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“First,” he said tightly, “let’s get this off the table. Keep your land. I don’t want it.”
Her eyebrows lifted into twin blond arches. “That’s not what the newspaper reported.”
“They were wrong.” He pushed one hand through his hair. “Okay, I admit that I did have the idea for building a new beginner run on the backside of the mountain.”
Her mouth tightened further into a grim slash that didn’t bode well for Sam. But he kept going, determined to say everything that needed to be said.
“But Dad told me they’d deeded the property to you, so I let that idea go.”
“How magnanimous of you.”
Scowling, he snapped, “Damn it, Lacy, I didn’t know you owned the land. When I found out, I changed my plans.”
“And I’m supposed to take your word for that?”
“Believe me or not, doesn’t matter,” he countered, and took a step toward her. She didn’t move away and he didn’t know if that was sheer stubbornness or a willingness to listen. He took it as the latter. “The only thing you need to believe is that I love you.”
Her eyes flickered with emotion but he couldn’t tell if that was good or bad, so he kept talking. “Took me two damn years to realize what I had. What I lost. But I know now, we belong together, Lacy.”
She huffed out a breath and shook her head. Her hands tightened on her own arms until her knuckles whitened, but she didn’t speak. Didn’t order him to get out. That had to mean something.
“I know I hurt you when I left.”
She snorted. “You crushed me.”
He winced and kept talking. “I did and I’m sorry for it. But even when we were first married, things were shaky between us. You kept waiting for me to disappoint you. To walk away, like your mother did.”
“I was right, wasn’t I?” She whispered it, but he heard and ached for her.
“Yeah, I guess you were. But you know, you always looked at what your mother did—leaving—as what love was really all about. So you thought I’d do what she did. You never really believed that I’d stay. Admit that much at least.”
She took a breath and said, “To ease your guilt? Why would I? I can tell you that I wanted to believe you, but if I had believed, completely, your leaving would have killed me.”
Pain slammed into the center of his chest and he deserved it for putting both of them through this.
“But I trusted you, Sam,” she said, adding to the misery he felt now. “And you broke my heart.”
Sunset was streaking across the sky outside, but inside, where the light was dim, shadowy and still, he could see the hurting in her summer-blue eyes.
“I know and I’ll always regret that, wish I could go back and change it.” His voice dropped into a husky whisper that tore at his throat even as her words clawed at his heart. “But, Lacy, your mother wasn’t an example of love. Your father was. He stayed. He stayed with you. Right here. He lived through the unhappiness and never let it affect how he treated his daughter. That’s the kind of love I’m offering you now.”
A couple of long seconds ticked past as she considered what he said.
“You’re right about my father,” she agreed. “I never thought about it like that, but you’re right. She left. He stayed. He was lonely. Sad. But he stayed. You didn’t.”
“No.” He hated admitting to that. “But I’m back now. And I’m not going anywhere.”
She shook her head again, unwilling to take him at his word, and he only had himself to blame for it.
“I’m here forever, Lacy,” he told her, willing her to believe. To trust. “I want a life with you. Children with you. I want to grow old and crotchety on this mountain and watch our kids and grandkids running Snow Vista.”
She swayed a little and Sam took that as hope and moved another step closer. “If I have to spend the next ten years romancing you to get you to believe me, then that’s what I’ll do,” he vowed. “I’ll bring you flowers every day, dinner every night. I’ll kiss you, touch you, make promises to you and eventually, you’ll believe in me again.”
“Will I?”
“Yeah,” he said softly, a smile curving his mouth. “Because you love me, Lacy. As much as I love you.”
She took a fast, shallow breath and held it for a long moment.
Sam looked at her standing there, her long hair loose and soft, her features tight, unsure, her eyes damp with tears, and his heart swelled until he thought it might burst from his chest.
