Chapter Nineteen
Ernestine was nearly a week into working in her new position. It was weird, because her whole body hurt half the time. She didn’t know why. Maybe it had something to do with the pain in her chest. Her chest really did hurt. Everything hurt.
But she should be happy. She should be the happiest she’d ever been, because she had this great win, but…
She just missed him.
And that was when a package arrived for her at work. The return address was Three Brothers Ranch.
Her heart leaped as she opened it up, and then she laughed almost helplessly as she took the gift out of its box. It was a piece of amber with the mosquito trapped inside. Him and his Jurassic Park bullshit.
She set it on her desk, and looked at it, looked at the way the light shone through the material.
And then she burst into tears. This office didn’t feel like it was supposed to.
Nothing felt like it was supposed to. She missed that man.
She let out a long breath, and walked down the hall to Candy’s office.
“I think I need to leave a few days early. The rest of the team can follow me. I’ll send my instructions over email. ”
“Of course. Whatever you need, Ernestine.”
Well, they would definitely see about that, because what she needed was going to be pushing the boundaries of what was even remotely acceptable.
She decided not to wait. She decided to drive to Clear Lake at eleven. She drove straight through, and it was about the time she knew they would be headed to have their dinner and get washed up from the workday.
And as she drove onto the ranch property, and reached the junction where the road to the barn connected with the main drive, she converged with his truck. And she threw her car into Park and jumped out of it.
He picked his cowboy hat up from the seat and put the truck in Park, looking at her with wild, irritated eyes. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I came to see you,” she said. “I’m not here for fossils.”
“And?”
“I… Thank you. Thank you for the mosquito. That was the most ridiculous, disrespectful present I have ever received and I loved it with my whole heart.”
“Thanks,” he said, “I think.”
“I had a realization. Because of the mosquito and amber, and I may never forgive you for that.”
“Let me hear it,” he said.
“I’m going to do it. When they do a write-up on the migratory patterns of Dr. Ernestine Martin they’re going to observe that there is something very different about the way she moved, versus the way that prehistoric mammals moved.”
“And what’s that?” he asked, his voice thin.
“They will determine that prehistoric mammals, dinosaurs and other creatures moved for a variety of reasons. For food, shelter, habitat. But Dr. Ernestine Martin changed her migratory patterns for a very different reason.”
“What’s the reason?” he asked, his teeth locked tight together.
“Love. She changed her migration patterns for love.”
He pulled her in for a hard hug. “Ernestine, I can’t let you do that. Your career is so important to you—”
“And I’ve always had it. I will always have it.
Maybe not this position at the museum, but I have established myself in my career, Jax.
It’s all I’ve ever focused on. It’s all I’ve cared about for so long.
You, meeting you, falling in love with you, finding that I’m okay with parts of myself that I always thought were wrong, because of you, that’s the magic.
It’s the thing you can’t plan for. It’s the great mystery.
The great mystery is the thing that scientists really want to solve.
And I have it, right here. With you. And I would change my migratory patterns for that anytime. And if I can do that then you can—”
She felt bad about what she was about to say, because she didn’t have a right to say that to him. To make demands of him. So she cut it off.
“Say it,” he said. “That’s one of the things I love most about you. You always just say it.”
He said love. A tear slid down her cheek; she never let herself cry in front of people. She didn’t bother to wipe it away. “You can heal. For me. I’ll give all that up for you.”
“Ernestine, I will walk through hellfire for you. But I didn’t feel like I could promise you anything when… What you have to give up is so big and… I don’t want you to give it up. I’ll go with you. I will figure this out. Rowdy and Dakota will understand. They might be mad, but they’ll understand.”
“No. No. What I’ll do is figure it out and—”
“How about a compromise?” he asked. “I get the feeling that you’re not very good at those.”
“How did you guess?”
“Just a hunch. Because I know you. In a short time, I think I’ve gotten to know you better than I’ve ever gotten to know anyone.
And I love you. When I thought about having a family, it didn’t work.
Because the woman in my mind wasn’t you.
Now… I can imagine anything. I can do anything.
We’ll figure this out. Distance is nothing.
Nothing compared to the fact that we found each other. ”
“And I couldn’t use imaging or my surveying skills to do that. I know a lot about sedimentary rock, but I really don’t know anything about love.”
“Incorrect. You know all the things you need to know about love.”
“That is true,” she said. “Because I know you.”
* * * * *