After tugging our boots on and wrapping up in our coats, we walked through the snow. Holding her hand in mine, I listened as she told me about the property, how Cash would chase her around it, how she’d adopted a turtle she found crawling fromthe woods until it bit her, and about the snake Cash had put in her sandbox. Memories of a childhood that had shaped her into the amazing woman she was. Ones not marred with the things that had shaped me.
I stopped her, turning her body to mine. Eyes the color of a summer day looked up at me brightly with joy that was infectious. Would I destroy that joy? Twist it into something unrecognizable by attempting to hold on to it? The fear made me hesitant.
“Gabe?”
“You’re beautiful, luna mia.”
Her smile returned, adding to her beauty. Snowflakes landed in her hair and on her cheeks as she looked at me with love shining in her eyes. The train had started derailing the moment I met her, and now it cleared its tracks, disaster imminent.
“I love you, Victoria Hent, and I know there will never be anyone but you who fills the space in my heart. Every crevice belongs to you.” The train wheels shook with a last-minute attempt to return to the track, but they lost their fight. “I want to spend every day of the rest of my life with you.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and the train burst into flames as I dropped to my knee and held the ring out.
“Marry me, Tori. Let me spend the rest of my life spoiling you and loving you. I promise you, a day won’t go by when I won’t love and worship you.”
Her tears fell as the ashes of years of planning and building joined them.
“Yes. Yes. Yes. I’ll marry you, Gabe.”
She jumped into my arms, and I rose, lifting her and spinning her around as a jubilation I’d never experienced overtook me. This felt right, like destiny falling into place, no matter how a voice screamed in the back of my mind that it would all fall apart. I wouldn’t let it. She loved me, and she wasmine. If I came clean, told her everything, she would forgive the secrets and wait for the wedding. And if it was too much to ask, then I would give it up. All of it, regardless of the cost.
My plans came crashing around me, and the runaway train that was my life rose from the ashes to explode a second time as we ate Christmas dinner. The excitement over our engagement left me in a chaotic storm of anxiety that only increased the more Tori and her mother talked.
“We’ll have it at the resort,” her mother said. “It’s so pretty in the spring.”
“That would be perfect,” Tori gushed, dashing my hope to delay the ceremony.
“Why don’t you do it this spring?” her father offered. “There’s nothing booked in April.”
My fork dug into my skin as another train derailed to shatter my life.
“This spring?” I croaked.
Tori turned to me, her features twisted in concern. “Is that too soon? It’s so pretty that time of year.”
“He probably needs time to tell his family, Tor,” Cash offered, sending me a sympathetic look.
“My family won’t come,” I blurted, the words short.
An awkward silence hung over the table. Tori turned my face, lifting it from where my eyes focused on a slice of ham.
“We can wait,” she said. “I got excited, and we should have talked about it first.”
She was too good to be true, and I saw then that she would wait if I asked, but did I want to wait? I wanted her, all of her, completely and unreservedly, to be mine. Taking her hand,I brushed her fingers with my thumb. “April sounds fantastic.” Why not go for the kill right away? Destroy my sister, shatter her hopes, and leave her hating me for the rest of our lives. Let my father off, never make him pay for what he had done. Dismantle the LLCs, sell the businesses and live off the profits while I lived the white picket fence life with the woman who would make it all okay.
Her blue eyes studied me. “Are you sure?”
Giving her a smile, I said, “More than sure. As long as planning a wedding in four months isn’t too much to take on.”
A tilt of her head, then a smile that lifted my spirits and soothed the ache.
“April it is,” her father said, bringing us from our private exchange that hadn’t been so private. “And, Gabe, you’re part of our family now, so yes, your family will be there.”
I swallowed back the wave of emotion that threatened to undo me completely and gave him a nod. I’d never known a father so devoted to his family. Mine had only ever shown that to his money. Greed and power drove my father, and that’s all I’d known.
“Catering is on us, and I’m sure our pastry chef can make the cake,” her mother went on as if her husband hadn’t just unraveled years of abuse and cruelty in one sentence.
The talk continued for the rest of the day, and by the time we left Connecticut, all we had left to plan were the invitations and tuxedos. I squeezed the bridge of my nose as the plane took off.
