Epilogue
Gemma
Six months later - Spring
Several months passed after the legal trial, and I felt like I’d fully closed the chapter on the part of my past I’d struggled to shake loose. My former coach had been convicted on multiple charges and was currently serving his sentence. The slice of my past was finally staying in the past, instead of the lingering after-effects chasing me into the future.
Diamond Creek felt like home for me now, and I loved it. I was at the bank with Diego, a decidedly unromantic setting. The woman helping us had stepped out of her office, leaving us alone while we waited.
I looked at Diego who was sitting beside me in a chair. “Are you sure about this?”
“Absolutely,” he said without the slightest hesitation.
We were in here about to finalize the paperwork to purchase the home and property I’d been renting. The horses were included. Internally, I was kind of panicking. It felt very official, and we weren’t even married yet.
I was suddenly awash in insecurity. I swallowed, trying to quell the anxiety tightening like a vise around my chest. I didn’t realize my hands were cold and clammy until I felt his curl around one of mine where it rested on the sleek wooden armrest.
His grip was warm, strong, and sure, like everything about him. “Look at me, Gemma.”
Angling toward him, my eyes were caught in the beam of his gaze. “Don’t panic. Of course, I’m sure. I love you, and I plan to spend the rest my life with you. Buying a house together is just a detail. We’re only doing this now because there was a competing offer on the property, so we needed to make a move, or let it go.”
“You plan to spend the rest of your life with me?” I squeaked.
“I think we missed a step,” he said, his thumb brushing back and forth across the back of my palm. Turning to face me more directly, he lifted my hand, turning it over and dropping a kiss in the center. “Will you marry me? I’m realizing just now it’s been a given for me, but it seems I forgot to tell you that.”
Then, I was laughing and crying, and he was asking me if that meant yes.
“Yes, yes!”
It was at that moment that the mortgage lady, as I’d come to call her in my mind, returned to her office. She stood stock still in the doorway, her hand resting on the doorknob. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” I said more calmly this time.
Maybe it wasn’t your typical romantic moment, but to me, signing page after page of documents seemed the absolute perfect thing to do immediately after you decided to get married. It felt like each signature was yet another sign of our commitment to each other.
* * *
DIEGO
More than three years later
I adjusted the angle of the plane in the air, taking a last glance out toward the mountains ahead, just before the wheels hit the runway below and the plane bounced slightly. I moved at record speed, getting the passengers off the plane and running through the after-flight checks before locking up the hangar and leaving for the evening.
These days I still loved my job, but I was always impatient to get home once I was out of the air. Thank God I had a boss who was kind enough to limit my overnight trips these last few months. Gemma was pregnant, and our baby was due soon.
I gunned it on the way home, smiling as I drove past the very place I’d picked up Gemma after Charlie threw her off a few years ago now. We still had Charlie, and he still occasionally threw her off. His streak of mischief ran wide and deep. I was profoundly relieved that Gemma’s doctor had pointed out that she couldn’t recommend riding a horse who was prone to throwing her off during her pregnancy. I thought I would’ve driven her insane with worry, if not for the saving grace of being busy with work.
Just as I turned into our driveway, my phone rang. Seeing Gemma’s name on my dashboard, I tapped the button as fast as I physically could. “What’s up?”
“I’m at the hospital. My water broke early.”
In a hot second, I was zipping through town, determined to get to the hospital before she actually had the baby. We still didn’t know if it was a girl or a boy. We’d wanted the anticipation, but now all I could think about was whether or not Gemma would survive childbirth.
I flew through the hospital, almost plowing over Violet Hamilton. She called to my back as I dashed past her, “I’m fine!” even though my apology was a rushed call over my shoulder. “She’s going to be fine!”
When I hurried into the room, Gemma met my eyes. “It’s going really fast,” she said between ragged breaths.
“Why is it going so fast?” I demanded of the doctor, as if that was a problem.
The doctor looked at me calmly. “Let’s consider it a blessing. Your job is to support her.”
Four hours later, I was acutely aware of why many people claimed women were stronger than men. I had no doubts about Gemma’s strength, but my emotional fortitude was pushed to its limits. I truly had no clue how men got through this when labor lasted longer than that.
When our little boy let out a wail, and the doctor called me over to help cut the umbilical cord, my knees almost gave out. The next thing I remembered was resting my chin on Gemma’s shoulder as she nursed our son for the first time. The hospital staff only managed to hold back my sisters for another hour.
Much as my sisters could be nosy and interfering, they were a godsend after we returned home. In my spare time, I’d renovated the upstairs of the barn into a guest apartment. All four of my sisters stayed with us for weeks. They cooked meals for us and basically took care of all the logistics while Gemma and I settled into being new parents.
“You’ve got this, Diego,” Harley said.
I was holding our son with one hand and carefully heating up a bottle filled with Gemma’s breastmilk with the other. We’d named him Jacob after my father.
“Do you think?”
Just then, Gemma came out of the bedroom, her footsteps quiet on the floor as she crossed the kitchen to us.
Harley winked at me and disappeared out the kitchen door, leaving me with my small family, my entire world.
“Of course, you have this,” Gemma murmured, leaning up to dust a kiss across my lips.
“I’m not so sure sometimes.” Having a child gave new meaning to uncertainty. It was both exhilarating and terrifying.
“Absolutely,” Gemma said firmly. “We’re going to stumble through this together.”
I encircled her with my free arm, and it literally felt as if a lock clicked into place when I held my son in one arm with Gemma pressed to my side. Everything was exactly the way it was supposed to be. The only way I wanted it.
Thank you for reading Come To Me - I hope you loved Diego & Gemma’s story!
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