"I love you, Magnolia Blackwood." His voice was rough, thick with emotion. "Every stubborn, terrified, beautiful part of you. I loved you when you ran from me. I loved you when you pushed me away. I loved you when you called me the ranch hand and broke my heart in front of the whole damn bar." His thumbs brushed the tears from my cheeks. "And I'm going to keep loving you—every day, in every way I know how—for as long as you'll let me."
"Jack—" His name came out broken, barely a sound.
"I'm not done." His smile was soft, but his eyes were fierce. "You asked me to wait. You didn't use those words, but that's what you were asking every time you pushed me away. And I waited, Maggie. I would have waited longer. I would have waited forever if that's what it took, because some things are worthwaiting for." His forehead pressed against mine. "You're worth waiting for. You always were."
I broke.
Not the way I'd broken in my mother's arms. This was different. This was relief crashing through me like a wave, joy so sharp it felt like pain, the overwhelming sensation of being caught after a lifetime of bracing for the fall.
I surged forward, and Jack's arms wrapped around me, and I was crying into his chest while he held me like he'd never let go. Sully pressed against our legs, tail wagging, and somewhere behind me I heard the door open and close as Liam and Stephanie slipped away.
I didn't care. The whole world could be watching, and I wouldn't care.
"I'm sorry," I gasped into his shirt. "I'm so sorry I let you go."
"You didn't let me go." Jack's voice rumbled through his chest. "You just weren't ready yet. I knew you'd come. I knew it the whole time."
I pulled back to look at him, my face wet, my heart wide open. "You did?"
"Maggie." He smiled—that slow, steady smile I'd fallen in love with the first night I saw it. "You're the bravest woman I've ever met. You just didn't know it yet."
I laughed. It sounded like a sob. I didn't care.
I rose on my toes and pressed my lips to his, soft and certain.
Jack kissed me back. Slow. Deep. The kind of kiss that sealed a promise.
When we finally broke apart, the bar had gone quiet around us. A few locals were watching with poorly hidden smiles. The bartender raised his glass in a silent toast. Sully had settled at our feet, content at last.
I laughed, burying my face in Jack's shoulder. "So much for not making a scene."
"Maggie." Jack's arms tightened around me, and I could hear the smile in his voice. "You just chased me across three states to confess your love in a Montana bar. I think 'scene' was inevitable."
I looked up at him, this man I'd almost lost, this future I'd almost thrown away. "No regrets?"
"Not a single one." He kissed my forehead, soft and lingering. "You?"
"No," I said. "Not anymore."
Jack smiled and pulled me close again, and I let myself rest against him.
The bar hummed quietly around us. The jukebox switched to something slow and sweet. Outside, the Montana mountains stood sentinel against the darkening sky.
We were just beginning.
26
Jack
I couldn't stop looking at her.
We were in a booth at the back of the bar now, tucked into a corner where the lighting was dim and the noise faded to a comfortable hum. Maggie was pressed against my side, her head on my shoulder, her hand laced through mine like she was afraid I'd disappear if she let go. Sully was sprawled under the table, finally relaxed in a way he hadn't been since we left Texas.
She came. She actually came.
I kept testing the reality of it—the warmth of her body against mine, the smell of her shampoo, the way her thumb traced absent circles on the back of my hand. She was real. This was real. After a week of driving and working and trying not to hope too hard, she was actually here.
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She made a soft sound and burrowed closer, her fingers tightening around mine.
