by Brynn Hale
“You were saying, Mr. Evans?” she asks.
“Um, I can’t think.”
We all laugh.
“I think he’s saying that you look wonderful, Grace. Tonight’s your night.”
My phone buzzes.
Luke: Still missing you. Still loving you.
I hold the phone to my chest and my eyes water.
“You ready Cinderella?” Ursula asks me.
“I just need one more thing.” I pull a small box out of my bag and slip it into my clutch.
“Ready.”
I wait in my car until I see him go inside. My nerves are getting the best of me but if we’re starting over, I want it to be the real me. Maybe a lot different on the outside and a little different on the inside. I turn on the radio and just sit there for a few more minutes to calm myself. Then I remember. The letter her sent me. It’s in the glove compartment.
I pull it out and just stare. I never opened it. I couldn’t. It was Schrodinger’s Cat in a letter. Either our love was alive or it was dead.
I slide a finger into the edge and tug it open. The letter falls into my lap, I lift it and read.
Dear Grace,
I’ve tried everything to get to hear from you, so I want to take this one last stab and tell you something.
I want you to be happy. Even if it’s without me. I want you to be truly happy no matter what.
I’ll never find someone like you and I know what a gift our love was…is. I will love you forever, there is no doubt in my mind.
I will be waiting for you, if you ever want to find me and I promise, I won’t propose.
I giggle and dab my coat sleeve to my eyes.
Grace, my love, I just want to know you’re okay.
Baby, whatever you’re doing or wherever you are, we’re seeing the same stars. Like them, I’m always with you, no matter what.
Love, Luke
I swallow down the flooding of emotions that pound through my veins.
It’s time.
I walk to the hall door, looking up at the clear night and seeing those stars. They were always there. He was always with me.
Inside the front doors the coat check ladies accost me. One slips my clutch from my hand while another drags my winter coat off. And then they all gasp.
“Grace Quinn, you look…” Mrs. Taylor steps back eyeing me up.
“Hot. She’s fucking hot!” Mrs. Cobb calls out from the coat check room with a little slurring of the words.
Apparently, the ladies have been in the schnapps already. It’s a tradition and soon they’ll be passed out.
“Thank you, Mrs. Cobb.” My mother’s best friend helped out while I was gone and I’ll be forever grateful. But that’s also why I’m back. I realized what I was missing. All of it.
“And everyone needs to go to Grace’s new place, the Featherbone. Charles said the meatloaf was better than mine,” Mrs. Cobb adds with a shake of her head. “It hurt a little, not going to lie. But if I had to lose best meatloaf to anyone, I’m glad it’s you, sweetie.” She pulls me closer and kisses my cheek. “Now… go get him.”
“Merry Christmas, everyone.” I give a wave as I turn and I’m met with Cole and Ellie.
He slides to a stop, eyes wide. “Um…”
Ellie pulls him along and I hear her mumble, “She can handle Luke.”
But can Luke handle me.
Luke
I’m staring at the stage, enjoying Breck and Tilly’s rendition of Don’t You Wanna Stay when I come to the realization that I don’t want to stay. The only reason I’m here is tradition and maybe traditions need to change. I need to change.
I stand and turn and my mouth dries like the Sahara. I have tunnel vision and nothing else even matters.
It’s her.
Only Grace.
I walk across the room and I never see it coming. The woman from the ranch steps in front of me, her hand pawing its away across my suit coat.
“Hey, Mr. Reeves, did you save a dance for me?”
I look around her and Grace is standing there with her hand on her hip, sassy and sexy. “No, I didn’t and as you can see, neither did any of my brothers. Ms. Foster, take some time, find yourself, and then maybe, maybe you’ll find that someone else will want to get to know you, too.”
She glances over her shoulder to where I’ve never moved my gaze from. “Why are the good ones always taken?”
I lean toward her. “It’s because we can see beauty on the inside and outside. Good luck, Ms. Foster and check out is at eleven in the morning.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that from every Reeves, and the cook.”
I chuckle. I don’t think I need to say more and I’m already fighting my cock from coming to life. He wants to be near Gracie. Hell, he wants to make her his. I want to make her mine, again. She never wasn’t mine. She was always in my heart.
I cross the room and people start cheering for Breck and Tilly.
“Grace…” I can’t help myself, I wrap her in my arms. “You look amazing. Beautiful. Different.”
She leans back our faces only inches from each other. Her soft honey breaths filling my lungs. “I am different, but I’m still me.”
“I’m sorry. I know that the year before you left was hard. I didn’t accept Dad’s death very well. I didn’t listen to you. I’m…I’m sorry.”
She tips her head. “I’m sorry, too. He was your dad. I understood and that’s not the reason I left. I left to know me before I could be forever with you. I never really knew me and now I do. I read your letter tonight.” She reaches up and runs her hands through my hair. “You said that you’d never propose to me again…”
“Not until you want me to.”
She steps back and my stomach clenches. She lowers to a knee. “What if I want to?”
My heart leaps into my throat, this time he’s not strangling me, he’s telling me that Grace is my life. It beats for her only.
“Luke Thomas Reeves, I love you more than you’ll ever know. I’m back and I want to be your wife and I want you to be my husband. Please tell me you’ll marry me and tell me you’ll always be the star in my life.”
I reach down and look into her eyes. “I love you, Grace Angela Quinn. And yes, I’ll be your husband.”
She slips the silver band on my hand and I assist her to stand. I claim her lips. Every touch bringing me back to her. Bringing us back to being…us.
The people around us start clapping and she giggles against my lips.
I pull the small black box out of my jacket and hold it out. “For you?”
She looks at the ring and her hand covers her mouth. “You had it with you?”
“I knew you were meant to be mine and I was meant to be yours, Gracie.”
“I’ll be yours, Luke, forever.”
GRACE
Valentine’s Day
“And I now pronounce you husbands and wives. You may kiss your loves.” Darren Evans pronounces all of us—Cole and Ellie, Breck and Tilly, and Luke and me—as married couples. A ceremony held in the VFW with two hundred of our closest friends.
The evening progresses with Tilly and Breck singing a few of their newly written songs and Cole making a toast that includes words of his mother and father, bringing not a dry eye to the room. And my Luke telling everyone about my latest venture in Heraldsville—Grace’s Kitchen, which will open in March. The Featherbone BBQ is doing well and I decided to take on another challenge, with Luke doing all of the marketing. He has an assistant now, Samson’s partner Finn who moved here to be with him, and Finn’s helped to give Luke’s life a little balance. And Luke and Samson have become best friend’s too.
I’m a lucky woman.
And Luke’s going to get lucky tonight.
When the lights are all turned out, we give Mom and Dad hugs, and we’re in Luke’s truck. He drives us out to the ranch and parks in front of one of the cabins in the far back. We’ll have the place all to ourselves for a few days as Cole and Breck take Ellie and Tilly on thei
r honeymoons. We’re not leaving until next Friday when Cole gets back. Breck and Tilly will head to New York City to talk to some entertainment manager who called Cole up after seeing a video of their Snow Ball performance. They won’t be back for two weeks.
But I already know a secret that Ellie will be telling Cole and why her dress fit just a little different. They’ll be having a baby in September.
He turns off the truck. “Are you as nervous as I am?”
“Yeah.”
“No matter what, I love you, Gracie.”
“I know.”
Inside the cabin, I slide to a stop while slipping off my jacket. He’s sprinkled red rose petals everywhere and I’d imagine Samson and Finn left the reception early to turn on the flameless candles and light the fireplace. It’s perfect.
His hands wrap around me. The silk of my mermaid dress slides against my skin and under his hands. The zipper in the back slides down and he lifts the fabric off my shoulder, sliding his lips along as the gown falls down my arms and puddles at the floor. He steps back to see me in my strapless bra, white silk and lace panties, and thigh high garters. Those whiskey eyes heat, turning into molten lava.
He lifts me into the air, spinning us and carrying me to the bed, falling with me on top of him. My hair cascades down, the waves shimmering around his head. He slides the strands to one shoulder, wrapping his long fingers around the mass and placing his hand on the back of my neck.
Luke guides my head down to his, but this time he stops me just before our lips meet.
“You’ve made me the happiest man.”
“And I’m the happiest woman.”
He lifts his hips and his hard cock presses into my clit. “Now, I’ll make you the most satisfied woman.”
“Seems like you’re all talk to me.”
“Damn, woman. Those baby pink silky lips. They were made for kissing me.”
“And wrapping around your cock?”
He sucks in a tight breath. “I won’t disagree, but I want to be buried in you, Grace. I want to make love to you. We have all week to try everything we’ve both ever imagined.”
“I can’t wait.”
“But…you tell me what you want when you want it and I’ll be there to give it to you.”
“I know.” He never assumes anything anymore. And I speak my mind. It’s been so much better than I ever thought it could be.
I grind my body against that massive bulge in his tuxedo pants. I’ve seen him naked. Once. And the vision hasn’t ever left me. And we’ve slept in the same bed since the Snow Ball. But we really knew we wanted to wait. We’d waited all this time, what was a few more days.
And it almost killed me.
His steel notches the softness between my legs. My panties are soaked already. His fingers brush my stomach. He unhooks my bra and my breasts hang free in his face. Warm hands cup the globes as I tease my tongue into his mouth. The tango of making love has started.
He breaks our kiss to drop his head to my breast, his tongue darting out and swiping lightly over my nipple. I’m positive I might have an orgasm just from him massaging the swelling flesh and teasing my nipples into his mouth. The frantic heat we build together in each other is like a volcano. I grind against him again, more insistent.
“Baby, you’ve got to stop that.”
“I’m on fire, Luke. My pussy is pulsing already. I need you…”
“And here I thought we’d take our time.”
“Fuck no! I’ve waited so long for this. I want you inside of me.”
He chuckles. “I guess I told you that I’ll give you whatever you want in my vows, so here goes.”
We undress each other, franticly. Every moment is a wasted one in my mind.
I climb back into the bed and he climbs on top of me.
His hand slips between my legs and a long finger slips inside of me and I close my eyes and my back arches. Our bodies move against each other, grinding, touching, absorbing every inch, memorizing every dip and curve of his cut abs. The developing memories will never match the experience of being with him.
He rubs the inner walls of my body, hitting a spot that makes me gasp. “Yes, fuck, yes.”
“Come on my hand, baby.”
I start grinding against his palm. I’m so close. “Please, I want to feel you inside of me.”
He climbs over me and with his cock separating me, he pushes forward and with how he’s primed me, he slips into me and we both still. Shock covering his face, and I’m sure covering mine.
“Holy shit,” he grunts through his teeth. “Gracie, you’re so hot.”
“And you’re not wearing a condom.”
We’d talked about protection. We knew we were clean, but were we ready for a baby? We couldn’t quite answer it. Because we both knew what was in our heart.
“Fill me up, Luke, and if it happens, it was meant to be.”
“Are you sure? I can,” he swallows deeply, “I can pull out and put on the condom.”
I hold his face in my hands. “You pull out and I’m going to hurt you.”
He laughs. “Okay, guess we’re making a baby.”
Probably not.
It wasn’t my fertile period, but if it happened, I’d be thrilled.
His cock pulsed inside of me. “Can I move?”
“Yes.”
The burn of his thrusting started me down a path. Every part of my body tensed, and my thighs locked around his hips as he increased his speed. My stomach burned and then the blinding white heat of an orgasm seared over me.
“Luke!” I screamed his name as I writhed under him.
“Gracie…” He grunted my name and planted his cock deep inside of me, coating my walls with his seed and guiding me into the woman I wanted to be.
We breathed heavy into each other’s mouths and he pressed his lips to mine.
“Wow.” I ran my hands into his thick dark hair. “We’re doing that again.”
He chuckles. “For the rest of our lives, baby.”
I’d left Peacock Ridge to find myself, but I came back to Peacock Ridge to rediscover our love.
Epilogue
Luke
The ranch was buzzing with activity. Christmas. The Snow Ball had happened the night before and the whole community was there. Reeves brothers and wives on their arms.
The ranch is now the Peacock Ridge Ranch and Eco-Friendly Learning Center. Families from all over the United States come to learn about conservation and saving both the plants and animals that were vital to the ecosystem. My brother’s vision has made us the go to destination in northern Colorado. And his wife recently won an award for her work in presenting how we learned to live with the coyotes of the area, so we were celebrating that as well as the birth of our savior and a very profitable year.
I serve myself a glass of my mom’s recipe for eggnog and I can smell it before it got to my lips.
“Breck? What alcohol did you put into this?”
“All of them.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
He grabs my shoulder. “We’re waiting for the call.”
“The call?”
“Our surrogate was implanted three days ago. Today’s the first day she can take a pregnancy test.”
My chest burned for him and Tilly. They wanted this baby more than anything.
Grace and I had gotten smarter after that first night of making love. We’d taken a few chances here and there, but she got on the pill to make a baby more to our timing, than a surprise.
Ellie carries my niece into the room and I reach out to take her. Ms. Cameron Rose Reeves looks up at me, her eyes wide. She smiles.
“She smiled at me.”
“It’s gas,” Ellie says grabbing a glass of water.
I nuzzle into her and that baby smell makes me think that maybe Grace and I need to start thinking about a family. Whenever she’s ready.
Cole comes walking in and basically steals his daughter from me. I guess I’m fine with him taking he
r.
My wife comes in and she’s holding a gift in her hands. “One more for under the tree.”
Tilly follows and shakes her head. “No call.”
I hand out the presents under the tree, each person getting five gifts, except for me. I have a sixth. I look to Grace and she smiles.
“Open that one last, honey.”
“Okay.”
We take turns opening gifts. I get a new cowboy hat, perfect fit from Cole. A painted picture of Grace and I on our wedding day from Tilly. A subscription to a magazine from Breck—one I’d told him about earlier in the year. And a new set of gloves for going out to check on the cattle from Ellie. And then the last two from my wife. Everyone else opens theirs and I dig into the first gift. It’s a watch, my father’s watch. The one he wore every day and it’d stopped working the day he died, crushed against his chest.
“How?”
“Samson knows people in Denver. They fixed it.”
I wipe a tear away. “It’s amazing.”
“Glad you like it.”
I start to open the next one and Tilly’s phone rings. She stands and Breck follows her to the corner, his hand on her back and her voice low.
“Really?” she asks. “Okay. I’ll let Breck know. Thank you.” She turns and I’m on feet before she can say anything more, I just know. She nods with glassy eyes and my brother drags her to his body.
“We’re having a baby?” he asks.
“We’re having a baby!” she says as we all start to file in to hug both of them.
When the chaos clears, we all sit back down and I finish opening my last gift. My chest heaves.
“What?” I hold up the piece of white plastic.
The women start screaming and hugging Grace.
I sit stunned. “You’re pregnant?”
“Yes.”
I stand and press my lips to hers, my brain finally pulling me from the shock. “How?”
“Wow, bro, if you don’t know that!” Cole calls from across the room.
“I mean, when…”
“I changed pill types when that last one was making me nauseas. I guess the new one just didn’t work? I missed my period and asked Ellie if she had a pregnancy test.”
