Meanwhile, I’d spent the entire week freaking the fuck out.
We were not the same.
“So I’m free to go back to work, do you think?” I asked, squeezing Mable when she started to squirm.
“Free to do whatever you want, even crazy shit like working at a sawmill in the dead of a Montana winter,” Apollo said. “I have Gentry keeping an eye and ear out, but you’re back. Do whatever floats your boat.” He paused. “Since you’re not far away, we’re going to come see you, then fly out of Bozeman.”
“My sister agreed to get on a plane?” I asked in surprise.
Apollo hummed. “It took some creative persuasion…”
I gagged. “Bye, Apollo.”
“Bye. See you soon.”
The two women across from me looked on wide-eyed. “She was drunk?”
Birdee’s eyes looked so hopeful that I couldn’t tell her what I actually suspected. Gentry did some creative police work—just like he’d said he was going to when he’d gotten the job.
“Yes,” I lied.
The woman in my arms melted. “So we didn’t kill her all the way? Just some of the way?”
My lips twitched. “No. And the cops won’t be looking for you, either.”
“Oh, thank God.” Birdee fist-pumped. “I would’ve looked hideous in orange.”
The two women in front of me started to talk, but I’d had enough of the quiet woman in my arms.
I wanted to hear what she had to say.
I carried her into the bedroom and closed the door, kicking my boots off at the edge of the bed before I crawled into it and made a mess of her made bed.
When I had her exactly where I wanted, I cupped her face and said, “Talk to me, Mable. Yell at me.”
“I don’t want to yell,” she admitted. “I just…”
“I swear to you, if it wasn’t necessary for me to leave because of the shit your mother had on me, I would’ve stayed. I would’ve never left you if I thought I could be here and not be taken away,” I promised.
“I figured that, but then that text message came through…”
“I turned off Siri on my phone,” I blurted. “The feeling of utter devastation when I saw what I sent…I wanted to throw up.”
She blinked at me, tears forming in her eyes. “I’m not that big of a catch, so it was no stretch to think that you might actually say something like that…”
That had anger pulsing through my veins. “And that’s why I can’t care that that bitch is dead. She fed you lies and forced you to think that you’re less than. Let me tell you something, Mable Louise Watts. You aren’t less than anything. You are everything. To me. To others. You are everything, and you are so loved. You’re kind, beautiful and intelligent. You’re talented and giving. You are literally everything that every man would want. And you’re mine. So I’m feeling pretty fucking fantastic right now, having you back in my arms.”
Her tears spilled over. “Are you sure?”
I leaned in and pressed a kiss to her mouth. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. You are the surest thing that has ever happened to me. I know that in a few months, you’re going to be planting flowers by my side. I know that you’re going to wake up six weeks from now and help me feed my horses. I know that I’m going to wake up in six months with you in my arms. I know that in twenty years, we’re going to have grandchildren on the way. I know in sixty years, you’re going to be holding together with nothing but love and a prayer. But I’ll know that I’ll make it to the next day as long as you’re still by my side.”
She wilted into my arms, then burst into tears.
“I love you, Mable.”
“I love you, too, Romeo,” she wailed. “And I don’t care that you killed someone. I’m glad you escaped prison, because if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t be so freakin’ happy right now.”
I rolled us so that she was on top of me. “How about, from this moment on, we don’t ever mention either of our indiscretions ever again.”
