“Mom! Mom! I got to go to a ranch today! A real ranch! And I got to see real cowboys too! One of them even shook my hand and called me pardner!”
Her smile, the true joy and love in her eyes melted his heart. He remembered a time when she would look at him that way. But when she looked up to him now he saw the love and happiness vanish. What replaced it was raw fear.
Brain saw the look just as Sean sensed the immediate tension. Standing, he took the boy by the hand. “Hey, Sean, why don’t we take a walk and give your mom and JD here a minute.”
“But we just got here and I want to tell my mom all about the ranch.”
Even though Brian saw the panic in Lizzie’s eyes he directed the boy to the door. “We need to go to the gift shop and get something for your mom.”
That got Sean’s interest. “I saw something down there last night. Can I get it for her?”
“Of course you can.” On the way out he gave JD a pat on the shoulder. “Good luck, buddy. You just might need it,” he added under his breath.
He turned to Lizzie. “Will I, Lizzie? Will I need luck?”
“If you intend on taking my son from me then yes, you’ll need luck. I don’t have any intentions of letting you walk away with him. I’ll fight you tooth and nail. And I’ll warn you, when it comes to my son, I fight dirty, senator.”
She had his damn heart in the palm of her hand. Couldn’t she see that? “Thanks for letting me spend the day with him.” Taking a chance, he knew, he stepped closer to the bed.
“That was Brian’s doing.” Her fear was making her defensive and she knew it. Sighing she said, “But it looks like he had fun.”
“He asks a million questions.”
“He must get that from his father,” she muttered under her breath. Because she couldn’t take it any longer, she asked, “How long till I hear from your lawyers, JD?”
He bowed his head. Risked another step toward her bed. Now he was within striking distance. And just because she was injured didn’t mean she wouldn’t. Forcing himself to look at the fear and anger he had created, he said, “I’ve called them off, Lizzie. I’ve called the whole thing off.”
Her breath came out in a relieved rush. “Why?”
“For one, it’s not the right thing to do for Sean. I know that now, after spending some time with him. He loves you. Christ, all he did was talk about you. ‘My mom does this, my mom does that. My mom the doctor’,” he parroted in a childish tone with a smile. Some of the fear had abated now and he was glad of it. “I know just how he feels, Lizzie. I know just how much he loves you, because I love you just as much.” Now he saw the surprise. There was no rejection in her eyes, he held onto that as he went on. “I can’t take back anything I’ve said or done. And I’ve said and done some pretty rotten things, especially over the last day or so. But I want a chance to let go of it and start over again. Can we do that?”
“For Sean?”
Now he risked touching her. With just his fingertips he touched her cheek. “For him, yes. And for us. Lizzie, I still want custody of my son.”
“I told you I’d see to it that you have time with him.”
“I want him to live with me. And I want his mother to live with me.”
She’d been about to protest, but his last statement robbed her of words.
“Sean was telling me you were looking to buy a place with some land. Someplace you could keep horses. It turns out I know of just such a place. It’s in Eden Valley, not too far from here. Nice little cottage on a lake. It has fenced pasture, a horse barn and a river running through it.”
“Senator…”
“The price was right. I put money down on it this morning.” He stroked her hair.
“There goes that ego again,” she cracked. “And if I say no?”
“I live there anyway, get some horses and maybe a few cattle and bug the ever loving shit out of you until you change your mind and say yes. Just a warning. I don’t give up.”
That much she knew.
“When you were laying there bleeding in my hands the only thing I could think was how broken I would be without you. We keep coming into each other’s lives for a reason, Lizzie. Let’s see what that reason is.”
“You know this will change your entire life,” she warned.
“I’m counting on it.”
Reaching up, she took his hand in hers.
The End
Books by Penny Childs:
The Never Say Goodbye Series:
Farewell to Goodbye
There’s Always Tomorrow
The Lost Loves Series:
When You’re Young
Ghosts of Days Gone By
I Remember Everything
Whisper My Name
The Gimme Shelter Series:
Just a Kiss Away
The Cowboys and Angels Series:
Cowboy Take Me Away
Wide Open Spaces
Angel’s Fall
The Circle’s End
Stand Alone Novels:
Say You’ll Haunt Me
Far From Over
Moonshadows
Shape Of A Heart
Backlash
Borrowed Trouble
Hard 2 Love
Hearts On Fire
Novellas
Unbroken
*list as of 1/10/2015
Hearts On Fire Page 19