Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
HARRY
T he slip of paper in Louisa’s hand has me seein’ red. None the wiser, the bank manager glances between us as my glare pierces Lou’s soft expression.
“Nope.” I jolt from the seat and walk out of his office.
“Harry,” Lou pleads from behind me. She excuses herself politely, and fierce dainty steps close in behind me a heartbeat later. “Stop, please. This is how we keep Rosewood.”
I don’t stop.
I spill out onto the sidewalk and stalk my way down Main Street.
Dammit.
How does this woman always manage to send fire through my veins? Even when she’s rooting for me, she drives me fuckin’ crazy.
Now this.
A hand wraps around my bicep.
“Don’t you walk away from me, Harry Rawlins.”
I spin back so fast, I almost crash into her. “What did you do, hey?”
“I got the money we desperately needed.”
Those green eyes may as well be made of flame, the way they burn into me. I grind my jaw shut. Chest heaving, I remove the space between us. People have started lookin’.
They can get fucked.
“What the hell did you go and do that for? That wasn’t the plan. You pissin’ your dreams away for me was not the fuckin’ plan, Louisa May.”
Her eyes soften, just the slightest.
She folds her arms over her chest. “I will have you know, I haven’t pissed away anything. I’m fighting for this dream.” One elegant arm breaks from its hostile hold and waves between us.
I pace a tight circle and come back to her. “And what happens when this is not enough? When you gave up everything for me. And I’m not enough?”
My throat closes over as my own words register.
Jaw feathering, I drag my hat backward before shoving it down tight.
“I didn’t give up my dreams for you, Harry. I simply chose a new dream. Those plans I made, they were from a lifetime ago. Those goals were simply waypoints to what I thought success was supposed to look like. To make sure I never ended up like my own mother. Tied to some tiny town.” A manic laugh spills through her lips. “God, I was an idiot. Dreams are just that, Harry. Dreams. They’re not concrete. They’re not unwavering devotion. They are not reality . And they most certainly are not you .”
I jerk with her words as if she slapped my face.
Her face slips, her arms dropping to her sides as she steps closer. “You’re not gettin’ it.” She shakes her head. “I don’t want any of the other stuff if it means we don’t get the life we want. The dreams I had don’t come close to what I have with you.”
Eliminating the remaining distance between us, she adds, “I don’t want a moment of it if I don’t have you with me. Plans change. So do dreams. I got a new one. And it’s you and that crazy run-down ranch. With you on the horse next to me on mine.”
I slam my hands over her jaw, dragging her mouth up, our lips almost touching.
I can barely breathe, but I can’t get close enough to this woman who never ceases to stoke the fire in me, for good or for bad.
Hunger for her takes over and I dip, running my tongue over the seam of her lips. She opens instantly. Like it’s the most natural thing in the world, her hands weave into my hair. My hat hits the sidewalk.
A voice clears.
We break apart.
The bank manager and a few of the townsfolk have crowded by the bank’s front doors. Louisa’s shy smile sends my heart into a flurry. I kiss her forehead and drop my own to it as I breathe, “Let’s go save our ranch, darlin’.”
“Heavens above, I thought you’d never ask.”
The cheeky little smile she gives up warms me all the way to my bones. That, I’ll circle back to later, without the audience. I lace my fingers through hers, and we walk back inside.
Bolstered by Lou’s declaration and the fact we aren’t losing the ranch today, I drop into the seat in the bank manager’s office. He takes the check off the desk where Louisa must have left it. Tallying his book, he slides his glasses up his nose as we wait in silence.
Lou squeezes my hand, and I can’t take my eyes off this woman.
Not only did she show up, she played her cards well. She loved me even though she was scared to. She found her true north, right where I knew it would be.
Captain.
My captain.
A good man is a great one with his captain by his side.
There is only one problem with this scenario. And I intend on fixin’ that as soon as I’m able.
Next stop after this trip to town...
Top right drawer of Ma’s dresser.
* * *
With the restaurant deal all wrapped up and Louisa now workin’ with me on the ranch day after day, happiness has claimed this man. In ways I never knew possible. Every day we wake up making love. Every night, exhausted, she folds into my hold, drifting off to sleep.
And every single moment, I count my blessings. I thank my lucky stars Louisa May came home to me after all those years.
Life will never be easy for us. We’re too emotional when it comes to the other. We fight for each other so hard some days, we lose sight of the fact we shouldn’t be fightin’ at all.
But it makes for fuckin’ addictive make-up sex.
I swear that’s the only reason she gives me attitude.
Despite the storm and the fury that drags us under from time to time, the dark lows are more than worth the millions of highs we live through every single day.
So, to make perfectly sure this woman of mine knows exactly where she damn belongs, I set out more fuckin’ candles than should ever be lit in our small space. I toss them wildflowers she loves from our hilltops over the hardwoods. The food Mama Mancini made for tonight smells like something right outta old Italy. Lou’s gonna love it.
I sent her on a wild-goose chase for a few cows and calves in the southern paddock while I unloaded the truck of hay that rolled in an hour ago. It took me twenty minutes to offload. I rushed through the shower and pulled on my best jeans, shirt, and the leather necklace she used to love when we were dating last time.
Running my hands through my hair, I pace the room. I sure I’m forgetting something.
Dammit.
Whiskey.
Wine.
Food.
I run a hand over my right pocket.
Small box. Check.
Fire. I forgot the fireplace.
I drop to a knee and start loading logs into the bed of the hearth. I shove kindling under the hardwood logs and light it up. It smokes and flickers to life as the front door opens, banging against the wall.
Fuck.
She’s early.
“I couldn’t find no?—”
Her mouth gapes. Those gorgeous greens I love scan the candlelit room. After a moment, she closes her mouth, her gaze falling to where I’m kneeling by the fireplace.
“Harry,” she whispers.
“Come here, Louisa May,” I say, not moving off my knee.
She tugs off her long winter coat and places it on the hook on the wall with her hat. The new one she bought in town after losing her old one in the river. It looks good on her, a brown hat. Silver buckle.
Losing that train of thought as she steps in front of me, I take her hands in mine. Her eyes drop to where our hands are laced together.
“The day you blew back into town, Lou, I tried to tell myself this thing between us was just a passin’ feeling. I realized, after a few weeks, I’d told myself that once before. Ten years ago. Yet not one day went past in those ten years that my heart ever thought of someone else. Not a single one.”
Her chin wobbles.
She scrunches her nose up and her fingers move, squeezing tight.
“Ha—”
“No, woman, this is my turn to talk.”
She scoffs a laugh and presses her lips together.
“You came home looking to find yourself, to build back what you thought you’d lost. But darlin’, you never lost a thing. The girl I knew ten years ago has only been outshone by the woman you are today. And this man has no damn idea how to live without you. So, at the risk of bein’ turned down twice... Louisa May Masters, will you marry me?”
I tug the box from my pocket and hold it up to her. Flipping the lid open, I wait for her to say something.
To move.
To stop staring at me like she’s in shock.
She loses a shattered exhale.
My heart cinches in my chest. I clench my jaw shut, bracing for history to repeat itself.
She drops to her knees in front of me, and I lower the box.
“Lou?”
It’s then I realize her breaths are too short. Her body trembles. She chokes through the next ragged inhale. The box drops from my hand, and I fold her into my arms.
“Breathe. Just breathe.”
Her fingers grip my arms so tight, they whiten in the dim candlelight.
I rub a hand over her back. Whispering sweet nothings to steady her racing heart tapping a quick beat against my chest.
“You’re okay. I got you, and I always will.”
A sob smacks into my neck, and she pushes back a little. Her hands hunt for my face, as if feeling it over for the first time. Exploring, discovering, as she traces the lines, the angles. The shape of me.
Finally, she says, “North.”
“Lou?”
I stop breathing.
My lungs ache.
Then her head dips, but her eyes stay homed to mine. “I didn’t only find myself. I found what I needed. My true north.”
Tears well in her eyes.
She scrunches her face, and they fall.
“Oh, Harry... I ran from you. I crossed the country, stayed away for far too long, searching for what I’ve wanted my whole life. Only to find it’s here all along.” She sobs out a cry. “You were here all along .”
“Never left, Louisa May.”
It takes a beat for her to steady herself. “Of course you didn’t. North never does. That’s what makes it so damn fine. It doesn’t stray. It stays the course. You... You’re mine, and my compass is never changing.”
Now the tears that have been burning my eyes since she knelt on the floor slip over my face, sliding over my jaw.
“Don’t make me ask you a third time, darlin’. ’Cause I ain’t gonna.”
She chuckles.
Actually laughs at me, her head tilting upward and the tears glistening over her gorgeous face. When she brings it back down, her smile lights a bonfire under my heart. “Yes, I will marry you, Harry.”
“Damn straight, woman.”
I tug her onto my lap. She leans back a little as I slide the diamond ring on her finger. She doesn’t pay it any heed, closing the space instantly, kisses dotting over my jawline. Her hands play with the opening of my shirt.
Louisa May Rawlins.
It has a nice ring to it—pun intended—if you ask this man.