Chapter 36
Presley
FOUR MONTHS LATER
“Chickens are a great place to start,” I told a nervous looking Alex.
She glanced at Gwendolyn, Gretta, and Beverly. “They’re staring at me like they know I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“We talked about this, Alex. You’re going to live on the opposite end of the farm and raise horses. You’re going to be like the horse whisperer, and once we sell the manor, we’re going to demolish it and create the biggest super ranch that there ever was.”
“Uh. No. We told you both that was not happening.” Gio turned around from his spot near the goat pen and scolded us.
Alex and I both glared back.
“What’s the point in keeping the manor?” I asked, handing some feed over to Gio’s big sister.
“My parents still live there, for starters.”
I waved him off while Alex laughed. “Mom and Dad hate the manor; they’re planning to move down to Mexico.”
Gio shook his head before loading hay into the pen for Marigold, our pregnant goat.
“That’s not happening until he figures out how to get El Peligro reconfigured to help the city.
So, no planning for any farms or horse ranches.
Also, what happens when Pres gets pregnant?
You think they’re going to miss the opportunity to be grandparents? ”
“I’m not even twenty yet, we’re not anywhere close to having that discussion yet.”
Alex lowered herself to the ground with the chicken feed in her hand and laid it out for the hens.
“Besides, is Alex just supposed to wait to learn how to be a farmer?”
“As she’s done for nearly every day for the past six months, my sister is more than welcome to come over and spend as much time as she wants with the animals.” Gio sounded so exasperated.
One of the hens pecked at Alex, making her stand briskly. “I’m not sure I’m cut out for farm life, Pres.”
“Yes, you are, just give it time.” I slightly shoved the meanest chicken out of the way with my foot.
“I think I might just start helping Mom and Dad with the startup of the non-profit and then head to Mexico with them.”
My chest squeezed with worry.
“You’re giving up awfully fast. Plus, Marigold is about to have her baby. You’re going to miss being a goat mom with me.” I wanted her to do whatever her heart desired, but I knew she didn’t want to live apart from me, or her brothers.
Alex glanced longingly over at our black and white goat, who was just months from giving birth.
Kingston walked into the barn, inspecting all three of us.
“The manor isn’t being demolished even if everyone moves to Mexico. There’s too much history there. It stays.”
I had roughly zero say in any of this. My dad and mom had signed over all their rights, including any financial benefits from selling. The deed was given over to Juan and Taylor. Even my uncle Decker and aunt Mallory had signed over their share of the house.
I heard they were living in New York, all three of them, happy as clams. Our enemies hadn’t evaporated, but we’d all decidedly stopped living in fear.
The men who betrayed Gio and Kingston from El Peligro were required to bend knee to Juan, and if they didn’t, they were hunted down by that motorcycle club, Mayhem Riot.
Juan had called in a favor to his now brother-in-law and had every single person found and executed.
“Well, Alex just needs to start small anyway. We have plenty of room for a horse ranch here.” I suggested.
“Pres, stop worrying about where everyone is going to go,” Kingston rumbled close to my ear. I both hated and loved that he knew me so well.
He added, still whispering, “Alex is still figuring out what she wants to do. She’s going to help our parents with El Peligro, and she’s still going to see us plenty.”
If that were true, then why did it feel like I was losing more people?
“Come on, come with me.” Kingston pulled me back with him. I waved at Alex while she moved closer to Gio to talk to him.
Kingston pulled my hand until we were inside the farmhouse. “Come on.”
I knew what was coming next; it was what Kingston would do to help me get past my abandonment issues. I wasn’t angry that my parents left; in fact, I was happy for them, but I hated the hole I felt in my chest after they’d gone.
Sometimes it just felt like my world was getting too small. But Alex, she helped make it feel bigger. So did game nights over with Juan and Taylor.
I loved being part of their family, and while I would never leave the farm, I didn’t want to be here without all of them either.
“I want you to read the letter again,” Kingston ordered while he pulled me into his lap and we sank to the floor.
I gently removed the folded note I had tucked away in the front of my overall pocket and began to read.
“My dearest, Presley.”
Kingston stroked over my ear and down my arm. “Keep going.”
“I need you to understand something…” I trailed off because this part always choked me up. “It wasn’t your beauty that stole my breath the moment I laid eyes on you. It wasn’t your laugh, although it was memorable. It wasn’t your fine taste in beverages.”
A laugh scraped up my throat at the memory of how I’d acted as though sprite could be champagne.
“What was it?” Kingston whispered near my ear.
I kept reading. “It was the way you treated the room as if it were merely a moment in your grand, beautiful life. You were queen of the room, and I’ll never forget wanting to follow you home just so I could spend a few more seconds watching how you viewed the world.
I wanted to be anything in that world. A plant, a star, a piece of fruit.
I didn’t care as long as it meant you’d pay me some attention. ”
That was typically as far as I was able to make it when reading this letter but today, I pushed on, needing the rest of it.
“If you’re reading this, then it means Markos was successful in removing me from your life.
It means Leon was able to mail this to you and ensure you were aware of how deep my love for you truly ran.
If you’re reading this, then perhaps, you will have found your two kings and are in no way in need of a jester like me, but in case you’re ever left wondering how important you are to those around you.
Let me be the one to encourage you. Let me be the one to shine a light, break up the darkness, and fear.
Let me have a role in your life. My love, even after death. ”
Sucking in a deep breath, I continued with a small hiccup.
“I would give up a thousand lifetimes of having wealth, power, and anything else deemed valuable in this world if it meant I could have you. I would choose you over and over again. I would abandon my roots, tear them out of the soil, and make my own wings if it meant I could be with you again. Enjoy your kings in this life, my love, because in the next, you’ll be mine. Forever yours, Adrian.”
The letter fluttered to the ground, and Kingston held me to his chest as sobs crept up through my lungs, fracturing my heart.
“Why do you always make me read it?”
Kingston kissed my ear. “Because you fear people leaving you, even when they’re right in front of you.
You need a reminder of how important you are to people.
The ink on your finger means we’ll be here with you forever.
We won’t leave you. I want you to breathe and allow that to sink into your heart.
You won’t be alone in this life or the next. ”
I allowed his words to do exactly what he said and let them soak into my heart.