“I’m so happy you want to do this. Be sure to tell Rose as soon as you see her. That woman needs something permanent in her life. Somewhere she knows she belongs.” Ruby brushed off the wolf and handed it back to Callie who laughed and tossed it on the ground again.
Ruby’s words lodged in my head. Something permanent… Somewhere she knows she belongs. Fuck… no wonder Rose doubted me. Did she think I was only interested in her so she’d stick around and take care of Callie?
“Do you mind watching Callie for a minute?” I wiped my hands on my prep rag, not willing to waste another second.
“Sure, hon. Where are you going?” Ruby asked.
“There’s something I need to say to someone. I’ll be back before it’s time to sauce the meat again.” That gave me at least half an hour to try to catch Rose at the cabin before she took off for good. I jumped in my truck and peeled out of the lot, narrowly missing a light post.
Everything Rose said this morning made sense when I looked at it through her eyes. She needed to know it was her I wanted, not just someone to make my life easier. I pressed on the gas, hoping I’d catch her before she left.
Her car was still in the drive when I arrived. I blocked her in with my truck in case she tried to run before giving me a chance to explain myself. I found her in the guest bedroom, shoving what little she owned into one of her bags.
“You’re still here.” I stopped in the doorway and let out a huge sigh of relief. “We need to talk.”
“What’s left to say?” She pulled the last of her shirts from a drawer.
“Everything.” Taking small steps so I didn’t spook her, I walked toward her. “Last night, when I asked you to stay, I wasn’t sure how you felt about me. But I don’t think you fully understand how I feel about you.”
“And how’s that?” One hand clamped to her hip. Her eyes were hard, but I caught the way her lower lip trembled.
“I want you, Rose. Not just to take care of Callie, though you’ve proven you’re a lot better at that than I am. I want you for you. Before you and Callie came into my life, I thought I had everything figured out. But since then I’ve realized, the only thing I’d mastered was how to be alone.” I took another step closer, hoping my words were getting through.
She swallowed hard but didn’t move so I kept going.
“You opened up my heart. You showed me another way, and now that I know it’s out there, it’s what I want.” I stopped right in front of her, resisting the overwhelming urge to pull her into my arms. “I want you. I want us. I can find someone else to watch Callie. Stay for me, sweetness.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “I thought you just wanted me to stay so you had someone to take care of your daughter.”
I reached up and wiped the tear away with my thumb, then traced the line of her jaw. “Callie’s not going anywhere. We’re a package deal so if you’re willing to stay for me, she’s going to be around. But I can find someone else to watch her. I don’t want you to stay to be my nanny, Rose. I want you to stay so we can give us a fair shot.”
“No one’s ever asked me to stay before.” She tilted her head back and looked up at me.
“This is new to me too. I’ve never wanted to ask someone to stay. You make me want things I never even considered before. Like a family.”
“You and me and Callie?” Her voice came out so quiet, it was like she was afraid to say the words out loud.
“Exactly.” I held out my arms, and she buried her face in my chest.
“For once I don’t want to run,” she said into my shirt, the words small and shaking.
Her shoulders shook as she cried. I held her tighter. I wasn’t sure if they were tears of joy or sadness. Didn’t matter either way. Whatever she needed from me, in that moment or in the future, I was going to give it to her.
She took a deep breath and pulled back. Her hair was messed up, her eyes were still red, and her cheeks were wet, but she’d never looked more beautiful.
“When Callie said ‘mama’ this morning, it made me realize how temporary everything was. It hit me that I was doing exactly what my mom did to me… letting her trust me until the time came for me to disappear on her. I won’t do that to her. I can’t.”
“I’m not asking you to.” I stepped out for a second to grab the gift I’d had made for her.
“What’s this?”
“Something I planned on giving you for Christmas if you agreed to stay. If you left before that, I would have given it to you, so you’d have something to remember me and Callie by.” I waited while her fingers fumbled with the tissue-wrapped gift.
When she’d slid the paper away and held it up, her eyes filled with tears again. “A snow globe?”
She shook it and watched tiny flakes of snow float around the picture Ruby had taken of the three of us on the couch just the other day.
“We can be a family, Rose. Will you stay? Will you let me love you like you deserve?”
