My chest caved. “Yes, I did.”
Cleo smiled, small but real. “Thank you.”
I couldn’t speak.
I could only nod.
“By the way, Katy said hi,” Cleo’s mother said as the screen went black.
Right then, Noah pulled me into his arms.
Tears blurred my vision, but I didn’t care. He held me, tight and warm, his heartbeat steady against mine.
“I’ve never been so right, Maya. You’re the most amazing human being I’ve known.” His voice was thick. “I love you.”
I closed my eyes, sinking into him.
“I love you too, Noah Lucas.”
And this time, I knew I’d never have to say goodbye.
48
NOAH
While Maya caught up with Sheryn, finally spilling every last detail she’d sworn to share, I boarded a flight to Seattle. I told her I’d be in Billings for the cattle auction. But in reality, I was on a mission to talk to her mother. I’d discovered that she had moved out of Bozeman as soon as her husband was buried.
I found Leah Belrose in her garden, kneeling in the dirt with her hands buried deep in the soil. Apparently, whatever she was planting mattered more than the conversation I was about to start. Maybe to her, it did. Maybe she thought this chapter of her life had long since closed, and she wasn’t interested in reopening it.
“I’m Noah Lucas,” I said. “I called earlier.”
She didn’t look up when I approached, didn’t acknowledge my presence.
“I’m Maya’s husband,” I said.
Right there, I caught the faintest twitch in her jaw.
“Your daughter took the necklace,” I said, getting straight to it. “But she never assaulted Annamaria.”
Her hands kept moving, pulling weeds, clearing space for something new. “That was years ago. Why bring it up now?”
“Because she shouldn’t have been punished like that.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
There was no maybe about it. Maya had been punished for a crime she didn’t commit, locked away and abandoned by her own mother. And somehow, against all odds, she still had love left in her heart.
And I wanted to spend my life making sure she never doubted that she was worth it.
“Admit it, Mrs. Belrose. You were disappointed when I said I was her husband. That you’d missed the wedding.”
She shifted even further, doing everything she could to avoid me.
“But here’s the truth.” I followed her. “It wasn’t some grand affair. It was quick and rushed, something to help her case.”
I paused, letting that sink in.
Unreal! The woman was cold.
