Page 87 of Where She Belongs

“He gave a toast,” Rylee added, biting back a smile.

“One sentence,” Tate said.

“One perfect sentence. Half the county cried.” She reached up and pressed her thumb to the crease between her husband’s brows, smoothing it the way she intended to spend the next fifty years doing. “Come on, husband. It’s almost time to cut the cake, and we can’t keep our guests waiting.”

Rylee slipped her hand in his and squeezed.

The rezoning fight wasn’t over. Williams had gone quiet since the hearing, and Tate gave it even odds the man would be back come spring with fresh paperwork and a new angle. But the town had packed the school gymnasium past the fire code for that hearing. Ranchers, shopkeepers, families affected by this decision. The council had tabled the vote on the spot, and the next meeting wouldn't be sneaking onto anyone's calendar. A notice would be sent to every mailbox in the county first. The councilwoman had said so and her gavel banged on her desk ensuring how things would go.

Rylee had stood at the microphone that night and told her neighbors the truth. She'd lived the life Williams was selling, and she'd walked away from it for Rocky Ridge. And Tate never gave the speech he’d spent weeks muttering in the barn. He’d looked at the room, folded his notes, and said the town had already made his argument by showing up.

Whatever Williams tried next, he wouldn’t be trying to fool uninformed people. And her husband wouldn’t be fighting it alone.

Today was hardly a day to worry about what they couldn’t control. Nope, she’d see to it that Tate celebrated today for what it was.

Their promise to be together through thick and thin. No matter what.

Rylee pulled Tate to a stop at the cake, and her aunt clinked a spoon against the glass in her hand. “I’d like to thank everyone for coming to this joyous occasion. Rylee and Tate have held each other’s hearts since before they even knew what love was. Is it any wonder that they found each other even after being separated for so long?”

Tate relaxed somewhat, his eyes finding hers. Then he lifted their hands to his lips and winked.

Warmth spread throughout her entire body. It was moments like this one that she couldn’t deny how well she fit into his life.

It wasn’t a place. Not a city or a home that made her feel as though she belonged somewhere.

It was Tate.

In his heart. That was where she belonged, and it was silly she hadn’t figured it out sooner. Whenever she was with him, something just clicked. She got lost in those eyes more often than she cared to admit. Even now, with their guests watching, everything faded away.

Everything but him.

She didn’t need anything else.

“And with that final note,” Roxy said, “I’ll direct your attention to the new Mr. and Mrs. Dennison.”

Applause rippled through the crowd of Rocky Ridge residents and Roxy’s friends from the city. Tate tugged her toward the five-tiered cake and reached for the knife.

He placed it in her hands then wrapped his own around it and together they sliced through the buttercream frosting.

Rylee beamed up at her new husband and found him staring down at her with eyes that said everything they couldn’t when so many eyes were on them.

It was as she turned back to the cake that she caught it—Jason, over by the paddock fence with a plate of cake he wasn’t eating, gone absolutely still.

Rylee followed his line of sight. All she caught was the back of a woman moving away through Roxy’s cluster of city friends—long dark brown waves, a simple sundress in pale blue—weaving between the tables toward the cars like someone leaving before she could be introduced. Rylee didn’t know her. That was odd in itself. Between the town and Roxy’s guest list, she’d thought she could name every soul on this lawn.

When she looked back at Jason, he was still watching the space where the woman had been. He wasn’t frowning. He wasn’t doing anything at all. He simply stood there holding his plate of cake, looking the way he looked at a horse nobody else could figure out.

Huh, Rylee thought. She’d be asking for a few details about that later.

Tate extracted the knife from her hand and picked up the cake. He leaned in close to her as he did. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Oh?”

He straightened and held a piece of the delicate treat between his fingers. It hovered just before her, ready to plop into her mouth. “Yeah. I wanted to talk about where we were going to live.”

She blinked a few times. “Oh. I just thought that since the business is located at your place and since it’s bigger⁠—”

“I think we should move in here.” He gestured to her property. She had more acres, but the house was tiny in comparison to his. And there was still so much work to do.