Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
DELLA
I don’t remember much of the ride. All I know is he’s holding me, and I’m holding Landis.
And we’re safe.
We slow after a good half hour of running.
Jensen slides off Godspeed, and someone takes his reins.
I see a flash of bright eyes and dark beard—it’s Angus.
My lips crack, and I try to speak, but Jensen is pushing me across a grassy clearing.
Metal glints in the moonlight as a birdlike structure rises into my vision.
“That’s a plane?” I ask, stumbling.
“Brothers sent it for us, to get us back to Montana,” Jensen says.
“What about Kayleigh?”
He hesitates, dipping his head. “Brothers will keep her safe.”
Before I can respond, I see Angus pulling down the airplane steps, Jensen lifting Landis. He doesn’t speak as he helps me into the back seat of the tiny plane. It’s cramped, the pilot just a few feet from the back row. Jensen slides in, and Angus slams the door, slapping the pilot’s side.
The plane rises. Landis whimpers, clinging to me, and I kiss his forehead.
“Is this safe?” I breathe.
“It’s all we have, but yes, I think so.”
I glance sideways at him. He’s wounded from the fight, his face still leaking blood. There’s a fine crust of mud scabbed over his bare arms from the ring, but he’s never looked so beautiful to me.
He did this. He told me he was going to get my baby back, and he did it. I take my left hand from Landis and reach for Jensen, twining my fingers through his. He’s subdued, but his eyes flicker warm in the night, connecting with mine for a breathless second.
The plane curves, and down below, I see fire. Orange, hazy smoke rises from the Caudill estate.
It’s gone. It’s over.
The hell I went through since the moment I became a woman is finished. It will burn away through the night, but what it leaves behind doesn’t matter to me anymore. We’re flying toward a new life.
I hold them both close, closing my eyes.
I feel nothing, just numbness. But as the night goes on for hours, there comes a moment when the horizon finally lightens. It goes from mountain blue to the first golden rays of the sun breaking. That’s when I finally feel something in the shattered remains of my porcelain heart.
Hope.
I sleep on and off, Landis snoring in my arms, until we touch down at a private airport in Montana. Jensen helps us out and thanks the pilot. He says something to him, but I can’t hear it over the engine still running. Then, he strides across the tarmac to us, and the plane rises in the air.
We don’t speak. I just touch his chest, and he leans down to kiss my temple.
He takes us from the airport in a rental truck.
There’s no car seat, so I lay in the back against the door, my arms wrapped around Landis.
He sleeps soundly, his head on my chest. Jensen is silent as the grave the entire drive out to his ranch.
His thumb moves on the wheel, tapping the entire time until we pull up the driveway.
He cuts the engine.
“You okay?” I ask.
He nods, running a hand over his face. His stubble is growing in, giving him more of a beard than just a mustache. The eyes that meet mine in the rearview mirror are so damn tired.
“Let’s get the kid to bed,” he says.
He gets out, opening the side door. Gently, reverently, he accepts Landis into his arms. The way he holds my son is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, like a new morning, a new gasping breath on Earth. It’s what I wanted to see the day I gave birth to him.
He carries him inside, locking the door. Landis sleeps hard, his cheek squishing on Jensen’s shoulder.
“Where should I put him?” he whispers.
“Do you have a guestroom?” I turn the hall light on.
He nods. “It’s next door to mine.”
“That’s perfect,” I say, moving to the stairs. “If he wakes up, we can leave the door open.”
He follows me, and all I can think about is how much has changed since I was last in this house.
I was desperate and scared. Now, I’m hopeful for the first time since eighteen.
My heart flutters as I stand in the doorway and watch Jensen lay Landis down in the big bed against the far wall.
He comes back, touching my waist and pulling me near.
“Do you want to sleep here with him?” he asks.
I shake my head. “He’s not used to it. I’d like to sleep with you, if that’s alright.”
“Yeah,” he says. “We’ll be able to hear him if he calls out.”
I nod, stumbling a little as we back into the hall. My legs are so wobbly, it’s a wonder I’ve been upright this entire night. He guides me to his bedroom and closes the door. I turn, and he grips my wrists gently. His face hovers close to mine, eyes heavy lidded.
“What happened?” he rasps.
“What?”
“How did Leland die? Did he touch you?”
Disgust churns in my stomach, and I have to force my mind not to spiral. I shake my head.
“What happened?” he presses.
My tongue flicks out to wet my cracked lips. “He took me back to his bedroom and…I drugged him.”
That crease appears between his brows.
“I cut—oh God, I cut his head off with the knife above the bed,” I burst out, tears erupting for the first time in hours. “I’m a murderer, I killed him, I killed someone.”
His arms are around me, pressing my head to his shoulder. He’s shushing me, the sound rumbling in his chest. The sobs rip through me, so violent it’s painful. But at the center of it, he’s burning as warm as summertime back home on the front steps of my trailer, golden, bright.
If I just close my eyes and sink into him, the world outside seems so much kinder.
I sob until I’m spent.
“Baby, I think he had that coming,” he says finally.
“I know,” I manage. “It’s just a shock.”
“I’m sorry you had to be the one to do it. I tried to shield you from it.”
“None of this is your fault.”
“Nothing is your fault either.”
That’s the simple truth of it. Nothing that’s happened to either of us was our fault, and yet, we still have scars we’ll always carry.
But that doesn’t seem so bad if I just have someone to share that burden with.
He lifts his head, turning to kiss my forehead.
I turn at the same moment, and by happy accident, our mouths graze.
Heat singes my lips, spreading through my veins.
He kisses me deeply, like he’ll never let go. I kiss him back, gripping his shoulder, sliding my other hand around his back. The room is still dark, the sun climbing from behind the mountains. Slowly, he starts to move, rocking me in his arms.
Back and forth, our bodies fall into a soundless rhythm. We stay that way until the world stops spinning and my heart hurts just a little less.
“Tomorrow,” he says.
“What happens then?”
“Tomorrow, you and Landis are going downtown to the courthouse,” he says firmly. “None of this waiting around bullshit. And tomorrow night, you and I are going to seal the deal.”
My heart speeds up. He slows down until he’s barely moving.
“You talking about marrying me, cowboy?” I whisper.
“I’m not talking about it,” he says. “I’m saying it. Tomorrow morning, I’m taking your ass to the courthouse. I’ve been through hell and back, baby, just fucking marry me.”
My face cracks in a smile. “You’re so romantic.”
“I can be, but this isn’t about romance. This is about locking down what’s mine.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, I won that fight fair and square.”
“Yeah,” I say, wrapping my arms around his neck. “You did.”
He kisses the top of my head. “Let’s clean up and sleep.”
I’ve never felt safer in my life than crawling into bed with him, freshly showered and burrowing into his arms. He opens the adjoining door, and I can make out the shape of Landis fast asleep, never knowing what I had to endure to set him free.
That’s how it will stay. He’ll grow up with Jensen as his father. If he ever asks, I’ll tell him the truth.
But for now, I want us all to heal.