CHAPTER 75 — “The Rain That Held Us Close”

Sophie’s POV

By morning, the sky had darkened to a heavy slate gray. Clouds rolled across the mountains like a stormy tide, thick and moody. I opened the cabin door just as the first drops fell—soft, tentative—before turning into a curtain of silver rain.

Behind me, Aria gasped.

Arianna squealed.

Arian clapped her hands.

“It’s raining!” Aria cried, her voice filled with awe.

Cassian poked his head out from the hallway, hair sticking in five directions. “Rain? Inside? Or outside? Because if it’s inside, it wasn’t me. Probably.”

Adrian passed behind him, straightening his shirt. “It was him.”

“I HEARD THAT,” Cass snapped.

“You were meant to,” Adrian replied calmly.

Lucian walked over, slid an arm around my waist, and pressed a kiss to my temple. “Looks like we’re staying in today.”

And just like that, the cabin went from peaceful retreat… to the lively chaos of a family bracing for indoor madness.

Cassian dropped onto the floor dramatically. “Girls. Warriors. Listen to me. Today… we play the Ultimate Game.”

Arian tilted her head. “What’s that?”

“Hide-and-seek,” he declared. “But extreme.”

Adrian rolled his eyes. “No.”

Lucian: “Definitely not.”

Cass: “Too late—I already said it out loud.”

The girls cheered.

Adrian muttered something about poor decision-making.

Cassian stood on a chair like he was about to announce a war strategy.

“We split into teams!” Cassian said. “Team Chaos—aka, the princesses. Team Logic—Adrian. Team Brooding—Lucian. Team… Mom.”

I blinked. “Team Mom?”

Cass shrugged. “You’re a one-woman army.”

Lucian kissed my cheek. “He’s not wrong.”

Cassian clapped. “RULES: No hiding in the woods. No locking doors. And no climbing onto the roof—”

Adrian: “Cassian.”

Cass: “Okay, fine. One time on the roof.”

Aria whispered to me loudly: “He’s crazy.”

Arianna nodded. “He’s the crazy uncle.”

Arian added, “I like him.”

Cassian clutched his chest in mock emotion. “My people!”

The game erupted instantly.

Cassian counted loudly. “TEN… NINE… EIGHT—”

Aria shoved herself behind the curtains, her feet sticking out.

Arian hid in a kitchen cabinet until she scared herself and slammed it shut.

Arianna tried to hide behind a lamp.

My father attempted to hide in the pantry and knocked over a bag of flour, which exploded everywhere.

Lucian hid behind a door and nearly gave Adrian a heart attack.

“Why are you like this?” Adrian hissed.

Cassian—halfway through counting—saw the mess.

“WHY IS THERE SNOW? WHO BROUGHT SNOW?”

“It’s flour,” Adrian said.

Cass gasped. “You mean… edible snow?”

“NO,” Adrian snapped.

Cass scooped a handful anyway. “I am ABSOLUTELY eating this.”

Lucian dragged him away. “Sophie! Your brother-in-law is feral.”

Cassian: “You married me too, emotionally.”

Lucian: “No.”

Cass: “YES.”

Adrian: “I hate all of you.”

While the cabin exploded with laughter and chaos, my father tugged my sleeve lightly.

“Could we… step outside for a moment?” he asked.

The rain was falling softly now, a misty drizzle. The porch was dry enough to sit under. We settled onto the wooden bench, watching droplets race down the railing.

My father folded his hands, exhaling deeply.

“You know,” he said quietly, “I didn’t think I’d ever get this. To sit here… with you… and your family. To hear them laugh. To see you smile.”

I swallowed softly. “Dad…”

He gaze softened. “I want to say something I should’ve said a long, long time ago.”

Rain tapped gently against the roof.

He looked at me with an expression full of regret and love.

“You didn’t deserve any of the fear you grew up with. You didn’t deserve my absence. You didn’t deserve the danger that followed you. And if I could rewrite every mistake, every moment that hurt you, I would do it without hesitation.”

My heart tightened. “Dad… you came back. You stayed. That matters.”

“It matters,” he echoed. “But it doesn’t erase what happened. And yet… seeing you now—safe, loved, surrounded—” He paused, voice breaking. “I forgive myself a little, too.”

That sentence hit deeper than I expected.

I reached for his hand. “We’re healing. All of us.”

He nodded, tears glistening.

The rain soothed everything around us.

Inside, the girls screamed in laughter because Cassian had apparently gotten stuck under a bed.

I smiled softly.

Dad chuckled.

And for a moment, everything was beautifully, perfectly normal.

Lucian stepped onto the porch, rain droplets clinging to his hair. He glanced between us, checking—quietly, respectfully—that we were okay.

“Everything alright?” he asked gently.

“Better than alright,” my father said, patting his shoulder. “Thank you… for helping her heal.”

Lucian knelt in front of me, pressing his forehead to mine.

“Come inside,” he whispered. “I miss you.”

My heart warmed instantly.

“Did something happen?”

He nodded. “Cassian got stuck in the fireplace.”

My eyes widened. “WHAT?”

My father groaned. “I leave for ten minutes.”

Lucian sighed. “Adrian blames me.”

I burst into laughter.

The scene inside was absolute chaos.

Cassian was indeed half-inside the fireplace, legs kicking wildly.

Arian was dragging a pillow twice her size across the floor.

Aria was brushing Adrian’s hair.

(He looked resigned.)

Arianna stood on a chair shouting orders like a tiny general.

Cassian yelled, “THIS IS NOT HOW I THOUGHT MY LIFE WOULD END—LEFT IN A FIREPLACE IN THE MOUNTAINS LIKE AN ORPHANED CHIMNEY DEMON—”

Lucian pinched the bridge of his nose.

Adrian deadpanned: “We should leave him.”

“No!” Aria cried. “We need him.”

Cassian sniffed dramatically. “FINALLY. SOMEONE LOVES ME.”

Lucian: “Okay. Everyone step back.”

He grabbed Cass’s ankles and pulled him out like a stubborn carrot.

Cass popped out backward, covered in soot.

Arian gasped. “UNCLE CASS IS A SNOWMAN!”

Aria frowned. “A black snowman.”

Arianna declared, “A midnight snowman.”

Cass spread his arms wide. “I am reborn.”

Adrian shoved a wipe at him. “Clean yourself. Disgrace.”

Later, the rain softened to a steady hum. The girls curled beside me on the couch, wrapped in blankets.

Aria: “Mommy?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Are we happy?”

I smiled. “Very.”

Arianna: “Will we always be?”

I kissed her forehead. “We’ll always try.”

Arian: “Are we safe?”

Lucian, standing behind the couch, answered gently:

“You’re the safest you’ve ever been.”

Their little bodies relaxed instantly.

And my heart melted.

Once the girls fell asleep, the cabin dimmed. Rain whispered against the windows. My father snored lightly on the recliner. Adrian sat reading. Cassian drooled on the couch pillow.

I climbed into bed beside Lucian.

He pulled me to him instantly, warm and protective.

“You okay?” he murmured.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I think today… healed something.”

He kissed the crown of my head. “Then it was perfect.”

The rain faded into a soft lullaby.

I fell asleep in his arms.