Texas Gold (23 page)

“Okay.”

They walked in silence hand in hand until they stood on a raise in the land. To the east, she could see the new construction. To the west, fields. Scott was working the horses.

God, she was really going to miss it here.
 

“I imagined you’d help me come up with ways to keep Serendipity special while the construction continued. I didn’t even realize I was making plans for that kind of partnership, but as I look around, I realize I have all these questions, and you’re going to be gone.”

God, he could make a pretty speech.
 
“I’m here now. What questions are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking so much.” He ran his thumb across the palm of her hand. “I’m thinking it was probably tough to grow up out here, a teenager with all these boys.”

She laughed. “Oh, I’m sure I gave them enough hell to make up for it.”

“I’m thinking I could listen to your laugh every second for the next fifty years and never grow bored.”

She tried to ignore the way his words made her heart beat speed up, her stomach drop.

“I’m thinking I could imagine our children playing out here with no problem at all.”

She pulled away her hand. “Stop it, Brenton. Just stop it.”

“Why? You know we could make this work, and you’re just running away.”

She shook her head. “You’re just ticked that you want something and you’re not getting it this time.”

“You think this about simple wanting?” He brushed his hands through his hair in obvious frustration. “God, Mallory, is that how you see me? How you see us? Yes, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But it’s because I love you.”

“You want me.”

“I won’t deny it. But that’s not all. It’s been more than that for a long time now, and you know it.”

She did. Oh Lord, she did. It wasn’t enough. He was all about the bottom line and always would be. She liked money well enough, but she wanted more. She wanted someone who trusted her enough to give her the benefit of a doubt in difficult situations.
 

“I know you stand here talking about partnerships, but you didn’t trust me enough to give me a chance with this whole mess over my daddy’s job. You just let it broadside me out of nowhere. That’s not a partnership.”

He grabbed her hand again. “I know, Mal. You’re right. But the more time I spent with you, the more afraid I became. I knew you’d be furious. I knew you’d probably walk out on our relationship, and I didn’t want that. So I kept quiet.”

“You let me think his job was safe.”

“I didn’t. I just took myself out of the mix.”

“Because I slept with you.”

“It had nothing to do with that. You know I used that entire situation to get you to talk to me, to meet with me, to even give myself half a chance with you.”

She did.
 

“And I don’t want you to leave now.”

She didn’t want to leave either. But how could she stay?

“I love you. I want to share the rest of my life with you. I don’t want to imagine a day or week or month without seeing you. I don’t want to think about running without you or walking through town without you. It’s more than a want. I need you in my life Mallory. Without you, I’ll never be complete.” When he finished, he took his hand from hers. “But if you have to leave. If you have to prove this to yourself, I can understand that. I’ll let you go right now.”

She looked at the fields, the construction, the highway that started the whole mess and let his words repeat through her mind. He was giving her a choice.
 

He wasn’t dictating terms or trying to persuade. He was just standing there, watching her as if his entire life depended on her answer. As if hers did.

And just like that, she knew. As she stood there, watching Brenton look out across the land her mother and father had nourished to life and then broken apart, slowly but surely giving in to the changing times, she knew without a doubt where she belonged.

She didn’t belong in Dallas. She didn’t belong on the coast or in California or anywhere except Serendipity. With this man. The man who had stolen her heart, taught her to accept that change might be scary but could lead to the biggest adventure of all.

She didn’t need to leave to find herself. She’d been here all along.
 

Oh Lord, Toby was going to be mad.

She launched herself into his arms.

“I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to imagine life without you, either. I love you too, but I’m so scared.”

She felt his relief in his kisses. “I’m a little scared myself. But I believe in us. I believe in our future and this town and happily ever after. I didn’t think I did, but since I met you, I do.”

She kissed him and then waved toward the house just before the front curtains closed on her nosey family. “I do, too. Let’s go tell them the good news.”

She pulled him to the house and he followed willingly, knowing he’d spend the rest of his life doing just that, and thankful for the chance.

As Mallory made her way up the front steps to the house she’d grown up in, she stopped and leaned into Brenton’s arms.

She had it all now. The ultimate ending. The fairy tale she’d always dreamed of. Just like the ones her momma had told her every night until the accident.
 

She stepped on her tip toes and pressed her lips to Brenton’s in a kiss filled with promise.

When she pulled away, she heard the wind chimes by the front door and smiled as she closed her eyes and whispered, “Thank you, Momma.”
 

And then she opened the door, ready to face her future and whatever it held, knowing love was definitely more than a game, that she and Brenton were both the winners this time around. And that winner took all—if they just gave themselves a chance to believe.

And as she looked into Brenton’s eyes she knew she definitely believed.

Forever.