Riot will be cussing if he missed out on the mudding. Unless he’s with Kelsey. If that’s the case, he’s probably too enamoured and happy to care.
The quad bikes buzz like flies and then fade.
Behind me, Dizzy talks in a bubblegum baby voice to the chestnut gelding she’s riding. The horse responds between bits of dialogue with a nicker or a sigh.
West is behind her, more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him, but quiet, like he’s as locked in his head about something as I am about my vows.
At the rear is a rather uncomfortable bodyguard who said he liked horses, then turned gray at the sight of the animals.
Burke breaks off from the front of the line and circles back around to fall into place beside me. “There’s a spot about thirty minutes from here that’s pretty as a picture. It’d make a good place to stop before we head back.”
Gentle hills and valleys stretch all the way to the horizon where they meet a blue sky dotted with cotton balls. An occasional glimpse of a fence line serves as the only reminder we’re near civilization. Red and white Hereford cattle graze and wander where they will. “It’s all as pretty as a picture.”
But it has nothing on my wife-to-be when she smiles at me over her shoulder.
I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to grow old with you. And when our faces are lined and our hair has grayed, I am still going to look at you and know there is no one more beautiful. Body and soul. In this whole world you will always be the prettiest view.
I let out a long breath. It shouldn’t be this hard to translate these thoughts into my vows. “Let’s stop there then.”
Burke drops back as I nudge my horse forward.
Ivy grasps the reins in one hand and holds out her other. “This is heaven, isn’t it?”
Encompassing her tiny hand, I run my thumb over the rock on her ring finger. Nothing is ever going to get between us again. “Thinking about leaving the city?”
“No. I love the city, and I love our life in it.” She leans toward me almost conspiratorially. “But I do love the lack of photographers, nosey media, and those people on the street who you can never be certain—”
“Whether they want to hug you or kill you.” I’m used to them, and they mostly don’t bother me, but they act differently around her. They hate her because she’s with me. Because they wish they were her.
Or because they believe Alec’s the victim he claimed to be even after the truth came out. Which means she must be mean and hurtful and vindictive.
“Yeah.” She forms a fist around the reins and rubs it on the top of her thigh like she’s trying to get some invisible stain out.
I get it too. There is a pain in the back of my throat when I remember how close I came to losing her.
I squeeze her hand tighter. I will always be here when she needs me. I will never let go. “No one is going to hurt you ever again. Jackson is dead. Alec, Nicole... they’ll never get near you.”
“You’re right. We have all this security. No one knows where we are. But what if they work it out? What if Nicole—”
“What about Nicole?”
Her phone dangles from a cross-body strap and she brings something up on the screen to show me. Text messages from an unknown number.
I can hear Nicole’s voice as I read the thread. Every message is basically the same. She’ll never let us marry. Never let us be happy. Ivy owes her.
“She’s locked up. She’s not getting out any time soon. She can’t do anything to hurt us now. All her threats are empty. She can’t do anything, baby.”
“I can’t shake the feeling—”
“Nothing is going to go wrong. In a few short days you will be my wife, and I’ll be your husband. And nothing is going to get in the way this time.” That’s the only kismet I’m willing to put out into the universe. The only future I’m willing to make a reality.
“I can’t wait,” she says.
We fall silent for a while. It’s too sunny and too breathtaking to be weighed down for too long. The tension eases from between us with each drop of a horse’s hoof.
Dizzy trots up to talk to her sister, and I drop back next to West as Burke takes the lead again. West doesn’t say much while the girls laugh and joke.
Sometimes it seems like he hates everyone but Dizzy. He’s standoffish with us and it’s been months. After several attempts to start a conversation, I give up. I have more important things to deal with. Like vows to write.
