He kissed the palm of her hand. “Yes, I’m working on my timing and now it’s right, though you should know my life became right the day you walked into it.”

“I drove into it and you pulled me over.”

“You’re a speed demon, my love. Now hush and enjoy the ride.”

He was being awfully mysterious, but she’d learned to trust him. He’d said he was all in, and she’d seen nothing from him that made her doubt it. He’d supported her in everything she wanted to do even when it meant cutting his red meat intake after she’d gotten his cholesterol numbers back. They’d settled into something amazing.

And he’d been more than supportive when she’d announced plans for the Maryanne George Women’s Shelter, serving all of Papillon Parish. She was using the land she’d bought and building something new and safe for any woman who needed it.

He was right. She wouldn’t give up on them.

And she wouldn’t ever give up on her town. She was quiet as Armie started to drive them through the town toward the bayou. How odd that she’d spent all those years of her childhood dreaming of some high-rise, thinking wealth would make her happy, and only finding the meaning of that word here. Her happiness wasn’t found in money or things. It had been found in this place, in serving her neighbors and discovering what it meant to be a mother and a wife. Finding her place in this tiny town had given her a freedom she’d never thought to have.

Armie parked in front of the remains of her old house. He opened the door and Peanut bounded out.

“Are we taking a tour ahead of the wreckers coming out?” In a few days they would clear out the entire lot and get it ready to rebuild it as a modern, secure home. She liked that she wouldn’t be too far from it.

He shook his head. “No. We’re going to one of my favorite places in the world. It’s a little out of the way, though. I guilted Major into coming out here and fixing up your dock. It still needs work, but it’s safe and I parked a boat there for us.”

She would go anywhere with him. “Let’s go.”

She let him lead her down to the dock, looking wistfully at her first house on the bayou. She loved Armie’s home, her home, but this one had been a nice introduction to her new life.