Chapter 35 #3
We stayed out of earshot to give Hallie privacy, but close enough to give Mason backup should he need it.
“What the fuck just happened?” I said when our feet hit the white-pebbled path.
Hayes glanced over his shoulder, looking back at the patio doors. “I don’t have a damn clue.”
I squinted, trying to peer through the sharp rays of evening sunlight to spy on the unexpected family reunion.
“Cath,” Hayes said with a chuckle. “Leave ’em be.”
I groaned. “I know…but now it’s all I can think about.”
“How about I give you something else to think about,” he said as we made our way to the little wrought iron table where he had proposed our marriage over lunch months ago.
Hayes took my hand in his. “Before you make your decision about the hospital job, there’s another job offer you should consider. ”
I cocked my head, curious.
Hayes’s grip tightened around my hand. “I’d like you to consider taking over the Wilder Foundation.”
I froze. “What are you talking about?”
He shrugged as his thumb worked little circles over my skin. “Someone has to take over since Lewis is otherwise occupied for the next fifteen to twenty years. I think you’re the best candidate. I mean, if you want the job.”
I blinked, trying to clear the burst of static in my ears. “Hayes. Stop messing with me.”
He chuckled. “I’m not messing, Cath. I’m dead serious. You created an after-school program out of nothing. I can’t even imagine what you’d accomplish with the foundation at your disposal.”
My heart ached with a million yeses, but fear was a formidable adversary.
“Just think about it,” Hayes said. “You don’t have to give me an answer now.
I know there’s a lot to consider, but I think you’re the right candidate.
You’re the only candidate. And yes, it’s selfish of me.
I don’t want you to leave the estate, and I don’t think you want to, either.
” He laced his fingers between mine. “But if the job in Richmond is what you want, then I want you to take it. We’ll get a place there.
Weekdays in the city. Weekends and holidays back here.
It doesn’t matter where you go. I’ll be right there. ”
My eyes burned as the email I had sent a few hours ago floated through my mind.
“Besides, things are on ice until I can find a new board of trustees,” Hayes said. “The old board members aren’t too inclined to come back after Lewis kicked them out.”
“Hallie should be on the board,” I blurted out. “Your granddad trusted her to watch over things. She should be the first pick.”
“Sounds like a solid first decision from a wise leader.” Hayes said. “Just…promise me you’ll think about it.”
“I can’t take the job,” I croaked as tears rolled down my cheeks.
His eyebrows drew together as he nodded. “Alright. I’ll start looking for properties in Richmond. Do you want to live in the city or outside of it and commute in? If we lived outside of it, we could have some land and maybe get some horses and cows and—”
I held his hand between mine. The sun hit my engagement ring, making it throw specks of light like a disco ball. “The hospital job,” I said.
Hayes’s head snapped up and his eyes locked on mine. “What?”
“I turned it down today,” I whispered. “This afternoon, actually.” I looked up as a pair of blue jays flitted across the sky.
“That comment ate at me. That I’m na?ve…
” I shook my head and laughed. “I would have been miserable. Sitting in an office all day, doing useless things like renting billboards.”
The table tipped over as Hayes careened across and kissed me. “Don’t lie to me, Cath.”
His excitement made it impossible to kiss him back. All I could do was smile against his lips. “I’m not lying.”
He pressed his forehead to mine as he lowered to one knee where the tipped over table used to be. “You promise? This is what you want?”
“You are everything I want and more.”
Hayes tipped his head to the side and kissed me. “You’re sure? Cath, I don’t want you to do this just because you think I—”
“I’m sure.” I cupped his cheeks. “You have given me everything I’ve ever wanted. I have always wanted to be a Wilder. Not because of the name, but because I have always wanted you.”
“I’m not saying this is going to be easy. It’s gonna be hard. It’s gonna be real hard.” His words were strangled, but honest and pure.
After the losses he had experienced with his parents and grandparents, I wasn’t surprised that he was scared about making our relationship permanent. I was scared too. But more than being scared, I was certain that we could make it. That we would make it.
I held his hands the way we had when we said our wedding vows.
“I know. I know it’s going to be hard. But hard things don’t scare me.
” I blinked away my tears. “So it’s why I, Catherine Grace Foster, take you, Hayes Thomas Wilder, to be my lawfully wedded husband.
For better or worse. To walk through this wild life as your partner, from this day forward.
Till death do us part and we find ourselves in the roses again. ”
“I do.” Hayes cupped my cheeks and kissed me. “I always have. I always will.”