Chapter nineteen Willow #3
“A parent’s love is unwavering, Willow,” she says, cutting me off.
“No matter what you think, your mother and father loved you. No one could have known what was going to happen. And it’s okay to be angry, but know that your parents were human, just like you and me.
And sometimes, that means we have to make the best choice for ourselves despite the potential consequences.
We don’t know how our decisions will eventually impact those we care about.
And it’s unfair really, because as parents, we think we’re supposed to have all the answers.
But we don’t, because we’re still learning about life right alongside our children.
” She brushes away a tear from my cheek.
“And Dallas not knowing his father left that house to you, that’s something that we had to live with, and I will have to deal with the consequences of. ”
At that moment, the back door creaks open. Dallas stares between us as I whip around to look at him, but turn back around just as quickly, trying to hide the fact that I’ve been crying.
“What’s going on? Are you making her cry already, Mom? Jesus, I was gone for ten minutes…”
Katherine places her hands on her hips. “Why on earth would I be doing that?”
“Well, she was fine before I walked outside.”
“We were just talking about my parents,” I interject, batting away the last remaining tears. “She asked about them, and it made me emotional.”
Dallas’s face grows worried as he stalks toward me, wrapping his arm around my waist, rubbing his thumb beneath my eye to swipe away the reaming moisture there. “I’m sorry. The last thing I wanted tonight was for you to feel sad.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine.” I flash him my most convincing smile. “I’ve dealt with this my entire life. Just sometimes, it catches me off guard, especially when I’m around someone else’s family.” It just reminds me of what I will never have.
Katherine reaches for my hand. “You’ll always be welcome here, Willow.”
I turn to her, pausing before saying, “Thank you.”
The timer on the oven goes off, signaling that dinner is ready.
“Dallas, wrangle up your siblings to do your jobs. It’s time to eat.”
Dallas kisses my temple before going back outside. “I’ll be right back.”
When he leaves, I turn back to Katherine. “Can you please talk to him, Katherine?”
She inhales deeply. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow, if that’s okay. I just don’t want to ruin tonight—your first family dinner.”
Hoping it’s not also my last, I nod in agreement.
***
“So, Dallas had to call Mom to come pick him up from school because he shit his pants.” Penn holds his stomach while he howls with laughter, and I’m wiping tears from my eyes.
At least these tears are from laughing and not emotional turmoil.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, everyone. Don’t forget I have blackmail on all of you, too.” Dallas points a finger at each of his siblings, moving around the table.
“Sorry, but that’s pretty bad, Dallas.” I place my hand on his shoulder, my chest still bouncing with laughter.
“It’s a cautionary tale—don’t eat Taco Bell before a rivalry game.
” He shrugs like it’s no big deal, and I love that he can just let the embarrassment roll off of him like that.
“At least I didn’t wear women’s underwear during one of the games.
” He directs his gaze over to Penn, whose laughing immediately stops.
“Fucker.”
“Hey, watch your language.” Katherine points her fork across the table at Penn. “And sorry, son, but you started this battle. Dallas just seems intent on finishing it.”
I turn to Penn, arching a brow in his direction. “Women’s underwear? Maybe you aren’t as manly as I thought.”
He glares at me, clenching his teeth. “It was a dare, and I was not about to back down.”
“And he had a rash on his balls for a week afterward.”
Hazel gags dramatically. “Gross. I did not need to know that.”
Katherine chimes in now. “Yeah, neither did I.”
“Well, I think this is the perfect way to end the evening,” Parker declares before standing from the table, adjusting his pants and pulling his shirt in place. “I have an early morning anyway.”
“You mean you want to leave before Dallas and I share dirt on you,” Penn says.
Parker points a finger at Penn. “Precisely.”
“Yeah, I think we’re going to call it a night too.” Dallas stands from the table, grabbing my hand to help me up.
The past two hours have been nothing short of incredible. This family is one of a kind, so welcoming, and funny. The conversation never stopped, only whenever someone mentioned Mr. Sheppard, and it was obvious that he’s truly missed.
I wish I could have met him myself, heard from his own lips about my parents and who they were in their last moments.
Dallas and I say our goodbyes, Katherine wraps me in a long hug, and then we settle into the Mustang, headed back to my house.
“So, how do you feel?” Dallas asks me, reaching for my hand as he drives.
“Like my heart is about to burst out of my chest.”
He clears his throat. “I’m glad, because there’s something I want to talk to you about when we get home.”
Home.
“Okay…”
“It’s nothing bad. In fact, I think it could be really good, Willow.” He adjusts himself in the seat, bringing my hand to his lips, kissing the back of it. “But I don’t want to have this conversation while I’m driving.”
“All right. There’s also something I want to talk to you about.”
He casts his gaze over to me quickly. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. It’s a good thing too.”
The rest of the drive we spend in silence, anxious to pull in behind the house and make our way inside.
As soon as I close the front door behind us and twist the lock, Dallas pulls me to the kitchen, lifting me up on the countertop so we’re more at eye level.
He stares at me, his eyes dancing appreciatively over my face and body, his hands following the path of his sight. My heart hammers wildly, waiting for him to speak, but I give him time because what I have to say may depend on what he says first.
Is this what love feels like? The fear of losing someone and the joy of your future with them flowing through you simultaneously? The crazy thoughts that you could be staring into the eyes of your entire future, but also that this person has the power to shatter your heart in a matter of seconds?
I hope we’re both on the same page.
“Willow…” He takes a deep breath and blows it out.
“The night you came into my bar, I was taken aback by your presence. I couldn’t understand how someone like you would ever fit in here, and honestly, I hoped you’d leave as quickly as you came in.
” I huff out a laugh as he plays with my bottom lip.
“And when I found out you inherited this house and wouldn’t sell it to me, I really wanted you to leave. ”
“Oh, I remember. I swore that day I would sell it to anyone but you just to spite you.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you, Goose.” He looks down at my lips and then right back to my eyes.
“But then, every time we interacted, it was clear that there was a reason I couldn’t get you out of my head, and the more you pushed me away, the harder I wanted to push back.
” He tilts his head. “The night of the storm, I knew I was done fighting my attraction to you, and that night changed everything.”
“It did.”
“And now, the house is done.” He looks around, admiring the transformation. “You did good, Goose. I couldn’t have done better myself if it were my decision. But now, you have another decision to make, and I want you to know something before you do.”
I swallow hard, waiting for him to continue.
“I want you to stay, Willow.” His words cover me like a warm blanket, soothing my fears. I let out the breath I was holding as he brings both of my hands to his lips. “I want you to move your life down here so we can be together. I know it’s not ideal, and there’s a lot to figure out, but—”
“I want that too,” I blurt out, shocking him for only a second before his lips spread into a smile that might just be the end of me.
His eyes move back and forth so rapidly that it almost makes me dizzy, but then he finally breathes out, “Fuck. Really?”
I nod rapidly. I know I was going to wait to have this conversation with him, but I can’t wait.
Katherine is going to speak to him about the tough stuff, but right now, his words are conveying everything that I’m feeling.
“Yes. That’s what I wanted to tell you. I want to stay too.
I don’t want to sell this house. This town, you… you’ve changed my life and I…”
I don’t get a chance to continue before he slants his mouth over mine, shutting me up with his kiss.
He swallows my moans, lashes his tongue against mine and owns me with this kiss, cocooning me in his arms as the very last shred of my defenses melts away.
He’s owned me for a while now, if I’m being honest, and that’s what I want moving forward—to feel this way with him forever.
“Fuck, Willow. I need you, baby. I don’t think I’ll ever stop needing you.”
“Yes,” I mumble against his lips. “Take me upstairs. Please.”
“God, I’ll never grow tired of hearing that word fall from your lips—for me.”
Dallas lifts me so I can wrap my legs around his waist and heads for the stairs, keeping our mouths fused as he climbs higher and higher toward my bedroom.
Perhaps one day, it will be our bedroom.
When we reach the bed, he tosses me down and then hovers over me, just as the sound of paper crinkling beneath us causes us both to pause.
Oh God.
No.
Dallas pulls the paper out from under me, eyes quickly scanning it and I see the change in his expression when he recognizes a name I’d hoped I had a few more hours to figure out how to explain.
“Willow? What is this?”
I push myself up, crawling across the bed to him, but he steps back as his eyes move across the paper alarmingly fast.
“Willow!” His voice echoes in the room now. “What the fuck is this?”
My heart is hammering so hard that my entire body is shaking from the impact. “It’s a letter.”
“I can see that.” He begins to squeeze the paper tighter. “The question is, why do you have a letter from my dad?”
He finally meets my eyes, and all I can see is confusion and hurt in his.
“Dallas…I can explain.”
“I sure as fuck hope so.” He keeps reading and then whispers, “What the fuck?” Then suddenly, as though the paper burned him, he tosses it back onto the bed.
He clenches his hands into fists as his chest heaves with short, labored breaths.
His eyes are black with fury now. “Start talking, Willow. Now.”
I swallow down the lump in my throat and finally tell him the truth. “Your dad is the one who left me this house, Dallas.”
His head rears back as though I’ve slapped him. “What?” His response comes out in a whisper, laced with disbelief.
“I wanted to tell you, but your mom…”
And then his eyes light up with rage as he takes a step closer. “My mom? She fucking knew about this too?” He gestures sharply back down to the paper.
“Yes, but she asked me not to tell you!” I hate to put the blame on Katherine, but the reality is, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now if she had just told Dallas in the beginning.
But it’s not entirely her fault either. I should have figured out a way to explain this to Dallas, especially after we started to fall for one another.
“So let me get this straight. You both knew about this but didn’t think I deserved to know?” The veins in his neck are popping, and he transforms from the teddy bear I was just about to snuggle all night to a slightly smaller version of the Hulk.
“I was going to tell you! But she asked me to let her talk to you first. She was going to tell you tomorrow. She didn’t want to ruin our first night with your family.”
He runs a hand through his hair, his brows drawn together, his breaths growing more shallow. “I can’t fucking believe this.”
I hop off the bed and reach for him, but he backs away. “Please, Dallas. We can work through this…”
“No. This changes everything, Willow.”
The threat of tears builds again. “It doesn’t have to.”
“How can you say that? The woman I want to start a life with inherited the house I’ve always wanted from my deceased father, who, it turns out, was keeping this secret from me.
And then I find out that you and my mother knew about it but decided to keep me in the dark too.
And the irony of it is, I didn’t even care about the house anymore…
because you were more important.” He shakes his head, his eyes full of anguish, as he turns and walks out of the room, leaving me frozen until I snap out of my shock.
“Dallas, wait!” I chase after him, trembling so much I nearly trip down the stairs.
“I can’t even look at you right now, Willow,” he says flatly as he reaches the front door.
I choke back a sob. “But I meant what I said. I want a life with you. We can work past this…”
He glares at me over his shoulder as he opens the door. “That’s nice, Willow, but I’m not sure I can trust a word that comes out of your mouth. Turns out you’re just as good an actress as you are a CEO. Who would have thought?”
As the door slams shut, I sink to the floor and let the tears fall, sobbing and crumbling because there’s nothing more I can do.
And I hate that it all came about like this.