Sadie rose from the chair and sat next to her on the bed, wrapping her arms around Olivia.
The dam broke as Olivia sobbed. She loved Ronan with all her heart. She’d dreamed of being with him forever, of having a family. And now that dream was ripped from her, and it left a gap in her soul.
How would she recover? Where would she go from here? All the unanswered questions swirled through her mind as she cried in Sadie’s arms.
When she’d finally run dry, she shivered and sniffled before pulling away. She could feel her swollen eyes and knew her nose was most likely a brilliant red, and heat flooded her face, but Sadie didn’t seem to mind.
In fact, she took Olivia’s hands and squeezed firmly. “You’re going to be all right. You will get through this.”
Olivia nodded, wanting the words to be true, but not really believing it. As though Sadie knew that, she repeated it again. “You’re going to be all right.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Olivia said softly.
“Give it time. You’ll know what to do. In the meantime, we’re here for you.”
And that would be enough. Ivan’s would-be brides had become sisters. And nothing was stronger than family.
After three weeks of traveling, Ronan arrived in the last place he imagined Olivia would go.
Promise Creek.
He’d visited every other hotel in Peachtree, visited her family, stopped in a town she’d mentioned during their trip, and a number of other stops. Every location had turned up empty. She’d want to get as far away from him as possible. To go somewhere where he would never find her.
And he hadn’t.
That’s why he’d had little hope he’d find her in Promise Creek. Why would she ever return to a place that was his home, a place where he was sure to find her?
He stopped at the hotel before going to the women’s house and entered his suite. As the door closed, the click echoed in the empty rooms. He looked around and felt the hollow of loneliness here. He’d never realized how quiet it was, nor how dark. Not just the light, but the feeling. This wasn’t a home.
And yet, it had started to feel like one in the short time he’d been with Olivia. Of course, it would’ve been temporary, but being with her felt like home.
He missed her...so much. He never knew that someone leaving could leave a hole in his heart. Physically, he felt like part of it was missing, and it hurt like hell.
He’d had time to think of all the ways he’d screwed up with her. He’d been focused, determined to end Lawrence in every way possible. And while it’d been satisfying destroying Lawrence financially and vindicating himself from the past, it hadn’t given him the release he’d expected. He’d thought the minute he killed Lawrence or had him arrested, he’d feel free. But he didn’t. He felt even more bound up and trapped than he had before.
He’d made so many mistakes with Olivia. But if he could just find her again, he swore that he would do whatever was needed to make it right.
He freshened up from all the traveling and trudged down the hotel steps to the front desk. “Good evening. I trust everything has been all right during my absence?”
The man across the desk, tipped his hat quickly. “Yes, Mr. Briggs. Everything is just as you left it.”
Ronan patted the desk. “Good,” he replied before turning to leave.
“Well...That is, everything is the same, except what Mrs. Briggs took from the room.”
Ronan froze before swinging back to the man. “Olivia was here? She’s been here in our room? When?”
The man backed up a step, pulling at his collar as if he could feel Ronan’s hands around his neck. “A week and a half ago? I don’t know the exact date.”
“She hasn’t been staying here? Where is she?”
“I…I…”
Ronan took a deep breath and forced his shoulders to relax. He was intimidating the man without trying, and it was counterproductive. “Is she staying with someone else? The other women?”
The clerk nodded quickly.
“Thank you.” Ronan truly meant it. “You’ve helped me a lot.” He pulled out several bills and laid them on the desk.
The man’s face brightened as he pocketed the wad. “Thank you very much, Mr. Briggs!” As Ronan walked out of the hotel, the front desk clerk called after him, raising his voice to be heard, “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to assist you!”
But Ronan didn’t answer. With one thought, and one thought only, he mounted his horse and rode out to Ivan’s old house. He pushed his horse, not to the point of injury, but he didn’t waste any extra seconds.
When he pulled up to the house, he dismounted quickly and ran to the door. “Olivia!” he called out, pounding hard at the door. “Olivia, open up.”
The door opened a moment later, but Olivia wasn’t on the other side. In fact, there wasn’t just one person, there were eight. All eight of Ivan’s other mail-order brides stood on the opposite side of the door, their expressions grim.
If Ronan was less of a man, he would’ve taken a step or two back in retreat, but he wasn’t and wouldn’t be scared off. He didn’t care what he had to face, as long as he knew Olivia was near.
“I need to speak with Olivia.”
Willow’s jaw shifted to the side. “Oh, we know you want to speak with her, but that’s never going to happen.”
Rosalie folded her arms. “Not while we’re here.”
Ronan raked a hand through his hair, then stepped back and glanced up at the darkened windows. Is she even home? “Look, I know you all are protecting her, and I appreciate that. But I really need to explain things to her.”
Sadie looked directly into his eyes and said softly, “I think she knows everything she needs to.”
Sadie knows. He could tell by the way she looked at him. “Please? She doesn’t have all the facts.”
Sadie didn’t speak again, but she didn’t back away either.
“I didn’t do everything she thinks I did. I need to tell her.” When no one moved to let him in, he started to panic. “I love her! It’s killing me to be apart from her, and even though I appreciate your protection, you cannot stop me from speaking with her. I will sleep on this doorstep until she decides to see me. I will not leave, I will not give up, I will not go away.” He stepped toward the group. “Be sure to tell her that.”
“Let me pass.”
The voice Ronan had missed for three weeks filled his ears. Olivia! She was here.
Violet stopped Olivia’s progress out the door. “You don’t have to do this. We can have the sheriff remove him from the grounds.”
“He’ll only sleep on the edge of our property then. I need to end this with him.”
He swallowed at Olivia’s words. He didn’t blame her for wanting to leave him. He’d been a monster, consumed with hatred and revenge, and it had eaten him from the inside out. No person as wonderful and loving and kind as Olivia could be with someone like that.
But he wasn’t that way any longer.
The others shuffled away, allowing Olivia to come forward.
He drank in the sight of her. The way the setting sun settled on her golden hair, the way her lips curved to make a perfect bow, the way her neck met her shoulders in just the right angle…he missed her, every single part of her.
He was a different man having known her, and he never wanted to go back. He never wanted a life without this beautiful, courageous woman. “Thank you for speaking with me.”
She stepped out of the house and walked down the lane to give them privacy. He didn’t attempt to reach out and touch her. He didn’t have the right.
She finally paused and turned to him, waiting for him to speak.
“You came back to Promise Creek. Why?” he asked. He hadn’t realized the question was there, but now that it was out, he couldn’t deny how much her answer meant to him.
She shrugged, but he could tell it mattered. “This is my home now. I don’t belong in Georgia.”
; He swallowed hard. She hadn’t mentioned him, but he hoped there was still some part of her that cared for him. “I understand why you left me. I’m even glad you did.” Shocked eyes met his. “I mean that. No one should ever put you in the position I did. No one should ever treat you that way, especially not me. I’m sorry.”
Her chin trembled, but she bit her lip, stilling the action. “I couldn’t stay. Not after everything that had happened. I don’t even know what to call you. Ronan? James?” She shook her head, turning away when a tear slid down her cheek. She brushed it away quickly.
“Ronan. Ronan is my name now.” A breath huffed through her lips, but he captured her attention again. “James died in the war. After everything that had happened, I had to run. I had to become a new person. All I’ve accomplished, all I’ve done, has been as Ronan. I can never go back to being James.”
“Ronan then.” She turned toward him. “I appreciate you telling me this—”
“But it’s still not enough.” He wanted to take her into his arms, to hold her why he explained. He only hoped, someday, he would earn her trust back. “I didn’t kill Lawrence.” When she looked at him in doubt, he added, “After you and I spoke, after you told me I’d never be the same, I was angry. I’m sorry for that. This,” he gestured wide, as if trying to encompass the half of his life bent on revenge, “has led me in everything I’ve done. It’s made every decision for me, has led me every single step toward fulfilling an oath I’d made to myself. Lawrence would pay. I wasn’t ready to let that go, not then.”
“Are you telling me you changed your mind? You didn’t go after him?”
He shook his head slowly. “No. I could never let that go. I had to clear my name. I was still listed as a murderer, a traitor. I couldn’t live with that. I couldn’t let my family live with that. Or the people who had been killed by his hand.”
She softened, but he needed to finish telling her everything. “Your words struck me that day. I thought it didn’t matter what I had to sacrifice. Nothing was more important than killing Lawrence. Nothing was more important than taking away everything he loved. And while that had always been true, I quickly realized it wasn’t worth losing you. It wasn’t worth losing the life we had together, and will have in the future.”
“Ronan—”
“No.” He finally took her hands. He needed the physical connection to her, anything to keep her with him. “Please, listen.”
She pressed her lips closed, but she didn’t pull away.
“I realized nothing was worth more than our relationship. And while I’d messed up already by not telling you everything before we married, I knew killing him would turn you away from me forever. I hadn’t believed it would affect me if I killed him, but I knew it would affect you. So, when I met with my lawyer that morning, I told him everything that I intended. He advised me on a way that I could get my revenge and clear my name without killing Lawrence.”
“How?”
He brought one of her hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it. He rubbed his thumb over the spot and prayed he would be able to do that again, and often, for the rest of his life. “I was to go through with the meeting when Lawrence signed the papers. After that point, the lawyers would leave, and I would reveal who I was to Lawrence and get a confession from him.”
“But if everyone was gone, why would it matter? It would be your word against his, once again.”
Ronan shook his head. “My lawyer alerted the soldiers of what was going to happen, and they stood outside the door, listening to the conversation before they made an arrest.”
Her mouth fell open. “So, you…you didn’t fight him?”
He looked away. How he wished he could tell her he hadn’t, but he’d promised himself never to lie to her again. “I did fight him. There was a delay with them getting into the room. Lawrence didn’t confess right away, and it got physical. But they intervened before any permanent damage was done.”
“Permanent?” Her eyes scanned over his form, searching for injuries. “Were you hurt?”
“A few cuts and bruises.” He didn’t add he’d needed stitches. God willing, he hoped she would soon find out on her own.
“And Lawrence?”
“Same.”
“And he was arrested? He was alive and taken by the soldiers? Your name is cleared?”
“Yes.”
Her body began to tremble and he brought her close, pressing her body against his. The relief that surged through him overwhelmed him.
He held her tight, clutching her like he’d never let her go. “You were right, Liv. You were right that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I’d killed him. Once it was all over, once the madness of revenge had left me, I realized just how right you were. I am so grateful to you.”
When she sniffled, he tilted her chin up. “I am so grateful you cared enough about me to stand for what was right—even though I fought it, even though I resented it. You were true and right and good, and I couldn’t have survived it without you.”
He held her head in his hands and wiped her tears away with his thumbs as he gazed into the eyes of the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. “I love you so much it hurts to be away from you.”
More tears trailed down her cheeks, but he couldn’t stop. He had to tell her everything in his heart. “The last three weeks have been torture never knowing if I would see you again, never knowing if I’d be able to tell you how sorry I am for everything that happened. I love you. And I want our lives together. I want to have a family with you. All the things that make my life whole, I want with you.”
He held her green eyes with his, searching, hoping for a sign. “Is there any way you can forgive me? Is there any way you can love me?”
At his words, she brought her lips to his.
His body reacted before his brain, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer, and taking what she so sweetly offered.
He kissed her with every fiber of his being—loving, promising, giving every ounce he could. He held nothing back. Every part of him was for her. And he gave it all willingly. “I love you,” he said. Over and over he repeated the words between kisses.
Olivia touched his face. “I love you too. Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Relief pumped through him and he held her tightly against him, never wanting to let go. “I’m so sorry, Liv.”
“I forgive you.”
“I’m not worthy of your forgiveness. But I’m selfish enough to take anything you’ll give me.” She sniffled and chuckled at the same time, and he didn’t think he’d ever heard anything so wonderful in his entire life.
“I’m giving you everything—my love, my heart, my life—it’s all yours,” she declared.
“Tell me again.”
She placed her hand on the back of his neck. “I love you, Ronan,” she whispered, before placing a soft kiss on his lips. “I’ll love you forever.”
He groaned and took her lips again.
“I’m never going to let you go. If I do something dumb again, do what you must, but know I love you. I will try to be the man you deserve. I will try to be worthy of your love.”
She smiled softly at him. “You already are. Take me home, Ronan.”
“Home?” If she said Georgia, he’d happily hire a private train.
“The hotel.”
They both laughed.
“Hardly a home,” he said.
She squeezed him tight. “As long as you’re there, it’s the best home of all.”
He sealed her words with another kiss, finally knowing just how lucky he was.
He’d been lost by his need for revenge, but with Olivia in his life, he’d been found.
Epilogue
“You have to promise not to peek,” Ronan said, covering her eyes with a blindfold.
“What about Rose?”
He leaned over the wagon and placed a soft kiss on their sleeping daughter’s honey-colored
curls. “She’ll be just fine. She’s still sleeping. Besides, we’re not going far.”
Once she agreed, he laced her arm through his and led her farther down the path. “Almost there.”
“Is this the project you’ve been hiding from me for months?” she asked skeptically.
He grinned. It was a little more than a simple project, but the excuse had allowed him to get far enough along with it to show her. “You’ll see. Just a little more patience.”
“Ronan Briggs! I am the most patient person in the world.”
He led her carefully around a rock. “Married to me, I agree wholeheartedly.”
She snorted.
He paused their steps. “We’re here.”
Suddenly nervous, he hesitated a moment. “If you don’t like it, we can do anything you wish.” He pulled the blindfold off Olivia’s eyes before any further doubt could creep in.
Her hand went to her mouth as she stared at the tall grassy field, the sapphire sky dotted with clouds, and the home under construction beneath it all.
“What do you think?” he asked, suddenly unsure if he’d done the right thing by surprising her.
Her hand fell away, but her eyes never left the structure. In an even-tone, she simply said, “It’s Georgia.”
He nodded. “We both agreed that we didn’t want to move back, but I thought we could bring a piece of it here.” He tried to read her face, but she hadn’t shown much reaction yet. “Do you like it?”
She finally looked at him. “Like it? I love it!”
Joy swept through him as swiftly as his relief. “You mean it?”
She stepped into his arms and squeezed him. “I really love it! It’s perfect.” She laughed, the sound a little shaky. “It’s big, but perfect.”
He nuzzled her ear. “I told you we weren’t going to live in the hotel forever.”
“Well, yes.” She gestured wildly toward the house. “But I didn’t think you meant we’d live in a mansion.”
He laughed. “I’d build you and Rose a castle if you’d prefer. I want to give you both everything.”
A Mail-Order Wish (Miners to Millionaires Book 2) Page 11
