Chapter 23 #2
“I reckon I’ve probably messed that all up, too,” I say, but Perry shakes his head, holding the door open for us as the cold air whips past. He’s wearing the same smile he gave me the first night I showed up here, lost in so many ways.
But these people helped me find where I belong.
They took me in, made me family, and I shouldn’t have been so worried about what they would say if they knew where I came from.
They knew who I was all along. It’s the man I was that doesn’t exist anymore.
“He’s a good kid. He’ll understand,” Perry says as we pass, and as we drive back slowly through the snow, all piled into Preston’s van, I wonder, how the hell did I get so lucky to find a family as great as this?
I guess if I really am the only heir to my former family’s business, I could use the money to keep the Beaker Brothers going.
To help more animals, expand the cuddle cove.
Maybe this doesn’t have to be the scary thing I’ve been imagining.
But if I am going to come out to the world, I should probably reveal who I really am to Hayden first. He deserves to know the truth, and I want him to hear it from me.
That is, if he even lets me try to explain after standing him up.
***
We basically followed the storm all the way back, and the snow had reduced to an average sprinkling by the time I finished filling in the family about everything.
Who I was, why I ran in the first place, and why I felt I had to run again.
When I told them that if I were the heir, I wanted to do what I could for this place, both Dean and Nial protested at first, saying it was their job to make this place run, and they’d figure something out.
Perry reminded them that it was all of our jobs to keep our home going, and they agreed we’d discuss it more when or if it becomes a thing.
The only thing they all agreed on was that I was not allowed to run again.
I can honestly say, I never want to leave this place ever again.
I knock on Hayden’s cabin door and wait. Preston sent all the guests back to their cabins, and the visitors all headed home, with a promise of a make-up session as soon as we got a clearer night.
“You’re about two hours late,” he says, answering the door in fluffy cow pajamas.
“Umm, where did you get those?” I ask, and he blushes and hides half his body behind the door.
“Wen’s early Christmas present. She thought I might like cheering up after…”
“Yeah. So, look, I know I have a lot of explaining to do, and you can totally tell me to fuck off, and I’ll go. I’ll leave and—“
“Don’t leave. Not again,” he says, and my pulse quickens.
“Okay. I won’t.”
He steps back, making room for me to pass, and then closes the door behind him. I contemplate sitting on the bed, but pace over to the kitchen wall instead.
“So, you’ve heard the story about the search for the heir to the Richmont family.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he’s not a serial killer, and he’s not hiding out in the Bahamas,” I say, turning and pacing back the other way. The cabin is one of the smallest we have, so it only takes a few strides, and he crosses my path to sit on the bed, legs crossed in front of him, hands resting on his knees.
“Okay, so where is he then?”
“Here. I’m him.”
He squints like he’s struggling to process the words that have just come out of my mouth. Fuck, even I am struggling to understand what I am saying. I went from never wanting anyone to know to having everyone know in a matter of a few hours.
“What do you mean, you’re him?”
“My full name is Theodore Connor Brewer Richmont the Third.”
“You’re the missing millionaire?”
I sigh. “I’m not a millionaire. I’m the same guy you’ve spent the last two weeks with.”
“Except your name is Theodore?”
“Technically, yes,” I say, and he frowns like he maybe doesn’t believe me. The room suddenly feels so much smaller than it did a few seconds ago. “Can we maybe go for a walk?”
He nods and climbs from the bed. I open the door as he pulls on his coat and boots, thankful that the storm has almost fully passed and the snow is falling in a slow scattering now.
We immediately head toward the path that leads around the ranch.
It’s the same path we walked all those nights ago, and I’m reminded of how easy it was to talk to him then, too.
It’s like I want him to know everything about me, and I want to know everything about him.
“Okay, explain,” he says, wrapping his arms tightly around himself.
“Connor is my second name, but I guess it was still a lie to use it instead of Theodore, but everything else I said is the truth. I haven’t lied to you about my feelings for you.”
He walks quietly beside me as I continue to try to fill the silence with explanations.
“I came here after tipping my truck to miss a calf in the road, and I really did just fall in love with this place. I found where I felt I could belong. These guys and Sally-May are my family. My real family. I walked away from that life. Ran actually, twice now. That’s why I wasn’t at our date.
I saw a photo of me online and knew I couldn’t hide anymore, so I took off. ”
“So that’s why the rest of them left, to go find you?”
“Yeah. And I’m really glad they did, because this is the life I want.”
I’m rambling, and my throat is scratchy and dry, and my stomach is doing somersaults with every second he stays silent. Then he stops walking and turns to me, his brow turned down, one side of his lips puckered up. He takes a breath and lets it out in a puff of cool air.
“I’m a reporter reviewing the ranch. That’s why I came here, not to write my book.”