I swallow hard. I hate even thinking about this stuff, but I do my best to explain, “Vale and I were dumped on you. You were over here living your best life, and she just dropped us off one day. Boom, two kids that you never asked to take responsibility for.”
Aunt Elaine stares at me for a long moment. “Oh, sweetie. You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
She pulls her phone from her pocket and dial’s a number. “Vale, get your butt in here.”
It only takes him a moment or two to join us. When he does, she gestures for him to take the seat next to mine. “Do you remember what happened the summer you came here?”
He gives a curt nod. He used to be so open, so talkative. I’ve only managed to gather pieces from his time he spent missing, but apparently, he was in the desert alone with a head injury for a long time. He wasn’t even sure who he was or where he came from. That’s why he’s been gone so long without a word.
“Your sister is under the impression that your mom dumped you both here.”
He doesn’t glance in my direction. He keeps his gaze fixed on Elaine, but I don’t doubt he’s cataloging my every movement. That’s something else that’s new. He’s hyperaware of everything. Apparently, he fell in with a band of mercenaries at one point, and they did missions together. I’m not sure what kind of missions, but obviously, the type that demand constant vigilance. “That’s not what happened.”
I frown. “I was there. I remember it all.”
Aunt Elaine’s voice is soft, “You weren’t told all the details, and you only remember it through the eyes of a kid.”
“Then what really happened?” I ask, frustrated that I feel like I’m missing all of these pieces. What is it that I’m not seeing and why hasn’t someone told me what it is?
There’s a tense silence in the room then finally, Vale clears his throat. “Mom started dating a guy who had been to prison for some nasty stuff. He wasn’t a good person, and I didn’t want him around you. So, I called Aunt Elaine and told her what was happening. I knew she’d care.”
“That’s when I invited both of you to come live with me,” my aunt fills in the detail.
“What?” I gasp.
“Your mom left you here, that’s true,” Aunt Elaine says. “But you were never dumped on me. You were invited and welcomed into my home. You were—and still are—wanted.”
Tears fill my eyes as I see the situation through a fresh perspective. It’s not that I wasn’t wanted or cast aside. “I can’t believe this. You mean all of this time?—”
Aunt Elaine drops to her knees in front of my chair and takes my hand in hers. She gives it a firm squeeze. “If you never hear anything I say again, hear this: I chose you. And I’d choose you again and again.”
I reach for her then, wrapping my arms around her. All those years of thinking I wasn’t wanted aren’t magically erased. But I see them differently now because the lie is no longer my loudest truth, tormenting me with pain. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that. You didn’t have to take us in.”
“I love you,” she says, squeezing me back.
My phone dings in my pocket as I’m wiping the tears from my face. I stare at the notification and nearly burst into tears all over again. This can’t really be happening, can it?
Chapter 13
Bronco
“What are you doing here?” Vale asks as soon as he sees me. He’s standing in the gardens of the Wildflower Retirement Community. His jeans are covered in dirt, and it’s clear he’s spent most of the day working the land.
I hate that when he returned stateside, the first thing he saw was me kissing his sister. I would have preferred the chance to look him in the eye man-to-man and tell him how much I care about his sister.
Now, Vale hates me, and Lauren is convinced that I was only with her as some type of service to him. I’m working to mend fences with him and create a plan to show her that there’s never been anyone else for me. She’s my forever.
“I hate the way your homecoming went down,” I tell him, figuring it’s best to start with honesty.
He glares at me. “I don’t fucking care.”
“I know. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m in love with your sister. I’m not going to stop fighting for her. She’s going to marry me one day.”
He pauses, tossing down the pair of hedge clippers. “What did you just say to me?”
I look him dead in the eye. “I said I’m marrying your sister.”
