A Broken Cowboy (BWWM Interracial Romance) (11 page)

When he did sneak away, it was to leave her for long periods to work on her cabin, but he meant what he’d painted in large, hand-written letters on the sign. She hadn’t seen anything he’d built, and she respected his no peeking rule.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked, pulling the sign off the post he’d stuck it on, ready to swap out with the sign in his other hand.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Were you just playing with me, or do I really have a bathroom inside this time?” she demanded. It had been a sore point with them, with Gabriel wanting to give her all the comforts of home, but Mimi wanting to recreate the frontier-like shack that had first drawn her to this place of contentment.

“Really and truly. There’s even a bathtub,” he promised her, “one big enough for two people to bathe together.” He kissed her behind the ear and continued nuzzling her neck, sliding his hands around her waist.

“You’re stalling…but I love it. Don’t stop,” she teased.

“Nope, not stalling. Just appreciating,” he promised with one of his more frequent grins. He took a hammer from his belt and nailed the new sign in place on its post, turning to Mimi and laughing at her confused expression.

“What’s this mean?” she asked, pointing to the professionally-lettered sign that read, “Honk Before Passing This Point.”

“You’ll see.” Gabriel held out his hand and they walked the distance to her cabin, turning around the bend until her new home came into view. When she saw it, the sunlight reflecting off the windows, she gasped and stopped, unable to move for wanting to take in the sight.

“Gabriel,” she began in a whisper, realization hitting her full in the face.

“That had better not be tears,” he teased quietly, as Mimi shook her head.

“My no more crying rule doesn’t cover this, it’s so beautiful I can’t help it.” They approached the house hand in hand, Mimi finally understanding Gabriel’s sign and why he’d put it up.

The entire house was made of glass situated within its wood frame. The oak beams stood like a skeleton supporting large paned windows on every side, more glass making up the roof. Finally, Gabriel would have a home that he could actually bring himself to be inside. She turned to him and kissed him, forgetting to look at the wonder of her home as she instead took in the wonder that was the love of her life.

“Does this mean you can stay?” she asked, pointing to her new house.

“That’s my plan. I’m really going to try,” he said, a little less confidently but still with a note of hope in his voice.

“And I’m not going to push you. You take all the time you need, and if it ever gets to be too much, just go back out to your rock until you feel safe again. You can go alone if you need to regroup, or I’ll pack up my sleeping bag and go with you.”

Gabriel kissed her and held her pressed against his chest, then released her so they could explore. They scanned the outside first, as he pointed out all the features he’d been able to incorporate within their budget. There was a solar hot water heater on the roof that meant no more heating water on the stove, and solar shingles running here and there along the glass to keep her power bills down. Tiny wires ran inside of each pane so that in the winter they could heat the glass against the temperature and let the greenhouse-like home do the rest.

Mimi noticed with relief that the entire structure was built around a solid cedar room in the middle, a bathroom which was walled in for safety and that led to a storm shelter beneath the floor for storage.

As they approached the steps leading up to the wide wrap-around porch that ran beneath a tinted glass overhang, Mimi felt Gabriel’s hand stiffen inside hers.

“How can this be scary?” she asked in a reassuring voice. “Surely you went inside this house a million times when you were building it, right? It’s just like those times, it’s the exact same thing.”

“True, but in all those times there were no expectations. I knew I could run back outside if it felt too closed in. But now, you’re here.”

“That doesn’t change anything, Gabriel. You can still run outside anytime you need to.” She squeezed his hand for support and smiled at him.

“But I don’t want to run outside. I want to stay, and be a normal person for you.” His voice shook a little as he bared his feelings for her, opening himself up and showing how weak he still felt inside.

“Don’t you dare change who you are for me. The weird, scary guy who used to show up in my yard and say crazy things is the man I fell in love with. Any changing you want to do is only for you. Not me. Run in and out all day long for all I care, just don’t leave the door standing open and letting the flies in.” She punched him playfully in the shoulder.

Gabriel took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then held out his hand again for Mimi to join him as they walked up the steps. He closed his eyes and walked straight to the thick glass door, opening it for her and holding it for a second before stepping through the doorway. Inside, he opened his eyes and sighed slowly, then smiled tentatively at Mimi before walking into the kitchen with her.

Together, they explored all of Gabriel’s work, most of it handcrafted. His personal touch was everywhere, from the countertops made from rock off the ranch, to the wood cabinets made from felled trees that had come down in the flood. New appliances stood at odd angles in the kitchen, arranged just so to let as much light as possible come in and not block the views of the outside.

They went from room to room taking in all of the details, making plans for what to do with each space. Mimi was delighted that most of those plans involved some very intimate ideas. She was thrilled to see that Gabriel had been able to keep most of the original concept of her former cabin, including placing their bedroom in a loft again that overlooked the whole floor plan. The glass above their heads in the bedroom loft was almost close enough to touch with the ends of her fingertips, and was built without any obstructions as one solid window, meaning that at night they would fall asleep under a completely pure view of the night sky then be wakened every morning by the sunrise washing over them.

As Mimi descended the stairs back to the main level of the house, Gabriel steered her towards the living room where he pointed out the one feature of the exterior that blocked the view of the wide open ranch. A stone fireplace was built into one wall, its large chimney running up the side of the house. She closed her eyes for a second a let her mind drift to spending countless nights in front of a crackling fire, her naked body entwined with Gabriel’s on a thick, luxurious rug as stars lit up the sky all around the house.

“The mantle is very special to me,” Gabriel explained, speaking of the dark wood plank that ran above the fireplace. “It’s made from the limb you hung onto all night in the flood.” He dropped his eyes to the floor before he continued, emotion welling up in his voice. “It’s the only thing that saved you and kept you with me, even after I left you and couldn’t keep you safe.”

Mimi raised his chin to look into his face. “Hey now, no more tears, remember? Besides, you didn’t choose to leave me, and the important part of that story is what you went through to come back to me. Thanks to you, I’m right here, and I’m not leaving.”

Gabriel kissed her, then turned her to look at the mantle and waited. From where she stood with her back leaned against his chest, Mimi could feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest. She admired the whole room for a second, but froze when her eyes came to rest on a small, black velvet ring box in the middle of the mantle, its lid open to reveal a diamond ring nestled within the white satin interior. She reached up her hands suddenly to grip Gabriel’s and waited, unable to say anything. He lowered his face to her ear and whispered, “Will you marry me?”

“Yes! Yes, I will marry you,” she cried, turning and wrapping her arms around his strong neck.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Okay, guys, saddle up!” Gabriel called to the group of campers, readying them for their afternoon ride out to the new watering hole and back. “Everyone have on sunscreen? Got your swimsuits and towels?” A loud chorus of kids’ voices answered him back as the group of twenty campers and their counselors began to form a line of horses two across. Mimi and Gabriel nudged their horses with their heels and kicked off the ride, leading the way.

This group had been one of Mimi’s favorites so far, if she could even bring herself to have favorites when it came to lost or hurting children. These kids were all part of an at-risk school, all of them having lived their entire lives in rough neighborhoods, showing up at school or not as they pleased, some of them already having been in and out of foster care or the criminal justice system. She knew she couldn’t solve their problems for them and she certainly couldn’t change the environments they would have to go back to after their two-week stay at Loving Sky Ranch, but she could send them back a little more confident, a little more self-assured, and better able to thrive in a place where they had experienced nothing but being kept down.

After finishing their house, Gabriel and Mimi together immediately began building the barn, purposely structuring it so that it could be added onto easily as they had need for more animals. The two horses had returned to Gabriel’s rock after the storm, and quite easily adapted to both the new barn and the first two of the many new horses that they gradually added to the family.

They added to their small farm with about forty head of cattle, not owned outright but sent to graze on the untouched grasses by local ranchers who paid to board them on the property. They also added a full hen house of squawking chickens and a few dozen sheep, who provided a sturdy income in their wool. The handful of donkeys that grazed in the fields helped protect the larger herd animals and the horses from coyotes, who were naturally afraid of donkeys, and the two long-haired collies spent their days patrolling the farm and their nights curled up on rugs beside Mimi and Gabriel’s bed.

Getting Krystal to come back out West for Mimi’s wedding hadn’t taken too much begging, especially after Mimi promised her best friend that indoor plumbing had been installed and that she would be maid of honor. Several of Mimi’s other girlfriends from back east made the trip as well, all of them marveling as they drove up to the property about the incredible view and the very interesting house.

One thing had put Mimi on edge about the wedding: Gabriel’s friends and family. She hadn’t wanted to open any wounds, especially now that he was doing so well with trying to gain a sense of balance in his life. But Mimi wanted to share their special day with the people who had mattered to Gabriel.

“What about your parents?” she’d asked hesitantly, not wanting to pry into places that he’d never brought up. If he’d never spoken of them, there had to have been a reason.

“I don’t think they’d want to come,” he’d answered simply, that monotone voice of his that used to drive her mad coming back as he spoke. She knew it meant this was a subject that he kept safely walled off, so she knew to tread carefully.

“Do you mean because…”

“Because what?” he asked, turning to look at her.

“Because I’m black?” she asked in a timid voice, cringing at what she thought the answer might be.

“No! No, of course not. That wouldn’t be a problem, and if it was, I’d never even think of asking them. No!” Gabriel looked shocked at her suggestion, and hurt that she could think his family would have a problem with her.

“Well, then, what could be so bad that they wouldn’t want to be there when you get married?” she asked, still trying to not sound demanding but so confused by the thought of two parents who wanted nothing to do with their son.

“It’s just…they never wanted me to join the Army in the first place. It’s not exactly in line with what they think, and they certainly didn’t agree with our country being involved. Then to know what their son did while he was there. When I add all that to the fact that I’m still struggling to make it through every single day without freaking out, I just don’t think they want to talk to me, let alone come to a wedding.”

“Are you saying you haven’t talked to them since you joined the Army?” she asked, growing more and more concerned. She gasped when he nodded his head.

“Gabriel,” she began, afraid of what he might answer. “Do they even know you’re still alive?” She closed her eyes and waited after he shook his head. “So they might have thought all this time that something awful happened to you. You can’t leave it like that. They have to know that nothing happened to you over there.”

“But something awful did happen to me,” he argued in a sad voice. “The kid they raised and loved died, and the person I am now came back in his place. How do I tell them what I did, and who I’ve become?” He watched Mimi’s face closely and she realized that this wasn’t a rhetorical question, that Gabriel really wanted an answer because he didn’t know how to face them.

“You just talk to them. They’re already out of your life at this point, so what will it hurt to invite them back in? If they do decide that they want nothing to do with you—which I cannot even begin to imagine anyone doing, let alone your own mother and father—then you haven’t lost anything that you didn’t lose already. Try. Just reach out to them.”

Gabriel shook his head. “I don’t know how. I want to, but I don’t even know what to say, where to start. It’s been too long.”

“Do you want me to try?” Mimi asked. “After all, these people are about to become my family, too, for better or for worse, remember? I’ll call, but only if you want me to. I’m not going to butt in if it’s not what you want.”