Whiteout

Chapter 14

Fourteen

Four Months Later

MAYA STEPPED OUTSIDE onto the deck that overlooked the rolling hills for miles.

The mountains in the distance sent her memories back in time to the weekends when she and her grandfather, along with her cousins Sully, Miles, Trent, and Deb, went hiking.

She loved this time of year. While she enjoyed winter and the snowy winter sports, summer never came soon enough for her.

The warm days were here to stay for a while, and she was all for it.

The past four months since she and Gideon had escaped the mountain tunnel had been healing and productive. The ranch was now fully staffed and ready for its first vet.

Thank you, God.

A prayer she couldn’t seem to stop saying.

A rumble in the distance caught her attention. A different kind of rumble than an avalanche, thank goodness. Gideon’s truck needed a new muffler, and it was starting to be an inside joke with them. Something that warmed her right to her very soul.

Like Gideon’s presence in her life. And yet . . . something held her back. Something they needed to talk about.

He parked and joined her on the deck, leaning over to claim a kiss that left her a little breathless.

“Well, that was nice,” she said.

He raised a brow. “Nice? I must be losing my touch.”

She laughed. “Never.”

Gideon took a seat in the rocker next to hers. “Are you going to share with me what’s going on?”

She slanted a look at him. “So, you’re a mind reader now?”

“No, I’ve just known you forever, Maya. I can tell when something’s bothering you.”

She sighed and nodded. “Yeah. So . . .”

“So . . .”

Another laugh slipped from her. “I love that when I’m with you, I always have something to smile or laugh about.”

He curled his hand around hers but stayed quiet. He was in listening mode.

“These past four months have been pretty amazing. So busy neither one of us has really had time to breathe, much less have a heart-to-heart talk.”

“True.”

“But now it’s time, isn’t it?”

“I’d say so.”

“I’m scared, Gideon. Scared of loving you and losing you.

My love for Laura was very different, of course, but losing her scraped away a part of me I don’t know how I’ll ever get back.

And then there’s the nightmares that still plague me every so often.

They’re awful and I don’t want to inflict those on anyone else. ”

She fell silent, her arguments sounding weak now that she’d voiced them. But they still had a hold on her, so . . .

“I think my biggest fear is that I’m not whole enough to be the kind of person you need. The kind of—” She snapped her lips shut. She didn’t want to jump the gun if he wasn’t thinking along the same lines she was.

“Wife?”

Okay, so maybe they were on the same page.

“Well, yes. If it were to get to that point.” She hoped the heat she could feel creeping up into her neck didn’t show in her cheeks.

“I was kind of hoping it would,” he said.

Oh boy. She swallowed. “I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t thought about it.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

She huffed a laugh once more. “Okay.” She frowned. “I didn’t think that was on your radar, though.”

“It wasn’t. And then this whole being trapped by an avalanche and chased by killers happened and seeing you in danger, feeling helpless to do anything about it . . . well, let’s just say I have a different perspective.”

“Which is?”

“Life is short, Maya. Too short to let the past rule the future. God allowed us to be born, and he has a purpose for our lives. Sometimes we go through seasons. Good and bad. Sometimes those seasons are a result of our own choices. I made some really bad choices that resulted in some really bad consequences and one really awful season. The worst one since Jacob’s death.

At least I didn’t have anything to do with that.

But these past four months have given me time to reflect on a lot of things. ”

“Like what?” Maya asked. Her heart thumped a little faster at the intensity in his gaze.

“Like consequences. My bad choices caused a good buddy of mine to do something he thought I’d be okay with.”

“What did he do?”

“Cut a lot of corners on a project to pocket the profit. I wasn’t okay with it, but I’d skirted the edge of ethics myself, and he knew that.

I told you some of the people who invested in the business were .

. . unsavory . . . to put it mildly. Anyway, as you also know, I walked away. He didn’t and now he’s in prison.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice low, “but you did the right thing.”

He nodded. “Eventually. But I also know that I had influence over Pete, and he made decisions he might not have otherwise made.”

“So that’s what you meant when you said you’d lost everything.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m proud of you.”

He blinked. “What? How?”

She shrugged. “You did the right thing,” she said again. “You chose to right your wrongs. To sacrifice in order to be honorable. That shows integrity and I’m proud of you.”

He sighed and rubbed his chin. “It was a low point in my life, Maya. I regret it with everything in me.”

“And if you’ve asked for forgiveness, then you’re forgiven.”

“I have. I’ve also made things right with the company I wronged.

I overcharged them and cut a few corners.

Not like Pete did, but enough. That was the project that Pete worked with me on, and when the next project came along, he decided he’d prove he could do better.

Cut more corners, make more money.” He shook his head.

“Someone got hurt when the side of a building collapsed. It made the news. Everyone in town knew it was my business, and ever since then, I’ve been running from God because I figured I’d disappointed him.

And if I disappointed him, then I sure didn’t deserve happiness or any blessings he might want to give me. ”

“Oh, Gideon,” she whispered. She frowned. “How did I not know this?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Seems like everyone did.”

“Grams and Gramps never said a word.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Huh. How about that? I mean, it happened on the other side of the country, but I thought . . . well, I guess I figured everyone would know and judge me.”

“I don’t think people in Whitestone do know,” she said. “Or if they heard about it, they didn’t connect it with you.”

“I guess not.” He raked a hand over his head. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t know, but it did make telling you hard.”

“Past mistakes are difficult to admit when we don’t know the reaction we’re going to get. I understand.”

“Exactly. Anyway, initially, I threw myself into my construction business because physical labor was easier than dealing with the emotional pain of losing Jacob. I pushed my parents away because their grief was my grief and I didn’t want to face it.

” He looked her in the eye. “And most of all, I’ve been fighting my feelings for you because I’ve been afraid of messing up.

That if we were to become a couple, I’d somehow hurt you—or you’d be hurt by my .

. . reputation.” He swallowed hard and pulled in a deep breath.

“And hurting you is one thing I never want to do.”

“Gideon, you—”

“Shh.” He laid a finger over her lips. “Let me finish.”

She nodded.

“Anyway, after all we’ve been through—like almost dying—after a lot of prayer and hard conversations with God, I’m ready to face my fears if you are. I don’t want to let another day go by without telling you how I feel.”

Could her heart beat any faster? Should she say something? What could she say?

“While I’ve been working on getting everything ready for you, I’ve also been thinking about the ranch and about how you need someone to oversee the building projects and the maintenance. You may even want to expand someday.”

“Yes, that’s the vision.”

“I know construction. I know how to manage crews, handle contracts, build things that last. And I’d like to do that here. With you.”

Maya blinked away the tears that wanted to blind her. “But what about rebuilding your business? I thought that was your dream.”

“Initially. Maybe. But dreams can change. Or morph into something better. Something you never thought of until you’re planning and are in a place to envision it.

I’m choosing to go with the something better.

” He rubbed a hand over his lips. “When we were in that tunnel and pretty much facing death, I thought about a lot of things—mostly escaping with both of us alive—but also about choices and ones I regretted.” He pulled her to her feet and leaned over to kiss her.

Gently. Sweetly. “I don’t want to have any regrets when it comes to going forward.

I wish I’d told you how I felt about you years ago.

I love you, Maya. I think I’ve always loved you. ”

“I love you too,” she said, pushing the words past the lump in her throat. “But the nightmares—”

“We’ll face them together and we’ll beat them. Just like we did Vance and Ellie. Together. Whatever comes next, we’re a team. And we have God, so that really makes us an unbeatable trio.”

“I like the sound of that.” A tear slipped down her cheek. Could she put aside all her insecurities and fears to spend a lifetime with this man?

She gave herself a mental slap. Why was she even questioning that?

She could do it because the alternative wasn’t an option.

She closed her eyes, relishing the feel of his arms around her.

Standing in this moment, this place. Then her mind slid back to what they’d been through, and she looked up at him.

“I can’t believe Vance really thought he could use Ellie wanting to kill me as a way to get away from her.

I believe in fighting for your marriage, but when your spouse is deadly .

. . well, that’s a whole different situation. ”

“I have no doubt he was afraid she’d kill him too, if he didn’t do what she wanted.” He paused. “I wonder if that bullet he hit her with was meant to kill her.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. He had the chance to kill her when he was supposedly taking her to get help, but he didn’t. Maybe deep down he just couldn’t do it.”

“But, in the end, he could kill us.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “He sure used that avalanche to his advantage. Ellie had ranted and told him her plans to get rid of me, so he piggybacked on that. I’m sure if the avalanche hadn’t happened, he would have figured out how to work everything so Ellie took the fall and he came out as the grieving husband with the murderous wife. It’s hard to wrap my mind around it.”

“Then don’t. Wrap your mind around something else.”

“Happy to. Why are we even rehashing this? What should I wrap my mind around now?”

“This.” He dropped to one knee, pulling something from his pocket.

Maya sucked in a breath. Oh, God, please don’t let me pass out.

He looked up and she looked down. Their eyes met. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, waiting for the right moment and this is it. Right here on the porch, just us, with a beautiful view, perfect weather, and, well, frankly, I don’t want to wait any longer.”

“I agree. Don’t wait any longer.” She gave a breathless little laugh, and he grinned.

“All right then.” He held the ring up to her. “Maya Sullivan, will you marry me? Will you let me help you run this ranch, build our future, and trust God to heal whatever needs healing—together?”

With a trembling hand, Maya reached for the simple ring. A beautiful solitaire diamond set in white gold. Then she looked into the face of the man she’d loved for what seemed like forever. The fears were still there, just small and less significant.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes to all of the above.” He slipped the ring on her finger and she cupped his face. “I love you, Gideon Price.”

He stood and kissed her, long and slow, tender and demanding. A kiss that said he cherished her and desired her. That she was finally home.

He pulled back and hugged her. She’d never felt so secure, so safe. So unafraid. “Gideon?”

“Yeah?”

“Call your parents. Today, okay? Life’s too short not to reconcile.”

He pressed his forehead to hers. “I already did that this morning. Dad’s going to help me draw up the plans for the new veterinary clinic you’re wanting to build.”

Maya laughed and wound her arms around his neck. “I think this is what Gramps always dreamed of for this place. For it to be a place of healing. For all living creatures—animals and people.”

“Yeah. It’s going to be exciting to see that come to life.”

“Oh, there’s one more thing that needs healing,” she said.

He frowned. “What?”

“Your muffler.”

He snorted, then laughed. “Right. It’s on my list.”

“A list that can wait,” Maya said, pulling him down for another kiss. “For now, I just want to stay here and plan our future.”

“I’d say that’s the perfect way to spend the day as long as it involves lots of kisses.”

She grinned. “I think that can be arranged.”