Chapter 32
Oakley
Wendy waits as I take a seat at the kitchen table, her hands clasped primly behind herself, a stern expression on her face.
“All right,” I say. “I’m seated. Now, are you gonna tell me what this meeting is about?”
“In time,” she says simply.
I raise an eyebrow, battling a smile at this seventeen-year-old who texted me earlier to schedule a time to meet and who’s now standing in front of me very much like how I imagine her father stands in front of his classes each day.
Good grief.
Lawson was right, wasn’t he? She’s here to threaten me.
“My dad is a good guy,” Wendy says.
There goes my other eyebrow. “You realize I’ve known him longer than you, right?”
“You gonna listen, or are you gonna give me attitude?”
“Jesus, there’s two of them,” I puff out. “I’m listening.”
“Good,” Wendy says, placing her palms flat on the table, her hazel-brown eyes searing into me.
“My dad is the best person I know. If anyone deserves the world, it’s him.
Which means if you ever leave this town again without him by your side, there won’t be a rock you can hide under where I won’t find you. ”
I stare at her, flabbergasted. “Good Lord, Wendy Darling. Who the heck taught you to speak that way?”
“Prob’ly you,” she shoots back. “Seeing as I’ve known you just as long as my dad. You realize that, right?”
I huff, crossing my arms as a smile stretches across my face. “If you’re trying to scare me, it won’t work.”
Wendy steps back from the table with a huff of her own. “I’m not trying to scare you, Oak. I’m trying to tell you I love my dad. And I love you. And I don’t think either of us would survive if you took off again. If this isn’t…if it’s not…”
I’m up and out of my seat in an instant. Wendy doesn’t try to stop me from pulling her into a hug, but she’s stiff in my arms.
“Wen… Do you know why I left Darling?”
She sniffs. “For Stevie.”
“Not just that,” I tell her, my voice hoarse. “I left because I was trying to make a life for myself that didn’t revolve around your dad.”
She pulls back some, looking up at me.
“He’s been the center of my world for as long as I can remember.
My first memories include him. Most of them after that, too.
Your dad… He’s the goddamn gravitational center of my whole freaking existence, and I thought I had to escape that, at least a little.
Because how foolish would I have been to devote my life to my best friend? ”
Wendy’s eyes are glassy, and I run my knuckle along the top of her cheek to catch an errant drop.
“I love your dad and everything he’s ever created, including you.
I never thought having him love me back was an option.
Not when we were young and single still.
Not while he was married to your mom. Not after that.
Not until…suddenly it was. There’s not a single thing that could pull me away now, you hear? ”
“You promise?”
In answer, I hold out my pinkie. After a long second, Wendy curls hers with mine. “I promise, Wen. I’m not leaving either of you. Not ever again.”
Wendy throws her arms around me, the top of her head at my chin as she hugs me tight. I remember walking into the hospital room the day she was born. She was this tiny, wailing thing, all pink and wrinkled. Lawson had tears in his eyes as he held her out to me.
I had wondered at her then. At this miraculous little human.
Over seventeen years later, and a tear slips down my cheek, the same as back then.
Family is a funny thing. The way it grows. How it adapts. It’s not the same for everybody, but I think that’s what makes it so great.
You can always gain new family. Wendy joined mine long ago.
Proof, Lawson said, that he lived.
Proof, too, that he loved.
And so do I. So do I.
Lawson and I arrive at Jackson’s house as the sun is dipping below the mountains. The bonfire is already roaring out back, his brothers’ chatter drifting across the yard as we approach.
It feels like every summer I’ve lived in Montana. The crisp night air. The smell of the outdoors. The sound, even, of the boisterous Darling family.
It’s so damn good to be home.
“Hey,” Colton calls out. “You guys are finally here. Saved you a chair, Oakley.”
I glance at the Adirondack chair Colton indicates, which is set apart from the others, almost like…
“Oh, good grief,” I mutter. “Is this a goddamn interrogation?”
“What? No,” Colton protests, even as he sits forward with his hands steepled over his knees. “We’re just gonna have a friendly chat.”
“Lawson?” I plead.
The man squeezes the back of my neck, tugging me in for a brief kiss that has Jackson grunting. “You knew what you were getting into, Oak.”
I stare at the back of Lawson’s head as he leaves me to my fate.
Ash hands me a whiskey tin, winking before he steps away.
With a sigh, I seat myself across from the others, the fire crackling between us.
Ash sits beside Jackson, the man’s feet crossed at his ankles.
Remi has a gentle smile on his face that looks like it’s meant to reassure.
Colton is still staring me down with intense blue eyes, even as Noah, seated next to him, is shaking his head, bemusement on his face.
I take a sip of my whiskey before clasping my hands together. “All right. Lay it on me.”
Colton knocks his hat up with a knuckle. “What, exactly, are your intentions with our older brother?”
Remi groans, Noah loses his battle not to laugh, and Ash is outright grinning now. I find Lawson’s eyes, somehow knowing from just one look that I have permission—encouragement, even—to answer however I’d like.
Refocusing on Colton, I say, “Are we talking about when he’s tied up or not?”
There’s a beat of silence before a collective groan rings out.
Colton scrubs his face, muttering, “Nope, sure didn’t need to know that.”
Noah supplies a helpful, “You did ask.”
Remi looks as if he’s contemplating what choices brought him here.
Ash hollers suggestively, adding a, “What? That’s hot,” when Jackson glares his way.
I, for my part, kick my boot over my knee, enjoying the Darling Whiskey in my tin as the flames from the fire turn the night orange.
Finally, Colton says, “Are we talking rope or—Nope. No, no. I don’t wanna know. Forget I asked.”
“I think what Colton means to say,” Remi puts in with a pointed look at his brother, “is that we’re really happy for you guys. Oak, you’ve been family from the beginning. And I can’t think of anyone better suited to look after our brother.”
My throat feels tight as I find Lawson’s eyes again. “I will,” I say roughly. “Look after him. And take care of him. I’ll love him harder than anyone else ever could.”
“Oh, gross,” Colton mutters.
“Love is gross?” Noah asks, amusement in his voice as he wraps an arm around Colton’s shoulders.
“When it’s my brother? Yes.”
Lawson pulls his chair over next to mine, accepting the tin I hand him once he’s seated. “Bet you missed this while you were gone,” he says, a smile quirking his lips.
I know he meant it as a joke, but I answer seriously. “Yeah. I did. I really, really did.”
His eyes hold mine as he takes a sip of the whiskey, his gaze as warm as the fire. A bell ringing in the night has everyone freezing.
“Is that…” I say before it clicks. “Lawson, get inside the house.”
“What?” the man says, looking confused as I try to tug him from his chair.
The ringing is getting louder.
“It’s the goddamn donkey,” I tell him. “Go.”
“He’s not gonna bite me, Oak.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Jesus,” Lawson grumbles. “You really do hold a grudge.”
As Lawson remains stubbornly rooted in his chair, the donkey comes trotting into sight. I breathe a sigh of relief when the old ass walks up to Jackson, the man sighing low and long.
“I don’t have any treats,” he says, the donkey prodding at his pocket. “For Christ’s sake, would you just—”
A loud tearing sound has Jackson jumping from his seat, the front half of his jeans, pocket downward, stripped away as the donkey takes off with the denim firmly between his teeth.
Jackson stands in shock, nearly falling on his ass when the bottom hem holds tight.
But that donkey yanks, and it rips free, leaving Jackson’s tattered jeans hanging around his leg as the donkey’s bell grows quieter.
Ash doubles over, laughing so hard he starts to wheeze. Remi has a wide grin on his face, his phone out in front of him, aimed at Jackson. Lawson lets out a single chuckle, taking another sip of his whiskey.
And Jackson? “See if you get another treat from me ever again,” he shouts at the donkey, voice lowering as he mutters, “The fuck? First the milk, now this?”
“Oh my God, Jack,” Ash says between breaths. “I can see your briefs.”
As Jackson stomps toward his house, pant leg waving behind him, Colton loads a few marshmallows onto a stick.
“Well,” the second-youngest Darling brother says. “I think it’s time for s’mores.”
As Colton and Noah get into the chocolate and graham crackers, Lawson passes the whiskey tin back my way. His lips are pressed into an amused line I get a little caught up in, considering the man’s pout is always distracting.
“You were ready to leap in between me and that donkey, Oak.”
It’s an accusation I don’t bother countering. “Considering you wouldn’t move, you bet your ass I was.”
“He’s not that dangerous,” Lawson says, shaking his head.
I wave a hand toward Jackson’s house, where the man disappeared inside less than a minute ago to replace his pants. “Uh-huh. Which is why the residents of Darling put a bell around his neck so you could hear him coming. Where d’you think I got the idea for Belladonna?”
“That’s why she has a bell?”
“She keeps stealing my food, Law! Even with the bell on, she manages it. I don’t know how she learned to move so stealthily.”
Lawson snorts. “She’s a sweetheart. Admit you love that cow.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” I reply hotly. “A cowboy. With a goddamn house cow. It’s ridiculous.”
Lawson hooks a hand around the back of my neck, tugging me close and planting a kiss on my lips. “Admit it.”
“What is this? Some sort of new tactic—”
He kisses me again, longer this time. I’m fairly certain I hear a halfhearted complaint from Remi, but everything is so very far away. Everything except for Lawson.
He leans back an inch at most to stare me down. “Admit you love her.”
I clear my throat. “I love you.”
“And the cow.”
“I’d like to eat the cow.”
He barks a laugh. “You could never. You’re the softest soul I know, Oakley Beaumont. Think about those big black eyes of hers and tell me again you could eat her.”
He’s got me in a corner, and he knows it.
“She’s all right,” I allow. “But she gets in the house—”
“Because you installed a cow door.”
“—and leaves dirt all over the floor—”
“Which is why you bought a robot vacuum.”
“—and honestly, it’s just the principle of the matter, all right? I mean—”
My words come to a halt when Lawson tugs me in again. He offers me the taste of whiskey on his lips, and I can do nothing but indulge in it for long minutes. When there’s a whistle from Ash, Lawson pulls back.
“Needa use the bathroom,” he tells me, standing and heading toward the house.
I clear my throat, feeling stares on my person from around the fire.
Remi is the first to speak. “It’s good to see him happy again. Smiling.”
“And laughing,” Colton adds. “I can’t remember the last time I heard him laugh like that.”
Remi hums his agreement, and my heart squeezes tight.
There’s lingering guilt for having been absent the past few years, unaware of exactly how badly Lawson was hurting.
If I’d known, I wouldn’t have stayed away.
But mostly, it’s relief I feel, knowing how much happier Lawson is now.
And so much love for the man it physically hurts.
Colton sets his hat on the ground, his eyes meeting mine. “You know I was just playing earlier, right?”
“I do,” I tell him.
“It’s just… Law has always felt the need to look after all the rest of us. Maybe because he’s the oldest, or maybe it’s just who he is. But I want him to know we have his back, too. That we’ll always look out for him. The same goes for you, Oak.”
I nod, a lump in my throat. As I collect my words, Jackson returns to Ash’s side, the fire between us sending occasional fits of golden sparks up into the night.
“Y’all are the closest thing I’ve ever had to brothers.
I’ve never doubted you’d be there for me if I needed it.
Lawson knows that, too. But you have to admit… You’re all stubborn in your own ways.”
Ash huffs a laugh at that, smacking Jackson’s chest. Not a single Darling refutes it.
“He knows you love him,” I go on. “And he knows you’d move the world for him. But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t still choose to go the long way around just to spare anyone else the strain. Being selfish isn’t easy for him.”
Remi opens his mouth, but I go on quickly.
“I know, and you know, it’s not selfish to lean on the folks you love. But Law… He’s spent so much of his life making sure everybody else is happy. I think he’s only just realizing he can ask for the same. Give him some time to get used to it.”
Colton nods slowly, Noah’s hand resting on his thigh. “And your intentions?” the Darling brother asks, his lips tipped into a smile.
“Easy,” I answer. “I intend to give that man every single thing he asks for and everything he doesn’t know he needs. I’ll make him happy. I swear it.”
A moment of silence passes, apart from the snap of the fire and the wind slowly whistling by.
Ash breaks the quiet. “Now about that rope…”
“Nope,” Remi shouts, snagging the bag of marshmallows from beside Colton’s chair and tossing the whole thing Ash’s way.
The blonde man laughs, Remi shaking his head all the while. I can see Lawson heading our way as his family bickers, a bottle of whiskey making the rounds as his silhouette gets closer in the dark.
Yeah. It’s damn good to be right where I belong.