Now That I've Found You

by Bella Andre

  "All but the painting where she's holding me as a baby." Drake would forever prize that one.

  "Your mother asked me to paint it for you." His father's voice was hollowed out by the memory. "She said she wanted to make sure you could always look at that painting and remember how much she loved you."

  "Almost as if she knew she was going to leave."

  His father didn't look away. Didn't deny it either. "I know we can't fix everything tonight, but I'm damned glad you're here, Drake."

  "I am too."

  By the time they headed back into the living room, the two women's heads were bowed together, and it looked like they were taking notes on a cell phone.

  Oscar saw the men first, and when the dog caught Rosa's attention by lifting his head from her lap, the smile she gave Drake nearly blinded him in its beauty. They'd been apart only an hour, but he crossed the room with eyes only for her, breathing her in like oxygen when she met him halfway.

  He brushed his fingertips over the dried tear tracks on her cheeks. "You're okay."

  He didn't say it as a question. Despite the smudges of exhaustion under her eyes, he could see not only that she was okay, but also that finally talking with her mother had lifted a big part of the load she'd been carrying.

  "I am." She put her hands on his chest, and he could feel his heart beating against her palms as she looked deep into his eyes. "So are y--" She lost the battle with a yawn. "You."

  He kissed her again, then said, "Time for bed."

  His father obviously had the same idea as he held out a hand to help Rosa's mother to her feet. "I'm going to show Isobel to the guest room."

  Isobel smiled at William and said something to him in a low voice before moving toward Drake and Rosa. "Thank you, Drake." Her words were thick with emotion. "Thank you for being there for my daughter when I wasn't."

  Drake was still wading through his impressions about Rosa's mother, and despite the fact that she was saying all the right things now, he wanted to get to know her better before he made up his mind. Tonight, however, one thing was perfectly clear: Isobel Bouchard loved her daughter.

  Love, he knew, didn't mean you always made the right choices. Fortunately, it did go a long way toward making forgiveness--and new beginnings--possible.

  "I'm glad you're here so that you can both have a chance to talk some things through."

  Rosa's mother clearly understood that he would protect her daughter against any and all threats, even her. Just as he was taking the measure of her, he could see that she was doing the same with him.

  "Whatever happens in the future," she told Drake as she pressed a kiss to Rosa's forehead, "I will be forever in your debt."

  Rosa's eyes were nearly closed by the time they made it up the stairs and down the hall to their bedroom. "Did you ask your father about why he bought your paintings?"

  "We talked and it was good." He watched her barely smother another yawn. "Looks like you and your mom worked through some things too."

  "We did." She yawned again. "I want to tell you everything, want to hear more about what your dad said."

  He wanted to hear the same from her, but sleep was more important right now. "Lie with me awhile first." He quickly stripped her clothes away, then laid her beneath the thick covers on the bed. Moments later, his own clothes were off, and he was sliding in beside her, pulling her into his arms.

  By the time she curled up against him, her breathing was soft and even. Though Drake badly needed sleep as well, he needed this more. Needed to have Rosa warm and safe in his arms. Needed to feel her heart beating against his. Needed to breathe in her sweet scent.

  And most of all, he needed to take a quiet moment in the dark to appreciate being the luckiest guy in the world.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  "Cal, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Rosa. Rosa, the mayor and I go way back."

  It was the first time Drake had used the word girlfriend. He liked the sound of it. Was going to like it even more when it was fiancee. Better still when it was wife.

  He knew he was racing ahead. And he didn't give a damn. At long last, he understood what his cousins in San Francisco and Seattle felt for the people they'd fallen in love with. Forever wasn't just something you saw in a movie or read about in a book. It was so much more than a few pretty sentences in a Valentine's Day card.

  Forever was sweet and raw, messy and beautiful, scary and strong.

  Forever was Rosa.

  "It's great to meet you," Calvin said. "I'm glad you thought of us for your TV special. Any other way we can help, just let us know. Denise and Olive from Lakeside Stitch and Knit are already ready to get out on the front lines to defend you to the end."

  "Their kindness--everyone's kindness--has meant so much to me." Drake drew Rosa close as her emotions rose to the surface. "Thank you so much for letting us film in your building, Calvin. But I just want you to know that if at any point you feel uncomfortable with having a reality TV crew and cast here, we can figure out something else."

  "Are you kidding? I'm the hero of the century right now." He winked at the pretty girl who was peeking in his office door. "You wouldn't mind signing an autograph for my sister, would you?"

  "I'd love to." Rosa immediately walked over to the door and held out her hand as if she were meeting a peer instead of a child. "You must be Jordan." Drake had told Rosa that Calvin was raising his ten-year-old sister all by himself, after his parents had both passed away one after the other within a month of Jordan's birth.

  Jordan's eyes were huge as she nodded, so star struck by Rosa that she was speechless for a rare moment in time. Going out of her way to put Calvin's sister at ease, Rosa said, "I love your bracelets." Drake finally noticed the half-dozen woven bracelets in a rainbow of colors on Jordan's wrists. "Did you make them?" When the girl nodded again, Rosa said, "Maybe you can show me how sometime?"

  "They're really easy. There's a kit you can use, but I figured out how to make them on my own."

  "Cool."

  That was all it took for Jordan to start talking a mile a minute, and Drake loved the way Rosa kept up with every bit of it. "You don't think she'd be interested in babysitting sometime, do you?" Calvin asked Drake in a low voice.

  "You know what? I have a feeling that might be right up her alley."

  Calvin raised an eyebrow. "You know I was kidding, right? Rosa is an international superstar with a heck of a lot more important things to do than hang out with my kid sister."

  "Trust me, she would much rather learn how to make those bracelets than go to some flashy premiere." Calvin still didn't look convinced, but Drake knew it would make perfect sense to his friend once Cal got to know her better.

  Rosa gave Jordan a hug, then when the little girl headed back outside to play with her friends, she turned to Calvin. "Your sister is great."

  "I know," he said with a grin. "Thanks for making her day."

  "She made mine too." Rosa reached into her bag for a folder and handed it to Calvin. "I know you're busy, and I don't want to take up too much more of your time today, so hopefully the information here will answer most of your questions about the setup for tomorrow's live shoot. My mother is arranging to fly my brothers in right now, but I'll make sure she drops by to say hello before tomorrow morning."

  "I'm sure you've thought of everything we need to know." Calvin put the folder on his desk. "Anything else you and your family need, just give a holler. We're all on your side."

  "Thank you."

  Instead of leaving with another handshake, she threw her arms around him. Cal, of course, didn't look at all averse to holding her for a few seconds, even when he knew damn well that she was taken.

  Once Rosa and Drake were out of the building, she said, "I like your friend. It doesn't seem fair that he had such bad luck with his parents."

  "His love life has been pretty rotten too, unfortunately."

  "How can someone that handsome, who also happens to be a great brother, have a rotten l
ove life?"

  "Handsome?" Drake teased.

  "I barely noticed," she teased back. "But seriously, he's a major catch. What happened?"

  "There was someone back in high school. Sarah. We all thought they were going to be together forever. I run into her in the city sometimes, but she never asks about Calvin. Just like he never asks about her." When they hit a fork in the path, he decided on a detour. "Want to see something beautiful?"

  "I already am, but I'm always up for more."

  He pulled her close and kissed her deeply before leading her up into the mountains.

  *

  Rosa spent plenty of time in the gym, but given how hard her lungs were rocked by this mountain trail, she planned to spend way more time in the woods in the future. Especially when everything around her was so lovely and inspiring. She wanted to buy silk floss in a rainbow of colors to stitch the reds and yellows of woodpeckers and goldfinches, the pretty white bark on the birch trees, the deep green leaves of the maples in dozens of shades all around them.

  The only thing that didn't quite fit was the buzzing of the phone in Drake's pocket as they climbed the final stretch to the top of the hill. He pulled it out and looked at the screen a few times, before finally shutting it off with an impatient sound.

  "Used to be, you couldn't get reception out here. It was one of my favorite things about this place."

  "I'm pretty good at chucking cell phones from high places," she joked, "if you want me to give it a go."

  "I'd take you up on it if I thought it would get this gallery off my back. But since I owe them a dozen paintings in a week, I'm sure they'd find a way to track me down even without the phone." Before she could respond to this rather shocking new piece of information about the gallery needing all those new paintings, he said, "Right now, though, I want us both to forget about everything we've got to do and just spend some time appreciating this."

  Pulling her up onto a large, flat rock, he brought her in against him, back to front, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Sensual warmth flooded her at his closeness even as she gasped at the stunning beauty laid out in front of her.

  "Oh, Drake." She felt it again, that sense that she'd finally found where she was meant to be. "You've painted this, haven't you?" She recognized this vista from one of the larger canvases hanging in his father's cottage. "Standing right here, looking out over the lakes and rolling hills."

  "It's always been one of my favorite spots in the world. And now that you're here, I honestly can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be."

  "I feel the same way." She turned away from the view to look into his eyes. "Someone had to have seen me by now and sent a tweet or posted on Facebook. The paparazzi will be here by tomorrow morning. Maybe even by tonight."

  "Let them come." Drake looked fiercely protective. "They'll find out soon enough that's not how we do things at Summer Lake."

  "It was one of my worst fears," she said softly. "That they'd find me and drag me back into a life, a world that I didn't want anymore. And then when I started falling for you, I hated the thought of them dragging you in too." She wrapped her arms even tighter around him. "But even if those fears never completely go away, I refuse to let them hurt me anymore. And I definitely won't let anything hurt you." Her lips lifted into a smile as she told him, "You already have the paintings the gallery needs."

  "Rosa..." He framed her face in his hands. "I made you a promise to keep the paintings of you private."

  "Now I'm asking you to make me a new promise. A promise to show them to the entire world. I can't stand the thought of letting such beautiful art sit dusty and forgotten beneath tarps for thirty years. And I would never forgive myself if you kept something you created hidden because you were worried about hurting me. You were the one who saw my strength from the start. You were right, Drake. I am strong. As strong as the woman you painted on all those canvases."

  He didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked deep into her eyes as if he needed to make absolutely sure that she wasn't just saying it to make him happy. Finally, he said, "I'll show them. All but the last ones."

  Though she understood his instinctive desire to hold back the nudes, Rosa knew better now. It didn't matter how many clothes she had on--it was who she was beneath them that mattered.

  "Especially those last ones." She tightened her hold on him, wanting to get closer. Always closer. "When people think of me in the nude, I want your paintings to be what they remember. But it's more than the fact that I'm finally ready for the world to see who I really am. More than anything, I want people to see that true love changes everything. That risking your heart for the right person can give back even the things that you thought were gone forever. I didn't think I'd ever be able to trust again. To love. But you showed me that I could own every part of myself--the good and the bad--without shame. Without fear."

  "You're so damned brave." He tangled his hands in her hair and kissed her before saying, "You've showed me how to be brave too. How to stop running. How to let go of the past and fight for a future with my dad. You brought me back here, back to the place I've always loved best but never thought could be mine." He smiled at her, that beautiful grin that always sent her heart flip-flopping in her chest. "Ours, if a his-and-hers art studio and gallery on the lake sounds good to you."

  She'd cried more in the past week than she had for the past decade, but she didn't feel the need to stop her tears this time. Not when every single one came from pure joy.

  "A his-and-hers art studio and gallery sounds like a dream come true," she replied. "Maybe we can even convince your father to build us a house."

  "Something tells me he's already started drawing up the plans."

  Epilogue

  Rosa was strong and luminous in front of the cameras, and Suzanne couldn't have been more proud.

  Rosa's brothers, Aaron and Lincoln, were seated with her and their mother on screen. The two boys reminded Suzanne of her own brothers at that age. How they were obviously overprotective of their sister, while also overrun with enough hormones that they homed in on any pretty girl nearby.

  Everyone watching the live broadcast in the town hall obviously wanted Rosa to know how deeply they supported what she was doing today. Not just Drake, Harry, Suzanne, and her father, but also Denise and Olive from the yarn store, Christie from the inn, and Calvin and the city hall staff, as well.

  The paparazzi had come in droves and had tried to park themselves and their cameras right outside the town hall--but the locals were having none of it, so the closest the photographers and cameramen could get to Rosa was the other end of Main Street.

  Suzanne had always loved being at the lake, but after graduating from Columbia with a degree in computer science ten years ago, she'd worked in high tech in New York City ever since. Fortunately, now that she ran her own company, she had the flexibility to come here more often. Sure, she always brought several computers with her, but at least she could see trees, breathe fresh air, even jump into the lake if she was so inclined. But beyond the beautiful natural surroundings, it was the closely connected community that continued to impress Suzanne. She was all thumbs when it came to knitting, but Denise and Olive had been so enthusiastic about her joining in on their knitting nights that she'd gone several times over the years and pretended to knit while mostly drinking wine and laughing with the other women.

  It was a testament to the Summer Lake community how quickly--and passionately--they'd rallied around Rosa.

  Suzanne's phone buzzed in her pocket for the millionth time, and Harry shot her a look. Though she was always on call for her employees, she decided to shut it off completely so that she wouldn't distract anyone while Rosa was speaking.

  "I've often heard people say that I'm famous just for being famous," Rosa said in a steady but emotional voice. "Today, whatever people might think of my choices, I'm simply glad that so many of you want to hear what I have to say." She looked directly at the cameras, while her mother held tightly to h
er hand and her brothers flanked them both. "For any woman, any man, who has been made to feel cheap or dirty or small on the Internet, whether it's with words or in pictures--I want to let you know that we don't have to feel ashamed. Because it isn't our fault. It doesn't matter what we've done in the past. It doesn't matter what we've worn, what we've said, who we've dated, what career we've had. None of us deserve to be attacked, either online or off." Rosa paused to let her words settle with the millions of people around the world who were watching the live broadcast. "Even if I can never get the pictures off the Internet, I'm not a victim. I'm taking my life back, right here, right now, and I'm going to make it better than it's ever been before. With art, with friends, with family, and with the foundation my family and I have created to support people who have been hurt by personal cyber-attacks."

  When the cameras finally went dark, all of them gathered around Rosa in a big group hug. Suzanne had already spoken with her about the role she'd like to take as the lead technical volunteer in the Bouchards' new foundation, and she was excited to get going with it as soon as possible.

  Waiting until she'd stepped outside the city hall building to turn her phone back on, she wasn't thrilled to see another array of phone calls from several random numbers she didn't recognize.

  She was shoving her phone back into her pocket when Harry said, "He's still bothering you, isn't he?"

  Suzanne should have known better than to tell her brothers about one of her tech competitors. The guy seemed hell-bent on annoying her in any way he could in the hopes that she'd lose her momentum on their newest security product, which was particularly groundbreaking, if she did say so herself. Lately, she was getting dozens of random phone calls each day, but no one was ever there when she picked up.

  Though she knew it was nothing more than a mind game, she didn't want to lie to her brother and act like nothing was happening. "Don't worry, Harry. I've got it under control."

  Unfortunately, he looked anything but convinced. "Have you looked into hiring a bodyguard yet?"

  "No, and I'm not going to." No was the same reaction she'd always had to such a ridiculous suggestion. "My competitor is a pain, but apart from bombarding me and my servers with automated junk emails and calls and uploads, he's harmless."