Gianna couldn’t take her eyes off the boy, stunned at his strong resemblance to both Michael and Chris. She’d pulled her gaze away for a second and raised a brow at Chris in amusement. He halted his jumbled story and held up his hands in exasperation. “I like her,” he finally blurted. “A lot.”

Brian frowned as he processed his father’s statement, and then his face lit up. “She’s your girlfriend?” he said with a grin, looking eagerly from Gianna to his father.

Gianna could have sworn Chris blushed. “Yes.”

“Awesome.” Brian’s smile filled his face. “It was about time, Dad,” he said seriously. “I was getting worried.”

“Ah, jeez,” muttered Chris, running a hand over his face.

Gianna wished she’d recorded the moment. After that, Brian acted like he’d always known her and Violet. He’d had a bit of a crush on Violet for the first two weeks, but lost it after she beat him in almost every video game he owned. Now the two of them argued and teased like siblings.

“You need to pause a second when the werewolf appears,” Brian instructed. “If you shoot too soon, you’ll miss.”

“Like this?” asked Violet.

An explosion sounded from the game. “You got ’em!” exclaimed Brian. “Nice!”

Gianna sighed.

“Their plane landed ten minutes ago,” muttered Jamie, stopping next to Gianna. “In this rinky-dink airport, it shouldn’t take more than two minutes for them to walk in. The plane had only four people on it, so why don’t they hurry up!”

Gianna understood.

In the two weeks Chris had been gone, phone calls and video chat hadn’t filled the void. She’d worried constantly that Chris and Michael wouldn’t find Reid Kruger. And she’d worried they would—and not survive the encounter.

It’s over.

The words repeated over and over in her head.

Now come back.

“Dad!”

Gianna turned around to see Chris wrap his arms around his son and lift him off his feet, his face buried in his son’s neck. Next to them Michael tipped Jamie backward in a flashy move and kissed her soundly as Jamie’s hands gripped the front of his coat.

Chris looked over his son’s shoulder, and his hazel gaze locked with Gianna’s. Her heart did a flip and she smiled, her legs unable to move. He was tan and his hair had lightened in the constant sun of Mexico. He set Brian down, tousled his hair, and slapped the high-five palm Violet held out to him.

Then he moved toward Gianna, a grin on his face.

He looks relaxed.

He gathered her into his arms, and she melted into him, laying her head against his chest, listening to the rapid beat of his heart. They stood motionless, simply drawing what they needed from each other.

“I missed you,” she whispered into his coat. His arms tightened around her.

“You have no idea how much I thought about you while I was gone,” he said gruffly.

“Thank you,” whispered Gianna. “Thank you for stopping that man and helping Violet sleep at night. She’s been a different girl since we heard he was on his way back to South Africa.”

“I couldn’t let the two of you always wonder,” said Chris. “I didn’t want to see you with a black cloud hovering over your head every day.”

“See me every day?” Gianna asked, lifting her head.

His gaze held hers and his mouth lifted into a smile. “Yes, every day. Is that all right?”

She turned her head and saw Violet and Brian watching the two of them, big smiles on their faces.

“Absolutely.”