SAM stared into the crowd, hoping to see Mia, but it was the third time he’d looked for her since coming out and he hadn’t caught sight of her yet. He talked to the crowd, laughed and asked them questions. He even called a spectator from the crowd and let him assist, enjoying his work the most when he was showing and doing rather than just talking, letting him work with the horse alongside. But eventually he was given the signal that it was time to wrap the show up, and he’d become so involved he’d almost forgotten what he wanted to do.
The camera had been panning across the audience, but when it came back to rest on him, Sam cleared his throat and asked for silence.
“As many of you know, this is my last scheduled show of the year,” he said, smiling when everyone clapped. “It’s been an absolute honor to meet so many horsemen and women on this tour, and without the support of you all, I wouldn’t be standing here tonight. It’s been a pleasure sharing my horse training skills with you, and I truly want to thank everyone who’s attended an event, bought a book and visited my website.”
He waited until everyone was silent, clearing his throat again, feeling a weight on his chest that he thought might be anxiety, even though he’d never experienced anything like it before.
“I invited a very special woman here tonight, although I don’t believe she decided to come,” he continued. “This woman not only gave me the opportunity to work one of the most difficult horses I’ve been privileged enough to work with, but she made me realize how important it is, for horses and humans, to move on from the pain we’ve experienced in the past and start afresh.”
There was a murmuring, a low level noise in the crowd, and Sam strained his eyes to see what was going on. He was about to continue, until he saw what the commotion was about.
Mia was standing there, her hair soft and windswept around her shoulders, wearing a pretty sundress and cowboy boots, and looking as uncertain as a brand new foal about to test out their legs for the first time.
“Mia?” he asked, forgetting he was on microphone.
She walked slowly towards him and he faltered before quickly moving to her, closing the distance between them. He took her hands, reaching out for her, but his boots scuffed to a halt in the dirt. She was … Sam looked from her face to her stomach, the tight waist of the dress making her look bigger, as if she’d put on weight but just in her …
Holy shit.
“You’re?” he questioned not even able to get the words out.
“Yeah I am, Daddy,” she murmured.
Sam couldn’t think of a time he’d ever cried in public, and definitely not with every eye from a crowd trained on him, but when Mia’s shy, sweet gaze met his, her lips tipping up into the slightest smile he’d ever seen, his eyes filled with tears that were almost impossible to contain. His throat caught when he tried to speak, the words there but not coming out.
“Mia,” he said finally, “I don’t deserve a second chance, hell, I don’t think I deserve any kind of chance, but you once asked me how I felt about you, and I lied. I let my past stop me from, well, treating you right, and just like that horse that everyone thought was a son-of-a-bitch, I was too hurt from the past to move forward.”
Her cheeks were flushed, and he couldn’t stop glancing down at her stomach, but he forced himself to continue.
“I love you, Mia. I think I have from the moment you put me in my place and showed me you weren’t afraid to stand up for what you believed in,” he said. “I also know that I’ll never, ever meet another woman like you in my lifetime, and I want to ask you if you’ll do the honor of becoming my wife?”
The crowd was silent. Sam could feel the rapid beat of his heart. And when Mia tipped her head back to look up at him, he held his breath.
“No,” she murmured, her smile still sweet, her eyes still so wide and full of expression.
“No?” he asked, as the crowd sighed and someone standing with the cameraman signaled to cut in the background.
“You’re going to have to make it up to me before I say yes, Sam,” she said with a laugh. “One apology in front of a crowd who already loves you isn’t going to make me fall for you just like that. You have to earn it.”
Sam laughed and grabbed her, yanking his mic from his ear and holding her tight as he lifted her off her feet. He dipped his head to kiss her, touching his lips to hers and loving the way she sighed into his mouth, the way her body responded to his, her arms around his neck, her fingers against his hair. Finally he felt happy, that he’d found his way home.
It had taken him way too long to figure out how much he loved Mia, or maybe it had just taken him that long to admit that it was possible for a girl like her to love a messed up son-of-a-bitch like him.
“I love you,” he whispered, his nose touching hers as he spoke words just for her for the first time.
“I love you, too,” she whispered back. “We both do.”
Sam grinned as she moved, tucking against his side as he fist pumped for the crowd before sliding his hand across her stomach and gently resting it there as they walked out.
“You’ve got some explaining to do,” he insisted.
Mia glanced up at him, looking worried. “It’s not just me now, it’s two of us,” she said.
“I can see that,” he replied with a wink. “And two is even better than one.” He cleared his throat, unable to believe that she was with him, that he hadn’t screwed up so bad that he was never going to see her again. “My ex, she hurt me, but I couldn’t see how different you were from her, and I will be apologizing to you for that for the rest of my life.”
“Okay,” she whispered as a lone tear slid down her cheek.
The relief in Mia’s gaze told him she felt as vulnerable as he did, and he stopped to hold her, to wrap her in his arms and stand there for as long as she needed. Because for the first time in a long, long while, Sam suddenly knew that everything was going to be okay.
He had Mia. He had a baby on the way. And he was finally ready to leave his demons in the past where they belonged, instead of letting them haunt his every decision every damn day of his life.