Love is lilac.

My head may have forgotten that field, but my heart hadn’t. It had been trying to tell me all along. I’d found my haven all over again in three broken rock gods. When the world wrote off my pain, I could run to them and forget. They’d be my shelter, my peace, and my solace. I could sing, I could sleep, I could laugh, I could cry. In their arms, I could just be.

All I needed to know was why they weren’t here now.

“Mom—”

The door opened, interrupting me before I could ask her about them. I felt my belly tighten and warm. Was it them?

“Ms. Fawn, you had quite the ordeal,” the doctor greeted when he walked in with my father.

Sighing, I deflated against the mound of pillows before staring at the lilac stem in my hand.

Yeah.

No kidding.

It was thirty-eight degrees outside, and my balls were freezing, but I stayed put out in the open and the blowing wind. I wanted to be sure we were the first thing Braxton saw when she was wheeled from the hospital.

It had been ten days since she ripped my heart from my chest. Her parents had kicked us out when they arrived, and there was nothing we could do when they forbade us from seeing her.

Braxton, always the merciless mind-fucker, kept her expression neutral as I took her in. She had bruising under her eyes and on her cheeks that were beginning to fade and wore the change of clothes we had Dani deliver thanks to Rosalie tipping us off that today was her sister’s discharge date.

Eventually, Braxton tore her gaze away and lifted her head to say something to her mother.

When Mrs. Fawn immediately started to argue, we started forward. Amelia had no power outside of that hospital, and we weren’t leaving here without her daughter.

Our only relief was the amusement in Braxton’s gaze as her mother became more and more upset by the syllable. We were close enough now to clearly make out their conversation.

“They didn’t have to tell me you banned them from seeing me, Mother. How would they? I know you. Better still, I know them.”

“Braxton, I did what was best for you, and I will not apologize.”

“No. You did what was best for you. If it had been about me, the support I needed, however much, would have outweighed your comfort.”

It was clear whatever common ground the two had found over the last week and a half had ended.

“You’ve made it clear how you feel about my choices, Braxton, but if you don’t have to apologize for who you are, why should I?”

Braxton nodded her agreement and then raised one truth with another. “Exactly. It was your choice. I’ve never tried to force my ideas on you, and I’ve never ostracized you for thinking differently than me.”

“Is that what you call raising and protecting you?”

“I’m an adult now, Mom. What’s your excuse?” Braxton asked her dryly.

“You told your sister to murder an innocent life when it goes against everything we’ve taught you both. That’s my excuse.”

“Mom.” Braxton closed her eyes and kept them shut. “For the last time, I never told Rosalie to abort her baby. She knew what she wanted before she came to me. I didn’t put those thoughts in her head or the words in her mouth. She spoke them all on her own. My only crime was offering to stand by her no matter what.” Her eyes opened, and they met her mother’s. “Something we both knew you’d fail to do.”

“Rosalie’s a child. She didn’t know what she was saying.”

“I considered that,” Braxton told her while nodding again. “So I made sure I didn’t sugarcoat a damn thing, and guess what, Mom? Rosalie never wavered. Not even once. Because she didn’t want to be a wife and mother. She wanted to stay a kid. She wanted to grow up on her time. She wanted the chance to find herself.” My baby gave her mother a withering look. “Clearly, the repercussions of having an abortion didn’t scare her nearly as much as you.”

Braxton stood from the wheelchair on shaky legs, but when we started forward to help her, she gave us a look to back the hell off. Loren and I held up our hands in surrender as we did just that.

“So congratulations, Mother. Your personal opinions just cost Rosalie her dreams, her childhood, the chance at true love, and the next eighteen years of her life. But as you pointed out, you made your choice, so why not make your daughter’s too.”

Braxton shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but her eyes told a different story.

“I’m her mother. That is my job.”

“No. It’s your job to provide her safety, love, and support. And yes, help her find a direction. It is not your job to choose who she is, what she believes in, or how her future gets to be. That was always meant for Rosalie to decide when the time came.” Braxton started to limp toward us when she stopped and turned back to her mother. “Spoiler alert—it’s not at thirteen.”

Loren had snuck up on Braxton when she turned toward us again and lifted her in his arms before she could object. She smiled at him, and it felt like a punch to the gut.

I’d missed that sight.

Braxton didn’t bother to say goodbye to her mother when we turned to go, but clearly, Amelia wasn’t done.

“You should take some responsibility, Braxton. This isn’t all on your father and me. If you weren’t such a whore despite all we’ve done to teach you, none of this would have happened to your sister. She looked up to you, and look where it got her.”

Loren slowly turned with Braxton in his arms. I did too. She put her finger to his lips before he could say anything and then kissed them.

“Take me home,” was all she said before laying her head on his chest.

Despite her cruel words, it didn’t change the fact that Amelia had come to her daughter’s side when she needed her most. Braxton would never forget that. At the moment, she was repaying her mother’s short-lived kindness by protecting her from our wrath.

Loren started for my truck with her while I took one last look at Amelia Fawn. It was foolish to hope I would never see her ass again, but I couldn’t help myself.

“Where’s Jericho?” Braxton asked once we reached the G-Wagon.

Loren and I looked at each other, but neither of us said a word as he helped her into the back, and I climbed into the driver’s seat. Braxton’s gaze switched back and forth between us as she waited for the answer that we couldn’t bring ourselves to give.

“Loren…”

He leaned down to gently kiss her lips before closing the door in her face. I made sure to keep my gaze forward as Loren climbed in the front seat, and then I peeled off out of the parking lot, heading toward home.

“You guys are both jerks.”

It was all Braxton managed to get out before Jericho grabbed her and started tonguing her down with a groan right there in the doorway. “I missed you,” he said to her, “and I’m so fucking sorry. So goddamn sorry.”

Emily’s aim hadn’t been true.

She’d been so wrapped up in her misplaced anger and scorn that she ended up putting a bullet in the wall rather than his heart. Loren had wrestled the gun from her and kept her ass in check long enough for the cops to come. By then, my grandmother had called to tell us what had become of Braxton. Emily had been lucky the cops had already arrived, or she’d be buried out back rather than sitting in a jail cell.

I once threatened Braxton with the same, but back then, it had been just another mind game. I hadn’t meant a word of it.

I couldn’t say the same for Emily.

Loren and I left Jericho and Braxton where they were as we entered the house and looked around, taking in the banner, streamers, food, and drinks.

Jericho had stayed behind to oversee and finish setting up Braxton’s welcome home party. The guest list was short, but it was more than we’d ever allowed inside our home before. We’d even invited Oni, who’d quit Savant recently and mysteriously, and was currently looking like a fish out of water while ensuring Xavier stayed on the far side of the room from her.

“Excuse me, but you’re not the only one who was worried and missed Braxton,” Griffin bitched as usual as she approached them.

“Why did we invite her again?” Loren whispered to me with his eyes on them.

I shrugged because I honestly didn’t know. She was Braxton’s best friend so…whatever. Maeko was busy chatting up Xavier while Griffin tried and failed to free Braxton from Jericho. The more she pulled, the harder he clung.

“Hey, cut that shit out,” I finally barked when I had enough of their tug-of-war. Braxton had just been released from the hospital an hour ago. “Not so fucking rough with her.”

Jericho finally let our girl go with a few last pecks and walked away. Braxton blushed and flashed me a quick smile before finally turning to Griffin.