Chapter 41
If I never have to see another hospital, I’ll be glad.
I breathe in the fresh air once I step outside the door, pausing to let the sun hit my face before I climb into the passenger seat of the truck. Niamh is fussing, but I let her, knowing it’s what she needs right now. Hell, I think I need it too.
She places the fresh bag of meds by my feet and then closes my door before she rounds the hood and climbs in behind the wheel.
I roll my head toward her, taking in the glossy strands of her dark hair and the way she captures her bottom lip as she focuses on merging us into the busy city traffic.
Silas had offered to drive, but she’d insisted.
She hasn’t left my side since I woke up in the hospital.
I see the fear on every inch of her face.
It’ll take time to get my girl back, but until then, I’ll give her what she needs.
Reaching across the console, I settle my hand on her thigh and her body relaxes, a soft smile touching her lips.
Statements were made, the cops came to the hospital, since none of us had been back to the ranch and evidence was uncovered in Jenson’s home.
Photos of the car wreckage our mother was in, a video taken right after the accident and the very wires he cut out of her truck.
It was vindicating to know we had been right all along.
Oscar is currently awaiting trial, though he won’t make bail and will spend a long time behind bars.
It’s over.
The ride back to the ranch is uneventful, peaceful. A gentle breeze flows through the cab from the open windows, the city skyscrapers turning to rolling fields, grays bleeding into greens and yellows, the mountains on the horizon.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever find this kind of peace.
“Do you mind stopping somewhere before we head home?” I ask Niamh.
“Where?”
“I’ll show you,” I tell her. “Just head to the house like normal.”
Her brows pinch, but she dips her chin in agreement, and when we get there, I guide her down a thin dirt track that heads toward the north side of the ranch.
It winds through the trees, with just about enough space on either side of the truck for us to fit, but she comes to a stop when the track comes to an abrupt end and the way ahead is blocked by a thick, fallen oak tree.
“Where are we?”
“My mom is buried here,” I swallow before I reach for the door handle and climb out, a hand to my side to keep the pain in check. It still smarts, but I’m alive.
Niamh meets me at the front of the truck, looking where I am through the trees to the several headstones that jut up out of the earth. The Knight Family cemetery.
“I don’t come here often,” I sigh, spotting my mother’s gravestone, weathered with age, my grandfather beside her, his headstone much brighter, a white marble, and then my grandmother beside him. Generations of Knights are buried here.
“She’d be proud of you,” Niamh tucks herself close to my side.
“Perhaps,” I agree, “Just like your father.”
She nods, “Yeah, I think so too.”
Moving away from me, she disappears into the tree line, and I lose sight of her for a moment. Panic rises, but I push that down. She’s safe now, we don’t have to look over our shoulders anymore, waiting for something to jump out at us.
When she returns, she’s holding a small bouquet of wildflowers, the colors vibrant and popping against her dark tee. She hands them over to me.
“Go tell her,” She whispers.
I feel my eyes burn as those words sink under my skin, but my feet won’t carry me forward, nailed to the floor.
“Go on,” Niamh encourages.
“Come with me,” I swallow thickly.
She nods softly and accepts my hand, walking by my side. She stands behind me as I lower to my knees on the soft mossy earth, my hand running over my mother’s name.
Della Elizabeth Knight
Mother. Daughter. Friend.
Now one with the earth.
“We did it, ma,” I whisper, so low, only the trees around me can hear. “We got you justice.”
My eyes burn a little hotter. There’s only been a handful of times in the past twelve years that I’ve come here, too ashamed I haven’t been able to give her the peace she deserves.
“I’m sorry it took so long.” I sigh. “It took a hell of a woman to help me. You’d love her. Her name is Niamh.”
I glance at my wife, her eyes glistening as she listens.
“And she somehow agreed to be my wife. Luckiest man alive, I’ll tell you. I suppose Pops had something to do with it. Give him hell up there for me, will you? But then thank him for me; if not for him, I never would have got the girl in the end. Tell him I get it.”
I place the wildflowers down, leaning them against her headstone.
“I won’t leave it so long next time,” I promise her. “I miss you like crazy, and I hope this now brings you some peace. Until next time, ma.”
Rising to my feet, I step across to my grandfather.
“Cheers, old man,” I feel the corners of my mouth lift into a grin, “You were right after all.”
A wind whistles through the trees as I move back to Niamh, teasing her hair, and I lift my thumbs to wipe away the single tear tracking down her cheek.
“Let’s go home, sweetheart.” I kiss the corner of her mouth. “But there’s one more thing I need to show you.”
“What?”
“You’ll see,” I grin, guiding her back to the truck except I get in behind the wheel.
“Should you be driving?” She quirks a brow.
“I’ll go slow.” I jerk my chin. “Let’s go.”
She shakes her head but doesn’t fight me as I turn us around and head back to the ranch. The house comes into view, but before I take us home, I stop us at the barn beside the stables and cut the engine.
“You can’t ride, Roman,” Niamh chastises, “Doctor’s orders.”
I chuckle and wince when my stitches pull. “Not here to ride, sweetheart.”
“Then why did we stop?”
“Do me a favor.” I lean back in my seat and hand her the keys to the lock on the barn door. This is a moment she needs for herself. “Go look inside that barn right there.”
Her brows pinch. “Why?”
“Just trust me.” I place the keys in her hand and close her fist around them.
She wets her lips and then gets out, her steps tentative as she moves closer to the door and lifts the padlock to unlock it. Tugging on the door, her whole body freezes when she sees what I have inside for her. Her head whips to me, and then she disappears inside.