Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(94)

“Are you sure you’re ready to talk about the past?” she asked. “I’d like to understand what you went through, but it doesn’t have to be tonight. Tonight’s already been rough.”

He led her up the beach a bit, where they didn’t have to worry about getting hit by the spray, and pulled her down next to him in the soft sand, which still radiated some heat from earlier in the day. “There’s not a lot to tell,” he said. “My stepmother was the problem, but I blame my father for not stepping in.”

Savanna crossed her legs and listened attentively as he told her about his real mother dying when he was two and his stepmother coming into his life at four. He couldn’t remember much of what happened when Diana first married his father, but he definitely remembered the details of the day a year later when he came out of the restroom at the public park to find his stepmother gone. He also remembered how terrified he’d been when a policeman took him home, knowing, as Gavin did, that she wouldn’t be happy to see him. He said the beating he took a few days later was for “making a mess,” but he’d always known it had nothing to do with the toys he’d left on the floor. She’d exploded because she didn’t want him there.

Savanna removed her shoes and dug her toes in the sand. “Do you think you’ll ever want your father back in your life?”

He hesitated as if that wasn’t an easy question to answer. “He’s called me a few times,” he said at length.

“And? What’d he say?”

“Not much. I hang up as soon as he identifies himself.”

“Why do you think he’s reaching out?”

Gavin leaned back, resting the bulk of his weight on his hands as he stared off, across the water. “To apologize. At least, that’s how he starts the conversation. But he’s far too late for that. I’m not interested.”

She listened to several more waves wash up on the beach, marked the foaming surf as coming closer to them, which told her the tide was rising. “What about the foster family who took you in? Do you have any contact with them?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“They were so fanatical. We never connected.”

“Fanatical in what way?”

“They belonged to this religious cult where just about everything was a sin.”

She listened to how difficult he’d found it to fit in with a family who looked at every joy in life as a temptation to be conquered, how, in an attempt to find others he could identify with, he’d eventually fallen in with the wrong crowd at school despite his foster parents’ disapproval—or maybe because of it—and started ditching classes and getting into fights. Pretty soon, he was such an embarrassment to his foster family that the money they received to care for him wasn’t enough incentive to allow “Satan” a place in their home. So they gave him back to the state, at which point he’d been sent to New Horizons.

“Did your foster family have any other kids?”

“They thought they couldn’t have children. Maybe that’s why they decided to foster. But then they wound up having biological twin girls, nine years younger than me.”

“How’d they turn out?”

“I only lived with them for seven years, so the girls weren’t that old when they sent me away. They were indoctrinated young, though. I’m guessing they turned out just like their parents.”

“You don’t know?”

“I haven’t been in touch since I once again became a ward of the state.”

Savanna thought it was heartbreaking that none of the people from his early years had tried to stay in contact. “It’s amazing that you’ve turned out to be such a great person. How’d you overcome all of the rejection and grief?”

Not once had she heard him use his background as an excuse the way Gordon had so many times...

“Aiyana,” he said simply. “I owe her a lot.”

“She was able to heal what was broken inside you.”

“The love she offered me did that.”

“How could anyone not love you?” she asked.

He leaned forward to push the hair out of her face. They’d been so careful not to get physical since that crazy encounter against his truck, had been trying desperately to slow things down so they could be sure they weren’t making a mistake. There were too many beleaguered hearts to take into consideration—hers and her kids’, Gavin’s, even Heather’s. But they’d moved beyond hesitancy and fear to a sense of surety and commitment. “You’re the one I’ve been waiting for.”

As his lips touched hers, Savanna thought maybe the past few months had all been worth it if they’d been leading to this magical moment. “I’m so glad I found you,” she murmured when he lifted his head, and she felt Gavin press her back onto the sand as he slid his hand up under her dress.

*

The wind rippled through Gavin’s open shirt as he drove into Savanna. He’d never felt so wild and free, so victorious. He wasn’t sure why that particular word would come to mind, but he couldn’t think of a better way to describe the exhilaration he was feeling. His soul seemed to be soaring over the beach, the ocean, the whole earth. He didn’t have the answers for the myriad problems they’d likely face. He was aware of all the challenges that could come. But he’d answered the biggest question of all, finally understood the fierceness of Eli’s love for Cora. Maybe that was the victory. He’d found that same rare, once-in-a-lifetime love, knew who he wanted to share the rest of his life with.