Page 105 of Fight for Me
I shake my head.
“Well, there was this thing I was buying, and it became really difficult out of nowhere. I had time—or, I thought I did, but the seller changed their mind.”
Anger starts to build, and I can’t hold it back. He missed the appointment, not because of something important or an emergency. No, it was because he was buying something he wanted. I don’t know why he thought this wasn’t going to be no big deal.
“So, you left me and missed the appointment to see our son over something you were buying?”
“Well, the buyer made an unrealistic demand that I needed to move the date up by a month.”
I roll my eyes. “And this is supposed to make me feel, what? Bad for you?”
“You’re asking the wrong questions, Syd.”
I cross my arms over my chest and fight back the urge to flip him off. “Well, then why don’t you tell me what I should ask.”
He grins. “What was I buying?”
Because this conversation is exhausting and I’m not getting anywhere, I play his game. “Fine. What were you buying?”
“Your farm.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sydney
Did he just say my farm?
“What?” I ask on a haggard breath.
“I’m the buyer for your farm.”
I blink a few times, waiting for him to correct himself, but he doesn’t. This entire thing is so confusing. “I don’t understand.”
The property just went under contract a week ago. Before he knew about the baby or we slept together the second time. It doesn’t make any sense.
Declan moves closer and his hand drops to mine. My chest feels tight. “Milo called me when you were going to take the deal with that company, and I knew it was wrong. I couldn’t imagine you not living in Sugarloaf, and I couldn’t handle the thought that your farm, the pond, the barn, the property line where we used to meet, wouldn’t be yours. I knew thatIwas the reason you were leaving, and I couldn’t let you lose anything else because of me.”
My lip trembles as I feel the honesty in his words. “That was all before …”
“Before the baby. Before the night we shared. Before all of this.”
He should’ve told me. I wouldn’t have let him do it. “Declan …” Tears fill my vision, and I fight to hold them back.
“No, Syd, let me say this, please. I told you ten times when you were in the coma, but I need you to hear it now that you’re awake too. I love you. I love you for the memories we made and the ones I want us to make. I wasn’t running away from you, I was chasing you. I was buying the farm because I knew it was what would make you happy. I left you all those years ago because I didn’t want to weigh you down with the baggage I’d bring. Everything I’ve done has been with you in my heart. And now …” He pauses and his head shakes. “Now, I can’t leave you. Not because we’re having a baby but because Ican’tlive without you. And if I could, I wouldn’t want to. I want to love you every day. I want to walk to the pond and make love to you in the sunlight. I want to kiss you just because I can. I want to raise our child together, and I want to do what I should’ve done eight years ago instead of walk away—marry you.”
My breath catches, and that tear falls down my cheek.
He bought my farm.
He knew that, somewhere in my heart, it wasn’t what I wanted, and he bought it. I drop my head into my hands and start to cry harder. It’s all too much. How can he say all this now? Doesn’t he know that my heart has always been his? Can he not see that my life has been waiting for this moment and it’s just too … hard?
“Sydney,” Declan’s fingers wrap around my wrist.
I slowly lift my head and meet his gaze. “You bought my farm.”
“I did.”
“Because you love me.”
