Magnus’s laugh was the only response I got as he went around to the passenger side of the car.
Fuck. How the hell had I managed to end up just as horny now as I’d been when we’d first gotten here? I glanced at Magnus through the windshield. He was shaking his head, a huge grin on his face.
Well, at least life with Magnus would never be boring.
That fact had me smiling too as I went around to the driver’s side of the SUV. Yeah, let the man think we’d be packing when we got home.
Not likely if I got my way.
And I was damn good at getting my way.
Chapter 18
Magnus
“We’ll takegood care of him, Mr. DuCane.”
“Thanks, Charlie,” I said as I shook the man’s hand. He walked towards the cab of the truck while I went to the small side door on the trailer that was still open, allowing Ace to stick his head through. I ran my hand down his muzzle. “See you in Seattle, old friend.”
Ace nudged my hand with his nose and I pulled out the carrot he knew I was holding. He gobbled it up and then turned his attention to the bag of hay that was strung up against the inside of the trailer where he could easily reach it. I closed the small hatch and then stepped back and raised my hand to Charlie so he could see in his side mirror that I was done saying goodbye to my horse.
As I watched the truck make its way down the driveway, I felt arms wrap around my waist from behind. For all his fears about being in a relationship, Dante was damn good at actually being in one.
“He’ll be okay,” Dante murmured and then he kissed my neck.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m glad he’s got another horse in there with him.”
Watching Ace leave was nothing compared to what it had been like the day before when Rachel had come with her father to pickup Dolce. Both horses had called to each other as Dolce had been loaded up in the trailer and that had been particularly tough on me. But the joy on Rachel’s face as she’d hugged me had been worth every second of sadness I’d been feeling as I’d said goodbye to one of the last remaining links to my daughter.
“She’d be so proud of you, Magnus,” Dante whispered.
I nodded since I was too emotional to actually say anything. I lifted one of Dante’s hands to my lips and kissed it before turning around to face him. I wrapped my arms around him and tiredly whispered, “I’m ready to go home.”
“I know you are,” he said softly.
It had been nearly a week since the verdict had been read. Getting the house ready to sell had taken longer than I’d anticipated, but I’d finally gotten everything arranged with the realtor who’d be handling the sale. She’d agreed to be there when the movers came to pack up the house, which I’d been grateful for because all I really wanted to do was get out of Texas. I missed my grandson and I missed the men and women who’d become my surrogate family.
And I was eager to start my new life with Dante.
I had no idea what that entailed, but I was hopeful that he’d get to the point I was already at.
Because somewhere along the way, I’d fallen in love with him.
It wasn’t something I’d even realized until the night before after I’d gotten out of the shower. I’d just finished shaving when he’d appeared behind me, his beautiful eyes watching me in the mirror. He hadn’t said anything even after I’d finished. He’d merely taken my hand and led me from the bathroom. I’d presumed our destination was the bed where we’d spent every night wrapped in each other’s arms since that first night he’d come to my room. But instead, he’d led me out of the room and down the hallway. I’d pulled him to a stop when I’d spied Jenna’s open bedroom door and the light on in her room. Dante had stopped long enough to cup my cheek and whisper, “Trust me.” I’d followed him into the room and spied several empty boxes sitting on her bed.
“It should be you who packs up the things that meant the most to her,”he’d said.
I’d stood there for the longest time as I’d tried to garner the courage to do just that. When I’d finally managed a nod, Dante had wiped away the few tears that had escaped unnoticed down my cheeks and then he’d handed me one of the boxes. We hadn’t spoken as I’d begun carefully removing the pictures taped around the edge of the vanity mirror on her dresser and I was glad for that. Someday I would share the memories all those pictures had brought forth with Dante. And Matty, too, when he was old enough.
The act of packing up her things had hurt, but it had also helped in a way too because I got to remember all the times when Jenna and I hadn’t fought…when we’d just been father and daughter. As the primary parent, I’d been the one who’d had to wear all the hats including being the disciplinarian, a role Jenna had naturally rebelled against as she’d gotten older. And while there’d been plenty of times where Jenna had thrown the dreaded‘I hate you’line at me, as I’d taken down the pictures, I’d seen nearly as many of me as I had of Matty. Some had just been of me, others had been of Jenna and me doing all the things we’d loved doing together, even when she’d been in the throes of her addiction. Riding, swimming, cooking.
Logically I’d known she hadn’t really hated me, but seeing the pictures were validation that she’d loved me. And God, I’d needed to know that.
I’d only packed up the most precious of her personal possessions, leaving the rest like her clothes for the movers to deal with. I’d put the boxes I’d packed in the SUV so they’d be with me for the journey back to Seattle. They wouldn’t be going into some cold, impersonal storage space somewhere. No, they’d be with me wherever I was and I’d take them out whenever I needed to remember Jenna for who she’d been, not the way she’d died.
That night was the first night Dante and I hadn’t made love. He’d just held me in his arms as we’d talked. I’d told him about my childhood and he’d regaled me with all the good memories he had of growing up in the suburbs just outside of Washington D.C.before his father had died and he and his mother had moved to Brazil. I’d gotten to hear more about Aleks too, though those memories had been much more bittersweet. I hadn’t missed how Dante never spoke about Aleks in the past tense, but I hadn’t pointed that out. He still needed that hope to hang on to and I knew better than anyone how important it was to never give up the belief that someone was coming home until you had absolute proof that they weren’t. Hope had been the only thing that had gotten me out of bed day after agonizing day.
I’d known as Dante had shared his stories with me that I was in love with him. It wasn’t one of those stunning,‘stop the presses’kind of things…it was just this feeling of rightness that had spread over me…through me. I hadn’t even cared that it was too soon or that he might not feel the same way. I’d just reveled in knowing I’d finally found what I’d just accepted was something I’d never have. There’d be plenty of time later to deal with all the uncertainty that came along with being in love.
