Page 106 of Maximum
I groaned and looked up to the sky, but Fleur continued in a calm voice. “Not that he has any say in the matter. Nothing will stop me from marrying you, and I told him as much.”
“He said he wanted you to see reindeers with him.”
Fleur laughed but there was no amusement in her voice. “He’s delusional if he thinks I’ll go anywhere with him.”
My hand found hers. “If you want to see the Northern Lights or reindeers, I’ll take you.”
Leaning her shoulder against mine, Fleur sighed. “Honestly, it’s not on my top five list of things I want to do, right now.”
“What is then?”
She used her fingers to count, “Getting married to you, starting a family with you, integrating Clara with the other horses, showing my parents the farm and Ireland, and kissing you.”
I felt my chest ease. “You would rather kiss me than see the Northern Lights?”
“Since I’ve already done both I can speak with confidence.” Fleur poked her finger gently against the tip of my nose. “Yes, I’d rather kiss you. Now, ideally one day I’ll get to see the Northern Lights while kissing you at the same time.” She smiled at me and let her fingers play with my hand.
“I’d like that.”
“Did you feel jealous when you saw him?” she asked me.
“I’ll probably always feel on edge when I see a potential threat. But since I know how you feel about him, I got more protective than jealous.”
“Ah, so that’s two plusses for you. You didn’t beat him up and you came to talk to me rather than threaten him. I’d say that’s an improvement.”
“Next time you see Jolene, you can tell her that I listened when she talked to me about jealousy,” I said and bumped her shoulder back. “But seriously, do you really want to be friendly with the clown?”
Fleur kept stroking the goat that lay relaxed in her lap. “I’m not saying that I want to be friends with him, but I would like to be able to meet him or hear his name without getting defensive and frustrated. This time when he came, something was different.”
“What do you mean?”
“I used to be afraid that he’d get power over me again, but this time I had zero doubt that it would ever happen. I’m with you now and if I feel anything for Pierre, it’s pity.”
“Auch, I’d hate for anyone to pity me.”
“I get that, but how desperate do you have to be to keep chasing your ex-wife for years, and travel to Ireland twice to get rejected harshly both times?”
I scratched the goat and admitted, “The worst part is that I can’t blame him. If you rejected me, I’d probably be just as desperate.”
“Well, it’s lucky that I have no plans of going anywhere without you then.”
Turning my body to Fleur, I hugged her tight. With my nose in her hair, my words sounded muffled: “Will you think me weak if I tell you that I’m terrified of losing you?”
Fleur was hugging me back and digging her fingers into my back. “Never. I feel the same way.”
We hugged for a while until we released each other and sat with our foreheads close.
“I’m going to follow your lead on this one then. I don’t like him in our house, but I’ll tolerate it for now if you need to make peace with him.”
“Thank you.” She kissed me before moving back enough to meet my eyes. “I appreciate it.”
After a moment of silence, I nodded to the small paper bag that I’d left outside the enclosure. “I got the pregnancy tests that you asked for.”
There was an instant change of atmosphere as her eyes grew bigger. “Then what are we waiting for?” Setting the goat down on the ground, Fleur stood up.
“Is he okay?” I looked toward the goat, who was way too calm compared to his normally hyper personality.
“Buck has a stomachache because he chewed up and ate a whole tennis ball.”
