Chapter 37
THIRTY-SEVEN
FLIC
I follow Dylan into the waiting room as my stomach drops away at Grayson’s revelation.
He’s going to New York, and he’s not coming back.
Everything he promised me in the ballroom just hours ago has turned to dust. This is exactly what I feared.
What I expected. And even though I understand why he has to do it, I still feel utterly destroyed.
Except right now, the Sullivans need me with them. My best friend needs me. I push the hurt over Grayson leaving deep down inside me and take my seat beside Mama, my hand slipping into hers.
“What’s going on, Dyl?” Chase asks, reaching his brother’s side, hand on his shoulder.
Dylan’s face is ashen. He scrubs a hand over his mouth, eyes bright and unfocused like he’s barely holding himself together. “They’re preparing her for an emergency C-section,” he says. “I have to go back. I just came to tell you. The baby’s stuck and in distress.”
Ice-cold dread floods through my veins.
“They’re doing everything they can,” he says quietly before turning and striding away.
No one speaks as the shock settles over us. Izzy is being rushed into surgery. The baby is in trouble.
“What does that mean?” Chase asks quietly, eyes wide with alarm as Serena reaches out a hand to comfort him. I wonder if he’s thinking of their own babies, growing in Serena’s belly.
Mama stiffens beside me, but she lifts her head, and when she speaks her voice is unwavering and calm. “It means exactly what Dylan said. The doctors are working very quickly and doing everything they can. All we can do is wait.”
Harper covers her mouth with her hands. Mad’s eyes are wide with alarm as they focus on me. “Is my mom going to be OK?”
I don’t think. I just move. I scoop her into my arms and press her head against my chest, holding her close. “Hey,” I murmur. “You don’t need to worry.” My throat is tight and my heart is hammering with fear, but I will not let Mad see it. “I don’t know anyone as strong as your mom.”
It’s a truth we all cling to. Because if Izzy doesn’t make it—if anything happens to her or the baby—I don’t know how we’ll get through it. Not after Harry.
Dylan. Mad. Mama. Jake. Chase. Harper. Serena. We’re all stitched together by love and history. We’re family. The thought of that thread snapping makes my vision blur.
The waiting room feels smaller suddenly.
Like the walls are inching closer. Like everything I love could be taken away in a heartbeat.
This is my world. These are my people. I won’t let myself dwell on Grayson and the fact he’s gone.
Not now. I knew this moment would come. I always did.
A moment where he’d have to choose between New York or Denver.
His old life or the one we were building.
I know the decision wasn’t easy for him.
I can tell he’s hurting just as much as I am.
But we were barely getting started. Of course he chose New York.
Just as I would’ve chosen Denver and my family if it had been the other way around.
I press my cheek to Mad’s hair and breathe through the hurt in my heart.
Jake steps through the doors then. He gives us a small nod that says without words that the puppy is safe with Buck at the ranch.
Mad doesn’t know yet and now isn’t the time to tell her.
“Travis is taking care of the horses,” he adds, mentioning the young ranch hand Dylan and Izzy hired a while back.
The wait is agony. Minutes drag like hours. Every time a door opens, my heart jumps and we all jerk forward. I keep my arms locked around Mad, whispering nonsense stories to keep her distracted while I plead in my head for Izzy and the baby to be OK.
Finally, footsteps echo down the corridor and Dylan appears. For one terrible second, his face crumples and tears spill down his cheeks, and my stomach drops. The world tilts. Mad rushes to him. I’m on my feet without realizing I’ve stood, my body cold and shaking, already breaking apart.
Then Dylan’s mouth curves into a smile. “They’re OK,” he chokes. “They’re both OK.”
The room collapses into sounds of relieved exhales and crying. He drops to his knees and Mad launches herself at him. He catches her, crushing her to his chest.
“It’s going to be a little while before everyone can see her,” he says thickly. “But Mad, would you like to be the first to meet your little sister?”
Mad nods fiercely.
A little girl. They’ve had a little girl. Relief and love and joy grab me in a chokehold, and I don’t bother fighting the tears that fall as Dylan takes Mad’s hand and they walk away together, leaving the rest of us to hug and laugh and all talk at once.
I close my eyes, shaking, my heart bruised and full and breaking all at once.
It’s late by the time I’m allowed to see Izzy. The hospital room is dimly lit. Izzy is propped up against pillows, pale but glowing, cradling a tiny bundle. I step closer, my chest swarming with love all over again.
“You scared us for a moment there,” I whisper, kissing the top of Izzy’s head before letting my gaze drop to the baby.
She’s impossibly small. Impossibly perfect.
A shock of dark hair, scrunched features, her tiny fingers bunched into fists like she’s gripping on to the world already.
I already know she’s one of the luckiest people alive to be a part of this family.
Izzy smiles tiredly. “You know what us Brooks girls are like,” she murmurs. “High drama.”
“She’ll be wielding a pitchfork in no time,” I say, smiling through the lump in my throat.
Izzy smiles, then glances up at me. “Where’s Grayson?”
I make a face before I can stop myself and lean back against the wall. “He had to go. His dad had a heart attack, and he’s going to save the day and be the next CEO of Ashborne Holdings.”
“He’s gone back to New York?” she asks.
“For good,” I reply.
Izzy studies me for a long moment. “What does that mean for your relationship?”
I shrug, the motion hollow. “I don’t know.”
What can it mean? His life is in New York. Mine is in Denver. Neither of us are willing to bend. Neither will ask the other to change.
“We always said this had a time limit,” I say, wishing it didn’t feel like my throat was squeezing shut and my world shattering. “And now that time is up.”
Izzy is quiet for a long moment before she looks up at me, expression thoughtful. And just like when I sat at the kitchen table at the ranch and told the Sullivans about Grayson’s deal, Izzy sees through the noise to what’s important.
“But you love him.”
Tears swim in my eyes and I nod.
“And he loves you?” she asks.
“I think so,” I whisper, remembering all the times he pulled me to him in my bed these past few weeks, the way his dark eyes met mine with an intensity that took my breath away.
“But he’s taking over his father’s company.
He wants to change the future of Ashborne Holdings and make sure they never destroy another business or community again.
He will be helping thousands and thousands of people, finally able to feel proud of his last name.
And he wouldn’t be the man I love if he turned that down.
” I sigh. “I’m sorry, Iz. We should be talking about you and the baby, not me. ”
Izzy shakes her head. “No, we shouldn’t. It was scary there for a minute, but I’m fine and the baby is fine. You are not.”
“I am.”
“I think you’ve been telling yourself that for so long that you’ve tricked yourself into believing it.”
I frown. “What are you trying to say?”
“The Hay Barn is your kingdom, Flic. I get that. You’ve built something amazing. You’ve been happy there. But it doesn’t have to be your whole life. People change and grow and you don’t have to fight that.”
Even though my best friend is voicing the same thoughts that have been circling for weeks now, a part of me still rails against it.
“My life is here,” I say. “With you guys. The ranch. The Stormhawks. The bar.”
Izzy smiles, gentle but sure. “Your life is wherever you say it is. Not just where it’s always been.”
I exhale, almost a laugh. Disbelief not humor. “Are you telling me to leave my entire life behind and move across the country for a man?”
Izzy smiles, dropping a kiss onto her baby girl’s dark downy hair, the exact color of Dylan’s. “I’m telling you to think about what makes you happy, Flic. And choose that happiness.”
Before I can protest again, a midwife slips quietly into the room to check on Izzy and the baby. I squeeze Izzy’s hand, lean down to press another kiss to her forehead. She smiles up at me, exhausted and happy, before gazing down at her daughter, like the world is tucked into the crook of her arm.
Outside, the cool night is a welcome relief from the stuffy air of the hospital.
I draw in a deep breath and exhale it slowly.
I think about what Izzy said. That big, wide world.
The same thoughts I’ve been having for weeks now.
Even today, I thought about how I wanted more from my life than the bar.
I haven’t figured out what “more” means yet.
A second location? Travel? Expanding the fans page?
Something bigger. But not this—not New York. That can’t be what I meant. Can it?
The idea of leaving everything I’ve built—my bar, my home, the Sullivans, the city that feels stitched into my bones—makes my stomach twist. This place is my history.
My safety net. My identity. And even if I did consider it…
I don’t know if Grayson would want that.
We’ve only known each other a short time.
We were just beginning to peel back layers instead of sparring over them.
What if we were right all along and this is as far as we were meant to go?
Except, I love him.