Country Nights

by Winter Renshaw

  One by one, we walked down the aisle. A packed church with guests squeezed into every pew was a true testament to how many people cared about them. Family and friends and clients came from all over to watch them tie the knot.

  After exchanging beautiful, handwritten vows, Wilder kissed his bride and they ran down the aisle to a waiting limousine that carried them around the city for pictures. An hour later, we all reconvened at the W Hotel for a lavish reception.

  “Hey, if you want someone to dance with later, I’m your man,” Theo said as I stood around and mingled. He handed me a flute of champagne and flashed a lady-killer smile that indicated he was skilled in the art of picking up women.

  Sorry, Prince Charming, you’re talking to the wrong Cinderella.

  “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.” I laughed.

  “She’s already spoken for,” a man interrupted with a drawl I’d recognize anywhere. I spun around to see Beau standing behind me dressed in a navy Italian silk suit with a skinny black tie, his hair slicked and combed neatly and his signature cologne wafting my way.

  “What are you doing here?” My eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas.

  “Thought you could use a date,” he said.

  “You assumed I came here alone?”

  “I talked to Addison. She told me.”

  “She knew you were coming?”

  “I told her not to tell you.” Beau slipped his hand around my lower back as the corner of his mouth twitched upward. “I tried to get here sooner, but my tour bus got a flat on I-80 just west of Pittsburgh.”

  “Thank you,” I said, inhaling him.

  “I’m not going to ask you any questions tonight, Dakota. I’m not here to pressure you into giving me an answer,” Beau said. “I’m in town for the show, and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself for not escorting my future wife to her sister’s wedding when I had the chance.”

  I rolled my eyes, laughing and swatting his shoulder. The wedding singers on stage began belting out a Tony Bennett classic, and Beau lifted a single brow. “Shall we dance?”

  Leading me out onto the dance floor, he pulled me close, pressing his body against mine and keeping it there for the better duration of the evening. Across the dance floor I spotted my mother dancing awfully close to cousin Theo, her cheek pressed against his broad shoulder and a medicated calm yet drunken smile plastered across her face. I had to commend her for temporarily setting aside the majority of her craziness for Addison and Wilder’s sake. It wasn’t until the wedding band crooned their very last song and Addison and Wilder had long since said their goodbyes to their guests when Beau and I headed outside.

  With the cool night air ruffling my hair, I stared into the eyes of the man who could very well be my future or the biggest mistake of my life.

  Traffic whirred past us and horns honked. I opened my mouth in an attempt to invite him over, as I wasn’t ready for the night to end yet, but he silenced my words with a soft kiss. With his hand against my cheek, he leaned into me and breathed excitement and life into my bones with a single, solitary kiss.

  When he was finished, he reached into his back pocket and handed me a small plastic card. “This is a backstage pass for the show tomorrow night.”

  He glanced over my shoulder at the passing Yellow Cabs.

  “You have to go?” I asked.

  “Yeah, big day tomorrow. Got to get up early, rehearse, all that.” He lingered for a second, and I’d never wanted him to stay more than I did in that moment. Being with him again that night, dancing and laughing the way we used to, I’d never felt so alive.

  Or so sure that I wanted to be with him.

  “Goodnight, Dakota.” With that, he stepped toward the curb, hailing a cab and disappearing inside. As the taxi carried him away, a pull from inside my chest dropped down into the pit of my stomach.

  “I want to be with you, Beau,” I mouthed, my voice barely audible. I had to say it out loud. I had to see if it felt just as real on the outside as it did on the inside.

  I hailed a cab back to my apartment, itching to get out of my dress and heels. Pulling my phone out of my clutch, I saw I had a missed call and a text message.

  From Harrison.

  YOU GOT THE PROMOTION.

  Chapter Thirty

  “Thank y’all so much. Really. Thank you. You’ve been wonderful.” I tipped my hat to the roaring crowd and ran offstage, following security back to my dressing room.

  That was it. My last show. Ever.

  It felt good.

  It felt exactly how I thought it would.

  I tasted freedom in all her glory.

  Maybe I was an ungrateful bastard for looking fame and fortune in the eye and walking away, but not a single part of me thought I was making the wrong decision.

  Security unlocked my dressing room. The second I shut the door, my heart thundered in my chest. Dressed in a gauzy white dress with long dark waves cascading down her shoulders was my Dakota.

  “You came.” I removed my hat and set it aside as she stood up and walked my way. She hadn’t smiled yet, but I was confident that I could change that in two seconds flat. My hand cupped the side of her face as I Ieaned in to taste her sweet lips.

  “Wait.” She stopped me. “Before you kiss me – before you say anything. There’s something I have to tell you.”

  Staring her square in the face, I lifted my brows. There wasn’t much she could say to me to change how I felt, but I’d entertain her anyway. “All right then.”

  “I got the promotion,” she said.

  “Congratulations, Coco.”

  She still didn’t smile.

  “You going to take the job?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “They want me to start this fall, but I have to decide by the end of the week.”

  “Does it feel the way you thought it would?”

  Her full lips formed a straight line as she stared down at the ground. “It feels amazing and horrible all at the same time.”

  “And why might that be?”

  “Because I want this job. I want this promotion.” She lifted her gaze to meet mine. “And I want you too.”

  My heart beat in my chest as a wave of relief washed over me. “God, Dakota, you scared the hell out of me. If this is our biggest problem, then we’ve got nothing to worry about. We’ll figure out a way to make this-”

  “Stop.”

  Apparently there was more.

  “That’s not all.” Her eyes fell to the side as she swallowed and sucked in a long breath. “I have to tell you something, and it might change the way you look at me.”

  “All right.” I braced myself, studying the way she worried her bottom lip. “I’m ready.”

  “Ten years ago, I gave birth to a little girl. Our little girl.”

  “Dakota, I know.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  5 years ago

  Five long years on the road made coming home sweeter than ever and yet bittersweet all at the same time.

  “Mama, meet Daisy,” I said as I brought home my newest catch.

  Daisy popped a big old smile on her face and leaned in to give Mama a hug, and for the first time ever, Mama smiled at this new stranger who’d walked into her house like she owned the place.

  “Glad to have you, Daisy,” Mama said. “Won’t you come on into the kitchen for some iced tea?”

  “You’re too kind, Mrs. Mason,” Daisy said, turning to flash me a wink as she followed my mother into the next room. Daisy was butterflies and meadows, rainbows and puppies. She didn’t much care what other people thought of her, and she had a perpetual smile across her face most days.

  I popped my head into the kitchen. “I’m going to run into town and pick up a few things at the co-op for Dad. I’ll be back soon.”

  “Go on ahead, baby,” Daisy called out before turning back toward Mama and rambling on about something funny she claimed I did the day before.

  I hopped into one of Daddy’s trucks and head
ed into town, stopping at the gas station for fuel on my way back home. Leaning against the truck as the gas click-click-clicked into my thirsty pick-up, I spotted a man with white blond hair walking out of the gas station doors holding the hand of a dark-haired little girl of maybe four or five.

  “Sam,” I called out.

  He turned my way, his face turning a shade lighter than it already was before he offered a nod. He hoisted the little girl up into the backseat of his silver Volvo and walked over to me.

  “How’s it going?” he said, squinting and smiling.

  “Good,” I said, peering over his shoulder and into the car. “You and Rebecca have a little one?”

  Sam dug his boot into the gravel, his eyes drawing slowly up the length of me until we locked gazes. His hands found their way into the pockets of his pressed khakis as he licked his thin lips.

  I didn’t know Sam that well, but I knew what a man with secrets looked like, and Sam had that look oozing from his every pore.

  The gas nozzle clicked off with a metallic thud.

  “Need to get something off your chest, Sam?” I asked, eyeing the little girl once again. Through the tint of the front windshield, I could hardly see her face, but those round blue eyes were unmistakable. Not to mention Rebecca was a redhead. For her and Sam to produce such a striking little beauty would’ve been a genetic miracle.

  He pulled his lanky shoulders back and lifted his head. “Look, Beau. First off, I just wanted to say I had no idea. I thought you knew. I thought you were on board.”

  “With…?”

  “The adoption.”

  His words slammed into me, nearly knocking me off my feet.

  “That’s...my daughter?” I stared back toward the car, looking at the oblivious little darling who was equal parts me and Dakota. It was as if someone had taken a cleaver and whacked a big chunk out of my heart. My hand combed the underside of my chin letting my whiskers scratch against the softness of my palm as I wrapped my head around it all.

  My blood began to boil as anger settled beneath the surface of my skin. With each sharp breath that passed my lips I grew more furious with the situation, but mostly with myself.

  “She’s very loved and she’s very well cared for, Beau,” Sam said, his voice trembling as if he thought I’d whisk her away. I had every right to, but I wasn’t that kind of man. “She’s bright and sweet and kind. She has a good life with Rebecca and me.”

  I combed my fingers through the side of my head, tugging on the ends of my hair as if I could possibly inflict enough physical pain to numb the emotional pain that was coursing through my body like a raging river.

  “She never told me,” I said, my voice winding down into nothing more than a whisper. I’d recalled being drunkenly told by my “handlers” that some girl from back home was trying to call me, but it was only a few times early on. I’d always figured she was just trying to rekindle our relationship, and I was in no position to be dating anyone on the road. All those times I’d ignored her, I thought I was doing both of us a favor. “I didn’t know, Sam. I swear I didn’t know.”

  “It’s probably for the best,” Sam said. “Neither of you were in any kind of condition to be raising a baby.”

  “Daddy!” the little girl called out from the crack in the window. “Let’s go!”

  Sam turned around and gave her a wave. “Coming, Mabry.” He turned and gave me a bittersweet nod. “Please don’t tell Rebecca I told you. And please don’t complicate this. Please.”

  Sam hopped into his Volvo and fastened his seat belt, and our eyes locked the entire time.

  And then he drove away with a piece of my heart I didn’t even know was missing.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “You knew all this time?” I could feel my face morphing from previously apprehensive to ridiculously angry as my eyes burned hot.

  Beau placed his hand up in protest. “I didn’t know until recently, but yes. I swear I never knew you were pregnant, Dakota. I wouldn’t have made you go through all that on your own. I may be a lot of things, but I’m not that.”

  I crossed my arms. “How long have you known?”

  “Maybe four, five years?”

  “Were you ever going to tell me?” My words assumed a shrill, high-pitched accusatory tone I’d never taken with him before.

  “Dakota,” he said, placing his hands on mine. “Yeah, it was always in the back of my mind, but I figured it was your place to tell me. And I trusted you’d tell me when you were ready.”

  I slumped back, falling into the leather armchair in the corner of the dressing room. A thousand thoughts filled my mind faster than I could process them. Beau followed me, dropping to his knees and placing his hands across my thighs.

  “Listen,” he said. “I appreciate what you did for us. For her.”

  My eyes found his.

  “I can’t imagine it was a cakewalk for you to be eighteen, nineteen years old and going through this pregnancy all alone.”

  “I had Rebecca.”

  “Still. It should’ve been me. I should’ve been there. I should’ve been beside you making the decisions so you didn’t have to do it by yourself.”

  “Agreed.” I drew in a sharp breath. “I tried to contact you, you know. Multiple times.”

  His brows furrowed.

  “You never got back to me.”

  His full lips formed a sharp line as he stared deep into my eyes – into my soul. “I thought I was protecting you from me. I thought you were just trying to get back together, and the timing was all wrong. I thought I was protecting us from ourselves. The second I played my first sold out show, I was no longer the man you fell in love with, and that’s why I stayed away.”

  I admitted to myself that perhaps I didn’t try hard enough. After the first few months of being ignored, I washed my hands of it all and chose to resent him instead.

  His hand cupped my face. “God, it must’ve been so hard for you to shoulder this burden all by yourself.”

  I wiped away a single tear. I’d cried enough over the situation to last a lifetime. I refused to cry again.

  “What you did,” he said, “makes me love you even more than I already did.”

  He lifted up, his lips meeting mine as his fingers brushed the hair from my face.

  “You know why I love you, Dakota?”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because you’re beautiful and strong and resilient,” he said. “And that’s the one part of you that hasn’t changed at all.”

  I flashed a half-smile, my shoulders relaxing as the weight of the world began to dissipate.

  “I think you’ve had to sacrifice enough the last ten years, don’t you think?” Beau rose and pulled me up into his arms. “Maybe it’s time I sacrifice a few things.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I was thinking of getting me a pretty little penthouse somewhere in this God-forsaken city.”

  I laughed. “You hate New York.”

  “Yeah, but home isn’t a zip code. Home is wherever you are, Dakota.”

  My eyes closed as I pressed my cheek against his chest, breathing him in and slipping my arms around his waist.

  He’d kept his promise. He’d come back for me.

  A knock on the door pulled us out of our moment.

  Beau placed a kiss on the top of my forehead. “I’ve got to go sign some autographs. Meet some fans. You know the drill.”

  We drifted away, slowly, as if we both wanted to prolong our moment, and the second his hand grabbed the doorknob but before he left the room, I had to tell him one last thing. “I love you, Beau.”

  Always have. Always will.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Happy birthday to you…

  Happy birthday to you…

  Happy birthday, dear Mabry…

  Happy birthday to you!

  We gathered around the patio at Sam and Rebecca’s, standing back as Mabry blew out the rainbow-colored candles of her birthda
y cake. With smiles on our faces, we cheered and clapped and watched as she immediately stared up into the faces of her mom and dad, basking in their excitement.

  I slipped my hand into Dakota’s, leaning in and whispering, “You doing okay?”

  She nodded, her gaze focused on the beautiful little doll in the pink party dress. A table full of kids sticking their fingers in the frosting and giggling and talking about toys and games filled our hearts with the kind of simple abundance I’d rarely felt before.

  Rebecca pulled candles out of the cake as Sam began cutting small squares and depositing them into bowls of chocolate ice cream. When all the little ones were cheeks deep in sugary stuff, Rebecca made her way toward us.

  “Thanks so much for coming.” Her eyes were gracious and her expression sincere. “It means a lot to have you here. Both of you.”

  Dakota had flown in earlier in the week, and we’d scheduled a sit down with Sam and Rebecca. Nothing was off the table, and all four of us came together in agreement. Dakota and I would be a part of Mabry’s life, and when she was old enough to ask about meeting her biological parents, we’d tell her the truth.

  “Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I said, turning toward Dakota. “Won’t miss another one so long as we live.”

  “Time to open presents,” Sam announced, sending the kids’ attention toward a card table covered in a princess tablecloth and housing a mountain of wrapped gifts. He handed her ours first; a small blue box with a white ribbon.

  Mabry pulled the top of the box off to reveal a silver locket with an M inscribed on the outside and her birthstone, a vivid emerald, mounted on the inside.

  “That’s from Dakota and Beau,” Rebecca said.

  Mabry spun around, dark hair in her face, as she scanned the area for our faces. She climbed down from her spot at the table and ran into Dakota’s arms first, wrapping her arms around Dakota’s waist.

  “Thanks, Dakota! It’s so pretty,” she said before turning her attention toward me. She scrunched her nose at me and stifled a grin. She’d technically only met me once and it was earlier that week, so she still wasn’t sure what to think of me yet. Cocking her head to the side and staring up at me through long dark lashes, she was the spitting image of her stunning mother. “Thanks, Beau…”