Chapter Six
Ryker watched her sleep. He’d placed his shirt on a pillow and put it in her arms. Yes, he was turning into that guy, but he didn’t care. He had to go now, as otherwise he never would. Waking with her in his arms always gave him an excuse to wait one more day. Time was ticking, and he didn’t want to risk a moment.
If he left now, he knew he’d be back in time.
Placing the letter on the bed, he forced himself to step out the door. When he could no longer see her, he turned his back and made his way downstairs.
Her dog was lying at the bottom of the stairs. Getting down on one knee, he stroked the dog’s hair. “You’ve got to take care of her for me, buddy. Keep her safe, and attack anyone who comes close, got me?”
The dog stared at him, but Ryker was sure in some weird way, they were both on the same page.
Scarlett’s protection.
Letting himself out of her house, he found the car that he’d first taken her. In his bag was also the gun that he’d stored in the basement.
Climbing behind the wheel, he stared back at the cabin.
“Keep on moving, Ryker. You can’t stay here. You’ve got to try and fix this.”
His heart pounded as he turned over the ignition. With the car running, he pulled out of the garden and headed down toward the town. Once he was there, he moved toward the beaten roads and started the long trek toward the city.
With each mile he took and the gap between him and Scarlett increased, he felt sick to his stomach.
All of his life he’d used women, tossing them aside when he was done.
“She’s yours now, Ryker. No one can take her away from you. No one.”
Even as he thought it, he couldn’t stop the sick feeling that consumed him. If he was anyone else, he’d have just stayed with her, waiting for the day that the cops came to take him away, or he got too comfortable and lost his touch.
Either way, he refused to live with that darkness hanging over his head. Even though he didn’t want to leave her, right now, it was for the best.
One day, he’d make it back to her though.
He didn’t have a choice.
She was his home, and there’s no way he’d settle for anything less.
****
Heavy snowfall was forecast over two weeks later, and with it, Scarlett had no choice but to take her mother’s old car and make her way into town. Her dog wouldn’t let her leave, so she took him with her. Grabbing her keys and bag, she stopped near the fridge and stared at the letter that she’d woken up next to.
Tears filled her eyes, and she pressed a hand to her stomach as a wave of sickness washed through her.
He’s promised to come back, that he loved her more than anything, and yet, it had been nearly a month.
She could just check the internet or turn on the television, but she was afraid of what she’d see. Whenever she watched the television now, she used it to watch movies and nothing else.
“I love you,” she said.
At the bottom of the page, he’d penned three I love yous back at her.
Forcing herself away from the fridge, she made her way into the car and started the engine.
She’d not been into town since that day he’d pointed a gun at her.
“You see, that’s what makes me weird,” she said, looking at her dog. “Every other woman would have screamed, but not me. No. What did I do? I took it, didn’t I, like a loser. I didn’t scream, and he didn’t even force me, not really. Ryker’s many things, but a killer isn’t one of them.”
She pulled away from her house and made her way down toward town. All of her supplies were nearly gone. She’d declined an offer to spend the winter with her father. He tended to spend most of their time together asking if she was all right, which then always made her angry.
Of course she was all right.
Right now, though, she wasn’t all right. Feeling sick in the morning, and the scent of coffee making her want to throw up, gave her a bad feeling. So not only would she be stocking up for the first snowfall, she also intended to get a pregnancy test.
If that stick came back positive, she was going to have to do some serious planning, and even consider her father’s offer.
Pregnancy came with risks, which were great even when the partner was present.
What if Ryker had been caught before he proved his innocence?
She didn’t know what happened, and there was nothing she could do to help. She’d hoped to wear him down, so he’d take her with him. The last thing she wanted was to wake up with her arms wrapped around a pillow that he’d covered in his shirt. Ryker gone, and a letter that made her sick with wanting.
“I’m a loser. L.O.S.E.R!”
The dog barked at her, and she smiled. “I bet he told you to take care of me.”
She reached out, stroking his head, and sighed. “We’ll be okay. I’m always okay.”
Parking in her usual spot, she climbed out of the car, leaving enough of the window down for her dog.
Humming to herself, she came to a stop when Billy, the town’s sheriff, stopped her.
“It’s been a long time since we saw you, Scarlett,” he said.
“I’ve not needed to come down for a long time.”
It wasn’t unusual for the sheriff to stop her. He always had guilt over not believing her story.
She’d tried to tell him long before her father took matters into his own hands.
“New car?” he asked.
She looked at the car she rarely used. It was her mother’s old one, and she rarely touched it. Ryker had taken her car, not that she minded. Well, of course, now she did.
“No. It was my mom’s car. Anything else, Sheriff?” she asked, watching him visibly pale and shake his head.
There he went again with all of his judgment, but she ignored him. She ignored everyone, not even bothering to smile. She selected all of her groceries, paying careful attention to the frozen section so she could stock her freezer once again. She had a back-up generator in case of emergencies.
With everything selected, she made her way toward the pharmacy section, and selected a pregnancy test that was guaranteed to not only be accurate but estimate how far along she was. She didn’t care about that. Yes or no was what she was looking for, but she didn’t want to get anything wrong. After a few hours of shopping, she was fully stocked, and she left the supermarket, stocking her trunk once again.
When she climbed behind the wheel, her dog licked her face, and she found she could laugh again.
“You silly old boy.” She rubbed his head. “Let’s go home.”
Driving home went without a single hitch. Every second on the road, she was reminded of Ryker and the last time she’d been driving back home. He had a gun, and she’d found it somewhat amusing that he thought she was scared.
Wow.
She should have known she’d be the weird one and actually fall for a convict or an ex-convict.
Either way, there was nothing she could do about it now.
The moment she came to the clearing where she saw her home, she came to a stop, the brakes squealing as she stared at the car she hadn’t seen for a long time. There was no sign of Ryker, but the car was there.
Feeling sick, she drove forward and parked up in front of the car. Climbing out, she let the dog go, and she went to the back of the car, opening up the trunk.
She pulled out two sacks, and was heading toward the door when she stopped. There on her porch stood Ryker. He wore a pair of worn jeans and a shirt, and he looked … good. There was also a smile on his lips, and she dropped the groceries, not caring in that moment that they were supposed to get her by during the first snowfall.
When she ran into his arms, he picked her up and swung her around.
“I’ve missed you. I’ve missed you so fucking much,” he said.
“You came back?” She squeezed his arms. “I’m not thinking this. You’re actually here, in the flesh?”
“I’m here, baby, and I’m hoping that with that big old smile, you’re happy to see me?”
“I’m happy to see you. So happy.” She ran her hands up and down his arms. “You’re back?”
“Yes, I’m back, and I’m not going anywhere.” He stroked her cheek. “I’m here to stay if you’ll have me.”
“Do you want to stay?”
“Of course I want to stay. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
She gasped as she watched him go down on one knee. “Scarlett, I’m a poor man, and even though my record is now clear, I’ve done time.”
“I know.”
“But I love you. These past few weeks have been torture, but knowing I’d be back here, name cleared, I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”
Tears filled her eyes as she nodded her head. “Yes, yes, I’ll marry you.” He got to his feet and she kissed him.
She’d been so desperate to feel him, and now that she had, she didn’t want to lose him.
Wrapping her arms around him, she held him tightly. “I didn’t think you were coming back.”
“I was always going to come back. This is where my heart is. You’re my home, Scarlett. No, you’re my heaven, and there was no way I was ever going to give you up. They can take everything else from me, but they cannot take you away.”
“What happened? What? Your name is cleared?”
“I’ll tell you everything. Let’s get this stuff inside. I know we’ve got some bad weather heading this way. It’s why I couldn’t wait another moment.”
They cleared the food from the trunk of the car, and once she was inside, she started to put all the groceries away.
He helped her, and she couldn’t stop smiling, not even for a moment. Her man was back home, and everything felt right again.
“What’s this?” Ryker asked, coming back into the kitchen from the pantry. He held the pregnancy test in his hands.
“Erm, you know what it is.”
“Do you think you are?”
“Does it change anything?” she asked.
“It doesn’t change anything, but we’re going to get married at the first opportunity.”
“And if I’m not?”
“Then we’ll be able to wait and have the wedding you always wanted,” he said.
“I’m not the kind of girl that plans a wedding.”
“Well, you’ll be planning our wedding.” He stared down at the test. “I think we should take this.”
“Okay.” She reached out and took the box, noticing that her hand shook a little. “I’ll just go and check this.”
He didn’t leave her alone. He followed her up to the bathroom, but gave her privacy as she peed on the stick. Her heart hammered, and as they waited the time necessary, she felt … scared.
“Do you want kids?” she asked.
“Yes, I want all of them. I want to fill a house with them.”
She smiled. “I want them, too. I want lots of kids.”
“Good.”
The alarm on his watch beeped, and when she checked the answers and looked at the stick.
“I’m pregnant.”