Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 144435 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144435 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
“I know,” she whispers and then swallows hard. “Marnie told me that you risked everything for me, that you did what you did because of me. I don’t think she said it to help your case. She kind of hates you. But she hates me more. She told me because she wanted me to know just how much she hates me.”
“She’s a bitch.”
“I thought so too,” she says, frowning sadly. “But the truth is, she’s just someone completely incapable of love. She doesn’t understand that it isn’t selfish or shallow. To her, love is a weapon. That’s all it will ever be.”
“She can rot in prison,” I grunt.
“Promise me that we won’t let the baby go into the system,” she demands.
“If you want to raise the baby, I’ll move heaven and earth to make it happen, songbird.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Brant loved her,” I say simply.
Raven smiles, the first smile she’s given me in days.
“You’re smiling.” I brush my thumb across her lips. “I missed that.”
“I’ve been thinking.”
“I know. I’ve been worried as hell about you,” I admit.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, guilt in her voice. “I just needed time to put it all together in my mind and make a few decisions.”
“What decisions, songbird?”
“About the baby, for one. And about the company.” She expels a breath. “I’m going to sell it. You were right about why my dad left it to me. He trusted me to make the best decision for the company, and the best decision is to let it go. It brought him joy, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at it the way he did. I’ll never be able to look at it without all of this tainting it in my mind. And if I can’t love it as much as he did, it should go to someone who can.”
“He’d probably agree with you, princess,” I murmur. “He wouldn’t want you tethered to something that brings you pain. If that’s all it is to you, let it go.”
She nods, wiping tears from beneath her eyes. “I also made a decision about school.”
“You’re finishing school,” I growl.
“I am,” she says. “But I’m not doing it at Berklee. At least not in Boston.”
“Explain.”
“I’m going to switch to online classes to complete my degree.” She bites her lip and looks up at me through her lashes. “Hopefully from the island.”
“Is this you asking to move in with me?” I ask, amused. Hopeful. Praying.
“Yes,” she whispers. “I’ll cook and clean. And I have a job now.” She scrunches up her nose. “At least I think I still have a job.”
“Oh, you definitely have a job,” I growl.
“You talked to Tawnie?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know I still have a job?”
“Because I’m not talking about the bar.”
“Oh. Then what?”
“Being my wife, songbird.”
She gapes at me, her mouth open in an adorable little O.
“If you’re moving in, you’re marrying me,” I say, laying her out on the couch beneath me and crawling over her. “Don’t care if it’s tomorrow or next year, but you’re going to be my wife.”
“Do I get a say?” she asks.
“Depends on if you’re saying yes.”
She wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me down to her. “Yes,” she whispers in my ear. “Yes, Rhys.”
“Fuck,” I breathe, every muscle in my body relaxing at once. I tilt my head to the side, sealing her vow the only way I know how. With my lips on hers and my hands on her body. By the time I let her up for air, we’re both naked and she’s writhing beneath me.
“Rhys,” she whispers, staring up at me with that look I’ve missed so much. The one that says she’s mine in every way. “I love you.”
“Songbird,” I groan, sheathing myself inside her. “Sing us to heaven.”
She does. As sweetly as ever.
Epilogue
RAVEN
Five Years Later
“Mama, a cow!” Brant says, pointing at one of the hundred cows in the field. “A cow!”
“Moo,” our youngest, Gretchen, shouts.
I shake my head and laugh quietly. Our babies always love when we come to visit Cassia and Cord on the ranch. They run around like tiny crazy people, driving the ranch hands nuts. Luckily, the ranch hands are used to it. Cassia and Cord’s brood are just as wild as mine.
“Mama.” Willow, our oldest, tugs on the hem of my shirt.
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“I think that cow is running away,” she whispers, pointing across the field.
I turn to look and laugh again. “That cow is definitely running away,” I say, watching as Patty slips through the fence and makes a beeline for the woods on the far side. She and one of the bulls here, Hamburger, are escape artists. They keep Cassia and Cord on their toes.
“Your cow is escaping again,” I tell my sister-in-law.
She looks up from her burger and groans. “Darn it. Cord!” she shouts. “Your cow is on the lam again.”