Page 98 of The Last Dance You Saved
“Congratulations. After seeing and helping hundreds of baby horses and cows come into this world, I’ve decided I’m never having any,” Fallon said with a shudder.
I bit my lip in an attempt not to laugh, because I knew she was serious, but I also knew she had plenty of time to change her mind a million times over. Hell, I was nine years older than her and still had plenty of time to change mine too. I’d never given much thought to having kids, but the idea of making a baby with Rafe, of having his child…it had longing swirling through me.
It was something else I wasn’t going to let him miss out on. A baby he got to help raise instead of one he kept at a distance for their own good.
Parker leaned his head back on the seat rest, closed his eyes, and seemed to fall asleep almost as soon as we left the parking lot. Fallon pulled out her earbuds once again and stared out the window as we left the airport and the larger city behind.
The roads quickly turned small and windy, drifting through the flat farmland, into the hills and valleys that I’d called home for twenty-three years.
Ryder’s voice was barely a whisper when he finally spoke. Anger and concern leached into each syllable. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell us you were shot at?”
My heart skipped a beat. “How did you hear about it?”
“Rafe Marquess called me this morning.”
A million thoughts ran through my head, including how much I loved Rafe for wanting to look out for me and how furious I was for him telling my family what I’d chosen not to. I wasn’t sure why he’d sent Fallon with me if he’d already assumed I couldn’t protect her. It was why he’d sent Parker with us too. But then again, maybe he was right. Maybe I couldn’t protect her. Maybe I’d end up sending her running to defend herself with her own smarts, just like I once had Mila.
The doubts and regrets I had seeped into me and caused my tone to be sharp when I responded. “He had no right to call you.”
“What the hell happened while you were in California, Sadie?”
I rubbed my forehead. Where to start? I’d lied to my family and kept secrets. Sure, I’d done it because I was protecting them the same way Rafe was protecting me and Fallon by sending us away. But in the end, all it had done was keep us from sharing important things with the people we loved.
“Honestly, I should just tell everyone at the same time. Don’t make me say it twice,” I said, suddenly more tired than I could explain.
He rubbed a hand over his beard, jaw working in a way that reminded me so much of Rafe I almost wanted to cry. My brother and Rafe had a lot of similarities. They were both men who’d held the world and love at bay. Proud men who protected those they loved with a fierceness that was borderline controlling, but who also showered those same people with gifts and affection and laughter.
Except, Rafe might have forgotten how important laughter was. Even at his growly worst, Ryder had known how to laugh with his family. Rafe hadn’t had that chance because he’d barred himself from their lives.
“You better text everyone to meet us at the ranch, then,” Ryder said. “Because I won’t wait much longer to find out what’s been going on.”
At least Ryder knew when to back down and let me have my way. Maybe it was because he’d known me longer than Rafe. The man I loved still hadn’t learned I always did what I said I’d do, just like I always kept my promises. I’d promised him all my last dances, and I intended for him to have them. I wasn’t letting him renege on the deal we’d negotiated any more than I was letting him take back theI love youhe’d handed me.
Chapter Thirty-two
Rafe
LOVE ME BACK
Performed by Max McNown
As I leaned against the fencepost and watched the horses engaging in an impromptu race down the field, exhaustion draped over me like a ghost clinging to my soul. We hadn’t had time to exercise the horses today while chasing blood and crime. So I’d simply let them into the west field to romp as they liked. I wasn’t even sure who’d cleaned their stalls and filled their feedbags. Maybe Lauren? All by herself without even Fallon to help her?
It couldn’t be helped. Not until I rehired the ranch hands Spence and Adam had let go.
I’d spent my entire morning with the sheriff, following the trail of blood Nero had left behind to a spot beyond the covered bridge over the rivers. The best anyone could tell, he’d been stabbed right around the time the bride and groom had said ‘I do.’ The spot he’d been in had given him a good view of the ceremony.
According to Wylee, the coroner had said Nero had a large lump on his head where he’d been hit from behind. He had no defensive wounds that said he’d fought back while being sliced open. But then, how had he known it was Theresa who’d cut him?
I couldn’t help the shiver that ran up my spine, thinking of his bloody chest. While what had happened wasn’t exactly the same as what had happened to me, it meant she could have acted alone, without Adam, in order to do it. But my instincts were screaming that they were both involved.
With the bank account Steele had found in Mexico being accessed yesterday, everyone was searching for Adam south of the border, but no one knew where Theresa was. In truth, no one even knew if it had been her who’d attacked Nero, other than his last word being her name. She could have hired someone, or it could have been any of her other siblings acting on her orders.
Was she done and running like Adam? Was she going to hook up with him in a place where they could spend their days on a sandy beach, drinking margaritas and spending Adam’s stolen hoard? Or was she more focused on getting actual physical vengeance? It was quite likely she was waiting to attack Puzo and me again before joining Adam. That was assuming they even really cared about each other and hadn’t been partners in crime rather than in an actual relationship.
Nothing was certain but the determination I had to find them. Find them and end this so I could get my daughter back. So I might be able to find a way to make things right with Sadie.
She’d been pissed as hell last night, stubbornly refusing to accept that I was walking away, which made me love her even more. But her anger had at least given her something to focus on, and hell, maybe she’d find the answer to how we could possibly be together, how our love could turn into something permanent, before I did. Maybe by the time I went striding back to claim her, she’d have all the answers.
