Updated Oct 29, 2025 • ~9 min read
That night, after Clara was asleep and the house was quiet, Jane found Gabriel on the back porch.
He was sitting on the steps, looking out at the dark woods, holding a beer he hadn’t opened.
Jane sat beside him. Close enough to feel his warmth.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. Just thinking.”
“About?”
Gabriel was quiet for a moment. “About how we got here. About all the things we haven’t said.”
Jane’s stomach tightened. “What things?”
“Everything.” Gabriel finally looked at her. “You said you pushed me away from fear. But we never really talked about it. About what you were afraid of. About why.”
“I told you. Everyone I love hurts me.”
“That’s the surface. But there’s more, isn’t there?” Gabriel’s voice was gentle. “Talk to me. Really talk to me. All the things you’re still scared to say.”
Jane pulled her knees up. Wrapped her arms around them. “I’m afraid you’ll get tired of my damage. That one day you’ll wake up and realize I’m too much work. That you’ll leave like everyone else.”
“I won’t.”
“You can’t promise that. People change. Feelings change.”
“You’re right. I can’t promise I’ll never hurt you. No one can promise that.” Gabriel shifted to face her. “But I can promise I’ll never intentionally hurt you. Never manipulate you. Never make you feel small. And I can promise that when we fight—because we will fight—I’ll stay. I won’t leave. Won’t use leaving as a weapon.”
Jane felt tears building. “David used to threaten to leave all the time. If I didn’t do what he wanted, didn’t act how he wanted. He’d say he’d leave. Find someone better. Someone who appreciated him.”
“That’s abuse. Using abandonment as control.”
“I know. But it worked. It made me terrified of him leaving. Made me do anything to keep him.” Jane’s voice broke. “And even now, even knowing he was manipulating me, I’m still terrified of you leaving. Of being abandoned again.”
Gabriel pulled her close. “I’m not leaving. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not when things get hard. I’m staying.”
“What if I’m too broken? What if I can’t—” Jane stopped. Started again. “What if I can’t give you what you need?”
“What do you think I need?”
“Someone whole. Someone easy. Someone who doesn’t wake up screaming from nightmares about car crashes and burning vehicles.”
“I need you. Exactly as you are.” Gabriel’s voice was fierce. “Nightmares and all. Trauma and all. Fear and all. I don’t want easy. I want real. And you’re the most real thing I’ve ever had.”
Jane cried into his shoulder. Months of fear and doubt and self-loathing pouring out.
Gabriel just held her. Let her break. Promised with his presence that he’d still be there when she put herself back together.
When she finally calmed, Gabriel said quietly: “My turn.”
Jane pulled back. “Your turn?”
“To tell you what I’m afraid of.” He wiped her tears gently. “I’m afraid I’m not enough. That I can’t protect you the way you need. That someday David will get out of prison and come after you and I won’t be able to stop him.”
“Gabriel—”
“I’m afraid I’m falling short. That I should be doing more. Being more. That you deserve someone stronger, someone better, someone who can guarantee your safety.”
“You’ve protected us. You’ve done everything—”
“But what if it’s not enough? What if someday I fail you?” Gabriel’s voice was raw. “I couldn’t protect you from David before. Couldn’t see what he was doing, couldn’t stop it. What if I fail again?”
Jane cupped his face. “You’re not responsible for David’s abuse. You couldn’t have stopped it.”
“But I should have tried—”
“No. You were his brother. Not my keeper. Not my savior.” Jane’s voice was firm. “What you’re doing now—staying, supporting, loving us—that’s not a debt you owe. It’s a choice you make. And it’s enough. You’re enough.”
Gabriel’s eyes were wet. “You mean that?”
“Completely.” Jane leaned her forehead against his. “You’re not my protector. You’re my partner. There’s a difference.”
They sat there in the darkness, holding each other, finally saying all the things they’d been too afraid to speak.
“I’m scared every day,” Jane admitted. “That you’ll realize I’m not worth the trouble.”
“I’m scared every day that I’ll let you down.” Gabriel pulled back to look at her. “But we’re doing this anyway. Together. Being scared together.”
“Is that enough?”
“It’s everything.”
Jane kissed him. Different from before. Not desperate or rushed. But deliberate. Intentional. Full of all the things she was finally brave enough to feel.
Gabriel responded slowly. Carefully. Like she was precious. Like this mattered.
“Take me to bed,” Jane whispered against his lips.
Gabriel pulled back slightly. “Are you sure?”
“Completely.” Jane stood, took his hand. “I want this. I want you. Not because I’m running from fear. But because I’m choosing you.”
They went upstairs quietly. Checked on Clara—sleeping peacefully. Then to the bedroom Jane had been using alone.
Not alone anymore.
Gabriel closed the door softly. Turned to face her.
Jane’s heart was racing. She’d thought about this. Wanted this. But now that they were here—
“We can wait,” Gabriel said gently. “If you’re not ready—”
“I’m ready.” Jane crossed to him. Took his hands. “I’m scared. But I’m ready.”
Gabriel cupped her face. “Tell me if you need to stop. Tell me if it’s too much.”
“I will.” Jane pulled him closer, kissed him. Slow and deep. “But right now—right now I just need you to not let go.”
“Never.”
He kissed her like she was precious. Like they had all the time in the world. His hands moved to her waist, steady and sure, asking permission with every touch.
Jane answered by pulling his shirt over his head. By letting her hands explore the body she’d only imagined.
Gabriel was patient. Careful. Reading every response, every hesitation. When Jane tensed, he slowed. When she relaxed, he continued.
They undressed each other slowly. No rush. No desperation. Just—presence.
Gabriel laid her down on the bed with such tenderness it made Jane’s throat tight. He kissed her shoulders, her collarbone, the scar on her ribs from the accident.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered against her skin. “Every part of you.”
Jane had forgotten what it felt like to be worshipped. To have someone touch her like she mattered. Like her body was something sacred instead of something to be used.
When they finally came together, Jane gasped. Not from pain but from the intimacy of it. From feeling seen and safe and chosen all at once.
Gabriel moved slowly. Kissed her through every moment. Whispered her name like a prayer.
And Jane—Jane let herself be present. Let herself feel. Let herself trust that this was real and good and hers.
She wrapped her legs around him, pulled him deeper, heard him groan her name. The sound of it—raw and real and full of love—broke something open in her chest.
“I love you,” she gasped as the pleasure built. “Gabriel, I—”
“I know. I love you too.” He kissed her hard. “So much.”
When Jane came apart in his arms, she cried. From release and relief and the overwhelming realization that this—this was what love was supposed to feel like.
Safe. Chosen. Free.
Gabriel followed moments later, burying his face in her neck, holding her like she was his entire world.
Because she was. And he was hers.
When it was over, they lay tangled together in the dark. Gabriel’s arm around her waist. Jane’s head on his chest.
“I love you,” Jane whispered. “Not because you saved me. But because you see me. The real me. And you stay anyway.”
Gabriel kissed her hair. “I love you because you’re brave enough to keep living. To keep fighting. To keep choosing joy even when you’re terrified.”
“I’m still scared.”
“Me too. But we’re scared together. That’s better than being scared alone.”
Jane closed her eyes. Felt safe. Loved. Chosen.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“For what?”
“For coming back. That night in Seabrook Bay. For not giving up when I pushed you away. For—” She stopped. “For loving me when I couldn’t love myself.”
“You were always worth loving. You just needed time to see it.”
They fell asleep wrapped around each other. No nightmares. No panic. Just peace.
And in the morning, when Clara woke them with her crying, they stumbled into the nursery together. Gabriel changed her while Jane made breakfast. They worked in tandem.
Like a family.
Like this was always meant to be their life.
Later, while Clara napped, Jane found Gabriel in the kitchen making coffee.
She wrapped her arms around him from behind. “Morning.”
“Afternoon, technically.” Gabriel turned, pulled her close. “You okay?”
“Better than okay.” Jane smiled up at him. “I’m happy. Actually, genuinely happy.”
“Good. You deserve it.”
“We deserve it.” Jane corrected. “Both of us. After everything—we deserve this.”
Gabriel kissed her forehead. “Yeah. We do.”
And for the first time in longer than she could remember, Jane believed it.
Believed she deserved happiness. Deserved love. Deserved the ordinary, beautiful life she was building.
With Gabriel. With Clara. With the family they’d chosen.
The past would always be there. The trauma. The fear. The scars.
But it didn’t have to define her future.
She could be broken and healing and happy simultaneously.
She could be scared and brave and in love.
She could be enough exactly as she was.
And Gabriel—Gabriel would be there through all of it.
Not because he had to be.
But because he wanted to be.
That was everything.
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