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Rory’s eyes widened, and he rolled onto his side to face Ivan. “We met five months ago today.”
“Ding, ding, ding.” Ivan’s game show noise wasn’t all that impressive, but Rory’s smile was. “And I love you more and more with each new day.”
“Damn, you’re such a poet.” Rory’s eyes widened when Ivan’s words fully penetrated. Ivan decided he loved those blue eyes in the moonlight best. Rory’s mouth opened, shut, opened again, and then spread into a smile that was bright enough to make the moon jealous. “You love me,” he whispered.
“I love you.” Ivan kissed Rory’s trembling lips. “I’ve never told a guy that before.”
“Another first. I’ve never said it either,” Rory said, still sounding dazed. Then he blinked the world back into focus and smiled again. “I love you, Ivan. So damn much.” He expelled a long, shaky breath. “God, I’ve been holding that in for what seems like forever.” Rory laughed and pressed a kiss to Ivan’s mouth. “We’re in love.”
“We’re in love,” Ivan repeated.
Rory abruptly sat up, tilted his head back, and shouted, “We’re in love!” The words bounced off the empty bleachers and made dogs in the nearby neighborhood bark.
Ivan snagged his arm, pulled him down, and rolled him onto his back. “We’re in love.”
The time to give Rory the ring would come later. Ivan had it tucked away in his luggage until he could place the precious symbol in his safe at the old homestead. Right now, he just wanted to give this moment the attention it deserved. They lay beneath the stars for a long time, kissing, touching, and repeating those three sacred words.
“Is your dick going to camp out in my ass right here in the football stadium?” Rory asked.
Ivan snorted. “We’ll wait until we get back to my old bedroom.”
Rory purred. “Dirty boy.”
Ivan snorted. They’d crossed that milestone off the first night in town, albeit more quietly than the shenanigans they got up to at home. With Dylan and Finley officially moved out, they had the old homestead to themselves and took full advantage. “We better get going. We have a long drive tomorrow.”
After one last kiss, they folded the blanket and headed for Ivan’s truck. His childhood home was dark when they pulled in, but Ivan hadn’t expected his mama to wait up. He knew damn well she’d get up early to make them breakfast before they hit the road. They tiptoed up to Ivan’s old bedroom and they made sweet, quiet love and Ivan kept his promise. It felt like the next morning arrived as soon as Ivan closed his eyes, but the smells wafting up from the kitchen encouraged them to get up and moving.
The first thing he noticed when he came downstairs was that his mother had clipped his interview and photographs from Roberto’s magazine and hung them on the refrigerator. “Where’d you get that?” Ivan asked.
“Rory brought me several copies so I could share them with special people.”
Innes, Sarah, and Claire showed up too. His younger brother held up his copy. “I’m special people, and I’m going to hang your photo in the barn to scare the mice away.”
Ivan responded to the comment with playful roughhousing that made baby Claire giggle and clap. “I took it easy on you in front of your kid,” Ivan said as he straightened his hair.
They lingered over the meal longer than Ivan had planned. He wouldn’t regret the extra time with his family, even if it meant they got caught up in heavy traffic during peak times.
“Uncle Ivan loves you so much,” he told Claire as he cradled the sleeping baby against his chest. “She’s going to have changed so much by the next time I get to see her.” He looked up and met Innes’s smug smile. Arrogant bastard knew he had the prettiest baby ever. Rory said all parents thought that, but Uncle Ivan’s sweet little angel wore the true crown and carried the title. “Why don’t you all come to the ranch after harvest? Maybe for Thanksgiving.”
“That sounds like a lovely idea,” Mama said.
Ivan gave the sleeping baby back to Sarah when he couldn’t delay their departure any longer. The long hugs he shared with his family were bittersweet. As much as he hated to say goodbye, the ranch was his home now, and he was excited to get back. Ivan grinned when his mama held on to Rory even longer than her oldest child. He finally had to extricate himself from her clutches. It was the Rory Effect.
They took turns driving the eight hours back to the ranch. They stopped at a huge truck stop before leaving Kansas, and Rory had insisted on buying everyone silly souvenirs. Just before sundown, Ivan noticed a trio of hawks soaring in the air.
“I thought of a conversation thread for you and your dad,” he told Rory.
“What’s that?”
“Would you rather soar like a hawk or swim like a dolphin?”
“That’s a good one,” Rory said. He started to debate the merits of each, but Ivan reminded him to save that for his dad. The pair started each morning with a humorous debate, taking turns at posing the question. The change in Rory after reconnecting with his father had been immediate and beautiful. Rory vetted the new manager and had helped a little with Charles’s new campaign strategy, and the latest poll numbers for Charles showed he’d made a good choice. As for the leaks, they miraculously stopped when Fossy left the campaign. They couldn’t prove he was the source of the information or his motive for the betrayal, and they didn’t dwell on it. The conversation had pivoted to the important issues facing Coloradans and that’s what mattered most. Ivan hadn’t met Charles in person, but they’d chatted over FaceTime a few times. On one occasion, Charles was trying to make one of Dinah’s recipes while Rory mitigated the damage from a few hundred miles away.
Rory was a natural problem solver. His talent extended beyond marketing tactics and reading a room. His campaign to thwart Salvation Anew through positive community interaction was a massive undertaking, but so far, it had been a tremendous success. He’d created a softball team and a charitable foundation, and the Redemption Ridge YouTube channel was a smash hit. As they predicted, Rue and his blacksmithing received the thirstiest comments. Salvation Anew stopped making trouble in Last Chance Creek, at least for the time being. They hadn’t packed up and moved on yet, so the community wasn’t quite out of the woods. The group could be hunkering down while they planned something bigger, but they’d cross that road if they came to it.
They didn’t turn the truck onto the ranch’s long drive until nearly ten. There had been a terrible accident on the freeway that reduced traffic to a crawl for almost an hour. Rory had dozed off and on since surrendering the wheel to Ivan, but suddenly sat ramrod straight in his seat.
“That’s Nick’s car parked by Cash’s truck,” Rory said, pointing to a sleek black sedan. “His personal car. Something must be wrong.”
