Chapter 28
INDYA
“It’s getting dark,” West murmured against my temple. “We should go back.”
We were still sitting in the meadow where I’d scattered Dad’s ashes.
The ground was hard. A lump of dirt was digging into my rear, and the grass poked at the bare skin of my legs.
We should go back. We should move.
But I couldn’t summon the strength to stand.
There were things to say. West deserved an explanation after Blaine’s visit. Instead, I’d cried for what felt like hours.
How long had we been out here? The air was growing cold, the evening temperature dropping as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky.
“Come on.” West shifted first, his arms loosening.
When he helped me to my feet, my eyes locked on his T-shirt. His shoulder was soaked from my tears. Another day, another time, I’d feel embarrassed. But I was too numb to care at the moment.
“Sorry.” My voice was ragged from the sobs.
“No apologies.” He pushed a lock of hair away from my face. Then he clasped my hand and led me along the path, toward the Beartooth. To
home.
A temporary home.
This had always been fleeting.
And it was time to explain why.
Darkness was nearly upon us by the time we made it back to the lodge. The campfire was burning bright, its embers floating into the
night sky. People were talking and laughing. Someone was playing a
guitar.
It was a happy tune. Familiar.
“Wait.” I stopped, tugging on West’s hand until he stopped too.
“What’s that song?”
He listened for a moment. “Sounds like ‘Here Comes the Sun.’”
He was right. That was it.
“Dad loved the Beatles.” My eyes flooded. There shouldn’t be tears left in my body. Not after I’d cried so hard. But that music drew them up from the well, bringing a new wave of grief.
I swiped at my cheeks, wiping them dry. “I have to stop crying.”
West stepped closer, his hand cupping my jaw. “Why?”
Yeah. Why?
I’d held them back when Dad was around. I’d pretended they didn’t exist for Mom. I had never once cried in front of Blaine, because he would have seen it as an annoyance.
He hadn’t been here to hold me on my worst day.
But West had been. He’d always been there.
Yet even then, I hadn’t been able to cry.
“Girls cry. That’s what you told me once. I didn’t want to cry when we were kids because I wanted you to like me. And as I got older, the tears scared me. I was always worried that once I started crying, I wouldn’t be able to stop.”
They were endless. Or maybe they simply felt endless because I’d been hoarding them for way too long.
But I had stopped. Tonight, I’d stopped. And I felt . . . better.
Lighter.
“Will you still want me if I’m a crying girl?” I sniffled.
West ran his thumb across my bottom lip. “My girl can cry whenever the fuck she wants.”
I laughed. Or maybe it was a sob. Whatever the noise, it was muffled as West hauled me into his chest.
My arms snaked around his waist, holding tight. I pressed my ear against his heart, listening to its beat as the musician at the campfire
changed tunes.
Metallica. That was better.
“We should go inside and talk,” I said, but I didn’t so much as shift my weight. I didn’t let him go.
I liked it out here, beneath the emerging stars.
West must have liked it, too, because he rested his chin on my head.
“So . . . your dad’s company.”
“It’s Blaine’s now.” A sour taste spread across my tongue. I’d have to learn to live with that. There was no going back.
Blaine was likely halfway to Texas, and I doubted I’d ever hear from him again. Mom would keep me apprised of any changes she noticed. If Blaine did change the company name, she’d hear about it and convey the news. But otherwise, it was over.
“I think we should sit,” I said. The picnic table outside the lodge was empty. It was far enough away from the guests that no one would overhear, but there was enough light coming off the lodge that I’d be
able to see West’s face.
He’d be able to see mine.
We walked to the table; then he took one side while I sat on the opposite. The bench seat was rough, the wood prickly on my thighs. The boards of the table itself were raised at the seams, with tiny splinters ready to poke.
This table needed to be chopped up for firewood, but I couldn’t bring myself to have it destroyed.
Not when it was the table of toothpick poker and paper airplanes.
We’d just get a new table. Maybe I’d move this one closer to the Beartooth, and it could be my personal picnic table.
“As you know, Blaine only came here once. The year before Dad . . .” Died. Four years, and I still couldn’t say it.
“I remember,” West said.
“He hated it.” I should have divorced him for that alone. “Not that he admitted it. This was not Blaine’s type of vacation. But he mentioned a few times how much he liked the property. If I would have paid closer attention, I probably would have noticed the dollar signs in his eyes.”
Across the table, West stiffened.
“He met your dad on that trip. And Blaine must have done what Blaine does. He charms the people who have something he wants. He charmed your dad.”
Part of me wanted to blame Curtis. To call him a fool for believing Blaine’s facade.
But I wasn’t all that different. Neither was Dad.
“He’s very good at winning people over,” I said.
For a time, I’d fallen for Blaine’s charm. My father had died absolutely adoring his son-in-law. And Curtis had been a victim too.
West sat perfectly still, waiting for me to continue.
“I didn’t know it until recently, but Blaine kept in touch with your dad. Apparently, they’d talk every few months. Knowing Blaine, it probably started as him asking your dad for advice. He might have pretended to be planning a trip or wanting to know about Montana ranching. I have no idea. But it would have been a topic that made Curtis feel important.”
After all, that was what Blaine had done with my father. They’d bonded over interesting real estate deals and love for me.
Except Blaine hadn’t loved me. Yet he’d made damn sure that my dad thought we were soulmates. From the outside looking in, Blaine worshipped the ground beneath my feet.
West’s jaw flexed. “Dad used to mention Blaine. I knew they talked
from time to time.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “It wasn’t frequent, but Dad made a comment a few years ago about wanting to run an idea past Blaine. It was like getting whiplash. Dad acted like Blaine was a friend. Someone to call for advice.”
Another mark against Curtis’s favor. He’d gone to Blaine when he should have talked to West.
“Earlier this year, your dad told Blaine he was struggling and that finances were tight,” I said.
West’s lip curled. “For fuck’s sake. So much for keeping that private. What the hell was Dad thinking?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Maybe he was hoping to get input.
Whatever that discussion entailed, it ended with Blaine offering to come in as a silent partner. To buy into the ranch and float him some money as a capital investment.”
“Fuck.” West pounded a fist on the table, then dragged a hand through his hair. “Damn him.”
Blaine? Or Curtis? I didn’t ask. “Your dad declined.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. He told Blaine no.”
Some of the tension crept from West’s shoulders. “Well, that’s . . . something.”
“It was never about getting your dad’s business.” I gave West a sad smile. “It was about getting mine.”
Blaine’s ultimate goal had always been Keller Enterprises.
“Your dad gave Blaine an opening. We separated about a year ago. I filed for divorce. He contested. He wanted Dad’s company, and I told him he could go to hell.”
But Blaine was smart. Too smart. He’d been playing us all, especially me, maybe from the start.
Blaine and I had fought and argued nearly the entirety of our marriage. It never had gotten easier. There were times when we had gotten along, usually when he was working long hours and rarely at home, but I couldn’t remember us ever being happy.
While we’d dated, during our engagement, we’d been happy. In the
beginning, we’d been happy.
Until I had become his wife.
And he didn’t need to charm me anymore. He’d already won.
“We didn’t have a good marriage,” I told West. “We used each other. He wanted Dad’s real estate company.”
“And you? What did you want?”
“To stop missing you.”
“Indy.” West swallowed hard. His eyes, as dark as the sky, were full
of pain and regret.
“I wish,” I whispered.
West stretched a hand over the table, covering mine.
After the trip when I’d met Courtney, when I’d thought West had moved on with his fiancée, I would have done anything to forget that pain. To stop thinking about him. Missing him.
Loving him.
Blaine had been a wonderful distraction.
But that was where it had ended. A distraction. Had Blaine known I was just using him to forget?
Yes. Maybe not in the beginning, but definitely after our vacation.
Somehow, after his one and only trip to Montana, he’d known I’d loved this ranch. And maybe he’d known how I felt about West.
Was that when he’d realized he could use both against me? Was that why our marriage had been so contentious?
Blaine had never stood a chance at winning my heart. It had always belonged to West. From the day we’d met when I was eight years old.
And Blaine had used that knowledge to get exactly what he’d wanted.
“This ranch was Blaine’s bargaining chip. He came to me and told me that the resort was failing. That Curtis had admitted buying that land had been a mistake, and making the bank payments was getting tough.”
West’s nostrils flared as he listened. That was not business Curtis should have shared, especially with Blaine, but it was done now, and in a way, I was grateful.
It had brought me back to Montana when I’d vowed never to return.
“Blaine is a shark. He circled the waters for years, waiting and biding his time. He told me he was going to offer thirty million dollars to
Curtis for this ranch.”
West’s jaw slackened. “What the fuck?”
Thirty million dollars. Enough money for the Havens to buy a ranch twice the size of this one.
“That’s far more than it’s worth.” West’s forehead furrowed. “Why would he do that?”
“He wanted to make an offer your dad couldn’t refuse.”
“What if Dad had said no?”
“Blaine would have waited it out, hoping the bank would foreclose and he could sweep in for a steal.”
West shook his head. “I don’t understand. How did you fit into this?”
“Blaine never made that offer to your dad. Obviously. It was a threat to me instead. He told me that he was coming after your property, ruthlessly and by any means necessary. And I had the power to stop it.
All I had to do was sell him Keller Enterprises for seventy-five million dollars.”
“Okay,” West drawled. “Still not seeing how the ranch plays into this.”
“Keller was worth one hundred and twenty-five million. Blaine knew he couldn’t get financing for that amount, so we made a bargain.
He had enough capital to fund half of the purchase. I sold him that half plus signed over control as CEO. In exchange, he knew the ranch was off limits. Then I called your father. The ranch and resort were vulnerable, something I made clear. If it wasn’t Blaine waiting for the bank to foreclose, it was going to be someone else.”
West dropped his chin, staring at the table. “So you made Dad the
offer he couldn’t refuse.”
“Yes.”
“And the paperwork tonight?”
“The last half of Keller.”
“You could have kept it. After you bought the ranch, you could have kept that other half of Keller.”
“I didn’t want it.” It was the confession I’d held in for as long as those tears. “That was Dad’s dream—his path, not mine. And despite our problems as husband and wife, Blaine was always dedicated to Keller.
He’ll do right by Dad’s business.”
He was the right person to be in charge.
Just like West was the right person to run this ranch.
Financially, this entire thing had been a train wreck. I’d walked away from millions. Maybe there was another way for me to have done this. But I’d made the decisions that had felt right.
I’d followed my heart.
“Blaine, or someone like him, would have taken this place and broken it into pieces,” I told West. “He would have brought in a developer and leveled the resort. He would have sold the cattle and carved out hundred-acre plots to sell to his rich friends who wanted to say they owned a ranch in Montana. Everything that Dad had loved, Blaine would have destroyed.”
“So you bought it so that he wouldn’t break it apart and destroy
your father’s vacation spot.”
That’s what he thought? “No.”
“Then why’d you do it?” West met my gaze. “You could have kept Keller, sold it at full price, and let him take this place. It cost you millions to cut that deal with him and discount Keller. That’s more money than I’ll see in my lifetime. Why?”
Why? Wasn’t it obvious?
“I bought it for you. I came for you. I have loved you since I was eight years old.” I steeled my spine, swallowing past the lump in my throat. “Your father and I have an agreement. I came here for exactly one year. That was how long I estimated I’d need to turn the resort around.
At the end of that year, I will resell the ranch to him for five million dollars, with the understanding that he will sign it over to you immediately. All I asked was that he keep it between us while I was here.”
Curtis could pay off his debts and make millions.
All he had to do was take orders from me for a year.
And West . . .
West could have his ranch. Free and clear. He could have his dream.
Yes, I could have just bought the place and immediately signed it over to West. But I’d wanted to fix it first. For Dad. For West.
For myself.
I didn’t want to work in real estate. That was something I’d never admitted to Dad. In truth, I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do with my life.
But a year in Montana had seemed like a good place to start.
And whether West wanted to admit it or not, his hands would have always been tied with his family dynamics at play.
He might have wanted to rename the ranch, but would he have gone through with it? Would he have spent the money necessary to make improvements to satisfy a wealthy traveler? He knew about the clientele we were attracting here. But I was the clientele.
Besides that, I’d been worried he wouldn’t accept. That he wouldn’t let me sell it back. West’s pride would probably have kept him from making a deal.
I hadn’t wanted to risk that he’d walk away.
And now that we were together, part of me needed to know that he was in it for me, not because I’d given him this ranch.
So that was the deal I’d made. Those were the terms I’d set.
One year in Montana.
Then this ranch was West’s.
His expression turned to granite as he stared across the table. His hands balled into fists. A growl escaped his throat as he spoke through
gritted teeth. “How could you do this?”
I had thought he’d be glad. Relieved, at least. But I’d never seen him so cold, like there wasn’t a single emotion behind those hazel eyes.
“I’m—” I stopped myself before I could say sorry. I wasn’t sorry.
Not a bit.
I loved him. I loved him enough to sacrifice a year and give up fifty million dollars.
He stared at me as tears, more fucking tears, started anew.
God, I was tired of crying.
I stood in a flurry, scraping my legs on the rough bench as I climbed free. Then I walked to the Beartooth.
There was a bottle of wine with my name on it.
After all, tonight I should celebrate, right? I might not have sold Dad’s business for the market value, but I was a very rich woman.
Millions of dollars would join the other millions of dollars to my name.
And each was pointless. Insignificant.
I’d give every cent to my name for another day with Dad.
I’d give it all for West.
The toe of my sandal caught the edge of a flagstone rock. I pitched forward, about to crash to my knees, when two strong arms banded around me, keeping me on my feet.
“Never again. I never want to see you walk away from me again.”
I sagged into his hold. “You’re mad.”
“Yeah, I am fucking mad. You should have told me from the start.
Dad too.”
“I’m sorry.” For the secrecy, I’d apologize.
“This is too much, baby.” He sighed. “I can’t take it.”
“You have to. It’s why I did it in the first place. I knew you’d say no. That you’d be too proud to take it from me. And I wanted . . . I wanted to try. To do something here that made a difference. I wanted to stay. For once, I just wanted to stay.”
West buried his face in my hair. “You are staying. For good. I’m not watching you leave this ranch again.”
I wiggled, twisting in his arms to see his face.
He framed my face in his hands. “I have loved you since I was ten.
Since you left a paper airplane and flowers in my fort. I love you. I have always loved you.”
“Say it again.”
He dropped his mouth to mine, his words a whisper against my lips.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
His mouth slammed down on mine, his arms hauling me off my feet.
I clung to him as a smile stretched across my mouth. Oh, God. A laugh bubbled from my chest. Was this happening?
West pulled away, his forehead dropping to mine.
“Is this real?”
“We’ve always been real, Indy.” He leaned back, taking my face in his hands. “I’ll prove it to you tonight. And every night, for the rest of
your life.”
“What about the ranch?”
“I don’t know. This is a lot to take in.”
“What if we did it together?” Say yes. Please, say yes.
“Together.” He spoke the word like he was trying it on for size. It must have fit, because a smile tugged at his mouth. “Okay, together.
We’ll do it together. All you have to do is stay.”
That sounded like a good idea.
So I stayed in Montana.
For the rest of my life.
