tell me, will there be wedding bells?’ A look of pure adoration came over the beautiful princess’s face as she looked up at her beau, who looked a wee bit lost, and informed me, ‘maybe.’” Ma paused, glaring over at me before throwing the paper down. “Maybe!”

I don’t answer her, though. I look away, shaking my head. I don’t know why she is acting like she didn’t know Jackson meant something to me. Pretty sure I’ve told her that.

“Ah, Noreen, it’s all lies anyway.”

“No, I said it.”

Everyone’s eyes cut to me. My da’s eyes widen as he holds his hand out. “What in the world?”

I shrug. “What?”

“How did I miss this? You haven’t spoken of a Jackson Tremblay.”

“Because if I did, you’d tell me to call it off. I’m not dumb.”

“Well, call it off,” my ma says then. “It’s not to happen, Lena. Yer just making a fool of yerself.”

“How am I doing that?”

“By being with someone you can’t be with.”

“Oh, I’m being with him,” I say sternly. “I care for him, a lot, and I enjoy him even more. We have a grand time, and I’m not giving that up.”

Pretty sure my ma is about to have a coronary. “It is not supposed to happen. You’re to marry someone of worth!”

“And, to me, he has all the worth.”

“You’re being impossible, Lena!”

“I don’t think I am.”

“Who is he? Do we know his family?” my da asks, and Ma laughs.

“Ivor, no, ’cause he’s a damn bartender and slings the shite in the stables.”

“He cares for the horses,” I yell, my own blood pressure rising. “And he’s a good man. He doesn’t need to work, but he does because he likes to. He’s on holiday!”

“Right, ’cause everyone works on holiday,” Ma says sarcastically. “He is shite, and you will be with someone better.”

But before I can yell anything, Declan stands. “He is on holiday.”

Both my parents look to Declan. My ma is breathing hard, and my da’s face is turning red, but Declan commands the room. “He’s actually a good mate too. I like him, and you both must realize that if it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t be doing as well as she is.”

“Oh, please, she’s fine—”

But Declan shakes his head. “Ma, she was on drugs, drinking, and sleeping with anything. She came home for ya, but no telling what she would have done if she hadn’t met him.”

“She would be with someone better!”

“Hush, Noreen,” my da says, looking to Declan. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Amberlyn and I have observed them. He takes her riding, he listens to her, and I’ve watched them lie on a blanket for hours, just talking.” He looks to me then. “I tried talking to Lena before, and she shut me down. She shut us all down, but there is something about Jackson that she is able to connect with, she is able to speak to. How dare you try to break that up?”

“Because he is not good enough for her! He just wants her money and her tight ass.”

I give her a look since yesterday she had said my ass was frumpy. Before I can protest, Declan is speaking once more. “No, Ma, I don’t agree with ya. It isn’t about sex or even her money. His idea of a date is sitting outside of his tent or lying in the grass. He’s a phanny, for Christ’s sake.”

“He isn’t a phanny!” I yell, shaking my head. “He just likes being outdoors. He was a lumberjack back home.”

“Ivor, a lumberjack,” Ma says, completely disgusted. “Our daughter is with a lumberjack.”

“Ya know, he came here,” Declan says then, looking to my da. “When Ma had her surgery, he came and sat with Lena.”

Da looks to me, his face full of confusion. “He did?”

“Yeah, he wanted to be there for me. He knew I was upset.”

“It does not matter,” Ma yells, throwing her good arm up. “We didn’t raise her to marry down.”

Da laughs at that. “We didn’t raise this one for that either, but according to you, he did.”

Ma looks away. “Amberlyn is a good woman, and I do care for her greatly, but Lena will not make that choice.”

“You don’t know him,” Declan says. “Just like you didn’t know Amberlyn. Maybe it’s time to accept that your children aren’t like yous two. Maybe we want love instead of a name.”

Silence falls over the room, everyone lost in their own thoughts but me. I’m staring at Declan, completely taken with him. He has always commanded attention, and I’ve always adored him, but I never expected him to go to bat for me like that.

“She’s been to hell and back,” he says, meeting my gaze. “I feel that I failed her, that we all failed her, when he got ahold of her. I turned my cheek when she was engaged to Micah, though she never loved him. We all knew it, but ya said he was so darn good for her. No one asked her what she wanted, until she stood up for herself. But now, with Jackson, I see this look on my sister’s face.”

Tears well up in my eyes as I watch him fight back his own. “She has a smile more often than not. She rushes to go ride her horse, she cares about looking good now, and she has a light in her eyes. She is who she is, which isn’t who ya raised, Ma. It’s a different version, a better version, and I refuse to allow you to take that from her.”

As a tear runs down my cheek, I wipe it away quickly as I draw in a shaky breath. “I happen to love the person my sister has become. I love her more than before, because this woman isn’t giving up and taking what is given to her. She’s fighting for what she wants.”

I look up to Declan, my lip quivering as I meet his gaze. “Thank you.”

“No need. I do it ’cause I love ya,” he says, crossing his arms over his chest. “And if yous two love her and want to be supportive, I suggest ya let her love who she wants ’cause she deserves that.”

I watch my parents, and while I appreciate everything Declan has said, I know they’ll never go along with it. They’re so old-school and it just—

“Fine,” Ma says then, closing her eyes before sighing heavily. “He’s right.”

“He is,” my da says, shaking his head. “You two aren’t like us, or anyone else, for that matter. You’s both yer own people.”

“We are.” Declan’s face breaks into a grin. “And it’s time for things to change.”

I have to be dreaming. I’m dreaming. But yet, when my ma’s warm hand comes into mine, it doesn’t feel like a dream. “I’m sorry. I think we all failed you when it happened.”

Her eyes start to fill with tears, and I have to look away. “It’s no one’s fault but his.”

“True, but we were awful to him, and he took it out on you. I’m sorry, my love,” Da says, cupping my shoulder. “We just want ya to be happy.”

“We do,” Ma says, bringing me into her arms, kissing my forehead. “You have stepped up, helped me left and right, and if that doesn’t show me how you’ve grown, I don’t know what can.”

“I do it for ya ’cause I love ya.”

“And I love you, my love,” she says as I tip my head back to look at her. “Yer unlike me. Ya know what ya want. You know how to get it. Ya don’t need me.”

“I’ll always need you, Ma.”

“No, ya don’t need anyone. Ya just want us, and anyone lucky enough to have ya love them is beyond blessed.”

“Exactly,” Declan adds.

“So now, I must meet this boy.”

“I think we all should,” Ma says, and for a second, we hold each other’s gaze.

“Really, Ma?” I ask, and she smiles, cupping my face as well as she can with her good hand.

“Do I like it? No. I want ya with someone of name. But will I let ya hurt ever again? No, and I’ve learned that you aren’t going to do anything ya don’t want to.”

I smile, and she taps my face, her face curving the best it can. I’ve respected my ma my whole life, but at that moment, she surprises me.

She accepts me—for me.