Epilogue
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Stuart
Mom’s on the phone, and I don’t like the agitation in her voice. “He’s getting too old to run the ranch by himself. He needs your help.”
Mariska’s head is on my chest, and as far as I can tell, she’s still asleep. I thread my fingers through her long, wavy brown hair and glance around our king-sized bedroom.
When I came back to Princeton from Montana last January, this place was for sale. So what did I do? I bought the identical, overly plush three thousand square-foot condominium I’d given my partner Derek Alexander hell for buying. It’s actually right across the hall from him.
Traveling back to my reason for doing it, all of my arguments were bound up in this beautiful woman whose body is held close to mine. I wanted Mariska to have a palace. I wanted her to be protected by two layers of security if I’m ever out of town on a job. I wanted her to feel like a queen.
It more than paid for itself last spring when we had to hide a former client, Star Brandon, from a blackmailer we feared might try to kidnap her baby girl Cami.
Still, none of this is who I am. I couldn’t be more of a fish out of water in this place.
I try to keep my voice even so I don’t wake my sleeping fiancée. “I need you to stay calm. It’s not good for your heart to get so worked up.”
“My heart is fine,” Sylvia counters. Who ever said our mother was gentle never met her. “You promised to go with me this summer. I want you to consider how much you love being there and think about your future.”
A loud breath exhales through my lips, and I rub my forehead. “We’ll stay a month. Six weeks at the most. But I’ve made commitments to Derek and Patrick here.”
“You hate being there, Stuart William. Don’t tell me you like it.”
“I’ll do what makes sense for Mariska and me.” My voice is sharp, that old alpha-dog coming out, and as much as I love my mother, as much as her heart attack scared the shit out of all of us, I can’t not be who I am.
She immediately softens. “That’s all I’m asking you to do.”
Irritation fans in my chest at her quick surrender. It’s almost like she was just trying to get me worked up. “We’ll see you in a few days.”
“I love you,” she says before disconnecting.
My arm lowers too hard, and the beautiful girl on my chest sits up. Her eyes glow like the sunset, and a sexy smile is on her lips.
“Stuart William?” I love her soft voice. “It sounds like your mother has a bee in her bonnet.”
I laugh as desire bubbles in my chest—my anger momentarily forgotten in the light of this gorgeous creature who agreed to be mine. Lifting her in my arms, I turn us so her back is against the mattress.
“My mother wants us to move from the penthouse suite I’ve given you here to a horse ranch in the toughest wilderness in the continental U.S.”
Leaning down, I kiss her neck, inhaling her jasmine scent. She hums a satisfied sound, threading her fingers in the sides of my hair. “We have some amazing memories at that horse ranch.”
Lifting my head, I look into her eyes. She’s everything I love, and at the same time, she’s quite a bit younger than I am.
“Bill’s house is nice, but when the winter sets in, it’s pretty isolated. You sure that wouldn’t bother you?”
She smiles, tilting her head to the side. A wavy lock of chestnut hair falls across her beautiful face. “As long as I’m with you, that’s all I care about.”
My brow lines, and I think of my mother and my sister. I think of all the women I’ve known. Wilderness life might sound exotic, but when reality hits, is not their cup of tea.
We’re young in love, and making a commitment to that life, taking her away from her friends, access to her art... It’s not a decision I’m comfortable asking her to make on a permanent basis.
“We’ll help out this summer while you’re out of school. Derek won’t mind if I telecommute.” Cupping her small face in my hand, I kiss her lips. Lifting her hand, I kiss the rose engagement ring on her finger. “I’m not ready to take you out of this palace. I want to give you everything.”
“I’ve never been a princess, Stuart.” She shakes her head, blinking up at me through thick lashes. “I’m just a gypsy girl. You know that.”
Catching her face, I look deep into those sunset eyes that haunted me every day we were apart. “I want you to have every beautiful thing I can give you.”
Her hands are at my neck, and she meets my gaze with equal force, the amazing strength inside her that’s always matched mine. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever wanted. You and our babies and our family.”
Our mouths meet, and I kiss her hard, tongues sliding together. How I found this girl is one of those twist-of-fate mysteries I’ll never solve, yet here we are.
*
Stepping off the private jet in Great Falls, I hold her hand as I carry our bags to the parking lot where my uncle left us a classic Silverado to drive back to the ranch. She’s dressed in a filmy white dress, a flower in her hair, and I help her in the step-side before closing the door and going to the other side.
We drive miles down the lonely dirt road to the ranch situated in the middle of nowhere. The big main house appears on the flat lands, and I pull into the yard to park by my uncle’s orange Ford.
I get out and go around to the passenger’s side to help her down. Inside my mother is waiting with my uncle Bill. Amy and I decided we didn’t need to burden her with the secrets of the past, with what we knew about our father’s infidelities.
She would grant us forgiveness, but would dragging up all that pain make a difference? No, we decided we’ve both moved on from those old scars. Our top priority now is making her and Bill feel safe enough to trust us with their love.
“It’s as incredible as I remember,” Mariska sighs, and I pause to follow her gaze past the barn where the horses wait, and across the great plain.
The sky spreads out as far as the eye can see in orange, yellow, and blue twilight, and it’s nothing but brown grasses and big sky.
My soul aches for this land as much as my heart beats for the woman at my side. My mother’s right. I belong here, but I’ll be damned if I’ll sacrifice Mariska to have it.
We’ll have to find another way.
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