She nodded as if that made perfect sense. “You never were able to sit still for long periods at a time.”

Which was another way of saying he was a lot of work. “Sorry about that,” he said.

“Don’t be.” The mistiness in her eyes increased. “It’s always been one of my favorite things about you.”

“What is?” Sophie asked, coming up from behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his neck, drawing a deep breath as though inhaling his very essence. “His roguish good looks? That’s what got me. Well, that and his puppy-like innocence. Isn’t that right, Bubbles?”

The dog at his feet yapped her agreement.

His mom chuckled. “I was just telling him that he was always on the go, even as a baby. He was always awake, always alert, always looking for something to get into. Nothing ever seemed to slow him down.”

“Chains did the trick occasionally.” Harrison’s dad came up behind them, a beer in his hand and a smile on his face. Half of that sight was familiar to him, but he was still adjusting to the smile part. He’d been doing a lot of that ever since Minerva had come home.

“You didn’t!” Sophie protested with a laugh.

“Sure I did. Plus ropes, zip ties, a pit in the backyard with chicken wire over the top…”

“Wallace, no,” Minerva protested.

“Of course not,” he said, agreeing. “But it would have served him right if I had. If you had any idea what I had to go through during his teen years…”

A few months ago, Harrison would have shut down at the reference to the past. A few months ago, he would have turned stiff and remote. But a few months ago, he hadn’t been happy.

He was now. He defied anyone not to be with a woman like Sophie at his back and a dog like Bubbles at his feet. Literally.

“If it’s any consolation, Sophie was a much worse teenager than I was,” he offered. “You should hear some of the stories she has to tell about her wayward youth. The drugs. The needles.”

“Don’t you dare,” she warned in his ear.

He dared. “The orgies.”

His mom’s eyes flew wide open, but his dad just laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s probably better if we don’t ask,” he said as he led her away. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about that girl, it’s that she’s capable of anything.”

“He’s right, you know,” Harrison said as soon as they were out of earshot. “I knew it from the start—you’re terrifying.”

“Am I?” Sophie murmured, not the least bit put off by this confession.

“A veritable monster.”