Felix
Ihave a wife.
In less than a week I went from bachelor to husband and I can’t wipe the smile off my face. Even if it is a marriage of convenience, marrying Riley is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I feel more like my old self, the one before the accident, than I have since…before the accident.
She’s still a stranger, and yet, she’s not.
I’m beginning to read her moods and when I can’t, she doesn’t lie if I ask her what’s wrong. She doesn’t shy away from being vulnerable either. When we discussed where we could get married, Riley admitted she wanted to have the ceremony here if we could.
Her raw admission that the cabin feels like home, that she feels free here—safe—left me with an aching chest. I love that I’ve given her a place she can be herself.
And now that we’re husband and wife…
The scars on my face pull as my smile gets bigger. Our lips barely touched when the judge proclaimed us married and we could kiss, but damn, that was one hell of a kiss.
It’s the first time we’ve touched intimately. Discounting holding hands or the occasional hug, anyway. I have to admit I want more than a wife of convenience. If I’m honest, I’ve known that all along. It’s how Riley ended up here to begin with.
How I’ll cope when she leaves is beyond me. I can’t imagine her not being here, not seeing her every day. Except it’s something I’ll have to deal with because she will leave.
Once she gains access to her parents’ estate, she’ll have the funds to do anything. Go anywhere. Why would she want to be isolated out here with a scarred man?
Frowning at the back of Uncle Granger’s truck as it disappears down the driveway, fear shoots through me. When she leaves, Riley will be on her own. No one to watch out for her. Anything could happen…
“Hey, what are you doing standing out here in the cold?” Riley slips her arm through mine, leans her head on the side of my shoulder. “Has everyone gone?”
“Yes, Uncle Granger just drove off.” Glancing down, I find her smiling as she looks around the now empty driveway. Well, empty except the truck I’m giving her as a wedding present.
“Is that the truck you told me about? The one you had when you were a teenager?”
“Yeah.” I stare at the red Bronco and wonder if I’ll ever be brave enough to get behind the wheel. “I haven’t seen it since before the accident.”
“Not even when you stayed at Granger’s?”
The right side of my mouth kicks up as my chest fills with warmth. I love that she calls my uncle by his first name. Love it even more that they get along, like each other. Maybe between the two of us, we can give Riley the family she deserves and make her want to stay.
“I never left the bedroom he set me up in when I got out of the hospital. Didn’t have to. It had an attached bathroom.”
“How did you get back on your feet then? Didn’t you have to do physical therapy or something?”
“I walked the room.” I laugh. “Hobbled at first. But even when I couldn’t walk without crutches, I’d go round and around. Back and forth. Until I could do it on my own for hours non-stop and knew I’d be able to walk back here.”
“You walked from Granger’s to here?”
I nod. “It’s not that far.”
“Maybe not, but didn’t you have a broken leg?”
“It was healed by then.” The memory of those days threatens to overtake the joy of today so I change the subject. “Okay, Wife.” Calling her that makes me grin. “What do you want for dinner?”
“Do you have any deer meat we could make a stew with? I loved that when you made it for me the first night I was here.”
“I do.”
“Yay!” She straightens and tugs my arm. “Let’s get inside out of the cold and start dinner.”
“It won’t be ready for a while. I need to defrost the meat first.”
“We can prep everything else while we wait.”
One thing Riley isn’t is lazy. She’s constantly picking up after both of us, and since she moved in, the cabin has been cleaner than it has been in years. “Why don’t you sit by the fire and go through the papers the lawyer brought for you to sign while I cook dinner.”
“No.” She pulls me through the door behind her. “I can do that after we get the stew on.”
“But it doesn’t take—”
“We are cooking our first meal as husband and wife together, Felix.”
Her determination has me smiling and nodding, and who am I to deny her what she wants? “Okay. But then we go through the paperwork. I want you free of Warren as fast as we can.”
“Thea said it will only take a day or two for the papers to be finalized. Getting him out of the house might take longer.” Her frown has my own lips curving downward. “He’s always been mean. I’m not sure what he’ll do when he finds out he no longer has money or a right to be in the house.”
“He won’t hurt you,” I vow. But my frown deepens. I have no idea how I’ll keep her safe when I can’t be with her all the time. She’ll go to Winter Lake without me, stay in her house without me.
“Oh, I’m not worried about that. Thea said she’s been communicating with the police department and the chief will have several officers available when it comes time to evict Warren.”
“Good. Good.” That news should make me feel better except it doesn’t. I don’t want another man taking care of Riley. She’s my wife. I should be protecting her.
“Now, let’s get dinner ready so we can deal with the paperwork and then curl up in bed to watch a movie.”
Riley’s words barely penetrate my jumbled thoughts. The truck in the driveway is taunting me. I used to love driving it. In fact, Mom and I fought over who would drive to dinner the night of the accident. If I’d driven, would the outcome be different?
If Mom had survived, would I be locked away in my mountain sanctuary or would I be somewhere else?
There is no way Mom would let me hide out the way I have. She walked away from my father, an abusive man, with nothing but a cheap, beat up truck she convinced an old guy to sell her and drove us across the country to the safety of her brother’s house so I could have a better life.
She grew up in Winter Lake, but like a lot of small-town girls, wanted to escape. She went to Hollywood seeking fame and fortune. Found my father first. Although she used to tell me she got the fortune part right, usually when her arms were wrapped around me.
Remembering Mom makes me smile and I have to wonder if I’ve been hiding from those good memories as much as the bad ones.
She would kick my ass if she knew I refused to leave the mountain. She would stick out her index finger, stand on her toes to get it right in my face, and lecture me for hours if she had to.
Looking at Riley, busy preparing potatoes and carrots for the stew, I wonder how she can be so open to life when it’s done nothing but keep her down. She’s braver than I’ll ever be. She makes me want to be brave. For her. And myself.
I don’t know if I can do it, don’t know if I even should, but when she has to return to Winter Lake, I’m going with her. I can’t let her go without me. If the other day is anything to go by, I’ll go out of mind waiting for her to call to tell me she’s okay.
No matter what, I’ll be heading down the mountain with my wife. I’ll close my eyes the whole damn way if I have to.