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“Because…” Leia shifts herself in the chair and makes herself a little more comfortable. “Ice-cream is not just for late-night pregnancy cravings. It also heals hearts.” She tilts her head and almost looks sympathetic.
“Well, I don’t got no heart to heal,” I remind her, downing the long glass of water and placing the glass on the counter.
“Just grab a fuckin’ spoon and sit down, Carson.” She gets snappy with me, and because anything is better than heading back upstairs and facing another nightmare, I decide to humor her and do as she says.
“So when should I expect the magic to start happening?” I scrape a spoonful out of the tub when she tilts it toward me.
“Savannah’s getting married.” Leia waits until I have a mouthful before she blurts the words out like verbal vomit and makes me choke.
“What?” I don’t know if it’s hurt or anger that I’m feeling, but it makes the shit in my mouth taste pretty fuckin’ sour.
“We got invitations a few weeks ago and we all had a family meeting and decided not to tell you about it. I obviously voted that you shouldn’t know because I think you're an asshole and Savannah’s right to be moving on.” She adds.
“So why ya tellin’ me this now?” I question, tryin’ to let it sink in that Savannah is actually gonna belong to someone else.
“I don’t know, we can blame that on the hormones or something. I guess I just figured you should know.” She shrugs before filling her face again.
“Well I appreciate ya tellin’ me… I think.” I smile at her sadly before digging my spoon back into the tub.
“You were right lettin’ her go,” Leia tells me seriously, and I can see she’s struggling to admit it. Her and Maisie have made it their life’s work to make me feel bad for what I did. “I mean, Dan is obviously the one whoreallyloved Savannah. He came out here and laid it all on the line for her. He never gave up on her.” She shrugs and I clench my jaw and feel the rage heating inside me. “I get that she thought what you and her had was special, but you couldn’t have loved her the way he does.”
“Are you fuckin’ crazy?” I scrape my chair back and slam down the spoon when I’ve heard about enough. “Leia, I loved the girl even after I vowed to myself I would never love again. I would have torn my own heart out of my chest for her. I… I get that you don’t understand why I let her go, but I did it for her. I did it to protect her from me. And you can think I’m an asshole, call me cold and damaged because I’m all those things, but neversay I didn’t love her, or that he loves her more than I do because I loved her enough to give her up and I’ll suffer that pain for the rest of my life.”
Leia sits back and crosses her arms over her huge stomach like she’s pleased with herself, and I suddenly get the feelin’ I’ve been played.
“There he is, the person Wade keeps telling me I should meet. I got to admit, I thought he was bullshitting.” She stands up and places the ice-cream on the table in front of me.
“What? Who are you talkin’ about?” I question her, getting as confused as I am angry.
“The person who Savannah should really be with.” Leia kisses my cheek and heads back upstairs, and her final words force me to grab that tub of ice cream and fill my own fuckin’ face.
“I can’t believe she told you.” Wade shakes his head as he passes me a spanner.
“I can’t believe youdidn’ttell me,” I point out, making sure all the bolts on Wade’s new heating system are as tight as I can get ‘em.
“Says the guy who shot our mother.” Garrett kicks one of the chairs out from under the table for me to take a seat when I stand back up on my feet and drop the tool back in the bag.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit soon to start making jokes about that?” I flick my eyes toward Wade cautiously.
“Hey don’t hold back on my account.” He hands me a beer. “It’s concerning that I didn't think of that one myself.”
“So what ya gonna do about it?” Garrett turns the heat back on and I shake my head.
“I ain’t gonna do shit about it, I want her to be happy.” I shrug, looking around Wade and Leia’s cabin and wondering what it would have been like to build a place like this for her. To come home after a day out workin’ on the ranch to the smell of her fresh baking and the kinda love she used to give me.
“And you really think she’s happy with that guy?” Wade laughs at me.
“I just know she don’t belong with me, much as I’d like her to. Can you guys let me do the right thing for once, without giving me a hard time over it? Come on, you must see my logic.”
“I don’t see any logic in letting the woman you love slip through your fingers. You're not protecting her, Cole, you're protecting yourself because you're scared to love and lose again,” Wade tells me sadly, and my cell starts to ring just at the right time. I see Zayne’s name flash up, and answer it as I sit back in my chair.
“What’s up?”
“Cole.” He sounds on edge, but then I can’t think of a time when he doesn’t. “I ummm… There’s something I think you should know.”
“Lay it on me.” I raise my eyebrows at my brothers.
“So, Harvey asked me to dig a little deeper on the kid Mason hired to… You know. He didn’t want there to be any kinda trail left behind, or people lookin’ for him…”
