Chapter 9 Mistletoe
MISTLETOE
“Iknow he made a mistake but you need to forgive him, honey. You’re both miserable. You love him. He loves you. It’s exactly what we were hoping for when we told him that you wanted to sell.”
My head pops up and I stare at my mom. It’s been a week since he left and my whole body hurts every time I think about him. My chest aches. My eyes hurt from crying.
I didn’t know how much I came to rely on the guy even though he’d only been here a few days. I definitely didn’t realize how much it was going to hurt when he betrayed me.
“What do you mean that you told him I wanted to sell?” Mom flushes and fiddles with her shawl. It’s the first time she’s been out here in forever. She came looking for me with Helena because I haven’t been into town at all.
“Well, we knew that you two would be perfect for each other but you’d never even try if we didn’t get him out here. So Helena told him that she wasn’t feeling well and that she was having trouble and then she told him that you were interested in selling the farm.”
“Mom! What were you thinking?”
Her head comes up and she glares at me. “I was thinking that my only daughter deserves to have a man that would take care of her and not run off with his…well, I’m not going to say that word. We just wanted you two to be happy.”
“Well, we’re not.”
“That’s just because you’re both as stubborn as mules.”
“I can’t believe that he paid for part of that car. Didn’t even ask me about it.”
“I can. He loves you and Velvet and he wanted to take care of you and he knew that you wouldn’t let him. So he fixed things. He’s a CEO. That’s what he does.”
“I didn’t ask him to.”
“You wouldn’t have. But he cared so he did. Just give the man a chance.”
Shaking my head, I rest it on my hands. “No. I don’t trust him anymore.”
“Because he helped you?”
“Because he lied to me.”
“To help you and Velvet.”
“You’re not listening,” I huff.
“And you’re not thinking clearly. How are you going to feel if he leaves and never comes back?”
My chest aches and my throat tightens painfully, my eyes shutting on pain like nothing I’ve ever felt. Not even when Donny left me for a younger woman.
My mother sighs. “I know that you’re a proud woman. He knows that too. And he was just trying to make sure that your pride didn’t get you in trouble. He was trying to protect both of you.”
“Funny way of doing it,” I mutter.
She laughs. “He’s a man, honey. Sometimes we have to give them a little grace if we love them. They’re not always wise but his heart was in the right place. He just wasn’t thinking clearly about how you would feel.”
Eyeing her, I lift my chin. “What if he does something like this again?”
“Depends on if it’s for the right reasons. If it is….forgive him again. He’s a good man.”
Nodding my head, I pick up my phone and text his number.
It takes seconds and then he replies.
“He’s on his way.”
She smiles and pats my shoulder. “I’ll get out of your hair then. Just remember…sometimes good intentions are just that. And you’ve got to let them go.”
Helena grins at me. “Don’t let him get too cozy though. He’s a man and he needs to feel a little bit of fear or he might do it again.”
And they both leave, chattering happily about weddings. I roll my eyes.
“Little early for that,” I mutter.
But in ten minutes I hear the big car pulling up outside and I stand up, drawing in an unsteady breath.
And when I walk outside, my heart leaps when I see him there. Standing with a bunch of flowers behind his back. Not realizing that Val is eating them right out of his hand!
I giggle and his brow lifts. And then he whips around and groans. “Seriously, Val? Why can’t you at least let me get out of the doghouse before you mess things up again?”
I step down, unsteady, breathless. “You think flowers will get you out of the doghouse?”
“I don’t know. But I figured it couldn’t hurt.”
I stand in front of him and fight the need to touch his hand, to let him pull me in to a hug. To feel his warm arms around me, so strong and steady.
“We need to talk.” He nods and we sit down on the step. He grimaces when Val sits at his feet and starts chewing on his shoes.
“Honestly, I’m gonna be lucky if I have anything left after she’s done.”
Laughing, I roll my eyes. My heart feels lighter than it has all week and it’s him.
It’s always been him.
“Frank, why did you pay for that car?”
“I didn’t. I put down some money so you could afford it.
And I’d do it all over again. You needed a safe vehicle.
I need you safe. I love you and Velvet. This last week has been an absolute nightmare and I can’t believe how much I missed you.
Can’t believe how much you already mean to me.
You and your daughter are my whole world.
I want to spoil you and take care of you.
I want to make your lives easier. Happier. ”
“I don’t need you to buy me things.”
“I know you don’t need that. But I want to do it. It makes me happy to take care of you. Makes me feel like I’m worthy of you. Not like your ex.”
“You’re nothing like my ex. Donny was a user from the beginning. He had no idea how to take care of anyone but himself. And he was actually kinda sketchy on that too.”
“I’m a full-grown man. I worked a hard job taking care of business for a lot of years. I never thought I’d find anybody that would make me want to have a family. But you do. You have from the first minute I saw you.”
He waves his hand around the farm. “You want this place to be successful? I can help. I’d love to help you. That’s all I was trying to do with the car. Help. Because I need to help you. And Velvet. It’s a compulsion and I’m not gonna be able to stop. I hope that you can live with that.”
My heart skips in my chest at the warm look in his dark eyes. His hands reach out to hold mine and they’re warm and safe. I can even feel a callous here and there.
The hands of a man that works and doesn’t shy away from it. A man that really wants to be my partner.
Wants to make my farm successful. Wants to take care of me and Velvet.
“You’re sure about this? Because if you don’t want to be serious, you need to leave. I’m not about to expose my daughter to another man that just wants to leave.”
I’m never leaving you, Misty. You’re it for me. You and Velvet are my heart and soul. It took me a minute to figure it out but when I did…I didn’t mean to mess it up.” He chokes and closes his eyes, his hands tightening on mine. “I have missed both of you so much. It’s been torture.”
I move into his arms and feel them wrap around me, warm and safe. Just like it always is with him.
“I missed you too,” I whimper. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Misty. You and Velvet. You’re mine. You were always meant to be mine.”
“It doesn’t bother you that she’s not your blood?”
He shakes his head wildly. “No. Never. She’s mine.
As soon as I met her, that was it for me.
I want to adopt her when we get married.
Want to raise her as my own. And if we never have any other children it will not matter at all to me.
Because she’s just as much mine as she is yours.
I want to raise her and when she gets old enough, I want to meet the idiots that think they’ll have the right to date her so I can disabuse them of that right off the bat.
Because I guarantee none of them will be good enough for her.
Just like I’m not good enough for you. But I don’t care.
I’ll spend my whole life trying to be. And I hope that that’s good enough. ”
Tears sting my eyes. This beautiful, sweet man is promising me the moon, the stars and everything in between.
“I don’t know if I deserve you either. But I think that we deserve each other.”
“Are you sure?” His dark eyes search mine and my soul feels like it’s on wings, flying so high in the clouds that it’s looking down on me and smiling.
“I’m sure.”
“Then how do you feel about a Christmas wedding?”
Giggling, I lean into his chest, hearing his heart beat under my ear. I don’t think so. I need things. Like a dress and all that stuff.”
“I guarantee I can get all that together in less than two weeks.”
“Not gonna happen, old man.”
He leans down and kisses me lightly, his warm lips clinging to mine. He arches a dark brow. “We’ll see, Mrs. Monroe. We’ll see.”
Giggling again, I lead him to the house, smirking when he trips over Val who’s still trying to grab his shoes.
“That thing is a menace.”
But he doesn’t say it with anger. Just sighs and I know that he’s not mad.
Val loves him. I can tell. Just like I do. Just like Velvet will.
I can almost see our future now and for once, the picture in front of me doesn’t make me tired. Doesn’t make me cringe or cry.
I’ve finally found my partner. The one who can help lift me up when I’m sad.
The one that will move heaven and earth to protect me and Velvet.
I didn’t think it was possible. Didn’t think I wanted a man.
But then again, I hadn’t met Frankincense yet.
Sometimes it just takes the right man to change your mind. He tugs me up the stairs and I smile and laugh when he looks back at me. My whole body tingles with joy and happiness.
And the sound of bells coming from the barn.