Twenty-Three
Travis
As I walked through the woods and ventured toward the edge of the mountain, I gazed out over the sight. I breathed in the freshly scented air and took in the birds and bugs chirping around me. The ground beneath my feet felt sweeter than ever. Like it carried me along my pain as the wind whipped around my body.
We had won the case. Breathline Energies put up an incredible fight, but our lawyer was more prepared than ever. My father appeared in court with all the documents he needed and took Ava’s father head on. Not only did we win the lawsuit to keep our land, but we were also able to push through our protection paperwork. The judge had ruled in our favor to protect the mountains of Kettle we owned because of the endangered species that dwelled within these forests.
But then, the judge dealt a final blow to Breathline.
The judge ruled that Breathline Energies was, in fact, harassing us. The courts ordered them to pay a fine not only to the government, but to us as well. That money was then going to sit in an investment account my father could draw from to pay the property taxes on this land for the next ten years.
I smiled as the warm sunshine beat down upon my skin.
It had been three months since I’d seen Ava, but it wasn’t getting any easier to forget her. Now that this debacle with her father’s company was behind us, I hoped I could get my life back to normal. No more meetings in town with the lawyer and no more mentioning of her father’s company. I knew once I could unload those reminders of her off my back it would be easy to forget her.
At least, I hoped it would be.
I stood at the edge of the mountain and looked out toward the horizon. As far as my eye could see, there were lush, rolling mountains. And we owned all of it outright. Putting protections on this land meant my father no longer had to deal with companies wanting to purchase it for their own personal gain. No longer would my father be harassed by other companies wanting to strongarm us into selling. Now, our family’s company could get on to bigger and better things.
Like my father handing it down to myself and my brothers.
The lawsuit took a great toll on him. The stress and the late nights almost did him in, putting him in the hospital twice. My mother was insistent that he step down from the board of the company, but he wasn’t having it. He was determined to fight my mother every step of the way.
Until he had his heart attack.
After a double bypass surgery and many touch-and-go days in the hospital, my father made the decision to transfer ownership of the company to myself, Jasper, and Leo. It would take a couple of months to arrange everything, but it was time we all stepped up. The stress of this lawsuit almost buried our father, and our mother deserved better than this. She deserved her Florida lifestyle with my father at her side. They deserved fresh key lime pies and tangy margaritas and morning mimosas while sitting on the porch. The two of them had worked tirelessly to build up this company, and now it was time to rest.
As I stood there watching the sun set, I was reminded of that night. The night of the storm and how Ava came barreling into my world. How easily it could have been for her to die had I not been listening out that night for her father’s own land poachers. It was ironic, how her father’s devious wants had inevitably saved his daughter's life.
I drew in one last breath before I made my way back to the cabin. The walk was long and dark, and it gave me time to think. I wondered how Ava was doing. If she was okay and living the life she wanted. I swallowed my anger at the situation and forced myself to look at this from her perspective. To try and see all of this through her eyes. She only had so much control over her world, and if her father had forced her out of Kettle, there was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing I could have done about it.
There was nothing anyone could have done about it.
I emerged from the woods and started down the path toward my cabin. The mountain became darker and the stars began to twinkle. The nighttime air grew colder and my toes began to turn numb. No matter what time of the year it was, it always seemed like winter when the night blanketed my lonely mountain.
But nothing prepared me for the sight I saw when I approached my porch.
There, in all of her shivering glory, was Ava. Her long brown hair cascaded down her back as her legs shivered on the porch. Her arms were wrapped around her chest as she knocked again at my door, her car sitting in my driveway as it cooled down with its creaks and groans.
I stood there, just feet from the porch. Watching her as she knocked on my door again. I couldn’t believe it. After three months of worrying over her and wondering where the fuck she had gone… she was back.
“Travis? Are you in there? It’s me. Ava.”
“Hello, Ava,” I said.
She squealed and jumped, whipping her cold body around as her beautiful eyes landed on mine. I studied her body, looking for any signs of distress. Bruises or scratches. Bandages or limps. But the only hurt I saw was in her eyes.
Deep within her eyes.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I uh… came to find you,” she said.
“Well, you found me,” I said. “What do you want?”
I saw shock roll over her features as I stayed in my place.
“Well I… I told you I would come back,” she said.
“Uh huh,” I said gruffly. “You need something?”
“Are you okay, Travis?”
“Fine. You need anything?”
All of the anger I thought I had swallowed came bubbling back to the surface. What the fuck was she doing here after three fucking months? She had some nerve, showing up here thinking I would just let her back in. I wasn’t playing her game this time. I wasn’t eating out of her little hands. For all I knew, this was her father trying to pull some bullshit again. And I wasn’t going to have it.
Not after my family had finally gotten what they wanted.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said.
“Please. Just give me a chance to explain.”
I walked up onto the porch and side-stepped her as I opened my front door.
“No thanks.”
I went to shut the door, but Ava put her foot in the way. The door halted in its tracks, leaving only a crack separating Ava and myself. I didn’t want to see her. I didn’t want to talk with her. All I wanted was for her to leave me alone so I could live the life I needed to for my father’s company.
It was all I had, and it was all I deserved.
“My father sent me to live with my aunt,” Ava said.
I sighed as I closed my eyes.
“I got to my house that day and my uncle was pulling up into the driveway to follow me there. He sent me to Spokane to try and… straighten me out.”
It was the way she said it that caused me to open the door. Ava slowly came into view, her trembling body shaking with tremendous force. Her eyes glistened with tears as she focused on my chest, refusing to meet my stare as I stood in front of her.
“Things didn’t work out?” I asked.
“I guess you could say that,” she said.
I gave her body a once over one last time before I threw the door open.
“Go sit on the couch. I’ll make us some coffee,” I said.
I heard her sigh as she scurried into my home. She sat on the couch, her back straight and her legs crossed at her ankles. She fluffed her hair back over her shoulders, giving me just a glance at her hands.
At the bruises and scratches that donned her knuckles.
It took every ounce of energy I had not to erupt. I slammed cupboard doors and tossed around mugs, brewing us a pot of very strong coffee. What the fuck had that woman done to Ava? What the hell was was wrong with her family? When the fuck were they going to understand just how screwed up they were inside?
I poured us each a cup of coffee, fixing it the way I knew she liked before I went to sit down next to her.
“Here,” I said.
She fluttered her eyes down to the mug before she reached for it. I got a good look at her hands. How battered and bruised and swollen they were. I grabbed her wrist, setting my mug of coffee down as I slowly slipped her long-sleeved shirt up her arm. There were bruises ricocheting up her forearms. Lashes and welts that could only be dealt by a ruler or a stick of some sort.
My blood was boiling in my vision as I released her wrist.
“What happened?” I asked.
Ava was staring into her mug of coffee, but she wasn’t drinking it.
“You can have whatever you want here. You know that,” I said.
“I just don’t think it’s wise to be drinking it,” she said.
“Why not?” I asked. “Because your aunt said so?”
“No,” she said. “Because I’m pregnant.”
My entire world slowed down as her words punched me in the gut. Pregnant? Ava was pregnant?
“You’re… how far…?”
“Four months,” she said as she looked over at me. “I’m four months pregnant, Travis.”
The gravity of the situation left me light-headed. Ava was pregnant. With my child. This beautiful young woman who had opened herself up to me and given me a part of her she could never give to anyone else was…
“Pregnant?” I asked.
“I know things didn’t turn out well between us, but I couldn’t get rid of this child,” she said. “I just couldn’t. The thought just… made me cry. I concealed it from my Aunt as long as I could, but once she tried to put me in a corset the secret came out.”
“Where did those marks on your arms come from?” I asked.
“That was just her way of punishing me. Corporal punishment when I didn’t fall in line with what she wanted.”
I would never hit a woman, but I’d kill her aunt if I ever got the chance to meet her.
“I don’t expect you to stand by me and I sure as hell don’t expect you to accept me back. But you deserved to know what was going on.”
My eyes raked down her form, noticing how baggy her shirt was on her. I took the mug of coffee from between her fingers and slowly laid her back into the cushions of the couch. My hand ran up her thigh, my eyes watching her as my fingers slid up her shirt.
I felt my palm descend around the small bump protruding behind her belly button as my world came to a stop.
I was going to be a father.
My eyes connected with Ava and I could see how scared she was. How panicked she looked and how young she seemed again. Her marred hands trembled, but her skin puckered at my touch. A heat drifted along her cheeks, painting her skin a beautiful pink as I leaned toward her stomach.
My lips pressed into her stomach as her breath hitched, the warmth of my lips penetrating her cold skin.
“Hello there, little one. I’m your father,” I said.
I kissed Ava’s stomach one last time before I rose my face to settle in front of hers.
“What are you doing?” Ava asked breathlessly.
“I need you to listen to me closely, okay?” I asked.
Ava nodded as a tear escaped the corner of her eye, traveling down her cheek and finding its death on her shoulder.
“Do you have your stuff in your car?” I asked.
“I do,” she said breathlessly.
“Are you still planning on going back to your family?” I asked.
“No,” she said with a whisper. “I can’t. Not even for my brothers. My father would—”
“Enough with your father. He doesn’t control you any longer, is that understood?”
“Yes,” she said. “I get it.”
“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to bring your stuff inside and set up in any room you want. You are carrying my child, which means you are under my protection. Whatever you need, I’ll make sure you have it. Whatever doctor’s visits you need, I’ll make sure I’m there with you. I want to be a part of this child’s life, Ava. But more importantly, I want to be a part of yours.”
Ava let out a shuddering breath as another tear fell down her skin.
“Are you serious?” she asked.
I leaned forward and encompassed her lips in a heated kiss as my cock swelled for her.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m dead serious.”
I looked into Ava’s sparkling eyes and saw my entire world. This beautiful, passionate soul was carrying my child, and there was nothing that was going to stand in my way of being a part of this. Ava’s hands rushed to my hair, yanking me back down to her lips as my hands traveled up her shirt. I could taste her passion for me. Her zest for life and her want for me still. I wanted her more than I could stand. I craved her more than I should have.
And now, we were going to have a baby.
The mountain was safe, Ava was back in my arms, and I felt more impregnable than ever. I tasted the whole of my future on the tip of her tongue as I picked her up, cradling her closely into my body. She shook with desire as her skin heated against mine. Our lips swelled underneath the pressure we bestowed upon each other as I carried her back to my room.
I had Ava back, and there was no way I was letting her go.
There was no way I was letting either of them go.