“You kept it all?”
“Yeah, ah, it was up in the attic all these years,” Clint told her. “I brought it all down a few days ago and Charlie washed everything.”
She picked up her favorite doll, Anna, and hugged her close. “I can’t believe you kept everything.”
Kent placed his hand on her shoulder with a light squeeze. “We knew you were hurting after mom and dad died. We all were. But Clint thought that one day you might want it back.”
“Actually, I figured you’d change your mind the next week and demand I bring it all back,” Clint told her.
She sniffled and reached out for them both. Then knelt in front of her and hugged her between them.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “You guys are the best brothers a girl could ever wish for.”
Epilogue
“Baby girl, where are you?”
Uh-oh. Daddy didn’t sound happy. Probably because she was supposed to in bed, napping, and instead she was hiding in the pantry, eating a bowl of ice cream.
She quickly licked the spoon and was busy trying to find a place to hide it and the dirty bowl when the pantry door opened.
“Shoot.”
Zeke stood there, hands on his hips, glaring down at her. “Just what do you think you are doing?”
“Um.” She wasn’t quite sure what to say considering the evidence of what she had been doing was in her hands.
“Is that ice cream, little girl?”
“Um.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be napping right now?” He reached in and grabbed hold of the arms of her wheelchair, pulling her out of the pantry.
Three months had passed since she’d been kidnapped by Bartolli. They hadn’t been the easiest three months. She’d spent time in therapy, talking through her issues. Sometimes, Zeke had joined her, other times her brothers had. They’d been amazing in helping her, though.
Zeke was her main support. She knew she could lean on him and he wouldn’t falter and she could do the same for him. He didn’t see her as weak or useless. He saw her as strong and beautiful and she thrived under his care.
He plucked the bowl from her hand. “I’m very disappointed in you, Eden Celine.”
“It was just a little ice cream, Daddy.”
“Are you allowed to help yourself to ice cream?”
“No.” She stuck her lower lip out, knowing where this was going.
“Did you ask me if you could have some?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you would have said no.”
“And why would tha
t be?”
Damn it. She hated his oh-so-patient voice. Made her feel even worse than if he’d yelled at her.