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“She was lovely,” Rosie said an hour later as he pulled onto the highway. “But I’m still amazed she gave her wholehearted blessing to your selling the painting once she heard how much it was worth.”
“After losing her daughter and her husband, I think she simply wants Karmen’s legacy to live on.”
Rosie knew he was right. Though there were some bad people out there, in her life she’d been lucky enough to find so many good ones. Gideon had too. “Well, she was certainly excited, telling you everything she could remember about the painting.”
“Evan’s auctioneer will be ecstatic,” he agreed, “especially if she can find documentation in her papers.”
Gideon had come a long way from the man in the shadows whom she’d first gotten to know. But she still needed to remind him, “He’s your auctioneer, Gideon. It’s you doing this. It’s you giving away a multimillion-dollar painting and not keeping a penny for yourself. Not Ernestina or Evan.”
“I don’t need the money. I know it seems like I arrived with nothing, but I’ve made some good financial choices since leaving the military.” She could see that he was gearing up to ask her a question. “I know you’re fine on your own and don’t need help from anyone, but—” He raised their entwined fingers to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand. “I’d like to get Jorge some art lessons. What do you think?”
“I’ve been saving up.” She’d always tried to do right by her son.
“I know. But will you let me pay for it so he can start lessons now?”
“Yes,” she said a moment later. She’d been independent for so long, taken care of Jorge on her own, along with the help of her best friends. But now she and Gideon were a team, along with Jorge. Together, they could do anything. “Of course. He would love that. I would love that.”
He glanced at a road sign ahead. “There’s someone else I’d like you to meet. A friend over in San Luis Obispo. Zach is an old army buddy I haven’t seen in a long time.” He pointed. “If it’s okay with you, we could take this turnoff to go see him.”
Her heart swelled at the strength it took to let every single one of his walls fall. Rosie knew what a huge step this was for Gideon. First seeing Mrs. Sanchez and now Zach, both of whom were inexorably tied to his time in the army. Over the past week, Gideon had slowly revealed the rest of his history to her—the Middle East, coming home, how broken he was after he got back stateside. At the time, Gideon had insisted on going to see the families of all the guys on his team who had died. Meeting those families had been horrific for him, especially when one of his team members’ wives blamed Gideon for getting her children’s father killed.
“It’s more than okay,” she said. “Besides, I’m sure the boys are having a ball with Ari and Matt, so there’s no need to rush home.”
As Gideon took the exit, his mouth creased in a smile. He smiled so much more now. For so long he’d felt the need to deny the laughter, to deny any joy. She would never let that happen again.
Seeing both Zach and Mrs. Sanchez was a turning point. It meant he was healing.
And Rosie would be there for him every step of the way. She always would be, just the way he would be there for her.
Forever.
“I love you,” she said.
He turned, a brief glance away from the road, and looked at her, his eyes a gorgeous sky blue. “I love you too. More than you’ll ever know.”
But she did know. She felt his love in every breath. Just as she knew he felt hers.
Epilogue
Today was the final barbecue and pool party of the summer at Matt and Ari’s house. The boys had started first grade last Monday, and standing under the big awning over the back deck, they were regaling Susan, Bob, Daniel, Tasha, and Lyssa with every detail of their first week at school. The two puppies, Noah’s Flash and Tasha’s Darla, already exhausted from all the activity, were napping. The rest of the Mavericks would show up soon, along with Jeremy’s Duke, and the puppy whirlwind would start all over again.
Gideon and Rosie were sitting together on deck chairs, soaking up the sun, their fingers laced together as they watched Noah and Jorge go through every single school day event with pantomimes and hand gestures.
The kids were amazing. Gideon still could hardly believe they were his. DNA didn’t matter. Only love.
Love that filled him up from the pit of his stomach to the tips of his fingers and toes and straight back to his heart.
Unwilling to let go of Rosie, with his free hand Gideon reached into his pocket and awkwardly removed a slip of paper from his wallet, which he handed over to her to unfold.
“What’s this?” She was staring at it as if she’d forgotten how to read. “Tickets to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art?” Absolute shock hushed her voice.
“It’s for Columbus Day weekend,” he explained. “The Monday will be a holiday. Since Jorge has a teacher day on Friday, he’ll be out of school four straight days. With the warehouses right on schedule, Daniel’s got no problem with my taking a couple of days away.” He smiled at her. “Do you think you could get that Friday and
Monday off as well?”
But she was just staring at him. Then he realized her eyes were blurred with tears. “You remembered we wanted to go there. Especially now, to see the Battle of Angels.”
