A Warm Heart in Winter(96)

“Yes, I’m fine. I just . . . I’m good. Just really hungry.”

She glanced out at the parking lot again. The tow truck was gone.

What did it matter, she thought. She had other things to worry about.

“Are you okay?” she asked her mom. “I mean, are you . . . really okay here?”

The smile that hit her mom’s face was sad and slow. But the answer that came back was strong and steady. “I am very okay. I have you two. And that’s all I need going forward.”

Elle felt her eyes water. “I’ve missed you.”

Their mom leaned forward and put her hand on Elle’s. “I’m missed you, too. And I’m not leaving you ever again, okay? I’m sorry about where I went, but I’m back now.”

In a child’s voice, Elle whispered, “What . . . what made you return.”

Their mom squeezed Elle’s palm. “Only the most powerful thing in all the world.”

“What’s that?”

“Love.” Their mom smiled deeply. “What else could it be?”

Elle blinked quickly. Then she took a deep breath, filled up her fork, and took a bite. As the familiar taste bloomed in her mouth, and her mother continued to stare into her eyes with the kind of levelness that had previously been a hallmark . . . Elle found herself nodding.

“Love and lasagna,” she agreed. “Are everything.”



If you, or anybody you know, is suffering from suicidal thoughts, or if you have been affected by suicide and need help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 116 123

Learn about the warning signs, prevention, and other resources here:

www.samaritans.org


With so many thanks to the readers of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books! This has been, and continues to be, a long, marvelous, exciting journey, and I can’t wait to see what happens next in this world we all love. I’d also like to thank Meg Ruley, Rebecca Scherer, and everyone at JRA, and Hannah Bratten, Andrew Nguyen, Jennifer Bergstrom, Jennifer Long, and the entire family at Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster.

To Team Waud, I love you all. Truly. And as always, everything I do is with love to, and adoration for, both my family of origin and of adoption.

Oh, and with all my gratitude to Naamah, my Writer Dog II, who works as hard as I do on my books, and to the Archiball!