by Lilian Darcy
“What is this?”
She huffed out a breath. “Did you even look at the letter Robbie wrote to Santa?”
“Of course,” he said automatically.
And maybe he had looked at it, but he obviously hadn’t made note of his son’s request.
“Then you should know that this is a deluxe neon alien-invasion spaceship, which happens to be one of the hottest new toys this year. The girl who was unpacking the box in the store said they haven’t been able to keep them in stock.”
And because of that, she’d bought two—one for Robbie and one for the unnamed eight-year-old boy whose tag she had taken off of the Tree of Hope at Crawford’s.
“I’m sorry if I overstepped,” she said, perhaps a little stiffly. “But I didn’t want to take a chance that you might not be able to find one, and it was really the only thing Robbie wanted. Well, aside from a new mommy.”
He kept his gaze focused on the toy, and when he spoke again, his voice had lost most of the edge it usually carried when he was talking to her. “In that case, I guess I should say thank you. And ask how much—”
“It’s a gift,” she said, cutting off his question. “For Robbie from Santa.”
He nodded. “Then thank you again.”
“You’re welcome.” She closed the trunk of her car again and turned to go back into the bar.
* * *
Sutter hadn’t planned to be in Seattle for more than a couple of days. His conversation with Jenni convinced him to stay longer, not just because he’d promised to cover for her so that she could take a vacation but because he needed some time to figure out his plans for his future. A future he wanted to spend with Paige.
Except that she continued to dodge his calls and ignore his text messages. He figured the advice he’d given to Jenni about Reese could apply to his relationship with Paige, as well. So he was giving her some time to think about everything that had happened between them and figure out where he fit into her life and her future. Because the contents of her letter notwithstanding, he didn’t believe for a minute that her feelings for him were in the past.
But he missed her. With every day that passed, he missed her more. He tried to focus on business, catching up on everything that had happened while he was away, communicating with clients and making sure that Jenni’s assistants were handling their numerous duties and responsibilities. He was pleased to note that they seemed to adjust to her absence just fine. Reese, on the other hand, was as grumpy as a bear rudely awakened from deep hibernation.
Sutter reminded himself that it was none of his business. Either they would figure things out for themselves or they wouldn’t—it had nothing to do with him. Nothing aside from the fact that he could lose the best trainer he’d ever known.
Or he could take her to Montana with him. Because the more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that he could do what he was doing in Seattle back home in Rust Creek Falls. On Wednesday he got a fax from Shayla Allen’s real estate agent with her acceptance of his offer on the property. He’d been expecting a counteroffer, some haggling back and forth that would draw out the process for a week or more. He hadn’t expected it would be that easy, but apparently the owner was serious about selling and moving on, and now Sutter had a ranch—and a hefty mortgage—in Rust Creek Falls and no firm plans for either it or his business in Seattle.
He wanted to talk to Paige, to discuss his plans with her. It occurred to him, albeit belatedly, that they should have had a conversation before he put the offer in on the Allen ranch. Because Paige had been the primary factor in his decision to move back to Rust Creek Falls, and he hoped she would be pleased to learn about his plan.
But first she had to get over being mad at him—and according to Jenni, she had reason to be. Apparently he should have reassured her that he would be back, told her he would miss her unbearably and promised to love her forever.
Maybe he was an idiot—and according to Jenni, he was—but he’d thought all of that was implied. With every touch of his hands and his lips and his body when they’d made love, he’d told her that he loved her. And though neither of them had spoken the words, he’d been certain she was saying the same thing back.
But—according to Jenni again—he’d negated all of that by leaving town, hence her completely justified determination to push him out of her life forever. But this time, Sutter wasn’t going to be pushed anywhere.
And he wasn’t going to let her continue to ignore him, either. He decided that flowers would get her attention again, but in honor of the holiday season he ordered poinsettias this time—one for each Christmas that they’d spent apart. And he arranged for them to be delivered one at a time.
She might not be pleased by the interruptions to her schedule, but at least he’d have her attention.
* * *
The first delivery didn’t come with a card. Neither did the second or the third. When the doorbell interrupted her teaching for a fourth time Friday afternoon, Paige demanded that the deliveryman tell her who had sent the flowers. He just shrugged and said, “I don’t take the orders. I just deliver them.”
When the bell rang again at two o’clock and she found the same deliveryman with yet another poinsettia, she was ready to scream. But he spoke before she could say—or scream—anything.
“There’s a card with this one,” he told her.
She forced a smile. “In that case, thank you.”
As her class was finishing up a geography test, she took a moment to pry the card from the envelope. “One poinsettia for every Christmas that we were apart—and the last one I’ll ever send.”
It wasn’t signed, but she knew it was from Sutter. She’d suspected, of course, even after the first one, because she couldn’t remember the last time anyone else had sent her flowers. The cryptic reference to the five years they were apart confirmed it.
But what, exactly, did the message mean? Was he saying that they wouldn’t ever have to spend another Christmas apart? And did that mean he was coming back to Rust Creek Falls?
Hope flared in her heart like a match first struck, but it burned out just as quickly. Because even if he was coming home again— For how long this time? How long would he stay before something else called him away again? She didn’t want to live her life in a state of uncertainty.
But she didn’t want to live her life without him, either. Because there was one thing she knew for sure: she was still, and always would be, in love with Sutter Traub.
And after dinner with her parents tonight, she was going to tell them about her decision to book a flight to Washington.
* * *
Sutter left Seattle before Jenni got back from Maui, because when Reese had asked for her flight information so that he could pick her up from the airport, he’d figured his stable manager had everything under control. And now it was time for him to take control of his life and his future. As he drove back to Montana, he tried to plan out his every action and word—he didn’t anticipate arriving back in Rust Creek Falls to find Paige’s driveway empty and her house in darkness.
It was just around dinnertime on a Friday night, which led him to the obvious conclusion that she’d gone somewhere to eat. Probably not the Ace in the Hole, since Dallas had told him that she’d been there earlier in the week with Alex Monroe. His brother’s tone had implied that it was a date, but Sutter didn’t believe it. Paige wasn’t the type of woman to string someone along, so he knew she wouldn’t be on a date with the other man only a few weeks after ending their relationship—and so soon after taking Sutter to her bed.
He figured her parents’ house was the most likely place to find her—and the absolute last place he wanted to go considering his reception there on Thanksgiving. But he would follow Paige to the ends of the earth if he had to. Of course, the ends of the earth—wherever that might be—was, in
many ways, preferable to the Dalton home, but he turned his truck in that direction anyway.
He wasn’t looking for another confrontation, but as he knocked on the door, he braced himself for the possibility.
“What are you doing here?” Ben Dalton asked.
Sutter refused to be dissuaded by either the chilly tone or dismissive glance. He held the older man’s gaze and said, “I need to see Paige.”
“Why?”
“I have some things I need to say to her.”
“I can pass on a message.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, Dad. Let him come in.”
Sutter sent a quick, grateful smile to Lindsay. Ben scowled but stepped away from the door. Lani stood on the other side of her father, her arms folded across her chest. Mary stood behind her daughter, a worried frown on her face.
Great—it seemed that he had an audience, including every female member of the Dalton family except the one he most wanted to see.
“Since you’re all here—I have something to say to you, too,” Sutter told them. “I made some mistakes in the past, and it took me a while to acknowledge those mistakes and move on, but I hope you can do the same, because I’m not the same guy I was when I left town five years ago.”
“Haven’t seen much evidence of anything different,” Ben said.
“You will,” he promised Paige’s father. “But there is one thing that hasn’t changed in all of the years that I was gone—and that’s how I feel about your daughter.”
“How do you feel about her?” Lani demanded.
“Jeez, Lani, could you butt out of my life for five minutes?” Paige demanded, stepping into the room.
She was wearing one of those long skirts she seemed to favor, this one in a swirling pattern of cream and chocolate, with a cream-colored tunic-style sweater. Her cheeks were a little paler than usual and there were dark smudges beneath her eyes, and he wondered if they might be proof that she’d suffered as many sleepless nights as he had. But she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever known, and looking at her now, his heart actually ached with wanting.
He shifted his gaze to her sister. “I don’t have a problem answering your question,” he told Lani. “Because I love Paige.”
She looked unconvinced, but Lindsay sighed and pressed a hand to her heart. Mary worried her lip and Ben’s scowl deepened.
But Sutter didn’t care about any of their responses. He turned to Paige again. “It’s true,” he told her. “I love you.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but she said nothing and made no move toward him.
So he stepped forward and took her hand. Her fingers were ice-cold and trembling. He squeezed gently. “I love you, Paige, with my whole heart. I always have and I always will.”
A single tear trembled on the edge of her lashes, then tracked slowly down her cheek. His heart turned over in his chest. Whatever reaction he’d expected, it wasn’t that his declaration would make her cry.
“I mean it, Paige.” He was speaking only to her now, oblivious to the fact that her parents and sisters were still in the room. He dropped to one knee beside her. “I’ve never stopped loving you, and I never want to leave you again. I want to build a life with you, here in Rust Creek Falls. I’m hoping that’s what you want, too, and that this time you’ll say yes, because I’m asking you to marry me.”
* * *
Paige hadn’t expected to see Sutter tonight. And she certainly hadn’t expected such a heartfelt declaration—or a proposal. Yes, she loved him, and yes, she’d been willing to go to Seattle to meet him on his turf to talk about the possibility of a future for them together—because that was what she wanted more than anything. But now that he was here, offering her everything she’d always wanted, she was almost too afraid to reach out and take it.
“Okay, I can understand why you’d have some reservations,” Sutter said when she failed to respond. “Because I was still carrying a lot of baggage from what happened five years ago—not just with you, but with my family. And I know I wasted a lot of years feeling hurt and angry and guilty, but I’m not going to waste any more. I know I can’t do anything to give us back those five years, but I’m ready to move forward now, and I really want to do that with you by my side.”
It was the sincerity in his gaze as much as the earnestness in his voice that finally propelled her to action. She lifted a trembling hand to his lips, halting the flow of words so that she could speak.
“Yes,” she said softly.
His lips curved, just a little. “Yes?”
She nodded. “I love you, Sutter, I always have. And I want to move forward with you, too.”
“Does that mean I can get off my knee?”
“Don’t I get the ring first?”
He dipped a hand into his pocket. “How did you know I had a ring?”
“You got down on one knee.”
He was smiling as he retrieved the ring and slid it onto the third finger of her left hand. The exquisite emerald-cut diamond at the center was flanked by slightly smaller but equally stunning tapered baguettes. “I wanted something with three stones,” he said. “To represent our past, our present and our future.”
“It’s perfect,” she said. “But all I want—all I need—is you.”
Finally he rose to his feet and kissed her. And in that touch of his mouth against hers, all the questions and doubts and loneliness of the past week faded away.
It was only when she heard both Lani and Lindsay sigh that she remembered they weren’t alone. Reluctantly, she eased her lips from his and turned to face her parents.
“It looks like we’re going to need that extra leaf in the table for Christmas,” Mary said to her husband.
Ben nodded. “And for every holiday thereafter.”
Their comments weren’t exactly an overwhelming endorsement of Paige and Sutter’s engagement, but they did represent a significant shift in her parents’ attitudes from Thanksgiving, and that was a good start. Then her father took a step forward.
“You make my daughter happy and those mistakes of the past will be forgotten,” he said.
And when he offered Sutter his hand, Paige saw her mother’s eyes fill with tears.
“I will,” Sutter said, and shook to seal his promise.
“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to say at the wedding?” Lindsay teased.
Sutter grinned at her. “I’m practicing.”
“About the wedding,” Mary began.
“Later, Mom,” Paige said firmly. “Let me get used to being engaged first.”
“All right,” her mother relented. “But planning a wedding takes time—there are so many details to take care of.”
But the only detail Paige was thinking about right now was how to discreetly make a quick exit so that she and Sutter could celebrate their engagement in private.
Her fiancé, obviously on the same wavelength, said, “Before we start talking about wedding dates, I think my parents would like to know about this turn of events.”
“Oh, right. Of course,” Mary agreed.
So they said goodbye to her family and headed out to share the good news with his. But on the way, they decided to stop at Paige’s house.
They did eventually get around to telling Sutter’s family about their engagement—but not until much later the following morning.
Epilogue
Three weeks later, with the now-familiar weight of her engagement ring on her finger, Paige escaped with Sutter to Seattle for the weekend. Since the publicity from Lissa’s writing had sent a mass of volunteers to Rust Creek Falls to help with the town’s restoration and the new school was almost complete, they were finally able to take some time for themselves without feeling guilty.
Paige was excited to see Seattle, but mostly s
he was eager to get a glimpse of the life Sutter had built for himself in the city. Traub Stables was quite an impressive facility, including a thirty-stall barn, a breeding shed, an indoor riding arena, neatly fenced paddocks and even a spa to help rehabilitate injured horses. And all of the buildings were decked out for the holiday season with miles of pine garlands, enormous evergreen wreaths and countless twinkling white lights.
Not only were the buildings and grounds well maintained, but the horses she saw were all in prime condition, a testament to the quality of care they received. On the tour she also got to meet Jenni and Reese, and found out that they weren’t just friends of Sutter’s and employees at the stables but also recently engaged.
“You’ve done an incredible job here,” she told Sutter.
“I didn’t have to do a lot,” he said. “The buildings were in pretty good shape when I bought the property, so they needed more hands-on attention than major construction. And I got lucky that I made so many contacts when I was working at Rolling Meadows.”
“You’re being modest,” she chided. “This place is really impressive.”
“I’m proud of it,” he admitted.
“It makes me wonder how you could want to leave here—to give up something that you obviously poured so much of your heart and soul into.”
He put his arms around her. “Don’t you know that my heart and soul are yours? Spending my life with you means that I’m not giving anything up—I’m getting everything I ever wanted.”
“But if I hadn’t been so insistent on staying in Rust Creek Falls, would you have chosen to live here?”
“I want to be with you, Paige.”
“Reese seems like he’s more than qualified to handle the day-to-day operations of the business.”
“And has been since the summer,” Sutter agreed. “If he wanted it, I’d sell the place to him.”
“He doesn’t want it?”
“He claims he’s not ready for the responsibility of ownership—or the risks. He’s happy to do what he does and isn’t ready to take on the kind of mortgage he would need to take it off my hands.”