“No, I’m just happy to see you,” Liz smiled.
“I wasn’t gone for that long!” Bindi laughed. “You’re crazy, mommy.”
When Wyatt was done, he called on his driver and the three of them got into the back seat of his car. They all leaned on each other for the whole ride home, exhausted but content.
“They have no idea how he managed to get over the border undetected,” Wyatt said, as he clicked off the bedroom lights back at the condo.
Liz gave her sleepy little girl one last glance before the two went back to the living room. “At least we’re safe now. I should call my parents.”
“You do that. I’ll get us something to drink. God knows we deserve it.”
It was late, but it didn’t take more than a couple of rings for Liz’s mom to pick up. “Hey, honey! You never responded to my text. You looked absolutely stunning in that dress!”
Liz laughed and wiped her cheeks. “Thanks Mom. Sorry I didn’t respond sooner. How are things with you and Dad?”
“Good. Good. We miss you and Bindi though. Is she with you in Canada or did you leave her with a babysitter here? We could have looked after her, you know!”
“She’s with us,” Liz smiled, collapsing onto the living room couch and looking out of the window.
“Us, huh... does that mean?”
“You saw the picture,” Liz joked. “Wyatt and I have been seeing each other again. Bindi loves him.”
“Oh, how wonderful! My two adventurous little girls. Can you please tell Wyatt I say hello?” Liz could hear her father stir in the background. “Oh, and tell him Dad says hello as well. We miss him.”
“He misses you too,” Liz said, looking over to the kitchen where Wyatt was pouring their drinks. “I’m sure we’ll come visit you first thing when we’re back.”
“When are you back?” asked Alice.
Liz cocked her head to the side. “Hmm. I’m not sure, exactly. Hopefully soon. I’m missing you guys already.”
Wyatt placed a glass of wine on the coffee table and then sat down next to Liz. “Is that Mrs. Turk!?” he asked, loud enough so she could hear.
Liz laughed and put her mom on speaker phone. “Hey, mom, you’re on speaker.”
“Hey, Mrs. Turk. How are you?” Wyatt half-shouted into the phone.
“I’m wonderful dear. I hope you’re protecting my two precious girls up there in that cold northern country.”
Wyatt laughed. “It’s actually warmer here than in Watford, if you’ll believe it.” He took a sip of his drink. “We should be back pretty soon though. Let me take you and James out for dinner.”
“Only if you’ll let me make you a good home-cooked meal first!” Alice replied.
That got a laugh out of everyone. “Deal,” said Wyatt.
“How’s the concussion?” Liz’s dad piped in from the background.
“Never been better,” Wyatt answered, unable to take his eyes off of Liz.
Liz smiled back at him and took a sip of her own glass. She sunk further down into the comfy cushions of the living room couch. She felt so warm and safe and happy. “Listen, we should go,” she started. “I’d get Bindi to say hello but she’s already in bed. I’m sure we’ll see you soon.”
“Looking forward to it,” Liz could hear the happiness in her mother’s voice.
“Bye.”
“Bye!”
“Bye for now.”
The call ended and Liz cuddled up against Wyatt. They sipped at their drinks in silence and looked out over the sparkling northern city. She felt like she was living in a fairy-tale.
Just one more obstacle to go... she told herself.
Tonight was not the night though, they were both so exhausted that they barely even finished the first halves of their drinks before they drifted off beside each other on the couch.
“Happy to be home?” Liz asked Bindi as she helped unpack her daughter’s luggage.
Bindi nodded and tucked away a t-shirt in her drawer. “I want to do more skating,” she said.
“Good thing we brought back all your equipment,” Liz replied. She had brought home her own skates too. She could hardly wait to take Bindi ice-skating again.
They had gotten back into town late last night, but had been so exhausted from the traveling that they hadn’t bothered unpacking yet. It was nice to be home again, but Liz already missed snuggling up next to Wyatt.
Wyatt had dropped Liz and Bindi off at Liz’s place without saying a word about them staying at Gold River. Liz could tell how badly he wanted to be with them, but he also knew well enough to give them their space. Still, him and her had agreed to meet up later this afternoon—Liz had made it clear she had something important to tell him.
She’d drop Bindi off at her parents’ place and then meet up with Wyatt at the ranch. She was finally going to tell him the whole unfiltered truth. It was scary, but compared to what they had already been through, it barely felt like the end of the world. Still, she was nervous.
How would she bring it up? Where would she bring it up?
It had to be special. Sure, it wasn’t the end of the world but it was a big deal. Her future and the future of her daughter all rode on Wyatt’s reaction. It had to go perfectly.
Liz had thought about taking a walk with him up to their secret pond, but the idea of things going wrong in such a special place made her feel sick to her stomach. She didn’t want to fill that sanctuary with any bad memories, but she couldn’t help but feel that it might help her case if the two of them were somewhere where they shared so much positive history.
The pond was where they had first confessed their love for each other. It was where they shared the happiness of their first reunion and the last hurrah of their second breakup. It could very well have been the place where Bindi was conceived....
Liz’s heart stirred as she pulled up to Wyatt’s Gold River Ranch cabin. She had dropped Bindi off at her parents’ place an hour ago and done herself up the best she could. She was alone now, and it was time for her to make things right.
Wyatt greeted her in the doorway. He looked as handsome as ever, back in his full cowboy regalia. He even had his good old Stetson on. He took it off and placed it over his heart as Liz walked up the steps to him.
“Wow!” he gasped. “Looking good!”
Liz blushed. “I’m not wearing anything special.”
“Must just be you, then.” Wyatt took her hand and they shared a soft slow kiss. “Where do you want to go?” he asked, after their lips had finally parted.
Liz chewed on her lip. She didn’t want to delay the inevitable any longer, and she couldn’t think of a better spot. “The pond?” she asked, quietly.
Wyatt’s eyes lit up. He bit his lip and then looked down at his outfit. “I don’t know if I’m appropriately dressed for a hike. I can get changed though...”
Liz stopped him, “No. You look perfect just the way you are.”
Wyatt’s finger rose to his lips. “Hmm. We could ride Bessie and Wildfire up there?”
Liz’s heart fluttered. She hadn’t ridden a horse in so long, but it was the perfect idea. “So romantic,” she smiled.
“It’s settled, then,” Wyatt led her by the hand to a golf cart he kept on his property and then they drove off to the stables.
Bessie and Wildfire were pretty much ancestral horses of the Sounder family. They had been with Wyatt and his parents since Stony Brook and Liz loved the both of them. Wildfire was Wyatt’s horse, strong and gorgeous and just a little crazy. Liz had only ridden on him with Wyatt; she used to love resting her head against his back while they galloped across the sweet prairies. Bessie, on the other hand, was calm enough for her to ride on her own. Liz loved that horse; even after such a long time away, she still fit on her saddle like a glove. She wasn’t even nervous to get riding again. It was just like riding a bike, or skating. She held onto the reins and soon enough she was galloping beside Wyatt and Wildfire, just like old times.
The late afternoon sun sizzled low
and brilliantly in the colourful sky as they made their way to the secret pond. Liz hardly thought about the heavy task ahead, she was so lost in the beauty of the land.
It was a tight fit, but they managed to get the horses onto the hidden trail and before long, Wyatt and her were tying them up against the bent tree.
Wyatt held the branches aside for Liz and she ducked underneath the dark green leaves. The pond shimmered hello as Wyatt joined her on the other side of their sanctuary.
“Still as beautiful as ever,” she heard him say, and when she turned to look at him, she saw that he wasn’t looking at the pond, but at her.
Her skin tingled in the soft summer air. “This place brings back some memories, huh?”
Wyatt sighed and gazed out over the calm water. “Sure does. Lizzy’s Pond...”
“First ‘I love you’ right over there,” she said, pointing to the cove that hung over the far side of the pond.
Wyatt chuckled. He pointed nearby, to the flat natural garden that was spread out beneath the rocks. “And that’s where we spent our first night together during our second go ‘round.”
Liz blushed. She pointed just off to the side of the garden, to a short, sandy stretch of beach. “And that’s where we spent one of our last.”
Wyatt pointed to the first ledge of the little cliff that hung over the still pond. “That’s where I first saw Bindi,” he smiled.
Liz’s heart started to thump. “Listen,” she started. “I need to tell you something...”
Wyatt turn to her and took her hands. He brought them up to his chest and rubbed her fingers with his thumbs. “I have something to tell you too... Can I go first?”
Liz hesitated, unsure if she should let him. She couldn’t imagine that what he had to say would be more impactful than what she did; so, after a second of thought, she nodded.
Wyatt took a deep breath and gazed deep into her eyes. Liz felt her knees go weak at the beauty in his soul. She loved him so much.
“I know we haven’t been very ‘traditional’,” he started. “That ship has long sailed. We’ve had our troubles in the past but we’ve survived them all and we’re better off for it. You’re the most amazing person I know. I love you with all my heart and I always have, I just haven’t been strong enough to fight for you like I should have—but now I am. There’s only one thing I truly want in this crazy world, and it’s a family; it’s you and Bindi. I want you to know that I’m 100% prepared to be her father. I don’t care who you made her with, I just want to be who you raise her beside. I only wish I could have been there from the start. Liz, would you let be your man and Bindi’s dad?”
Liz felt her words catch in her throat. If Wyatt hadn’t been holding both her hands, she might have collapsed to the earth. Her heart swelled up and down like a tidal wave. She wasn’t sure what to say, so she just said it.
“You are her dad...” she whispered.
Chapter 24
Wyatt
He hadn’t been expecting her to say that.
At first, Wyatt had misunderstood. His initial reaction was that Liz was saying that he might as well be Bindi’s father, because he was so good with her. It didn’t take long for that idea to fall to the wayside though. She hadn’t said he had been like Bindi’s father; she’d said he was her dad.
The whole world went silent. The only sounds on God’s green earth were that of his heartbeat and hers. His mind was swimming in a current he couldn’t quite steady himself against.
He was Bindi’s father. He knew full well what that meant, but he couldn’t quite seem to say anything else. “What do you mean?” he finally managed to eke out.
Liz hadn’t been looking at him. Instead, her eyes had been glued to the green grass below their feet. Her hands felt limp in his grip. He wasn’t sure if he should drop them or pull them closer.
“Bindi’s your daughter... She always has been. I should have told you sooner.”
Wyatt tightened his grip around Liz’s hands. His chest began to hurt. “She’s 5...” he mumbled.
“Almost 6...” Liz corrected. Her eyes still weren’t meeting his.
Wyatt felt the ground fall from beneath him. Six years. Gone. Never coming back. He’d been so alone, so desperately alone, thinking he had no family left to speak of, all the while Liz was hiding a daughter from him. His own flesh and blood... his little girl.
He let go of Liz’s hands. They fell like stones. “How could you?” he asked, barely feeling attached to his own voice.
“I... I don’t know. At first, I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to know; I thought you’d be angry to be pulled away from hockey. I thought we’d grow resentful. I didn’t want that. I now know how foolish I was, but back then, it didn’t seem so insane. All of our wounds were still so fresh. I was so stupid...”
Wyatt swayed on his feet. He felt sick to his stomach. “Six years...” he repeated like a zombie. “First, I lose my parents to someone I used to share the ice with, now I learn that I’ve lost six years of my daughter’s life to someone I used to love?”
“Used to...?” Liz whimpered. She finally looked up at him.
Wyatt couldn’t look back. He turned away.
“Wyatt...” Liz called to him.
Wyatt’s head was empty. He felt like a hollow vessel for hurt and betrayal. Her voice echoed around his brain as a fiery pain blazed behind his eyebrows. This was almost as bad as what he had experienced right after his concussion. He didn’t feel in control, he didn’t feel free, he felt completely blindsided and hopeless. What had he done so wrong to get here?
He blindly pushed his way through the bent tree’s hanging leaves. He didn’t know where he was going, but he couldn’t be anywhere near Liz right now. What had she done? After all they’d been through...
Liz scurried up from behind him. “Wyatt, please, say something,” she pleaded.
Wyatt couldn’t have said anything even if he wanted to. He wasn’t himself. He pulled up onto his horse as Liz watched him with giant globs of tears shimmering in her eyes. He couldn’t even look at her. “I can’t talk to you right now,” he said, low and plain. And with that, he kicked at Wildfire’s sides and rode away.
A fire crackled under the dark blue night sky. Countless fiery stars twinkled above as the lone cowboy stared into the flames.
His head was heavy and his past hung over his neck like a guillotine. He didn’t know how long he’d been out here for, but it wasn’t long enough, not yet.
He thought about the girl he loved and he thought about how he still loved her. He thought about the daughter he missed and how he still missed her. He thought about his dark past and his dark future.
He wandered the sweet prairies on his trusty steed and mulled over one troubling question:
Was he destined to be alone?
He had already lost one family; could he bear to lose another?
He had a daughter. A bright, bubbly determined little firecracker who he’d taught to skate. She was more like him than he had realized and when he found out why, it nearly destroyed him.
So, he’d run away.
It was so unlike him, but, at the same time, it was the only thing he could think to do. He’d missed out on almost six years of something so precious, so irreplaceable, that it tore at his heartstrings until he was too raw and exposed to face the world. How could he ever forgive the person who’d done that to him?
He set up solitary camps and slept next to smouldering fires. The darkness that surrounded him filled up his horizons and made it impossible to see past himself.
Slowly, though, the fresh air of the sweet prairies filled up his lungs and cleared his mind. The darkness that surrounded him gently began to recede and the glow of a distant sunrise finally opened up to him.
His loneliness wasn’t a single person’s fault, he realized. Sure, his love had done something unthinkable to him, but who other than him had led her to believe that it was her only option? He’d been so distant to her that when she brought
this wonderful little light into the world, she didn’t think he’d want to be anywhere near it.
What kind of man had he been to make her think that? What kind of man did he want to be?
Every second that he sat alone in front of his crackling prairie fires was another second he was missing of his daughter’s life. The warmth of the flame didn’t compare to that of the family he’d left behind. His love was still strong, it just hurt to touch it.
The lone cowboy lifted his head and looked up to the fading stars. They reminded him of home. He knew he couldn’t let the pain keep him from love anymore. He was different now. Better. And he had her to thank for it.
A lonely howl rose in the distance.
He didn’t need to be alone. He had a family. He had love. He just had to let himself surrender to it.
The open prairie was cold at night. Not even a fire did much else but keep you alive, and even that was barely worth the trouble. The warmth one truly needed couldn’t be found in any flame, it could only be found in one place: a home.
And so, the lone cowboy kicked dirt on his fire and jumped onto his horse. He led the mighty stallion forward and blazed through the shrinking night, heading for the light of his home and the warmth of his women.
Wyatt Sounder was done with running away from love; now was his turn to run towards it.
Chapter 25
Elizabeth
“Thanks for looking after Bindi today, Mom.” Liz parked her car in the school parking lot and rummaged around in her purse for her ID badge.
“It’s my pleasure, honey. Excited to be getting back to work?” Alice asked.
Liz sighed. She was torn. On the one hand, it was nice to have a distraction—life had gotten so crazy over the past couple of months that being able to busy her mind on something as mundane as her day job was a welcomed relief. On the other hand, she was still so exhausted from all she had been through that she didn’t know if she could manage it all.
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