Page 89 of Made For You
“I just mean, we knew what you two had was real. So, in case anything ever turned sour, like things getting out to the press, your position was secure, as was your trust fund. I am sorry it had to come to all this, but I think in the long run you got the best end of the deal,” she added as she winked in my direction.
“That’s why you and Dean came up with the Wilder Lodge renovation. It was a way to keep me closer to Aurora.”
“You always were a smart boy.”
“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Andrew shouted with his hands in the air.
Alex turned and smacked her hand across the back of her brother’s head. “They’re in love, you idiot.”
“What?” he asked, as if that was never a possibility.
I walked over to my stunned brother and hugged him. It was a full-body, all-encompassing hug like I used to give him when I was little. Those days when I was in kindergarten, and he was in high school.
When I pulled away, he gazed down at me in the same way, as if he remembered how much I looked up to him when Iwas that age. He used to read me fairytale stories before bed at my insistence. I wondered what made him so jaded toward love. I hoped he would find his other half one day.
“What may have started off as a contract with a stranger turned into the love of a lifetime, Andrew. It’s real, and I love him. I hope, one day, you can forgive me and maybe get to know my husband.”
“Rory….” He sighed.
“It doesn’t have to be today, but someday. I love you, Andrew. You’re the best big brother.”
Once everyone was convinced Talon and I were indeed in love and not getting divorced, chatter started carrying through the crowd about another local wedding. I looked to Talon to gauge his reaction. He whispered something about wanting to see me walk toward him in a white dress.
Long after the farmers market hours were over, my family finally started to disperse. The twins had been busy at the library booth reading books, so Alex and Nate took them home with a new stack of paperbacks.
Talon and I loaded everything else into the truck and headed toward the town church to drop off all the produce and vegetables we didn’t sell. We were driving back to the farm to exchange the truck for Talon’s SUV, when I remembered my mom had something for Talon.
His excitement and curiosity were palpable in the cab as we traveled down the winding road. The sun was warming the fall air, and I held my arm out the truck window, letting the breeze flow through my fingers. It was freeing, sharing my feelings with Talon. I wasn’t sure why either of us waited so long. Fear of rejection. Fear of the unknown. Fear of being unloved. It weighed on me for weeks. But now? Now, I felt like the leaves that were floating in the air, spinning and twirling without a care.
Across the bench seat, Talon squeezed my thigh before he shifted gears. I stared at this complex man who I once saw as domineering and intimidating but quickly realized he was putting on an act to gain respect. Alone, he was one of the most caring men I’d ever met.
“What has you smiling like that?” he asked, and I tucked my chin to my chest, my cheeks heating after being caught staring at him.
“You, Talon Beckett. I’m smiling because of you.”
Chapter Twenty-Three – Talon
The truck ambled down the path that led to Sunny Brook Farms. The massive farmhouse felt more and more like a home to me over the last couple of months, between the Sunday family dinners and the time spent helping during the harvest. It was a home that made you feel like you belonged.
At the Miami mansion I’d grown up in under my uncle’s watchful eye, I felt like an outsider looking in. Holidays, for me, were onlycelebratedwith Gigi. My uncle and aunt were usually out gallivanting separately while on some remote island. Their children were off with a nanny, and I was left to fend for myself. Sometimes, I think about what would have happened to me if Gigi hadn’t been around. I also wondered why she hadn’t been granted custody of me instead of my aunt. Of course, there was a good chance my grandfather nixed the idea.
“What do you think about living out here?” Aurora asked me as I pulled the truck around the backside of the garage, where it was typically parked. I put it in park and shut off the engine, then turned to look at my gorgeous wife.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I love my little house, but maybe we can rent that out and build something… for us.”
I thought back to some of our earlier conversations. She’d mentioned that her family had set aside plots of land for each of their children, if they wanted it.
“We don’t have to,” she continued. “Nate and Alex only used a small portion of their lot, and I believe Autumn and Colton will do the same. I mean… I understand if you want to move closer to Knoxville or build somewhere else. Oh, or do you want to go back to Miami? I hadn’t even consider—”
I stopped her rambling with a kiss as I leaned across the bench seat of the truck. The leather squeaked beneath my hand under my weight. The scenario felt similar to when I first came to Ashfield.
“I want to be wherever you are, Aurora. We can build any sort of home, anywhere you want.”
“What about your job? What aboutmyjob?”
I ran my hand over her hair, twisting the ends in my fingers. “I can work at the hotel in Knoxville. There are spaces for offices. Or I can work from home. I may have to travel every once in a while, but we can figure it out. Andyoudon’t need to work at all. You married a billionaire, remember?”
