Page 105 of Stockman's Stowaway

Forty-four

As soon as Cap parked the Tojo, and before the dust had settled, Mia jumped out. With the dust kicking up behind her new boots, this was the first time she willingly walked towards confrontation.

‘I’m not leaving until I speak with Mia.’ Gavin’s determined voice echoed around her. It made her skin crawl.

At the farmhouse, she spotted Harper on the other side of the screen door with young Mason, Ruby the labrador, and Scout the beagle beside her. So where was Sarge the shepherd?

She approached the front of the vehicles to find Gavin standing before Ryder, Dex, Ash, and Charlie. Sarge calmly sat beside Ryder, yet the muscular dog still looked lethal, especially in his harness.

‘There’s my little Mia.’ Gavin approached.

But Cap blocked him off. ‘Back off! You can talk to her from there.’

‘Who is he, Mia?’ Ryder asked. ‘He claims to be a friend of yours.’

‘This is the mongrel who hurt Mia.’ Cap’s voice rang out, and Sarge emitted a low growl.

‘Control your dog.’ Gavin backed away from the dog. ‘This is intimidation.’

‘No, this is trespassing.’ Dex stepped closer to Gavin, wearing a menacing scowl. He looked positively lethal. ‘How about you and me go a few rounds? Right here, right now, in a fair fight. Or are you just a coward who hits women?’

‘Mia?’ Gavin turned to her, looking so innocent. ‘What lies have you been telling these people? They don’t know me or you.’

‘You’re the one who lies.’ She finally found her voice and, with it, her fury, effectively pushing away her fear of confrontations.

It was on.

‘Youwere the bully who stopped me from ringing my family.Youstopped me from socialising.Youcontrolled me, andyou hit me.’ She jabbed at the air between them as she took a step closer.

‘Admit it, you never liked those people and used me as your scapegoat because you’d rather hide at home.’

‘You knew I was scared of being in the public eye and how much I hated confrontations.’ Up until today she’d always done her best to avoid them. ‘Instead of supporting me, or helping me to get past them, you deliberately used those fears of mine to control me. Where you beat me up!’

‘It was an accident. I hit that bump on the road and my elbow—’

‘LIAR!’ Mia trembled with rage as the word echoed a dozen times in the open air. ‘It’s over. I wasn’t living a life with you, I was just existing in a shell. And it’s only since I came to this place, that I’ve learned the true value of friendships, and how friends support and encourage each other while accepting their faults, like a family—even if they’re not actually related. But some faults are unforgivable, especially when it comes to physically harming another member of that family.’ Thinking of Bree’s father, and what Gavin had done to her.

She exhaled, untangling her fingers and flexing them free. ‘Some of the kindest souls are those who have come from an unkind world. Bree and Cap taught me that.’

She turned to smile at Cap, and his brothers, even the charming stockman Charlie. ‘That even if they may argue, they’re still tight as friends, as family, who’d back each other up when someone is in trouble, without question. These people showed kindness to a stranger.’

She turned to face Cap, lacing her fingers through his and squeezing his hand. ‘Here I finally understood what actual love is, and what a real man is, because they weren’t afraid to show their kindness. A real man isn’t afraid to show his love for his family, to animals, or to me. Finding your soulmate does more than complete you—it magnifies the spirit that only makes you shine.’ And Cap did make her shine from the inside, that she’d felt her courage grow inside her to face her fears.

‘Loving the right people has shown me that love can be gentle, love can be kind, more importantly love can be that safe space everyone deserves.’ And she got all that with Cap, who was the man of her dreams, now that she was wide awake to the world.

‘I should thank you, Gavin, because without you, I would have never met these people. And I would never have fallen in love with someone as amazing as Cap.’

Cap smiled at her as he tenderly reached out to cup her cheek.

‘Oi, get your hands off her.’ Gavin scowled as he pointed at Cap.

Mia faced him, chin up with nothing to hide. ‘I don’t belong to you anymore.’ Her voice was no longer meek and mild; she felt the force behind everything she said because she believed in them, because she believed in herself. ‘There is nothing left for you here, Gavin. Go. And never come back.’

Then there was the distinctive click of a double barrel shotgun loading behind them.

‘Hello, chopped liver.’ It was Bree aiming her shotgun at Gavin. ‘I’ve got a watering hole with some big crocs dying to meet you.’

‘Oh, crap. You’re in trouble now. You’ve unleashed the kraken.’ Dex grinned as he stepped back from Gavin with hands up. ‘Bree, take your shot. Or we could tie him up with some rope, drag him behind the Razorback and take him on a special sunset tour to meet those snapping handbags.’

---