Jake wanted that more than anything, but he had to let it go and move on. His father, in some way, had given all of them the ultimate push to set his offspring on their own path, a gift of forced independence. To have his sons make the leap instead of him and change the legacy of this place from Brett’s to theirs.
He was thinking too hard, the lack of sleep catching up with him, and if he kept going he’d run himself in circles. He quirked a smile and gestured to the stables.
“In a way I’ve met him many times. He’s in all parts of this place.”
“True enough, son. True enough,” Frank replied.
They walked the rest of the way to Frank’s car and said their goodbyes. Jake stayed rooted in the middle of the driveway, watching the dust billow out from behind the big black Caddy, letting the breeze sighing through the pines lining the edge of the driveway and the chickadees in the nearby flower bush be the only noise in his head.
Liz appeared beside him, her hand on his back an instant calming touch, lowering the shoulders that he hadn’t even realized were headed for his ears.
“I got five minutes. You done with all that paperwork?” she asked, her hand running up and down his spine. When she did that, it was always a grounding moment, the woman behind him connecting to him, understanding him. Ever since that first night in the kitchen, he’d sought it out.Her.
“Yeah,” he said, sliding his arms around her. She leaned in, pressing her forehead to his temple, standing on her tiptoes, her chest pressing into him. That was nice, and he let out a hum of appreciation, sliding a hand down to cup her ass through her jeans.
“Whatcha wanna do?” she whispered in his ear, wiggling in his grasp.
It was too easy. All she had to do was touch him and he was putty in her hands. But two could play this game, and he growled, earning one of her throaty, whiskey-rich laughs.
He swept her up over his shoulder before she could move an inch from his grasp and strode toward her house on the other side of the turnaround, lumberjack carrying her with one arm curled around her. She squealed and kicked, shouting his name through deep belly laughs but not really trying to escape. She loved it as much as he did.
He set her down on her front porch, and she ran her hands over his chest, her eyes gleaming in happiness, her hair a mess. She was absolutely stunning, and all his, and there was nothing more he wanted to do than be with her.
“I’ve got more than five minutes, Liz. I’ve got the rest of my life,” he replied, before opening the door and pulling her through.
Epilogue
December
Liz pushed the door closed on the stable and did up the top of her zipper on her canvas barn coat. The flurries were just starting, and it looked as if they might be snowed in by tomorrow morning, if the radar had any truth to it.
Thank god Jake had flown in yesterday. He’d gone back to New York to finally tie up loose ends there, then flown back through Ottawa where he could submit his application to “reactivate” his Canadian citizenship in person. It had been a mountain of forms and fees for that, and for the ranch.
By September, the entire place had come under joint ownership between Jake, Tanner, and Brady. The sign had been repainted to saywest brothersinstead ofwest and sons, the paint shiny and new. They’d done a little unveiling, Peony planting early fall mums underneath in the flower box to replace the withered geraniums and petunias. Jake bought an expensive champagne to toast, that Tanner had, of course, hated, much to everyone else’s amusement.
Liz had missed him when he’d flown back to New York. He’d offered to take her with him, but she’d declined. She could barely handle Calgary; the idea of being in such a big city made her hair stand on end. Maybe someday, but for now, she left that to him.
They had talked to each other every day. He’d bought her a new laptop before he’d left, and she’d learned how to use Zoom. She’d met Gordon and some of Jake’s other friends via video, and they’d all been really happy for him, which made Liz feel better. She still worried he would regret his move when he went back, reminders of his life in New York more attractive than the Alberta foothills and a small town with only one coffee shop.
Jake had shown her some sights as he video-called her on his phone, giving her a tour of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. It had also made for some interesting conversations late at night. Liz discovered she enjoyed phone sex, as did Jake. The way he grew a bit bolder each time when he realized she was comfortable and wanted him to talk dirty made for several really intense and hot phone calls.
Her cheeks flushed thinking about it, and she kept walking up to the house along the forest pathway. The lights from the main house haloed in the falling snow, a beacon through the wintery forest, and she stopped for a moment to admire it. Every year, the first real snowfall made her think of Christmas, which was less than a month away.
Her first Christmas with Jake.
She was fretting about what to get him, unsure of what a man who had the best of everything would want. She still hadn’t figured it out. Riding gear? Something more personal? It wasn’t easy to decide.
“Hey, slowpoke!”
Brady jogged up beside her, Tanner just behind him, and she smiled as both of them stopped, looking in the same direction she was.
“We’ll be plowing this by tomorrow morning,” Tanner grumbled. “You got the salt buckets out at the stable?”
“Yeah. I sent one over to the machine shop, too, Brady,” she replied, and Brady nodded silently.
Brady had changed in the past few months. He was less happy, more withdrawn, but put on a brave face whenever they asked him what was going on, hiding behind jokes and his affable nature. Ever since his paternity test had come back, he had spent more time in the stable, ridden more, but never once talked about it with either Tanner or Jake.
No one pressed him, and Liz wasn’t sure that was the best idea. She’d tried several times to bring it up, but he’d shut her down and changed the subject. Her mother finally told her to leave it, because it wasn’t an easy conversation for Brady right now. “Give him grace, he’s hurting,” she’d said.
