Page 44 of Billionaire Lumberjack's Bargain

The rest of the words I intended to say get caught in my throat, and Dalton steps in front of me, dipping his head to catch my gaze.

“I’ve been where he is, Camille. I know how important it is for him to do normal things and to have moments like this. I had them with my dad before he died, and I wish…”—he swallows, his Adam’s apple moving slowly—“I wish my grandfather and I could have kept doing it.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask why they didn’t, but the conversation I overheard several weeks ago rushes right back.

His limitations…

The old man’s words ring in my ears, mixing with the rain and Davey’s giggles from across the yard.

Looking at Dalton now, I can’t imagine him having any.

He’s been nothing but a goddamn living, breathing Superman since the moment I met him.

Bending over backward to do anything we need.

To be everything we need him to be.

Dalton reaches out and tips my chin up, forcing me to look at him. His calloused fingertips graze over my skin, sending a shiver of awareness through me. “You need to know that it’s okay for you, too.”

Staring into his eyes, the gold in them practically glowing in the reflected sunlight now filtering through the breaking clouds and rain, I struggle to breathe. “Wh-what is?”

“To have fun, Camille. To behappy. I know what grief feels like. I may not have lost a partner the way you did, but I understand what Davey is going through. And I know that the only way to survive it is to movethroughit. To find moments of pure joy likethisin every day, if you can.”

He barely speaks the words before a rainbow appears over the trees behind him, arching across the entire property like a damn neon sign telling me that he’s absolutely right.

ChapterSeven

ONE MONTH LATER

CAMILLE

Davey runs from the barn and toward me as I carefully climb from the truck a little slower than I used to and slam the door behind me. Pops ambles out after him, taking careful steps, though he seems far more stable than he has any other time over the last few months.

The shots and our continued rehab work are definitely helping.

Slowly but surely, I’m starting to fully see the Edison James who raised such an amazing man like Dalton, who helped build up the James empire and who bends over to help anyone in James Creek who needs anything, even now when they’re busy preparing both their place and mine for the harshest time of the year on the mountain.

We’ve made tremendous progress in resolvingthatissue, and now that the weather is starting to cool and fall is on the horizon, it feels like a miracle how close the homestead is to being ready for it. There are still things to do, but they seem manageable compared to where we were only a few months ago.

The chilly breeze wraps around me as I wait for them to reach me.

Davey runs as fast as his little legs will carry him, and Dalton’s words from that very rainy day last month still echo in my head and heart.

The only way to survive it is to movethroughit. To find moments of pure joy likethisin every day, if you can…

He made it sound so simple.

And I’ve been trying my best to do just that.

To see the way Davey lights up whenever he’s around Pops and Dalton.

How he enjoys every single moment of life on this property.

Like he clearly has been all morning since I’ve been gone, given the massive grin on his face. Davey practically throws himself at me, latching on as I lift him and settle him on my hip the best I can with my expanding stomach.

“Mama, did you see the baby?”

I grin at him, his bursting excitement infectious. “I did. Do you want to see?”

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