Chapter 10
T onya
"You need to see this for yourselves," Shane had said over the phone that morning. "I'm not explaining it twice. Go to the county records office and ask Martha to pull the Lorenzo property file. She's expecting you."
Which was how Kevin and I ended up standing in the Burke County Records Office, surrounded by dusty filing cabinets and the musty smell of old paper.
"Shane sent you?" Martha, a woman in her sixties with sharp eyes behind reading glasses, was already pulling out a thick file folder. "Smart man, that one. Called me yesterday asking questions about old logging roads and easement law. I told him he needed to see the original surveys."
She spread several documents across the counter—property deeds, survey maps, historical records going back over a century.
"Your grandmother's property," Martha said, tapping the survey map. "Fifty acres, cottage built in 1892. Been in your family for generations. Well, until recently."
The reminder that Michael now owned it through those debt claims made my stomach twist, but I pushed the feeling aside. "What did Shane find?"
Martha traced a line on the survey map—the old logging road that we'd been using to access the cottage. "This road. Shane thought it was some kind of old public access route. Lots of logging roads from that era were left open for general use. But this one never was."
"I don't understand," I said.
Martha pulled out another document—Shane's property deed from five years ago.
"When Shane bought his property from Tom Snyder's estate, this logging road was included in the parcel.
Shane assumed it was just an old access route anyone could use, like a lot of the historical trails around here.
He never thought twice about people using it. "
"But it's not public access," Kevin said slowly.
"No. It's private property, always has been.
Your grandmother had an understanding with Tom.
He let her use the road through his land, she didn't complain when his hunting parties came through in the fall.
Just neighbors being neighborly." Martha pulled out a faded document.
"But handshake agreements don't transfer with property sales.
When Shane bought the land, he inherited full property rights to that road. "
"Shane had no idea," I said.
"None at all. He thought anyone could use it, same as dozens of other old logging roads on this mountain.
It wasn't until he started researching the property history that he found the original surveys and realized that road is entirely on his private land.
No easement was ever recorded, no right-of-way was ever established. "
Kevin leaned over the maps, studying the boundary lines. "So the only access to the cottage property..."
"Goes directly through Shane's posted private land," Martha confirmed. "And now that Shane knows it's his private road, not a public access route, he has every right to control who uses it."
"But we've been using it for weeks," I said. "When we were working on the cottage."
"Because Shane didn't know any better, and even if he had, he would have let you use it anyway.
You were family to him." Martha looked at me over her glasses.
"But the new property owner? A New Yorker, who acquired the property through creditor claims, never asked permission, never established any neighborly relationship? That's different."
Understanding crystallized. "Michael has no legal right to use that road."
"Not without Shane's explicit permission or a court-ordered easement.
And getting a judge to grant an easement across private property when there's no history of recorded access?
" Martha shook her head. "That's a years-long legal battle.
Vermont law strongly favors existing landowners, especially when there's no prior easement agreement. "
"So Michael owns property he can't access," Kevin said, and I could hear the satisfaction in his voice.
"He should have done his due diligence before paying those estate debts and taking ownership. Should have verified access rights." Martha gathered the documents.
"Shane owns the only road to the cottage," I said.
Kevin pulled me close. “And now he gets to decide who crosses his property. And it won’t be your asshole ex. Excuse me, Martha.”
She snorted and waved off his apology. We thanked her and left the office.
"So Michael really is stuck,” I said, gripping his hand.
"Completely. He owns two acres of landlocked mountain that he can't access, can't develop, and can't sell. He can sue for an easement, but that'll take years and cost more than the property's worth. Or he can try to negotiate with Shane." Kevin's smile was grim. "Which should be entertaining."
"Do you think Michael will give up?"
"I think he will get bored once it's clear you're completely out of his reach.
" He pulled me into a hug. "Once you're legally my wife, once enough time passes that he realizes you're never coming back, the property will lose its appeal.
It was only ever leverage to get you back.
Without that, it's just an expensive mistake. "
“I hope you’re right.”
“And who knows. Maybe when he decides to sell it, we can snatch it up for a good price.”
“He’ll never allow that.”
“There are ways around that.” Kevin grinned.
TWO WEEKS LATER, I stood in the brothers' hunting cabin wearing a simple white dress I'd found in a West Burke boutique.
The rustic space had been transformed—Neil had built an arbor from fallen birch branches that arched over the stone fireplace, Sam had strung lights along the exposed beams, and Shane had arranged wildflowers in mason jars throughout the room.
A handful of locals filled the wooden benches—Jerry from the garage, Martha from the records office, Sheriff Morris, and a few other faces I'd come to know.
But my eyes were only for Kevin, standing in front of the fireplace in dark jeans and a pressed button-down shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders.
His brothers stood with him—Neil towering on his right, Sam grinning on his left, Shane beside him with barely concealed emotion in his silver eyes. These men who'd become my family, who'd protected me and welcomed me without question.
Kevin's dark eyes tracked my every step as I walked toward him, and I saw everything in that gaze—hunger and devotion, possession and promise, the absolute certainty that I was his and he was mine.
When I reached him, he took my hands in his, dwarfing them completely.
"You look beautiful," he said quietly, just for me.
"You clean up pretty well yourself."
Justice of the Peace Harris cleared his throat, smiling at our exchange. "We're gathered here today to witness the union of Kevin Pike and Tonya Lorenzo in marriage. Now, I understand the couple has prepared their own vows?"
Kevin squeezed my hands, his voice carrying the weight of everything we'd been through when he spoke.
"Tonya, when I found you in that storm, I thought I was just helping a stranger.
I didn't know you were going to turn my whole world upside down.
You walked into my carefully controlled life and showed me that I'd been surviving instead of living.
You taught me that love isn't about control or keeping someone safe in a cage—it's about giving someone wings and trusting them to choose to stay. "
His thumbs stroked across my knuckles. "I promise to trust you, even when my past tells me not to.
I promise to see your strength instead of trying to protect you from everything.
I promise to choose you every single day, in every way that matters.
You're mine, and I'm yours, and nothing will ever change that. "
I blinked back the moisture gathering in my eyes and found my voice.
"Kevin, you saved me. Not just from a storm, but from the woman I'd become—small and scared and convinced I was helpless.
You saw strength in me when I couldn't see it in myself.
You showed me what real protection looks like, what real love feels like. "
I took a breath. "I promise to trust your love, even when I'm scared.
I promise to keep choosing you, even when things get hard.
I promise to be your partner, not your responsibility.
And I promise to spend the rest of my life proving that you are worth choosing, that you are worth staying for, that you are everything I've ever wanted. "
Kevin's jaw clenched, his eyes bright with feeling.
"Do you, Kevin Pike, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Harris asked.
"I do." No hesitation, absolute certainty.
"And do you, Tonya Lorenzo, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I do."
"The rings?"
Shane stepped forward with two simple gold bands. Kevin took mine first, his large fingers surprisingly gentle as he slid it onto my finger next to his grandmother's diamond.
"With this ring, I claim you as mine," he said, his voice carrying to everyone in the room. "Forever."
I took his ring with trembling hands, sliding it onto his finger. "With this ring, I choose you. Always."
"Then by the power vested in me by the State of Vermont, I now pronounce you husband and wife." Harris grinned. "Kevin, you may kiss your bride."
Kevin's hands came up to frame my face, his touch reverent despite the hunger burning in his eyes. "Mine," he whispered, just for me.
"Yours," I agreed.
Then he was kissing me—not the desperate claiming of our first kiss, but something deeper. A promise. A declaration. The sealing of a bond that went beyond legal documents or spoken vows.
When we finally broke apart to whoops and applause from our small gathering, Kevin rested his forehead against mine.
"Mrs. Pike," he said, testing out the name.
"I like the sound of that."
"Good. Because you're stuck with it forever."
That evening, after Sam's incredible feast and Neil's heartfelt toast and Shane's quiet blessing, Kevin and I stood on our porch under emerging stars. I was still wearing my wedding dress, and Kevin had his arms wrapped around me from behind.
"Happy?" he asked.
"More than I knew was possible."
I turned in his arms to face him, looking up at the man who'd become my everything. His dark eyes reflected starlight, and the smile on his face was something I'd never seen before—pure contentment mixed with possessive satisfaction.
"What are you thinking?" I asked.
"That I've been waiting my whole life for this moment." His hand came up to cup my face. "For you. Standing here as my wife, wearing my ring, choosing to stay even when you had every reason to run."
"I'm not running. Not ever."
"Good." He lowered his head until his lips brushed mine. "Because I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure you never want to."
The promise in his voice sent heat spiraling through me. "Show me."
He swept me up in his arms, carrying me toward the house—our house, with both our names on the deed. As he carried me over the threshold, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him with everything I had.
This was just the beginning. The first page of a story we'd write together—full of passion and partnership, challenges and triumphs, love that grew stronger with every passing day.
I'd come to this mountain broken and lost, searching for something I couldn't name.
And I'd found him. Found us. Found the kind of love that made everything else fade into insignificance.
As Kevin laid me down on our bed, his body covering mine, his hands claiming every inch of me with reverent possession, I knew with absolute certainty that this was where every path had been leading.
Not to property or independence or proof of survival.
But to this man. This moment. This love that felt like coming alive for the first time.
"I love you," I whispered against his lips.
"I love you too," he said, his voice dark with promise. "Every day, for the rest of our lives."
And as he proceeded to show me exactly what forever meant, I stopped thinking about the past entirely.
There was only now. Only us. Only the perfect certainty of two souls recognizing they'd finally found what they'd been searching for all along.
Each other.