Chapter 26
I’m not sure if Sadie remembers me telling her that I love her last night, but those three words have never felt more right.
And after I admitted it to her while she slept, it’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Like I can finally breathe in the fresh mountain air.
I love her with every beat of my heart, and I’m going to give her a future to look forward to.
She doesn’t want marriage, but I know that she loves this ranch.
I can give her that.
I can give her a place where she feels safe.
Cole’s house is mostly dark when I walk through the double doors with Bandit, making my way to his office to find the papers tucked away in his desk. It’s a hefty legal file, around eighty pages long, requiring multiple signatures.
I’m about finished by the time Cole walks in, startled by the sight of me. “Kit, you’re here early.”
I set down the papers, taking him in. “I thought you might still be at the hospital.”
He nods. “They tried to keep me for longer, but I’m a stubborn man,” he smiles.
This I know to be true, and probably where I get my stubbornness from. “When is your surgery?” A question I’ve been struggling to ask him.
“After Christmas.” A heaviness creeps into my chest. “You don’t need to worry about me, Kit,” he reassures with a smile. “I’m not going anywhere. Now, what are you up to?”
I sign my name on the last line. “It’s done.”
“What?” He arches a brow, eyes falling to the large stack of papers in front of me. “You signed it.”
“I did.”
“It’s not even Christmas Eve.”
“Nope,” I rise from the desk, dropping his pen over the stack of legal files. “But it had to be done. Just need you to sign on your part.”
Cole hesitates, brows furrowing together, scratching at the bristly scruff under his chin. “Kit… this is. Well, you have no idea how happy this makes me.”
“Well, sign away,” I gesture to the papers, glancing at the time on my wristwatch. “I can run these into town quick and make it official.” The sooner the better, so I can tell Sadie the good news.
When I glance back up, he doesn’t move. He just stares at the floor. Deep wrinkles form on his forehead, drawing attention to the sprinkling of freckles around his eyes from many years of working in the sun.
“Uncle?”
He snaps back, coming back from wherever his mind drifted, shifting on his feet. “You know what we haven’t done in a while? Gone riding. Let’s go for a ride. You and me.”
But isn’t this what he wants? Why is he hesitating? “Cole, you just got back from the hospital, I don’t think—”
“I’ll go tack up.” With that, he disappears.
Guess we’re going riding, then.
An hour later, Cole and I observe the ranch in the distance, sitting on our horses at the top of a peak.
Lights slowly turn on, coming to life with the rising sun.
Snow-covered fields and hills go on as far as the eye can see.
Pine River curves and flows from the forest to the mountains, right down into Lone Pine Ranch, where it forms a wider section near the ranchers’ log cabins.
Ryker’s favorite fishing spot.
Everything looks massive from up here. A grand structure sitting proudly near the base of the snowy mountains, built into the curve of the land.
Our land.
“I love watching the ranch come to life in the morning,” Cole says, forming condensation clouds around his mouth from the frosty air. “It reminds me how alive Lone Pine is. That it lives and breathes.”
“It’s pretty amazing.” A new view I’d love to show Sadie. Maybe for our next date. “Although in your condition, Cole… we really shouldn’t be out here.” The cold air can’t be good for his lungs.
Cole’s gaze turns to his leather-gloved hands.
His quietness is starting to scare me.
“Do you doubt that I can manage all of this?” From our last conversation, he said he trusted me. Did he change his mind? Sure, I have my doubts about living up to his expectations, but Cole has seemed so sure since the day he asked me to sign those papers. “If you’ve changed your mind—”
“Of course, not,” he says quickly, and I exhale in relief. “You know… you have always been like a son to Annie and me.” A warm smile reaches my lips. “I miss your mother every day, but I’m so thankful we got to keep you.”
Every summer vacation, I spent my time at this ranch.
Riding horses, working in the fields, fixing broken fences, and taking care of other odds and ends around the ranch.
Discovering how skilled I was with my hands.
When my mother passed away, there was nowhere else I wanted to be.
I can still remember the day I officially moved in.
The way it smelled of leather and horsehair, how big and rustic it all felt to me.
It was a very different place from our small city apartment in Aspen Hollow.
For the longest time, it was always just my mom and me.
Until I came to the ranch and gained a dad, a mom, and an older brother.
Back then, Cash was my best friend. He was so excited about having me here, but as the years went on, I outshone him in all of the things he was supposed to do.
He was supposed to follow in Cole’s footsteps, but his hands weren’t made to crack and bleed.
His back couldn’t carry the same weight, and over time, it came between us.
He hated me for it.
“I think Cash would’ve preferred if I’d stayed someplace else,” I murmur.
I expect Cole to laugh at my joke, but he just stares at the horizon with a tight expression. “I know I have my faults, but I really did try to be a good father to Cash.”
“You are a good father to Cash,” I correct him. He’d given him everything, but it was never enough. And maybe that’s the problem. However, Cash never fit the ranch lifestyle, and in my opinion, he never tried to.
“He was such a good kid… I thought he would take my place someday.” He pauses, shaking his head. “But he was born different. No matter how hard I tried over the years, he was never going to be who I needed him to be.”
My phone vibrates in my pocket, lighting up with Ryker’s name when I pull it out to check.
“But the day you were born,” his eyes light up, “When your trash bag father didn’t show up, I’d already claimed you.
Convinced Elena to give you the Harlow name.
Hell, I begged her to bring you around as much as she could.
I knew you were special.” His deep blue eyes meet mine. “Your birth felt like a second chance.”
Tears fill my eyes. My phone vibrates again, but I push the button, making it stop.
“You were my sister’s son. I already knew you’d be the man I was looking for, and it turns out, you thrived here. Ever since you were a boy, I’ve been…” he pauses, thinking of the words, “Steering you in the right direction.”
I nearly laugh, feeling my phone buzzing again. Non-stop for the last few minutes.
Damnit, Ryker. Give it a rest.
“You were always meant to take my place, Kit,” Cole continues. “Since the summer you turned eighteen, when I signed it in my will. Making it official that if anything were to happen to me, all of this,” he gestures to the frozen wilds around us. “Would be yours.”
No wonder Cash acted the way he did during our last conversation. Legally, the ranch should’ve gone to him, given that he’s Cole’s heir… but Cole had chosen me a long time ago, and I never knew.
This whole time, it was always going to be me.
“How long has Cash known about this?”
Cole rolls his shoulders, letting out an exhale.
“Since the day he left for New York. He wasn’t too happy when he found out.
Admitted that he had no reason to stay. It damn near broke Annie’s heart.
She’s still sore at me for telling him, but I couldn’t lie any longer.
” He meets my eyes. “I know you had other dreams, but you belong here, Kit. I’ve always believed in you. ”
Like the feeling of sunlight breaking through the clouds on a cold day, his words wash over me, warming me in the rays. It’s the same words I’d said to Sadie last night, that she belonged here. And the truth that’s becoming clearer as each day passes is that I think we both belong here.
“But if you truly don’t want it—”
“I do,” I smile at him with glassy eyes. “Though I can’t promise I can live up to your legacy, but—”
“You’ll do better than me. I know you will,” he smiles.
My phone buzzes again.
What a way to ruin a moment.
Frustration ripples through my veins as I reach for my phone. “One second,” I say to Cole before answering it. “Ryker, what—” But before I get out the words to antagonize him, the mention of Sadie’s name draws me up short.
He babbles on about something not feeling right. About Sadie with another guy, pushed up against a black sports car… “What?” I blink.
“Does Sadie have a husband?” Ryker asks.
A what? Nothing he’s saying makes sense.
“Annie says he called her his wife, and then she gave a coded message to find you. Something doesn’t feel right, man. She looked terrified.”
I was with someone for a long time, too…
Her words echo in my head, and I nearly drop the phone in my hands as the realization hits me. Her past fears. The reason she never wanted to marry. Her scars…
The asshole who hurt her was there with her.
Right now.
“Ryker, listen to me very carefully,” I explain the information to him, as fast and efficiently as possible, before I’m barreling down towards the ranch. Pushing Smoke as fast as he can go in the snow.
I’m coming, Sadie.
I’m coming.