Home Is Where the Heart Is
Grimwood
Lucy and Connor
“We should wait until late spring, at least.” Lucy ducked her head and worked on kneading the bread so she wouldn’t have to see Connor’s disappointed expression at her words.
“Luce.”
Just her name, nothing else. Lucy’s shoulders rounded. “We don’t want to be gone from the inn for too long, right? If we wait until late spring we won’t have to deal with the muddy roads the same as we will now.”
Weak. Such a painfully weak excuse.
“We agreed.”
They had. They’d spent the long winter making their plans and now Lucy was proving that being a wolf when the moon ran full didn’t make a woman fearless.
“I’m scared, Connor. What if she doesn’t want to see me?” Her fear tumbled out and Lucy kneaded the dough harder.
“If she doesn’t want to see you, we’ll leave. We’ll come back here to my grandmother who adores you and my parents who are expecting us to announce their next grandbaby is on the way soon.” Connor closed his hand over hers and stopped their fretful movement. “No matter what happens it won’t change the way I think of you, my love.”
Lucy let his scent sink into her. She let his words calm the burbling nerves in her gut.
Her mate wasn’t wrong. If her mom didn’t want her near, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It would hurt, but she wasn’t the same terrified girl who’d been run out of her stepfather’s home when her curse took hold.
She wasn’t alone. Connor and his infinitely large family had taken her in and showed her what it meant to be loved.
She was Lucy Redfield now. Connor’s grandmother had talked them into letting the mayor marry them and she was officially part of the clan.
Managing a smile, she went up on her toes and gave her husband a kiss on his cheek. They’d made the plans. Connor had spoken to his family and one of his cousins was coming to help Alene Redfield out at the inn in their absence.
They were going to visit the village her mother and stepfather lived in whether she was having second thoughts or not.
“It will be okay, Lucy. You’ll see.”
It might not be, but that was the price she’d paid for staying away so long. Hope was a strange bedfellow. It flared up sometimes at the most innocuous of things.
Lucy had hope that her mother would be happy to see her. She was still scared. She would probably have nightmares until they got to the village, but the barest flicker of hope lived in her breast.
She’d see this through.
Her heart demanded it.
If for no other reason than to lay the ghost of this particular piece of her past to rest.
Before she was a Redfield, Lucy had been a Grimm. And Grimms could be tenacious when they needed to be.
For this journey, Lucy would need to draw on the same strength of spirit that had made her survive her first winter as a wolf.
If she could do that—if she could win the love of a man as incredible as Connor Redfield, she could do anything.
Even leave the home of her heart to see her mother after many years.
Drawing in a deep breath, Lucy gave Connor a smile and nudged him away from her dough. They’d have time to talk once it was in the oven baking. For now, she had a job to do and she could see by her husband’s expression that he understood that she’d found peace in his simple words.
Home was where the heart was and Lucy’s heart was wherever Connor was.
The End
Want to see how Lucy and Connor first met? Grab Cursed Wolves to read their story.
Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.
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