Impact (Suncoast Society #32)(70)

“Mistress Cardinal worked hard for it,” Tilly said. “It was fine for us, when it was just us. We’ve had a lot of good times here, and made really good memories. But now it’s time we have a house that’s our house. Not just ours, but Katie’s, too. I want it to be the house she grows up in, the one she knows is home. One we can stay in for years, just like the new condo in LA. I want it to be the house that when she looks back on her childhood, it’s where most of her happy memories are. Where we can have our friends over for the kid-friendly parties, not just kinky ones. We can’t even host those here. We’ve never had kids here, do you realize that?”

“I never thought about it like that,” Landry admitted.

“And I want a house that’s large enough that, in case we ever decide to adopt another child, we’ve got room and don’t have to move again. The LA condo is big enough. This one isn’t. It’s barely big enough for the three of us, much less a baby.”

“When do you want to start looking?” Cris asked.

“Soon. Or we can build one.”

“We have connections with people who work for a building contractor,” Landry joked. “Max and Sean.”

“Exactly. And Seth was a contractor, too.”

Tilly thought maybe the men had fallen asleep when Landry spoke again. “I think I like the idea of building better than buying something. Unless, of course, we stumble across exactly the right one.”

“Do we get a say in it this time?” Tilly joked.

“Perhaps. The condo isn’t our primary home. We normally won’t be there more than a few days at a time. This is different. This will be our home, as you said. Not that money is a hinderance, but Dale Waters assures me that the lawsuit we’ll win for Sofia’s wrongful death will be substantial. Especially if we agree to settle out of court.”

“Lan did give me a say in the last condo we bought before he met you,” Cris said to Tilly in a teasing tone. “He’s not a complete control freak.”

“Oh, I absolutely am,” Landry said. “About the things I wish to be.”

Tilly pulled their arms around her. “So…it’s settled then? We’ll either buy or build?”

“It’s settled, love,” Landry said. “If Cris is fine with that.”

“Oh, sure. Now you give me a choice.” He chuckled before he leaned in and kissed her. “Yes, I’m fine with that.”

As Tilly drifted off to sleep, she thought about the urn now sitting on a shelf in their living room, holding the hopes and dreams of a young mother who only wanted a chance to give her daughter a better life.

All that was left of what had been Sofia Guerrero.

And everything that had made Tilly’s dreams finally come true and erased the last vestiges of the hell she’d felt trapped in ever since that horrible night when she was a kid.

Heaven lay in that urn, and Tilly would never forget it or take it for granted.

Never.




THE END