Chapter 45
Chapter Forty-five
Cormac
Lucky for me, with my family, it wasn’t difficult for me to take it easy. The trouble was, they were always watching me, so even when I wanted to do something for myself, they wouldn’t let me. And I was getting bored with being laid up for the last two weeks.
After taking my second nap of the day, I opened my eyes and nearly had a heart attack.
“What the hell?” I tried to shoot upright but was immediately greeted with a rocketing pain in my knee.
“Sorry, Uncle Cormac!” Jesse jumped back, his hands up. “Grandma sent me to check on you. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I groaned, moving more slowly until I was sitting against the headboard. “Maybe knock instead of putting your face right in front of mine.”
“I did knock. You were out cold. Did you know when you’re sleeping, you kind of look like a corpse? I couldn’t even hear you breathing.” He put his hands on his hips and looked me over. “Grandma would’ve been mad if you’d been dead and I just left you lying there.”
“What about if you killed me by sending me into cardiac arrest?”
Chuckling, he handed me my crutches. “Yeah, I don’t think she would’ve been happy about that either.”
I let him help me up from the bed and into the bathroom, drawing the line at his offer of assisting me to the toilet. There was little dignity in being injured, I had to hold tight on all I had left.
My leg injury turned out to be more serious than I’d initially thought. I now had pins and plates holding my bones together and a long recovery ahead of me. Still, it could’ve been a hell of a lot worse, so I was trying my damnedest to keep from getting down about it.
Jesse was waiting for me when I was finished, and he walked beside me along the path from the guesthouse to my parents’ place to have dinner with them.
The thing that had come out of all of this was moving in with Zara. It’d been out of necessity—climbing the stairs at my grandparents’ house was out of the question—but even without the injury, it would have happened. Neither of us had wanted to spend another night apart. Not for a long time.
I’d only convinced her to go back to work a couple days ago.
Me being lost had been harder for her than me. Sure, I’d gone out there looking for her, but at some point during the long hours, I’d come to realize she hadn’t been on that trail. I’d known she was safe. Had felt it in my bones.
Those same hours, she’d spent helpless, unable to do anything to find me. Not knowing what had happened or if we’d ever see each other again.
I might’ve been the one with the broken leg, but part of Zara broke that night too. We were both working on healing.
“What’s Grandma cooking?” I asked Jesse.
“Roast chicken and potatoes.” He glanced at me. “Grandpa’s cutting up a watermelon, and Phoebe sent over chocolate chip cookies.”
“She’s not coming to dinner?”
“Nope. Grandma said it’s time for everyone to give you a break. You need a quiet night, and everyone needs to get back to their lives.”
I raised a brow at him. “But you’re here.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you saying you didn’t miss me while I was at camp?”
I chuckled. Jesse had been gone for almost a month, so he’d been absent during my drama. I was kind of glad about that. Teenage years were hard enough without having to carry that memory.
“I’m not saying that at all. And I’m not surprised your grandma let you be an exception to her rule.”
He grinned as he opened the back door for me. “Don’t tell the others I’m her favorite.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.”
The second my crutch hit the floor, my dad was on me, helping me into the house.
“I’ve got it,” I protested.
He grumbled, sending me a sharp look. “Let me, Cormac. I need to see you safe.”
I was safe. I’d been safe the entire time. I never doubted Zara would know where to look for me. It was why I’d used all my energy to drag myself to the river. It was where she’d look—the one place I was sure of.
My parents hadn’t been sure. Like Zara, they’d been helpless and terrified. I didn’t know what it was like to have a kid, but imagining one of my nieces or nephews out there had my gut roiling in protest.
“Okay.” I leaned into my dad, giving him some of my weight. “Help me into my chair, all right?”
“That’s all I’m trying to do,” he gruffed, his gentle touch belying his angry snap.
More than anyone, my dad had been furious at Melanie for what she’d done. That wasn’t to say we all weren’t angry. I was leading the pack. But it was taking my dad some time to let it go.
He’d wanted me to press charges, get her locked up and throw away the key.
I’d thought about it, but really, when it came down to it, I just wanted it to all be over. Firing her had been enough for me, knowing she wouldn’t find another job in Sugar Brush—not when everyone knew exactly what she’d done.
And while Victoria hadn’t really done anything wrong, it’d been a relief when she quietly put in her resignation. Last I heard, she was planning on moving to another town. It would be better for everyone to put all traces of them both behind us.
My dad would get there. Though it would probably take me getting off these crutches ’til he really healed.
It wasn’t long before my mother was fussing over me, bringing me a glass of iced water and a cookie.
“A cookie before dinner?” Jesse whined, sounding like the little boy I’d always see him as, even if he was a huge teenager with a voice as deep as his father’s now. “How’s that fair?”
I waved the cookie at him. “Break a bone, and maybe you’ll get one too.”
My mother tsked and smoothed his hair back from his face. “Don’t you dare.” Then she poked a finger at me. “You’re lucky I’m not taking the cookie back. It’s your job as an uncle to be a good influence.”
When she wasn’t looking, I split the cookie in half and gave one side to Jesse. My dad saw it, but all he did was frown and go back to chopping up the watermelon.
It wasn’t long before the sound of the front door opening made my heart kick. Zara hurried into the kitchen a moment later, setting her bag in the doorway before beelining straight to me.
I had my arms out when she got to me, pulling her into a tight embrace. She buried her face in my neck, her arms banding around my shoulders.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I cooed.
“Hey, Maccie.” She kissed my jaw, my chin, then my lips. “How are you?”
“Good, now that you’re here.”
I took her face in my hands, searching. There were new lines around her mouth from too much frowning. A faint indent between her brows from all her worrying. It drove me nuts to see it. All I’d ever wanted to do was make her happy.
She took the seat beside me since my lap was out of commission for now—another thing that drove me up the damn wall. I kept telling myself we had a lifetime for that. In the long run, a few weeks wasn’t a big deal, even if it hurt.
“I have gossip.” Her eyes shone brighter than they had since I’d gotten injured.
I took her hand in mine. “Oh yeah?”
Jesse leaned in, his chin resting on his fist. “Tell me.”
Zara laughed. “I’m not so sure you’ll be interested. You might not know who I’m talking about.”
He scoffed. “If it’s about anyone in this town, I know them.”
Her nose crinkled. “Well, it’s about my coworker, Henrik—”
“Big German guy?” He nodded. “Yep, I know him. If you’re going to say he has a thing for Javier, that’s obvious. The whole ranch knows that.”
“Duh.” She rolled her eyes. “That’s not the gossip.”
He rolled his hand. “Get on with it then.”
“Well, you know how Javier is moving to Spain for a new job?” All of us nodded, even my dad, who was listening while pretending not to. “Henrik just told me he’s taking a job in…Majorca—at the same resort as Javier.”
Jesse gasped. “Is Henrik stalking him?”
Zara burst out laughing. “Nope. I pressed him hard for more information, and Henrik finally admitted they’re officially a couple and crazy for each other.”
I could have guessed based on how many times I’d seen Henrik coming in and out of Javier’s office, but it wasn’t my business. I couldn’t say I wasn’t happy for them, though.
Even more, I was relieved Zara’s smile was reaching all the way to her eyes. I hadn’t seen that bright smile in far too long.
I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for her face and pulling her toward me so I could touch her smile with my lips.
Her laugh was warm on my mouth. “What’s this for?”
“I love you. That’s all.”
Her forehead rolled against mine. “I love you too.”
“I’m glad you had a good day.”
“Yeah. I really did.” She pulled back, holding both my hands in hers. “Just so you know, I told Henrik we’re coming to visit them in Spain as soon as you’re healed.”
My mom swung by the table to give Zara’s shoulders a squeeze. “Oooh, a winter trip to Spain sounds divine.”
I nodded. “Wherever you want to go, sweetheart, I’m there.”
Zara’s fingers skated along my chest and over the words tattooed under my collarbone. She was quiet, curled against me in our bed. I was trying to read but kept getting lost in the middle of the same page.
From nowhere, she said, “I want a life with you, Cormac.”
I agreed without a beat of hesitation. “I do too. All of it.”
She raised her head, resting her arms on my chest. “Kids?”
“Yeah,” I breathed. “Definitely.”
“Me too. Maybe in a couple years.”
“A couple years sounds right.” I put my book down to brush her hair behind her shoulder. “You wanna get married?”
“I didn’t think I’d want to again, but yes, I do. To you. What about you?”
“More than anything, yeah. Soon?”
“Maybe in the spring…before the resort gets busy.”
I nodded. “You’ve been thinking about this.”
“Haven’t you?”
“I haven’t really let myself.”
Her fingers grazed my lips. “Please let yourself. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I know.”
She pushed herself up my chest, aligning our lips. “Do you?”
“I do. I’m sure of it.” I took her head in my hands, meeting her dark, bottomless gaze. “Do you know I’m not going anywhere? I’m okay, and this leg of mine is going to get better pretty soon.”
A shudder ran through her. “I almost lost you,” she whispered.
“No, sweetheart. You only thought you did. You might think you’re the stubborn one, but when it comes to you, I’m as bullheaded as they come. I’ve never given up on you. Do you really think I would when we’re so close to having it all?”
Her lips pressed into a flat line as tears welled in her eyes. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“I know. And one day, one of us will have to live without the other, but that’s going to be decades down the line.”
“Don’t talk about that,” she rasped.
“No, listen. We’re lucky, Zara. We know what it’s like to lose one another, right? So we’re going to treasure the days we have.”
“Years.”
“Years. The years we’ll have. We won’t take them for granted like some people do. Every day I get to have with you will be precious. I’m not going to forget to hold your hand or take you dancing because I’ll always remember the years I didn’t have the chance to do any of that.”
She shook her head. “How can you see the world so beautifully?”
“I’ve got you. How can I not?”
That earned me kisses all over my face and whispers of being the cutest man alive. Then she settled against me, and we talked about what kind of wedding we might have, imagining the road we were going to walk together, the life we’d finally get to build.
That night, with Zara in my arms, I dreamed of us younger, racing to the river and back. Laughing and getting dirty, days that never ended and summers that flew by.
And something settled inside me.
A last piece clicking into place.
By morning, when I opened my eyes again, finding Zara already smiling at me, I felt it for certain.
It’d taken a while, but here we were.
At last, everything had been set right.