Brand New Sky

by Heidi Hutchinson

  Ryan sighed a tired sigh and looked at him with her beautiful brown eyes, one nearly swollen shut. “We've had a hard week.”

  “No shit.”

  A laugh burst out of her and Sway grinned.

  Whatever came next for them, he was going to do his damnedest to make her laugh as much as possible. It was only one of his favorite sounds.

  Hospital security joined them at that point, followed by medical staff. The police arrived shortly after.

  Sway refused to let go of Ryan. He couldn't do it. Even going so far as to tell the medical staff that he was suffering from shock.

  But the truth was, he just didn't want to.

  Never.

  Ever.

  Not today.

  Chapter 39

  Everlong

  Ryan took a deep breath of the sunrise as it broke over the edge of the ridge, casting the world around her in golden hues.

  Peace.

  It had been there, just under the surface of her skin, humming along with her blood. But it hadn't taken permanent residence in her heart until this week.

  Clive nudged her with his nose and she scratched around his ears.

  “You feel it, too?” she asked.

  He groaned when she hit the spot behind his left ear and dropped to his belly.

  Yeah, they were both loving the new changes in their lives.

  After Liam's attack the previous week, a lot of the window dressing of her life changed. Her injuries were minor compared to what they could have been. The split in her lip was closed and healing quickly. The bruises and swelling around her eye were taking longer. Liam's finger imprints on her neck were faded, but still a pale green and yellowish.

  Sometimes she'd catch Sway staring at them and she'd feel the guilt and anger rolling off of him, even though it wasn't his fault. She had been doing her best to reassure him that she was okay.

  But until the physical reminders had faded into oblivion, that would be near impossible.

  The restraining order and her pressing assault charges was a no-brainer. But Sway hadn't been satisfied with that alone. He'd made a compelling argument for Ryan to move immediately. Out of her house that had been her home since she'd made the huge decision to leave her entire life behind and start new. But she could see his point. He wanted to protect her.

  So she'd moved in with Gran and Pops, who were more than happy to have her and Clive join them. It was odd at first. Ryan hadn't really lived with anyone since her mom passed away. The routine was new, but she found her stride and it seemed to fit her just fine.

  It wasn't forever, she knew that. Someday she'd have to get a new place and leave these lovely people.

  Ryan had been dealing with her injuries in the way she did. Which was with dark humor. Her jokes about personal space and clingy creepers made everyone around her cringe. Except Lucy, who would cackle like a lunatic. They'd become close and fast friends after that day. Saving someone's life had that effect it seemed.

  The band had rallied around her, moving her stuff, keeping her company, running her errands. She was surrounded by more love than she really knew what do with.

  And it was glorious.

  They loved Sway. And he loved her. So she was a part of the family by simple extension. She had no idea how she would ever really be able to repay them for what they'd given her. She had a couple ideas, but those would take time. Still, it would never be enough to truly convey what their gift meant.

  She had long suspected that her family was out there, her real one. She just had to find them.

  Mother of all surprises, they had found her.

  And today? Today was another perfect day, with a brand new sky, where she had woken up feeling loved, safe, and welcome.

  She felt his presence before she even heard him walk up behind her. Since that day he had found her in the parking garage, she'd been hyper-aware of him. Their connection was strong. And it grew stronger every day. Sometimes it still seemed too good to be true, but then he'd say or do something obnoxious and she'd realize that this was reality. And God help her if she didn't think that even his annoying traits were perfectly imperfect.

  “Gran said you'd be out here,” he said, sitting down behind her, straddling his legs on either side of her and nudging Clive a little out of the way. He brushed the hair off her neck and placed a soft kiss on the skin below her ear.

  “Good morning,” she sighed, sinking back into his warmth. He wrapped his arms around her and her already perfect morning shot straight to paradise.

  “How are you feeling today, beautiful?” He asked that every day. It was his first concern, which meant it was in his head a majority of the time they were apart and that made her feel bad. She didn't want him worrying about her.

  So she answered honestly. “Happy.”

  His arms tightened around her and she felt his exhale, a sigh of relief and rest.

  Other developments that week had been Sway's mother's slow but steady recovery. Everyday promised improvement and delivered. Sway had been traveling between Boston and East Granby and Hartford almost daily. He had to be feeling the strain of it. Not only that, but the media were all over him.

  Lindy had managed to keep what had happened to Ryan out of the public eye simply by using her “new” name exclusively. The paperwork wasn't final yet, but would be soon. So anytime she was linked to Sway, she was Ryan Summers. Ryan Zacherson had faded into oblivion... where she belonged.

  “How's your mom?” she asked.

  “Better. Awake, alert. They're thinking of moving her out of the SICU as soon as this week.”

  “That's great, Sway,” Ryan said, knowing the significance of that move.

  “Yeah.”

  “How's your dad?”

  The revelations provided by Sway's father had been nothing short of heart wrenching. Ryan tried as hard as she could to help him work through all of the new information and feelings that it elicited. But he was a little cagey about it still. Which she understood, so she didn't press. He had a lot happening and they'd get to it.

  “He calls me Sway.”

  Ryan took a slow breath.

  “At first it was just every once in a while, like he was trying it out. But now it's all the time.”

  “How's that feel?” she asked.

  “It's different.” Sway's feet shifted beside her as he scooted closer to her back. “He asked to meet Miles. And he wants another chance to make a better impression on you.”

  “Hm.” Ryan was noncommittal, waiting to see how Sway would respond to these kinds of requests.

  “I don't know. Part of me wants to tell him it's a little too late. That he had his shot and he blew it. But the other part of me?” he sighed and fell into silence.

  “The other part of you is what's going to win,” she said gently.

  His short laugh rumbled through her torso. “How do you know that?”

  “Because I know you. And you're a good man. You're a big believer in second chances. To act outside of that would be denying your true character.”

  “I'm still kind of mad at him. I don't see that just disappearing.”

  “No,” she agreed. “Right now I think it's okay to be both. You can be mad while still giving him a second chance.”

  Sway nuzzled her neck, running his nose up to her earlobe and breathing deep. “You think I'm a better man than I am.”

  “Don't be ridiculous,” she said, a smile pulling on her lips.

  “I can't help it,” he said, his voice getting rough. “You bring it out of me.”

  He moved then, turning her in his arms and bringing her legs over his to press against his hips. She finally got to see his face and her soul sighed. She really loved him. The way she wrote about, the way she'd always hoped to feel. The rest of the world was faded and blurry, and Sway was sharp and bright.

  He took her left hand and held it, examined it, turned it over in both of his larger ones. Something cool and smooth was slipped onto her ring finger and she t
ore her eyes away from his face to look down at her hand.

  A large emerald surrounded by diamonds glinted at her. Her heart stumbled.

  “What's this?”

  Sway kissed the tip of her nose and brushed the hair out of her face, being careful of her healing eye.

  “It's yours. I just hadn't given it to you yet.”

  She searched stormy blue eyes, the rising sun reflecting in the iris to create a whole set of gorgeous color changes. His expression was unbearably tender, every hope he was feeling highlighted in every feature of his face.

  “It's dangerous for me to assume anything right now,” she whispered rapidly.

  Sway smiled, increasing the beauty of this moment by tenfold. “I'm pretty sure I was specifically made to love you. I know we've been busy lately, but I have to ask.” He paused and so did her heart, dangling on the edge of reason. “Do you think you want to go on an adventure with me?” His eyes softened further as a tear escaped and slipped down her cheek. “The greatest adventure of our lives?”

  She nodded, her throat too tight for her speak. But another tear joined the first. Sway's thumb gently brushed it away as his hand cradled her face.

  “Forever, then?” he asked. “You promise to be my dance partner even when we get old?”

  She nodded again, both eyes leaking as she tried to focus on his face and this moment.

  “And you'll keep my heart safe?” His own eyes were wet now, and Ryan didn't know her heart could feel this light and this free.

  She finally found her voice. “As if it were my own.”

  “You're just—” he swallowed hard and tried again. “You're just the best thing that's ever happened in my life. And I've had a pretty incredible life, so you realize how amazing that makes you.”

  Ryan shrugged, more tears spilling out of her eyes. Sway wiped those away too. “I love you. And I will forever.”

  ***

  Sway had to kiss her then, he couldn't wait any longer. Her hands threaded into his hair and he wrapped his arms around her.

  He had no idea what he had ever done to be offered this kind of gift. The opportunity to embark on the rest of his life with the greatest partner and friend he could possibly imagine. She sent his heart at a gallop, she set his worst fears to rest, she offered freedom in her arms.

  And he wasn't going to waste it.

  He was going to grab this beautiful blonde flame and they were going to run. Together and far.

  And free.

  “EPIClogue”

  Colorful

  Ten Years Later

  “We are officially late!” Ryan called up the stairs, her voice sounding more cross than she was actually feeling. Mostly she was nervous. And excited. She checked her watch again. And so late.

  “Mom? I can't find my shoes!” Claire, her oldest called down to her.

  “They're down here by the door!”

  Claire, in all of her exuberant eight-year-oldness, slid around the corner in her socks at the stop of the stairs and looked at the entryway. “No! Not the white ones! I need the blue ones!” She ran back to her room and Ryan took a deep breath.

  “The white ones look great! We really have to go!” Ryan stuck her hands on her hips and counted to five before starting up the stairs. “If you guys would keep your rooms picked up, this wouldn't be a problem.”

  She rounded the banister at the top of the stairs, going right, and made her way down the dark wood floors to Claire's bedroom. The second door in opened up from the inside and Ryan stopped short as a man stepped out and filled her vision. She took a deep breath and swallowed.

  “Miles.”

  “Ryan.” Miles grinned, looking like the spitting image of his father. Tall, lean, hair in a short ponytail and eighteen today. “What do you think?”

  He was wearing a dark suit with a white shirt, the top three buttons undone. So very much like his father. She considered telling him to button at least one of them but stopped herself.

  “Handsome as the day I met you,” she said instead, her voice cracking. She wasn't allowed to get emotional yet. Not until later.

  Miles winked and kissed her cheek. He headed for the stairs, his hand running along the banister. She watched him.

  Ten years ago, when they had moved into this house, he had been a boy. That same banister had been a source of friction between the two of them because he'd wanted to slide down it constantly and she was determined that he not break his neck when he was under her care. Little boy extremes and adventures. Filling her life with the most random worries.

  Now, he had the hands of a man.

  She tried to take another deep breath. If she could just keep breathing, she'd get through today.

  “Ryan?”

  Her eyes flicked up to his as he stood at the top of the stairs, that cheeky smile that she adored on his face.

  “What do you give a seasick elephant?”

  Ryan shook her head, smiling. This boy had been one of the most perfect sources of joy in her life. And always with these ridiculous jokes. “What?”

  “Lots of room.”

  She chuckled. “You know I love you, right?”

  Miles nodded, pleased with himself.

  “Good.”

  She sighed as she turned back around, intent on collecting her two girls. The door to Jo's room was closed. That wasn't normally a good sign. She could hear Claire still tearing through her bedroom, looking for her shoes, so she stopped and knocked on Jo's door.

  “Come in,” her six-year old called.

  Ryan opened the door to find her youngest sitting perfectly still on the end of her bed. Her green dress without wrinkles and her hair in a braid that had taken Ryan nearly an hour to get just right.

  While Claire seemed to be a perfect mixture of Sway and Ryan's qualities, Jo was a much softer creature. She was a lot like her mama.

  Which didn't always work out for Ryan. The girl was stubborn as hell.

  “What's going on, baby?” she asked, crouching down to get on Jo's level.

  Her daughter's brown eyes swept up to her, big and round and way too convincing. “If I don't go, then no one can go.”

  “That's true, in theory,” Ryan said, trying to keep her frown tender.

  “Miles would have to stay.”

  “Oh, baby,” Ryan said softly, shifting to sit beside her girl and wrap an arm around her. “He's not leaving forever. It'll be a lot like when he goes to his mom's house. You'll see him again real soon.”

  Today wasn't just Miles' birthday. It was also graduation. And Miles had decided to leave straight after and spend the summer in Australia and New Zealand with his Aunt Lenny who was also his snowboarding coach and mentor.

  It had taken everything in Alexa and James to convince Miles to at least finish high school. He had wanted to jet out and see the world when he was sixteen. It was actually a conversation he'd had with his dad about making sure to end things well. So you didn't have any regrets overshadowing you when you began a new adventure. It had worked. But the compromise had been that Miles spent a lot of time in Wyoming during the winter months. Which, incidentally, was where Sway and Ryan had decided to set down roots.

  After all the fame and the media blitz surrounding their engagement and wedding, they had decided to go someplace no one would really bother them. Basically the middle of nowhere. But the Tetons were an impressive backdrop to Ryan's creative mind, and she was cranking out novels faster than ever before in her life.

  It also meant that Miles had chosen to finish school there. He lived with them nine months out of the year and her girls were very attached to their older brother. It had been hard on Alexa. She missed her boy. Even though she had three more kids with James, Miles wasn't the kind of kid you just stopped loving. He was a remarkable human being.

  So Ryan had made it a point to be sure Miles went home to his mom as often as possible.

  In fact, they all traveled. If the band went on tour, Sway brought them all along. He'd bought a fancy
bus with special rooms for all of his kids. He made sure they all made frequent visits to see Pops and Gran, who had turned ninety-five this year and had dazzled everyone at her party by doing the tango. Proving one more time, that age was a state of mind.

  “Besides,” Ryan added, “You have to go. Gramma Grace will be there. She'll be so sad if you don't make it.”

  Jo nodded thoughtfully. “And Grampa Ethan?”

  “Of course,” Ryan confirmed, leaning in to kiss her daughter's head.

  Sway's parents had turned into two of Ryan's most favorite people. Grace's recovery had taken time. A lot of it. Her family didn't respond well and Ethan had decided to leave the Channings, deeming their “emotional terrorism” unhealthy, and he retired with his wife to California. But they had a vacation home in the Tetons, making it a point to spend as much time with their grandchildren as possible.

  They were so incredibly proud of Miles. The athlete he had become, the good man he was becoming. And they loved and doted on their granddaughters.

  Jo sighed the sigh of an old woman. Yep, stubborn, like her mom. “I suppose goodbyes are inevitable.”

  Ryan rolled her watery eyes. “Where in the world did you learn inevitable.”

  “From Gramma.”

  “Right.”

  “Is there room in this pity party for one more?” Sway asked from the doorway.

  At forty years old, Sway was still Sway. Except wiser and more attractive. He had grown his hair back to being shoulder length and kept it loose while at home, but tied it back for events, like today. And he also kept a short beard. Just so he could give Ryan shit it seemed.

  “Someone is having a hard time letting her big brother go,” Ryan explained, stroking her daughter's golden locks down her back.

  “Me,” Jo said seriously. “I'm someone.”

  Sway smiled at his girl and Ryan's heart warmed. He was such a good dad.

  “Mom!” Claire bellowed from her room. “Can you help me?”

  Sway nodded to her. “I got the short one, you get the feisty one.” Tag team. It's what they did.