She beams and me and then says, “That man of yours is a lucky guy.”
I slip out with a smile on my face and walk down the corridor toward the staff room. I breathe a sigh of relief when I get inside and see that it’s empty. Immediately, I shove the folders into my locker and then grab my coat, taking one last look around before dashing out of there.
When I run out of the side door and down the twisting, metal steps, I spy Gabriel leaning against the side of his car. He’s wearing his sunglasses, a tight white shirt and a pair of black denim jeans that mould around his muscular legs. My mouth waters at the sight of him, and then I spot a book in his hands and I completely melt.
“What’re you reading?”
He jumps, having not heard me approach, and drops the book. “It was a book on how to get your fiancée to stop making you jump all the time.”
I laugh and lean up on my tiptoes to kiss him. Gabriel tastes of the sun and of being outside all day long. He tastes like summer and smells like fresh rain on a cool day. “Then you should return it and get your money back.”
He smiles against my lips and kisses me once more before bending down to pick up the book. “I lied about the book. It’s actually a book on how to tell your fiancée that you’ve booked her a surprise trip and have a bag packed for her in the boot of your car.”
“You haven’t,” I say, sliding my arms around his neck.
He grins and stares at my lips as he nods. “I have.”
“Where are we going?”
He rolls his eyes and slaps my backside. “Maybe you should buy yourself a dictionary and look up the definition of the word ‘surprise.’”
I playfully swat his arm and then shove my bag into his arms. “Come on then. What are you waiting for?”
Gabriel
We got off the ferry and onto Irish land about six hours ago, but it’s only now that I can turn the car off the road and onto the long, bumpy lane that leads to the ranch. I stop the car just before we get to the entrance and kill the engine.
When I turn around and see Yara’s perfectly still, sleeping face, I almost turn the car around so I can find us a hotel somewhere. I know she’s been working hard on a case at work and it’s taken its toll on her a bit. Maybe I should have waited until things weren’t so busy for her before doing this, but I’m not exactly sure how much longer we have.
I take a deep breath then lean between the seats and shake her shoulder. “Yara,” I whisper. “You need to wake up.”
“No,” she mumbles.
“You’ve always been crap at waking up,” I say.
“I’ve only just fallen asleep.”
I smile and shake her some more. “You’ve been asleep for the last two hours. I’ve been boring myself to death with the sound of my own voice.”
“You bored me to sleep,” she says as she sits up and rubs her eyes.
I laugh, watching her run her fingers through her hair. “You’re not funny, Yara.”
Her mouth twitches when she finally opens her eyes and looks at me. “I’m very funny.” I see the moment she remembers what’s happening flash through her eyes, and then she’s climbing into the front seat next to me. “Where are we?”
“We’re about a minute away from your surprise.”
“Ooh,” she says excitedly. “What time is it?”
“Just before seven.”
“Shit, you’ve been driving all night,” she breathes. “Where are we?”
“We’re in Co. Sligo.”
She frowns as she tries to figure out why we’re here. “We’re in the middle of a farming field, aren’t we?”
“Sort of,” I say.
“Gabriel,” she says, looking around. “Why the hell are we here?”
I take a deep breath and start the engine, letting the car coast down the hill until the ridiculously big, wooden barn and farmhouse comes into view.
“Ohmygod,” she breathes. “Is that a barn?”
“Yes,” I say, “but it’s not a working one anymore. They just have a few horses and lots of land.”
“What are we doing here?”
“I thought you could learn to ride a horse.”
She turns to me, clearly not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “Are you joking?”
“Yes,” I say, laughing at the expression on her face. “Of course I’m joking. Have you ever even touched a horse before?”
“No,” she says, shaking her head. “Have you?”
“No.”
“Then what the hell?”
I ignore her while I park the car.
“Gabriel,” she says as she climbs out of the car to follow me up the wooden steps. “What’s going on?”
I knock on the door three times and then take a step back, hoping she’ll be the polite, charming Yara she normally is and not the annoyed, angry one that’s currently tapping my arm.
“Shh,” I say to her.
When the frail, grey-haired old man pulls the oak door open, I smile at him. He smiles at me in return.
“Yara,” I say, nodding my head at him. “This is John Joseph Edwards.”
“Hi,” she says, holding out her hand to him as his pale blue eyes stare at her. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
“He’s your biological grandfather,” I whisper.
Yara’s eyes go wide and her mouth drops open.
“I thought it was about time you two met,” I say, smiling at her.
Before I can say anything else, Yara squeals and throws herself at John. Despite how fragile he looks, he wraps his arms around Yara and holds her tight as tears leak from his eyes.
John Edwards was once a strong man. I can tell that even now as I see the muscles in his arms flex as he holds onto his granddaughter. “Oh, Yara,” he says into her hair. “My little Yara.”
“Grandad,” she whispers, hugging him even more.
“Oh, my girl,” he sobs. “You look just like your mother.”
I see Yara shaking in his arms and decide to leave them to it for a minute.
Stepping out from the shade of the house, I walk around the side and stare off into the distance at the acres of fields and miles of ocean that stretch out as far as my eyes can see.
I’ve spoken to John on the phone a few times. I know he never remarried after Joanna left him, and I know he didn’t have any more children. He dedicated his life to this farm and the horses he kept. For the majority of his life, he’s worked with schools for disabled children, using the horses as equine therapy.
John Edwards is easily the kindest, most generous person I have ever come across in my whole life. And at nearly ninety-five, he’s probably the oldest person I’ve ever met too.
And while I know this means that he won’t necessarily have a long time left to spend with Yara, he will have some answers to the questions that have tortured him for most of his adult life. I know because he told me so. He’s confessed to not knowing if meeting Yara would be the right thing to do—not for him, he assured me, but for her. He didn’t want to cause any more heartache for her, and when I asked him what he could possibly mean, he said he didn’t want his eventual death to hurt her.
“Gabriel!”
I turn and see Yara shielding her eyes from the sun as she leans over the railing of the deck to look at me. My stomach flips at the sight of her and how much she looks like she belongs right there.
“John said he’s already told you that we can stay here.”
I nod as I start to walk towards her. “Yes, that’s right.”
“He also said that he offered to let us stay for as long as we want.”
“He did,” I say as I stand on the other side of the railing.
She leans down and kisses me long and slow on my lips before pulling away and running the back of her fingers down my cheek. “Thank you for doing this for me,” she whispers.
I smile and kiss her hand as she pulls it away from my face. “I’d do anything for you, Yara.”
“I know you would, and that’s
just one of the reasons why I love you,” she says.
I give her forehead a quick kiss and then nod towards the house behind her. “Did John have anything else to say?”
“Yes,” she says, grinning at me. “He told me that you are madly in love with me, and that I should hurry up and marry you.”
“Wise words,” I say, smiling at her.
“I feel like I’ve been here before, but I know I haven’t,” she says, sliding her hands around my neck. “This place feels like home already.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“Really good,” she says. “But what happens when I have to go back to work in a week?”
“What do you want to happen?” I ask.
She shrugs, but I can tell she already knows what she wants to do. “I’ll go where you go,” she says.
“What if I want to go where you want to go this time?”
“You have your business to run.” She shrugs. “And I have April.”
“April has a new home to go to,” I remind her. She told me so on the way here. “Go back after this week until she’s settled, and then let’s move out here. I know John will have us because he’s already asked me. I can let my manager take over the business for a while. We’re young and life is too short,” I tell her seriously. “If you want to stay here for a while, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“I love you, Gabriel King.”
I lean forward and rest my forehead against hers. “I love you too, Mrs King.”
“Not quite,” she says, giggling as I pull her over the rail and into my arms.
“Soon,” I tell her as I walk towards what I know will one day be our home. “Very soon.”
THE END
Chasing Butterflies Page 24
