Chance had every available man out on patrol every night looking for Ben. He even went as far as to call in a bounty on his head. That got quite a bit of attention but it still returned no results. Link was right. Ben was an eel slipping right through a fishing net and heading off into the night, blending into the blackness of the sea around him. It was frustrating and caused more than one night of missed sleep.
“Please just try to get some rest,” Hannah said, sitting down next to him one night when she found him awake. “I know it’s frustrating and scary for all of us but you’re only doing more harm to yourself by not sleeping. Plus, you’re letting him win by letting him get to you.”
“I’m not letting him do anything,” Chance snapped and then immediately regretted it. “I’m sorry.”
She sighed and rubbed his neck. Chance didn’t deserve how good Hannah had been to him in the past few weeks. He’d been a total nightmare, a complete pill to swallow. He was irritable and difficult and moody. She was pregnant, he was supposed to be waiting on her hand and foot and instead she was up at night comforting him. That needed to stop. They needed a change of pace, somewhere they could go to relax and unwind and block all of this out of their minds.
“How do you feel about moving?” he asked.
“Okay, now I know you need some sleep, come on,” she said, tugging at him.
“No, I mean it,” he said. “We can’t raise a kid here. I mean we could, but do we really want our kids first home to be our dingy apartment—”
“I think I cleaned it up pretty well, excuse you—”
“You did. But my point is. Our kid deserves a yard, a place to run around, somewhere with a view, right?”
She sighed and looked off out the window into the night sky. He could see the Hannahe desires that he’d been harboring playing out on her face as well. Every child deserved at least a place to run around and scrape their knee for the first time or somewhere they could kick a ball around. There was a quad in the apartment complex but they’d be sharing it with dozens of other people. Their child deserved a place entirely of their own.
So that’s how they found themselves back at the cabin where they first realized they could fall in love. It was exactly as they remembered.
Scout had moved out. She’d gotten herself back into the world. After a few weeks of reflection and solitude she decided she couldn’t take anymore solitary healing and returned home permanently. She did decide, however, that she was going to take over the lease on Chance’s place. It worked out for everyone, Scout got a fresh start for herself and they didn’t have to worry about incurring any punishing fees for breaking their lease. Everything seemed to be moving forward.
The small cottage on the edge of the lake was a gorgeous home to raise a child and Chance couldn’t stop thanking Link for giving him the keys.
“I trust that this is you settling down and hopefully getting yourself and your family out of this mess we made together,” Link said. “I’m happy to invest in that, for certain.
Chance still insisted on giving him money, tough Link refused to take it and eventually Kat told him to knock it off and just accept the gift graciously like anyone else would. But, boys would be boys and Chance, for the sake of his pride if nothing else, tried several times to pay Link back in some fashion.
***
“Do we know the sex of the baby?” Scout asked as they assembled the last piece of the crib in the nursery.
“Not yet,” Hannah answered. “You can’t tell for a while.”
“Well, neutral colors it is, then,” she said, going through the paint swatches.
“You’re back in school?” Kat asked as she hung up a small painting of a duck that she had gifted the couple.
“I am,” Hannah said. “At least I’m going to try. Obviously with the pregnancy it’s not going to be easy but I spoke to one of my professors who was willing to let me switch over to online classes when the time came.”
They put the last peg in the slot and stepped back to admire their handiwork. It looked like a crib, which was always a good start. Chance had bought them a new kitchen table that, upon assembly, was not like a kitchen table at all. He ended up spending last night completely redoing it while Hannah went off to bed early. But she didn’t need a crib instruction manual to tell her that she was smarter than Chance.
“How are things on your end?” Hannah asked, turning to Scout.
No one mentioned Ben’s name out loud nor did they outright mention the things that had been going on lately. It was always “how are you these days?” or “anything new?” Hannah wondered if it bothered Scout, the way everyone seemed to ready and willing to dance around her problems. They were everybody’s problems, of course, but she was the one who found herself most affected by the turn of events. She’d lost a boyfriend and a best friend. He’d been her rock and confidant and partner in the world and he’d been so willing to sell her out and hurt her if it meant getting what he wanted.
“I’m still cleaning up that mess of an apartment,” Scout said. “No offense.”
“That was all Chance,” Hannah said, putting her hands up and laughing. “I cleaned as much as I could but some parts of that place haven’t seen the light of day for years as far as I could tell.
Scout snorted and shrugged. It was as good as things were going to get for her right now. And Hannah would take what she could. Scout hadn’t exactly been a shining beacon of sunlight and hope before but she had lost some of the shine she did have now that things had calmed down.
Ben had disappeared again, like smoke in the middle of the night or a ship passing another. Hannah took it as good news. It probably meant he didn’t want to be caught. Maybe he even skipped town to go torture other people somewhere else. They could finally have some freedom and peace of mind. But, somewhere in the back of her mind, she also knew that was the most wishful of thinking and not exactly practical. But it was better to see the glass half full than to be watching your back every few seconds, waiting for the man with the knife and the cloak to jump out and grab you.
They set to putting the drawers in the dresser. Hannah didn’t really care whether or not the room matched a gender aesthetic. She just wanted a baby to put in it. If she decorated it with princess posters and had a boy then her son would learn to love pink things and be done with it. She was sure Chance would not approve of some macho man to be being swathed in pink and purple blankets in the first few moments of his life but he’d also get over it too. Girls could be tough and men could be vulnerable. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
“This is far better than any nursery I gave these two,” Kat said. “But you’re in a bit of a better place than I was back when Chance was born. Link wanted to just decorate the whole house to welcome his daughter but I told him I wasn’t dealing with rattles in my kitchen.”
Hannah smiled. Kat had been through so much and part of her wanted to know, wanted to be able to assign as much respect as possible to this woman by knowing everything she went through in life. But another part of her never wanted the images in her head, never wanted to know what Kat had been put through by Chance’s father. It seemed to be a ghost that crossed Kat’s face every time it was mentioned and she saw Kat looking at Chance often and she wondered just how much he looked like his father. That was the one curse of being the children dead parents, you are carrying their face with you everywhere you went.
They eventually broke for lunch and laughed as Link divided up the pizza but gave the first three slices to Hannah, claiming that she needed them more than anyone else if the kid growing inside her was going to be a strong addition to the Knight’s family. Hannah rolled her eyes but wasn’t about to turn away three slices of pizza. She sat on the couch with the utmost laze she could muster and dug into the pieces of pizza without restraint or preamble. This was the life she’d been hoping for years. Gabe was somewhere safe and not causing her trouble, she was back in school, she had a family around her that would protect and support her. Everything seemed to perfect.
And it was only about to get more perfect the next day when Hannah finished up the final touches on the nursery by herself after Kat and Scout had left. She’d woken up early that morning to have it ready by the time that Chance had rolled himself out of bed later that day. And it felt like she was staring at her entire future.