AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Legacy is great,” Luke said.
The restaurant had twinkling tea lights strung along the railing leading up to the front entrance, with aged barrels wrapped in more lights. Hannah would’ve loved it, and he wanted to take a picture of the perfectly Texas wreath on the front door and text it to her.
He did snap the picture, but he didn’t send it to her. The only reason he hadn’t returned to Sweet Water Falls yet was because of this dinner, and he needed to get on the road tomorrow.
Dallas and Jess had had their baby a couple of weeks early, and they were set to go home in the morning. He could stop and get breakfast and meet them at home to visit them and see their new baby.
Then he’d have to figure out how to get Hannah back into his life.
“Are you seeing anyone?” Tammy asked after they’d been shown to a table.
Luke looked up, surprised by the question. “Uh…I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” she asked, glancing up at the waitress as she set a glass of water on the table.
“It’s complicated,” Luke said.
“So many things in this world are,” Ben said. “Tell us about her.”
Luke looked back and forth between the Housers, sure this situation wasn’t happening. But if there was one thing he could talk about, it was Hannah Otto.
“She’s great,” Luke said with a smile. He proceeded to tell them about her, about how they’d met, and how he’d left Texas to go to Vegas.
Their appetizers came, and then their food, and the whole dinner passed while Luke laid out the complicated situation. “So there it is,” he said, waving away another cup of coffee. “Sorry, I’ve dominated this whole night with talk of her.” It felt nice too, though, and Luke really liked having a neutral party to talk to.
His mother had clearly been on Hannah’s side when he’d told her about their quasi-break-up. She had supported Luke’s endeavor to find closure, though, and he had appreciated that.
“It’s been nice,” Tammy said. “Every situation in life is just as complicated. Listening to you talk has helped me understand you better, Luke.”
“You’re a better man than you think you are,” Ben said, exchanging a glance with his wife. “Luke, I won’t lie and say I didn’t blame you for a long time. A really long time. But holding that blame inside my heart doesn’t hurt anyone but me. You got a sentence, and you fulfilled it. It’s not up to me what to do from there. Only the Lord can do that, and I believe He allows people to have a clean slate.”
“You do?” Luke’s eyebrows shot sky-high.
“I do,” he said. “I’m not perfect, and Tammy and I have been through some rough times since Robert’s death. I’ve said and done unkind things. I need the saving grace of God just as much as you do.”
Luke had been migrating closer and closer to the Lord in the past couple of weeks, but he’d never thought about things the way Ben had just laid them out.
Everyone needed the saving power of the Lord. His misdeed might have been bigger—big enough to warrant intervention from the laws of the land. That didn’t mean he needed more punishment from anyone, and it didn’t mean the Lord would never forgive him.
“Dessert tonight?” the waitress asked, and Luke shook his head. He paid the bill, and he remained fairly quiet on the way back to his uncle’s house.
Tammy and Ben both got out of the SUV and stood side-by-side on the sidewalk. “Luke,” Tammy said. “You deserve that woman as much as she deserves you. You should forgive yourself and go see if she’ll forgive you too.”
He could only nod, because he wanted to do exactly that. Tammy stepped into him again and hugged him. He was ready this time, and he held onto her tightly for several long moments.
“Thank you,” he whispered. He shook Ben’s hand, and he stood on the sidewalk and watched them drive away. They’d forgiven him. He’d paid his price for what he’d done. Now, he just needed to figure out how to forgive himself—and how to get Hannah back.
* * *
The next day,Luke didn’t drive straight to Dallas’s, though his texts told him that they’d left the hospital about the same time he’d left Beeville. As they only lived ten minutes from the hospital, and he had a good hour-long drive to their place, they’d definitely be there already.
Still, he found himself making the turn that would take him back to the ranch, not to Dallas’s house in town.
He pulled up to the fence at the familiar ranch, feeling like he’d come home. “Home,” he said to himself. The word meant so much to him, and he knew it had more to do with the people he surrounded himself with, and not the place where those people existed.
Hannah’s car wasn’t anywhere to be found, and Luke stayed in his truck, trying to decide what to do. He hadn’t stopped for pastries or flowers. He had nothing to offer Hannah but himself, and as he got out of the truck and walked toward the West Wing, he decided that had to be enough.
Hehad to be enough.
