Page 56 of Georgia-Blue & Hudson

I swallow hard. It’s probably the most poetic thing I’ve ever heard, but also incredibly sad.

This man is nothing short of a whole world of secrets I never knew. Unexpected things like tattoos of a dangerous bull that rammed him to the ground and broke bones, some that would never recover to what they were. I know parts of what happened to him, but nothing like this. “Didn’t you defy doctors who wanted to put rods in your back?”

He sighs into the moonlight. “Yeah. I reclused to the mountains as you know. I had a lot of time to do some heavy thinking and some work on my mindset,” he says. “It took months of me wallowing in self-pity and drinking too much torealize that wasn’t the path for me. My parents—” He falls short and presses his mouth closed.

I stare at him, wanting so much for him to elaborate and waiting to see if he will. It’s the most I’ve ever heard him say about any of this.

“They helped me a lot,” he says.

“I’m so sorry, Hudson. For what happened.” I mean everything, from the accident to his mom’s illness and her passing away. It was all so sad and upsetting. I don’t know how he survived it. And his poor father. I feel for them so much.

“It’s alright,” he says. “Some things you have to learn to live with, whether you like it or not.”

“Your mom, she would never want you to be sad.”

He stares at me for a long, hard moment and I’ve no idea if I’ve overstepped the mark again, or what he’s going to say. “You know she thought the sun shined out of your backside,” he finally says.

My eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “She did?”

“Little Georgia-Blue, she used to call you.”

I smile softly. “That’s so sweet. God, I miss her.”

“Me too.” He sniffs and then he stirs a little as if remembering himself, removing his hand from the back of his head. “We’ve got a long day tomorrow, you should try and get some sleep.”

“Okay,” I whisper. And I don’t mean to linger, but oh how I want to. I want to wrap my arms around him and tell him that everything is going to be okay.

I know enough about energies in people and their demeanor to know that he suffers, and he’s not over what he’s been through. I know it’s been a struggle for him to get back on his feet and for the first time in a long time, my heart goes out to him.

We were all there for the funeral when he and his father sat at the front of the Stoney Creek church as the life of his beautiful mom flashed before us up on the big screen.

I know how much he loved and respected his mom and the way he must miss her is unfathomable. I can’t even think about my mom not being around. “Let me know if you have any more nightmares.”

“You want me to come and wake you up?” He smirks, sitting fully upright now and not even seeming to care anymore that nearly everything was just out on display.

And just like that, the cocky, smarty-pants Hudson is back.

“You might not know this about me, but I can be quite comforting in a crisis,” I inform him matter-of-factly, feeling my own bravado coming back in full force.

Maybe he just brings it out in me.

“That, I do not doubt,” I’m sure I hear him say as I float back to bed and try my best to still my beating heart and quiet my rapid breathing. But it’s getting increasingly difficult with him around.

15

Hudson

The next twelve hours goes by in a blur and all traces of last night seem to have disintegrated as each moment at the wedding passes.

We ate breakfast out on my balcony with the tone of the morning very light with no mention of bucking wild bulls, or my demise after my mother died. Georgia did, of course, ask how I was feeling this morning, and I am a darned sight better than I was while taming the wild beast Bucko last night.

There’s also something else that needs taming, even though I took care of myself in the shower, but that will have to wait until later.

I think Georgia wanted to rehash what happened last night. I could tell by the way she was looking at me during breakfast and the way her mouth kept opening slightly but she seemed to think better of it and closed it again. But thankfully we never delved into more details as she drank coffee and ate her French toast.

I have demons from the past, there’s no doubt. The last few years have been rocky, and other than my dad and Gray, there’s no one I’ve ever divulged anything to before.

All I know now is that I’ve washed all traces of last night away and I’m suited up looking sharper than I have done in years. I even take my beard right down to stubble and run some gel through my hair.

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