Chapter 29
twenty-nine
. . .
Presley
The frames for Gracie’s artwork arrived this morning, and I was choosing different mat colors to match each one. I’d have enough for a whole gallery wall now. This was the kind of art that I wanted in my home.
It had meaning to me.
Because she was my little girl, in a way. I’d felt that connection to her instantly, and I’d come to learn that there was nothing more important than that.
Family.
Love.
It was what life was all about.
I’d spent the last few days really thinking about it. About what mattered most. What mattered to me.
And after receiving the phone call from Gracie, I knew they missed me as much as I missed them.
I wrapped each frame in bubble wrap when my phone rang. I moved around a stack of boxes to find my cell and saw Phillip’s name light up.
“Hey. I was just about to call you. I don’t think I’m coming in today, but I got the client info you sent over, and I will be digging into it this afternoon,” I said.
“Sounds great. How are you feeling? Are you starting to feel better?”
“Yep. I actually feel really good. Thanks for helping me figure things out.”
“You got it. I’m glad I could help. I wanted to let you know that we just sent a courier over to your place with some files for you while you’re working from home. So be on the lookout. They should be there soon if you want to let your doorman know.”
“Thank you so much, Phillip. For everything.”
“Of course. Let’s talk soon.”
I ended the call and dialed the front desk to let them know to send the courier right up when he arrived.
I was finding my new normal now, and it was the most at peace I’d felt in my life since before I went to law school.
When I thought I had life all figured out.
Now I knew that I didn’t need to have it all figured out.
I just had to trust my gut and stop doing what everyone else wanted me to do and figure out what I wanted.
It wasn’t easy.
Pleasing people, chasing dreams that might not even be your own—they become a part of you. And when you sit down and really think about what you want out of your life, it’s not always the path that you’re on.
There was a knock on the door, and I shoved a few boxes against the wall before pulling it open.
My jaw fell open as Cage and Gracie stood there, with her little hand in his and him with his typical stoic smirk, giving nothing away.
“Presley!” Gracie shouted before lunging into my arms.
I wrapped her up and breathed her in, and the most overwhelming burst of emotions took over. Sobs left my throat, and tears dripped down my face. I didn’t try to stop them this time; I wanted to live in them.
To remember why I felt this way.
“I missed you,” I said as we both sobbed.
“Uh, can I come inside?” Cage’s deep voice startled me, and I chuckled through the sobs.
“Of course.” I kissed Gracie’s cheek, and she squirmed out of my arms and walked over to her father. She took his hand, blinking up at me with tears still running down her face.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey yourself. What are you two doing here?”
Gracie looked up at her father, and he winked at her. “We came to get our girl.”
“Oh, yeah? What are you going to do once you have her?”
“I’m going to fight like hell to keep her this time,” he said.
“What if she never really left, and she’s been yours all along?” I asked, my voice shaking.
He dropped Gracie’s hand and moved so fast it took my breath away. He had me in his arms, and he kissed me hard. “I’ve been yours all along, too. I don’t want to make the same mistakes we made before. I want to do it differently this time.”
“Me, too,” I whispered, as I stared up into those sapphire blues.
He kissed me hard again and then led me to the couch before pulling me onto his lap. Gracie came over, and I settled her on my lap, and we all three laughed at how ridiculous we were.
But I couldn’t get close enough.
Cage and Gracie were like breathing air to me. My world didn’t work without them now.
“We’re here to tell you that we don’t want to live without you. Gracie helped me see things clearly with all her paintings,” he said, and his gaze softened.
“Tell me.”
“You and I have weathered a lot of storms, Presley. And we always let those come between us. But this, now… you and me, my daughter—we’ve gotten through the storm, and now it’s time to rebuild. However that looks, whatever it takes, we don’t care, as long as we’re together after the storm.”
“Because we’re all ravens. Right, Daddy?”
“Well, they do mate for life, according to my mother,” I said, my voice trembling.
“They sure as shit do. Maddox got us out on his plane first thing this morning, and we went straight to your office.”
“Daddy yelled at a man because your name wasn’t on the building,” Gracie said, placing her hands over her mouth to keep from laughing.
“I’m guessing Phillip sent you here and told me you were the courier?” I shook my head in disbelief.
“Yeah. We had a bit of a rough start when some ass—I mean, some guy copped an attitude when I asked why your name wasn’t on the building.
We had a few words before Phillip came out and broke things up.
He said you were working from home today, and you’d explain your name not being on the building because it wasn’t his doing; it was yours. ”
I nodded as Gracie’s head settled beneath my chin, and her strawberry shampoo flooded my senses. “There’s only one place that I want my name.”
“Where’s that?”
I ran my finger over his heart. “Right here next to Gracie’s… exactly where it belongs.”
“I don’t understand why you can’t have both.”
“Because I don’t want both. I want this,” I said, stroking Gracie’s cheek and looking at the man I loved. The man I’d loved my whole adult life.
Before, during, and after the storm.
“I want to wake up and have breakfast with you two, and I want to take Gracie to school. I want to ride horses together and sit out by the water and daydream as a family. I want to paint and go for walks where there aren’t horns honking every second.
I want to watch you get frustrated when Mrs. Runither says inappropriate things to you, and I want to help Lola at the spa.
I want Gracie to know my parents, and I want to do Sunday dinners with all the Reynolds.
I guess… I want a life. A real one. One that matters.
And when I’m with you two, I know it’s where I belong. ”
“But you love your job. And we came here because we don’t want you to give that up.
Gracie and I looked up schools on the flight, and she’s excited to wear a uniform.
I can work anywhere. I’ve got plenty of experience, and I can handle city dogs.
I won’t be dealing with the madness of a small-town clinic, and I’m good with that.
If we’re together, I’m good with all of it. ”
“Thank you for being willing,” I said, blinking away the tears as Gracie pulled back to look at me when she heard the shake in my voice.
“Presley, don’t be sad. We want to live here with you. And be a family. And Daddy’s going to stop overthinking.”
I laughed and shook my head. “That’s what I want, too. But I can do that in Cottonwood Cove. I don’t want this life anymore. It doesn’t fill me the way I thought it did.”
“What about your job?” Cage asked, his brows pinched together with concern. “I’m never going to be okay with clipping your wings. You know that.”
“I’d never let you clip my wings,” I said, leaning forward to give him a chaste kiss. “I’m a consultant at the firm now. I can do that remotely. In fact, I’ve already started. I have movers coming tomorrow to take everything home. I guess you two just beat me to the surprise.”
“You’re moving to Cottonwood Cove?” Gracie squealed, then jumped up and danced around the room.
“I am.”
“You’re sure?” Cage asked, his voice still filled with uncertainty.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and being away from you two has been really hard.
Harder than I expected.” I nodded and swallowed the big lump in my throat.
“But it’s given me time to think. I don’t love what I do.
I don’t love the office I work in. I love Phillip, and he’s going to let me choose the clients I want to be involved with.
It will be a very part-time position to keep my feet in the water.
But I’m going to work at the spa with Lola part time, too, and I figure you two can fill the rest of my time, huh? ”
“We can ride every day,” Gracie said. “The barn is done, and we can have horses at our house now.”
“That would make things convenient, as long as you two want a new roommate.” I smiled.
“Gracie.” Cage’s voice was deep and steady as his eyes stayed locked on mine. “Go find the bathroom and wash your hands.”
“My hands aren’t dirty,” she said, staring down at them with confusion.
“In the wise words of Mrs. Clifton, don’t overthink it. Wash your hands, and you can go look around the apartment.”
“Okay.” She kissed my cheek before kissing her father’s cheek and running down the hallway in the direction I pointed her in.
“Hey, I need you to know we’re ready to move here. For you. To support you and to be with you.”
“I love that you’re willing to do that for me. And I’d take you up on it if I had any desire to stay here. But I don’t. We can keep the place or sell it. I don’t want to live here anymore. I want to live in my favorite small town, with my favorite grumpy man and his amazing little girl.”
He pulled me down and kissed me like his life depended on it. In the way only Cage Reynolds could kiss me.
When he pulled back, he smiled. “All right. I can work with this plan. But you need to know that Maxine is back, and she might get a little jealous.”
“I thought you took her back to the Langleys?” I asked, my fingers running along his day-old scruff.
“They were giving her up, so I said we’d take her.”
“I can handle Maxine. I guess you’re just a big softy now, huh?”
He shifted the slightest bit, making sure I felt the erection that was suddenly poking me in the ass.
“Nothing soft here. But that kid of mine insisted on coming with me to get our girl back, so I’m guessing that means I’ve got to keep things under control for a little bit longer, which isn’t easy, considering it’s been three weeks since I’ve been buried deep inside that sweet puss—” He was cut off when Gracie came running into the room.
“That bathtub is like a swimming pool. Can I take a bath in there tonight?” Gracie asked.
“Of course, you can,” I said. “And I have all the bubbles, too.”
“Sounds great. Is it time for bed already?” Cage waggled his brows at me.
“Daddy, we haven’t had dinner yet. It’s still sunny outside.”
“Damn,” he whispered against my ear. “Bedtime can’t come soon enough. She’s going to torture me, isn’t she?”
I laughed. “I promise I’ll make it worth the wait.”
“I’d wait a lifetime for you.” His hand found the side of my neck, and my gaze locked with his. “In some ways, I feel like I have.”
“We’ve still got a lot of life left to live, Cowboy.”
“Then let’s get to living now. I’m done waiting.”
“So am I,” I said, as my forehead rested against his.
“Are you two going to get married?” Gracie asked, pressing her face against ours.
I laughed. Cage groaned. This was our new normal.
“He hasn’t asked yet. It’s not like I haven’t waited years for this proposal,” I teased.
“Were you waiting for me while you were married to someone else?” He tickled me, and Gracie jumped on his back.
“Presley was married to someone else, and Daddy was married to me, and now we’re all getting married!” she squealed.
“I’d marry you right here, right now,” Cage said as his heated gaze locked with mine.
“Is that your way of asking?” I asked as I ran my hand over his cheek.
“I’ll ask any damn way you want me to.”
“I don’t care how you do it. Just make it official.”
“Yeah?” he asked.
Gracie clapped her hands as her hair hung around her dad’s face. “Make it official, Daddy.” Cage shifted his daughter to the side and set her feet on the floor beside him as he pushed to his feet to stand.
He moved across the room and glanced around at the moving boxes before coming back with a black Sharpie.
I raised a brow, and Gracie watched with wide eyes as her father dropped down on one knee.
“Presley Duncan, you were the first girl I ever loved, and you’re the only woman I’ve ever loved.
I’ve belonged to you since that first day I saw you in the stables, and then I watched you fly through the air on your horse, and I swear you’ve owned me from that day on.
I will move to a big city or live in a small town and be the happiest man in the world if I have you by my side, raising my little girl with me. ”
The tears blurred my vision, but I nodded. “Yes. I want forever with you and Gracie.”
When he moved back, he had this wicked grin on his face as he pulled out the marker and took my hand in his.
He drew a black line around my ring finger and then handed me the marker.
I drew the same line around his finger before turning my attention to the little girl standing beside him with the biggest smile on her face.
“How about you? Can I keep you forever, Gracie Reynolds?”
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, and she nodded. “You want to marry me, too, Presley?”
“More than anything.”
“Me, too,” she said, and I took her hand and drew the same ring around her finger before she lunged forward and hugged me tight.
Cage got this soft look in his eyes that I didn’t see often, and his tongue swiped out along his bottom lip. The move was so sexy that I fought the urge to groan.
He handed the marker to Gracie. “How about you go put this in the kitchen and let me kiss my future bride without you watching.”
Gracie giggled and ran off to the kitchen as Cage pulled me forward, and his hand covered the back of my head as my lips crashed into his.
And I was completely overcome with emotion.
Because I’d never felt happiness the way I did right here, right now.
I’d found my forever, and I was never letting go.