“Let me call Cass. She might be the one selling that land. She could meet us to show it. Pull over.”
When your wife tells you to do something, you do it without question. Silently, I turn us around and approach the sign with a pounding heart.
Olivia holds her phone between us while it rings. “Heya! Have you made it to town? Are you near the house? Caleb should be home now, so he’ll show you to the spare room while I finish up with a few clients,” Cassidy says in a rush, sounding out of breath. “Sorry, God. I feel so pregnant.”
“We just made it in,” Olivia laughs. “But we pulled over on Foster Lane looking at afor salesign outside some land. Ford’s a little curious about it.”
“Oh!” Cassidy moves, I’m assuming into her office. There’re only two real estates in the small town of Willow Ridge—the one she owns, and the one she’s putting out of business because her competition is an asshole. “Yes. I know the one. There’s a house, stable, a barn, and a few sheds on the property. It’s a huge parcel of land. We’re talking hundreds of acres and a couple hundred thousand dollars, here.”
Olivia’s face falls. “Should have expected as much.”
“Do you want to see it? The owner, he’s in a retirement facility now, and he’s not all that fussy with who I take to check it out. I can meet you there in twenty. You just drive up the road and keep following it until you reach the house,” Cassidy offers.
I stare at the phone for a long moment before glancing at the sign, then the land. “Yeah, we still want to check it out.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon!” She hangs up, the line going quiet, leaving us in our own bubble of tension.
“You sure? We’re only going to get our hopes up,” Olivia says quietly.
I run a hand through my hair as I start up the driveway. “There’s something I’ve been keeping from you.”
“If you say a wife?—”
I chuckle and take her hand. “You’re my one and only wife, darlin’. Nothing you need to worry about there. But there’s a reason why I only talk to Tucker and no one else from my family.”
“Oh?” She doesn’t even hide her curiosity.
“I come from money,” I tell her, shame swelling within me. “When my father died, Tucker and I got rid of whatever we could that had anything to do with him, split it fifty-fifty, and chose to never speak about him or give him a legacy. I have the money to buy this place if we fall in love with it. It’s just whether we’ll feel guilty about touching that money if we do.”
Olivia squeezes my hand. “Then we promise he has no legacy here. This isn’t about him. This is aboutusand our family and our future. He doesn’t touch it.”
“Fuck, I love you,” I mutter, bringing her hand to my lips. “So damn much.”
EPILOGUE
OLIVIA
The drive up to the ranch takes my breath away.
The driveway is bordered either side with a low wooden fence and trees that offer shade. Sprawling paddocks spread out around us with rolling hills and Jade Mountain as the backdrop. I strain to look at more, spotting a creek in the distance that cuts through the land towards the mountains, likely fed by the melting snow. Nearby I notice a large barn with a horse pen out front, and what looks like the beginnings of a space for cattle.
“Well, darlin’, would you look at that,” Ford says, voice low.
I follow his line of sight, breath catching in my throat. The house is more than I expected; two stories, it looks like a true farmhouse, with the white exterior, black metal roof, dormers that overlook the land, and a front porch I can see myself growing old on. Part of it is fenced off, making me think about Christopher.
In the field closest to the house, wildflowers bloom. The closer we get, the more I can see, like the raised garden beds for growing vegetables, the large, old trees that house a tire swing and memories yet to be made.
Ford pulls up to the house without a word and cuts the engine. “What do you think?”
I sit in the quiet for a moment, one that doesn’t feel like tension or expectations or the need to keep moving. For the longest time, I had to keep going. Keep doing something. Fighting for a life I didn’t know I want.
Turning to Christopher’s car seat, I look into the mirror attached to the end that allows me to see him, and him me. A smile forms on his lips, dimples appearing, and the air leaves my lungs in a huff.
“I think this looks like a great home,” I say quietly, turning back to Ford. “Like a good start.”
He nods once, jaw clenched. “Would you want this? With me? It’s not the life we talked about?—”
“I think this is the best compromise we could have ever found,” I interject, taking his hand. “We get to be together. You continue doing what you love. And I can find something a little more me to do.” I take it all in again, heart rate settling, stomach calm, like my body knows this is right.
