46. Sadie
SADIE
The new kitchen window went in two days later.
Beast insisted on doing it himself.
Dad insisted on helping.
Which mostly meant they stood in the kitchen arguing over measurements while I handed them tools neither one had asked for.
“You’re holding it crooked,” Dad said.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“It’s level.”
Dad squinted at the level.
Then squinted at Beast.
“It’s lying.”
Trigger nearly fell off the ladder laughing.
I stood at the kitchen table with Mrs. Jenkins, Doris, and Betty, trying very hard not to laugh too loudly.
Trying.
Failing.
Beast looked over at me.
His eyes narrowed.
“You think this is funny?”
“A little.”
He shook his head.
Then smiled.
That small smile.
The one that still made my heart flutter.
Even after everything.
Especially after everything.
The ranch was beginning to feel like ours again.
Not Gerald’s.
Not the place where I had been afraid.
Mine.
Dad’s.
Even Beast’s, he hasn’t left, since he said he loved me.
The morning sun poured through the open window frame.
Fresh air moved through the kitchen.
The smell of coffee and cinnamon rolls filled the house.
Mrs. Jenkins had brought them over because, apparently, no crisis in Eagle River could be handled without baked goods.
“You need to eat,” she told Beast.
“I ate.”
“You had coffee.”
“That counts.”
“No, it does not.”
Beast looked at me for help.
I lifted both hands.
“I’m staying out of this.”
“Coward,” he muttered.
I smiled.
“Probably.”
Dad stepped down from the ladder.
Wiped his hands on his jeans.
Then looked at Beast.
“You did good.”
Beast went still.
The room got quieter.
Dad was not a man who handed out praise easily.
Especially not to men standing in his kitchen beside his daughter.
Beast looked at him.
“Thank you.”
Dad nodded once.
Then looked toward me.
His expression softened.
“You make her happy.”
Beast’s eyes found mine.
Something warm moved through my chest.
“I plan on keeping it that way,” Beast said.
Dad held his gaze for a long moment.
Then he nodded again.
“Good.”
That was it.
No speech.
No dramatic warning.
Just one word.
But I understood exactly what it meant.
Dad trusted him.
He trusted Beast with me.
The thought made my eyes sting.
I looked away before anyone noticed.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Jenkins noticed everything.
She patted my hand.
“Oh, honey.”
I laughed softly.
“Don’t start.”
“I’m not starting anything.”
Doris snorted.
“You started planning their wedding the day she kissed him.”
Betty smiled.
“I picked flowers.”
Beast nearly dropped the hammer.
“Flowers?”
I burst out laughing.
The Magnolia Ladies looked innocent.
None of them were.
Dad shook his head and walked outside.
Hank followed him, still laughing.
Wolf and Trigger had stopped by to check the fence line, but I had a feeling they were mostly there to make sure Beast survived the Magnolia Ladies.
Wolf leaned against the doorframe.
“You doing okay?”
I looked around the kitchen.
At the new window.
At the sunlight.
At Beast standing there with sawdust on his shirt and a hammer in his hand.
At the people who had shown up for me when I needed them.
For the first time in days, my chest didn’t feel tight.
“I think I am.”
Wolf smiled.
“Good. My wife wants me home. We are having a big dinner at the Last Stand Tavern tonight. You are all invited.”
Trigger came in carrying a box of screws.
“Beast, you need these?”
Beast looked at the box.
Then at Trigger.
“I asked for nails.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
“Close enough.”
Beast stared at him.
Trigger grinned.
I laughed again.
And this time, it didn’t shake.
Later, after the dinner at the tavern, Beast and I sat on the porch swing.
The sun was setting over the pasture.
The sky had turned soft pink and gold.
The ranch was quiet.
A good quiet.
The kind that didn’t make me afraid.
Beast sat beside me.
His shoulder pressed against mine.
His hand wrapped around mine.
For a while, we didn’t talk.
We didn’t need to.
Then he looked down at our hands.
“You know I’m not going anywhere.”
My heart squeezed.
“I know.”
“I should have said it years ago.”
“You’re saying it now.”
He looked at me.
Serious.
Steady.
“I want more than now.”
My breath caught.
He lifted my hand.
Pressed a kiss to my knuckles.
“I want mornings here. I want to fix fences you probably don’t need fixed. I want to annoy your dad until he admits he likes me.”
I smiled.
“He already likes you.”
“Good.”
“I want you with me,” he continued. “Every day. If you’ll have me.”
The world seemed to go still.
Just the two of us.
The porch swing.
The setting sun.
His hand holding mine.
“I’ll have you,” I whispered.
Beast leaned closer.
Kissed me slowly.
Softly.
Like there was nowhere else he needed to be.
And for the first time since Gerald had come back into my life…
I believed it.
The worst was behind us.
The ranch was safe.
My dad was safe.
I was safe.
And Beast?
Beast was home.