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“I’ve never been better. And you?” she asks.
“I’m great. I just made love to the woman I’min lovewith. I’m about to sleep with her in my arms. What else could I want?” I admit shamelessly.
She turns in my embrace a bit so she can face me. “A future. A forever with me,” she says.
I kiss her forehead. “You know I want that with you, baby. It’s what we talked about all those years ago. I see it more clearly now than ever.”
“Me too,” she says shyly. “But will we get it?”
My mind drifts to the debt to my grandfather. I temporarily shoved it away and replaced it with declarations of love and promises of forever. It’s all I can see when I’m with her. I still don’t want to tie her to me and whatever my life will be in this family, but maybe Iambeing selfish in trying to decide for her. Those thoughts aren’t for tonight. Tonight, I’ll pretend we’re a normal couple in love and we have the chance at a future unburdened by all the things happening around us.
“I’m going to fight for it…for us. That’s a promise I’ll always keep,” I admit. And I will fight for her. I’ll fight to keep her heart and to keep her with me forever. But I won’t ever make her feel like she has to choose between me and her freedom.
She kisses my neck and seems satisfied by my answer.
“I love you, Hawk Abbott,” she says sleepily.
“I love you too, Brittney,” I tell her, and pull her close as we both drift to sleep. For the first time in a long time, I can picture sharing my future with someone. Brittney makes me think forever is possible if it’s with her.
We’ve decided I’m not going back to Greendale Valley tonight, or at all until the fight is over. Things have been what I guess you’d call “routine,” since Hawk told me the truth and admitted his feelings. My core still tightens at the memory of us making love with no barriers the way we did, although we haven’t risked it again. We’ve spent each night wrapped in each other’s arms since, but alwaysprotected.
He trains with his uncle and Hart during the day and then comes back and has dinner with us all while we pretend to be one big happy family. The truth is, I like his family. Wren is still a little frosty, but that’s okay.
The men are all down in the gym training now as I explore the mansion on my own. I’m wandering the halls and taking in each family photo. The Rossis are beautiful people. Each male is outrageously handsome, and all the females are insanely gorgeous. It’s a bit intimidating if I’m honest. Because I’m just…me.
It makes me wonder what Hawk sees in me over someone like Angelica. Other than her crazy wicked personality flaws…she fits with him more than I do if you are judging by appearances.
I touch one of the photos with my fingertip. In it, I’m surprised to see Kieran with his young bride. Her midsection is slightly swollen under her plain white dress. It appears to be bohemian in style and not a true wedding dress. Kieran stands tall and proud in a white button-up shirt and dark jeans as he protectively covers her swollen abdomen with his hand and kisses her temple. Valentina beams at the camera, incredibly happy and very much in love.
“We were once a love story come true.” Valentina’s voice travels down the hall in the back of this lonely wing of the mansion.
I turn at the sound and see her walking toward me with a smile on her face. She still appears to be in her thirties although she’s almost fifty. She could pass as Wren and Hawk’s older sister instead of their mother.
“Were you? Happy?” I can’t help but ask.
She stops and stares at the photo with me and smiles sadly.
“Yes. Very much so. Kieran was rough around the edges, but at his center, in his heart”—she taps her chest with her fingers—“he was trying to be the best man he could be even if his choices didn’t make it seem like it. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with him. He put on an act for the world trying to survive the only way he knew how, but when it came to me…he was gentle and loving. He would’ve given me the world if he could have captured it.”
Her eyes shimmer, but she holds back her tears. “And he loved his son fiercely. And he loved his little girl the way every daddy should.” That finally produces tears which roll down her face.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Abbott. I shouldn’t be back here intruding on your past,” I say gently.
She turns to me and smiles, not bothering to wipe away her tears. “Call me Valentina, darling. And no, it’s good to remember where we started. And honestly, it’s good to talk about him with someone who doesn’t have an opinion on his character one way or another.”
“I only know what Hawk has told me, but even with that, I don’t know much. And I have no room to judge anyone’s family. Mine is a bit…messed up too,” I admit.
“Families can be that way. But most of us simply love and do the best we can with what we’ve been given and pray our choices are right,” she says.
I glance back at the picture. “So, why is your wedding photo still hanging in this house if your family hates him?” I ask.
She clears her throat and lifts her chin. “In my family, we don’t divorce. Even if they didn’t accept him, our marriage is a binding contract. He is, and will always be, my husband,” she admits.
“Is that why Matteo is so twisted up over Hawk walking away from Angelica after he proposed?” I can’t help but ask with a sick feeling in my gut at the thought.
“Our families are similar that way. When we give our word or make a commitment, it means something. In his eyes, Matteo thinks Hawk is at fault even though the deceit was not his,” she says.
“I think I’m starting to understand the weight of this entire situation. But why would Hawk risk losing his freedom and his life in Greendale Valley just to bail me out of this mess when he’s already escaped it once before?”
