CHAPTER 14
FLETCHER
Even though I’ve known Walter my entire life and have never been scared of the man, I’m a little afraid right now. This is different, it’s much bigger. He might not have kicked up a fuss about Eden agreeing to move in with me next door at Limitless, but that doesn’t mean he’ll stand back and give me his blessing for what I’m about to ask him today.
I made sure to come over a little bit early to talk to Walter before we move Eden and Macklin over to the house. Noel and Huxley will be here in a little bit, and I know we’ll be able to make quick work of moving everything.
“Fletcher,” Walter nods and eyes me as if he knows that I need to talk to him. “How about we go out to the barn?”
“Thank you, sir,” I nod. He looks a little surprised because I haven’t called the man ‘sir’ in years, but he deserves that level of respect right now. The moment we step inside the barn, I don’t let the silence stretch between us. “I love your daughter, and I love your grandson. I know they haven’t been in Wintervale very long and it may seem like we’re moving fast, but I’ve already lost too much time with Eden. I don’t want slow, I want forever. I’m going to ask Eden to marry me, and I hope you can support us in that.”
Walter’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “You’re not asking me for my blessing?”
I shake my head slowly, “No. No offense, but Eden is her own person. I’d like your support, but that’s different.” I chuckle softly and shake my head. “On my way over here, I thought I was going to ask for your blessing, but as I talk to you, I realize it’s not what I’m asking for at all.”
Walter studies me closely, his eyes, which are so much like Eden’s, take my measure. And he doesn’t miss a fucking thing.
“All those years ago you hurt her. She was lost for a long time,” his words are blunt, his tone even more so.
“I know,” I admit, my words heavy with emotion, “and I’ll always regret what I did. I wanted her to be free to be able to follow her dreams and not feel like she was always tethered to Wintervale, just because it’s where I was always going to be. I didn’t want her to wake up one day and realize she wanted more because she could go out there and do any damn thing that she sets her mind to. I loved her too much to be what held her back.”
“This is moving kind of fast,” Walter hedges.
“No,” I insist, “it’s not. We’ve been in love with each other since we were 14. We needed the time apart; we needed to feel the loss. It will make us stronger in the end. I regret our hearts had to break to make it possible, but our paths were always destined to be walked side by side. It just took a little time to get here.”
Walter nods and then his lips pull up into a wide grin. “You’re right Fletcher,” he slaps my shoulder and gives it a squeeze, “you don’t need my blessing. I will always support and back a man who loves my daughter enough to let her go. I can’t imagine being in your shoes and making the same decision. It takes a man of strength and character to put the person they love first, especially when it hurts.” He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, “You just promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You love them with everything you have,” his voice is gruff.
“Always,” I vow.
He nods and then we both look up as the barn door opens and Eden sticks her head inside. Her eyebrows pull together when she sees us together. She nibbles on her lip in the way she always does when she’s nervous.
“I saw your truck out front,” she says to me. “Everything okay?”
“Yup,” Walter grins at his daughter as he walks toward her and pulls her into his arms, “everything is great.” His voice drops to a whisper, “I’m proud of you, Eden.”
When he pulls back, I can see unshed tears in her eyes. They might be happy tears, but I hate seeing them in her pretty dark eyes.
Eden turns toward me, questions swirling around here, as Walter pulls the barn door closed behind him. “Everything packed up and ready?”
She narrows her eyes at my question as she crosses her arms across her chest. Fuck, she’s sexy. Even when she’s annoyed at me.
“Yes,” she purses her lips, “we’re ready to get moved over.” She waves a hand behind her. “Do you want to tell me what you were talking to Dad about?”
Instead of answering her directly, I close the distance between us, hook an arm around her waist, and pull her flush against my chest. Even though I haven’t answered her, she still melts against me, and I take a moment to soak up the feeling.
How did I survive without this woman in my life for so long? It’s like I can breathe again.
“Eden,” I murmur softly, and her gaze comes up to meet mine, “I want to start this new chapter in our lives off right. This time we’re going to last forever and then beyond even that.”
Her arms come up and wrap around my neck, neither one of us minding the thick coats we’re wearing. I’d rather feel all of her soft curves against me, but I can’t stand the thought of going one more moment without asking her the question which has been on the tip of my tongue for what feels like forever now.
“I love you and Macklin more than you’ll ever know,” I start, and she nods. “I want more than us living together. I want more babies with you, to be able to experience it with you right from the start. I want to build a life, a family. But there’s one thing I need to do before that can happen.”
Eden’s eyes go round and wide when I gently pull back from her, dig into my pocket, and then drop down to one knee. I don’t just hold up one ring in my fingers, but two.
She gasps and covers her mouth with her hands, a tremor running through her body and tears welling up in her eyes. “Fletcher,” her voice breaks as she says my name.
“A long time ago, I bought a ring for you because I always knew there was only one woman I was going to marry. When I went to visit you that last time, I wasn’t sure if I was going to slip it on your finger or let you be free. I know it hurt and, maybe, I would do it differently knowing what I know now, and how hard it was being without you. I always kept the ring as a reminder. It was a little ember of hope, one I wasn’t willing to snuff out.”
A tear slides down her cheek, her voice pained, “Oh, Fletch.”
I shake my head and smile up at my gorgeous woman. “It needed to be this way. You needed to find yourself and chase your dream. You needed to bring Macklin into this world. It might not have been the way we saw everything going when we were kids, but I can see that fate was always at our backs and walked beside us when we were together and when we were apart. Then, when it was the right time, fate brought us back together again. The girl you were, the girl I fell in love with, deserves to have the ring I bought back then, but the woman you’ve become deserves something new, something worthy of being on your finger.”
She lets out a soft sob and I stand up and cup her face with one of my hands, wiping the tears away with my thumb, her rings still held between us. “Eden, my best friend and the Shooting Star I have wished upon my entire life, will you make all those wishes come true and marry me?”
“Yes,” she whispers, the word a little garbled and almost too soft to hear. But I hear it. She clears her throat, and she smiles up at me, her voice stronger, “Yes, Fletcher Burns, of course I’ll marry you. The answer was always going to be yes. Then. Now. It doesn’t matter when, it’ll always be yes.”
I slip the rings on her finger, both of them fitting her perfectly and fitting together like they were always meant to sit side by side. Our past and our future.
When I slam my mouth down on hers, her lips part for me and I kiss her until we both can’t breathe. Only then do I pull away and stare down at her, wonderment and awe filling me like it always does when it comes to my woman.
“Thank you,” I whisper and press my forehead against hers.
Eden’s giggle fills the barn, and she shakes her head as if thanking her is ridiculous. It isn’t.
When I hear two honks, I know Noel and Huxley have arrived. “Come on, Shooting Star, lets get my family moved in right where they belong.”
She smiles at me and the pain of the past melts away. The memories we shared have tasted bittersweet for a long time, but not anymore. Now we can see them for what they were—just part of our journey. All of it led us to here.
The moment we step inside the house, I brace because I hear small feet running in my direction. “Daddy,” Macklin shouts and launches himself into my arms.
I lift him and hold him against my chest, something else clicking into place as I look at Eden in disbelief. Those tears I hate are back in her eyes and this time she’s not alone. Edith’s eyes are glassy, and I swear even Huxley’s are.
Macklin whispers, “Is that okay?”
I rub a hand over Macklin’s back, wanting to reassure him and let him know it’s more than okay. “I’ll make you a deal,” I tell him, and he pulls back to look into my eyes, and I hate the flash of fear I see there, “you can call me daddy as long as it’s okay with you if I marry your mama.”
Macklin nods eagerly, possibly not even understanding what marrying Eden means, as he grins at me. Edith lets out a squeal and we’re all engulfed in hugs and well wishes. Just how it should have been years ago.
But maybe this is better. I appreciate this with a depth of feeling which is impossible to express. I’m so damn grateful to fate for stepping in, keeping our hearts safe for each other, and then bringing us back together.
Hours later, after everything has been moved and unpacked, and Noel cooked, I pull Eden against my side as she holds up her rings. Her eyes are filled with delight while a soft smile plays on her lips.
“Are you happy?”
She looks at me and pushes against my shoulder until I’m flat on my back and she can straddle my hips. “Fletcher,” she moans as she starts to rock her hips, “I’m deliriously happy.”
Eden reaches between us and grips my cock as she rises up on her knees. When the head is kissing her entrance, she sinks down slowly. Like this, on display for me, I know I’m not going to be able to last long. The view is just too damn good.
Her walls squeeze around me, and I grip her hips, helping her to keep the pace she sets. When her head tips back, I watch as her caramel hair cascades down her body and my cock throbs deep inside of her.
Everything about my woman is sexy as hell and the best part is she doesn’t even really know. She looks down at me, her eyes flashing with desire and something mischievous.
“I’m going to make an appointment and have my implant taken out. I don’t want to waste any more time,” she moans.
Well, fuck. I use my grip on her to move her faster over me as I thrust upward. My thumb stretches toward her clit and when I find it, I apply the perfect amount of pressure. It’ll set her off in no time, which is what needs to happen.
Eden telling me she wants me to put my baby in her is almost too much for me to take.
As her pussy clenches around my shaft, I let myself go and fill her with my cum. She falls over me, her hard nipples digging into my chest and making me consider how soon we can go another round. Her body is so soft against mine, fitting perfectly and making my entire world feel whole.
“Let’s plan for a springtime wedding,” I pant.
She giggles softly and props her chin on my chest, her dark eyes alight with mischief. “I know the perfect field of wildflowers.”
I grin at my woman because I know the place too. It’s the field on Limitless property where we always dreamed of getting married.
It took a while, but all those memories, all those dreams, now they’re the future we’re walking toward hand in hand. I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.