Page 98 of Moonlight & Matrimony
“‘Miss you.’ Just two words but it knocked me flat on my ass.” Doing my best not to break in front of the guys, I motion for Liam to pass me another beer. Truth be told, I’m still reeling from the moment with Ry. Her little voice hasn’t changed in the time she’s been gone, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me the moment I heard her speak.
I glance around at the faces of my friends, observing their sympathetic looks, and I fucking hate it. I don’t want their pity. Cade must sense my agitation because he’s the first to break the silence.
“Alright, so what’s the plan?” Cade asks.
“Was hoping you had some ideas? Last I checked, you were the master at sweeping women off their feet.”
“Not women — Paige. And I don’t know Ivy as well as you do.”
“Other than art, what’s she into?” Dean asks. Miles’ mouth curves into a smile and I glare at him, recognizing the direction of his thoughts immediately. I can’t afford to be thinking about Ivy likethatright now.
“Actually, I don’t think it’s her interests that we need to tap into. I think we need to find something you did together that meant something and work with that,” he says, surprising me.
It hits me like a flash of lightning. “The ranch. She fucking loved that place. The time we spent there was…” I let my words trail off, remembering some of the happier times before our world came crashing down. “Maybe those wounds are too fresh to go back there just yet.”
“No, I think you’re onto something with this,” Miles says. “She’s always loved the ranch. You should ask Griff or Jax to have Copper and Maybelle ready, then take her on a trail ride.”
“I’ll do ya one better,” Cade chimes in, a wide smile spreading across his face. “Talk to Russ. I’m pretty sure he has a little something up his sleeve for Ivy, and it just might be the thing you need to take this over the top.”
“You’re not gonna tell me what it is?”
“Nope.”
“Luca, my boy!” Russ beams from atop Rusty, his buckskin quarter horse. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“I’m on a mission.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. Follow me,” he says, hopping down from the saddle as he leads both me and Rusty towards the barn, flagging down Griffin along the way. “Son, can you take Rusty for me? Got some business with Luca here.”
Griff turns to me, studying my face. “Gonna get your girls back?” he asks, without even a hint of judgment.
“Hope so.”
Griff nods his approval before taking the reins from Russ. “Don’t fuck it up.” And with that, he disappears into the barn.
Following in step with Russell, we head in the direction of the shed that houses the ATVs. “Before Ivy’s mama passed, she made Evie promise we’d take care of her girl. We didn’t know it would happen so soon or so horrifically, but I think she suspected she didn’t have much time left. I don’t know how she knew, but the universe works in mysterious ways, I ‘spose. Eviepromised, and that was that. We’ve taken care of Ivy the best we could ever since, but that girl is stubborn.” I hang onto every word as he gestures for me to join him on the side-by-side. “She spent a lot of time trying to keep us at arm's length. No doubt she was, or is, afraid of losing another person she loves.” I flinch, and Russell doesn’t miss a beat. “Make no mistake, Luca, that girl loves you, whether she knows it or not.”
“I don’t know about all that, Russ.” I cling to the overhead bar as he drives us over some rocky terrain around the back pasture.
“I do. You get to be my age and you notice the little things. Ivy never looked at Austin the way she looks at you. That’s not to say you don’t have a long row to hoe — Ivy girl’s a tough nut to crack.”
“You could say that again,” I chuckle.
“Few years back, when we thought she might be leaving Austin, Evie and I put a plan in place,” he explains as we come to a stop not far from the waterfall where I made love to Ivy on a picnic blanket. I scan the area, eyes stopping on a cleared parcel of land I hadn’t noticed before. “That,” he says, “belongs to Ivy. We had a few acres transferred to all of our kids, and this area has Ivy Jo’s name on it. We never told her because we didn’t think she was ready to accept everything we wanted to give her.”
“She might not be ready now,” I say. “She’s only back because my grandfather passed away. Once she realizes I’m okay, she’ll run right back to Colorado.”
“If that’s what you think, you’re dumber than I thought. Love ain’t gonna sit around and wait for you to take it, Luca. It’s gonna knock you on your ass whether you like it or not.”
“Alright, so what do I do with all of this?”
“That’s for you to decide. I’m just the messenger.”
I stood there for what felt like hours, mulling over what this could possibly mean for us — how this parcel of land could bringthem back to me. “Come on, Son. Evie’s making dinner at the big house and she’d kick my ass if I didn’t invite ya.”
Chapter 29
Ivy
