Montana Promises

by Law, Kim

  I’m going to tell Gabe. What we did was wrong. He needs to know.

  Of course, she’d instantly gone into a rage. She would destroy him with all of his siblings way before he could even get Gabe on the phone. She’d make it clear that it had been he who instigated things. Not her. She’d yell rape. She supposedly even had pictures of the bruises he’d put on her.

  It hadn’t mattered that she’d come into his room where his brother had been sleeping. Nor that Nick had apparently been awake to hear the whole thing. She’d take Nick down with him. Say they were in on it together. That they both raped her.

  The next day, Jaden had called. Michelle was saying that Nate raped her, and he’d left because she’d threatened to go to the police. Was it true?

  She’d apparently only shared that lie with Jaden at that point. So, he’d kept his mouth shut from that day forward. He’d explained the truth to his then sixteen-year-old brother, making him promise to keep it to himself. He’d also made him promise to lock his bedroom door at night and to never be in a room alone with Michelle. Then he’d gone back to drinking and had given up the idea of confessing. He’d done the deed, so he would live with the guilt. And he wouldn’t bring his family down because of it.

  He scrolled through his texts some more. He hadn’t replied to Jaden, Dani, nor Cord. They’d know that he was alive because Nick would have told them. He hadn’t responded to his dad’s message, either. His dad had left a voice mail.

  What is this nonsense that you think my accident was your fault?

  It wasn’t nonsense, and he hadn’t been about to get on a call with the man to explain it. The message had contained enough details, though, that it had been clear Megan had filled them in on his beliefs. If he hadn’t been such a bitch about nobody ever needing his help around there, then he would have seen that his dad was too ill to be out on a tractor instead of him storming off in a huff.

  His dad hadn’t detailed it quite in that fashion, of course. Nate was ad-libbing. But he could imagine his brothers thinking the exact same thing. And he could imagine Jaden, once again, wanting to help him deal with it. To fix it. But his screwups couldn’t be fixed. That’s what no one seemed to understand.

  He caused the fuck-ups, so he had to pay. Exactly as his mother had always—

  “Boss?” a voice yelled through the house and carried into the garage.

  Nate looked up from his phone, his breath catching in his throat. “Yeah?”

  “We need an opinion in here. The master closet. Can you come look?”

  “Sure.” He stared at his phone again, as if it held answers. “Heading that way,” he mumbled.

  But he didn’t move. His mother?

  He was living his life based upon how his mother had treated him? The things she’d said to him?

  Why? He knew better.

  He knew she’d manipulated all of them. He’d watched her do it. He’d known all her tricks.

  So why in the hell would he have let her words, her hatred, linger with him all this time?

  “Boss?”

  He shoved his phone away. “Coming.”

  It was another two hours before he found another minute to be alone, and when he did, he went right back to where he’d left off. His mother.

  He still believed the shit his mother had fed him.

  The very idea of that ticked him off because that was a load of crap!

  His phone dinged, and he yanked the thing out of his pocket. It was Dre.

  Took these for you over the weekend. You probably don’t deserve them, but I figure I’ll share because it might help you see what kind of stupid you’re being.

  What the hell?

  He looked at the two attached pictures. Then he tapped his finger on the first one.

  Megan stood off to the side of the cabins, facing the lake at the top of the cliff, and the air had whipped her hair into her face. Dre caught her with her head tipped slightly back and her eyes closed, and she looked to be standing unnaturally still. The visual bothered Nate. He knew this was a single moment captured in time, and he knew she could have easily been in motion when the picture was taken. But she looked as if she’d been standing there frozen. Like she’d been trying to breathe in enough strength simply to keep going.

  The other photo was one of her and Brooke, with both of them grinning in the middle of one of the cabins. And at first glance, the shot made him smile. Megan looked happy in this one. Like he wanted her to be. He liked Brooke, and it pleased him greatly to know that Meg had someone like that in her life. But then he looked more carefully at Megan.

  Bringing the phone closer, he zoomed in on her face, and then he couldn’t look away from what he saw there. It was in her eyes. In the way her mouth smiled, but nothing else seemed to. She looked as if the light burning from within her had been dimmed.

  She’d been standing in the middle of a project she’d been excitedly working on for weeks, yet at the same time she looked utterly broken. Was that because of him?

  He swiped back to the first picture again. Then to the second.

  Then his heart began to ache even more.

  He’d hurt her. Far worse than a text message could fix. And all along, he’d been telling himself that he’d done her a favor by leaving.

  Yes, the way he’d left had been wrong. He should have spoken with her before simply driving out of town. He probably should have gone to her house and waited for her to come home. Told her goodbye properly. And not waited three days to reach out to her. But he’d honestly thought him stepping out of her life would be the best thing for her. And hell, maybe it would still be the best thing. But he hadn’t wanted her to hurt. Not like this.

  He went back to his list of texts again, intending to pull up Nick’s last message and ask him to check in on Meg. She may not want to talk to him, but he needed to know that she was okay. As his fingers hovered over Nick’s name, however, he realized yet one more fact that hadn’t occurred to him before. Everyone in his family had texted him in the last week . . . except Gabe.

  Except the other person he’d hurt terribly last week.

  And damn. He had to fix that. This was his brother, and he should have come clean and apologized to him years ago.

  He switched to his contact list and tapped on his oldest brother’s name. He didn’t want to go another day without cleaning up his past. At least, that part of it. And though doing it over the phone may not be ideal, at least it was a start. And maybe starting there would make it easier to fix other mistakes.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The sun dipped below the mountains on the far side of the water, casting a glow over the lake. Boats bobbed out in the middle of it, their passengers waiting for the fireworks that would start as soon as the sun fully set, and Megan snuggled deeper into the bench, tucking the wrap she’d brought out more securely around her. The night wasn’t cold, but there was a definite briskness in the air, and the weight of the extra material gave Megan a more secure feel. Like a pair of loving arms wrapped tightly around her.

  There weren’t any loving arms there tonight, of course. She still hadn’t heard from Nate, much less seen anything from him. No more texts, no requests to call her. He’d given up.

  And the knowledge of that had hurt even more than watching him walk out of the Wilde house nearly two weeks before. He was gone. She was alone. And nothing had changed.

  But then . . . that wasn’t actually true. She had changed. And those changes were for the better.

  Her relationship with her dad had changed, too. She’d just gotten off the phone with him. They’d already talked more since he’d been in town than they had in the last six months, so that was definitely a step in the right direction. And according to him, he planned to come see her and stay for a long weekend in September. That was still two months away, but spending Labor Day weekend with her dad would be fun. Maybe they’d cook out on her little back patio.

  She sighed and sunk farther on the bench. The bench sat at the
end of a little trail that started just off her patio and meandered through the trees and down to the lake. This had become one of her favorite places over the last couple of weeks, as she’d spent a fair amount of time there. It was better than sitting in the house alone.

  A bottle rocket sounded off to her left, but she couldn’t see it. She could hear people in the neighborhood on the other side of the trees, though. And to her right, several small groupings of people had gathered along the lake. There wasn’t a large access to the water here, but enough to bring a handful of families down. She was all alone on her little bench, though, and she’d been trying to convince herself for the last hour that having it that way was exactly how she wanted it. After all, she’d had two invites to go somewhere else tonight.

  Brooke had tried to get her to go out on the lake with her family, but Megan had declined. Although she was sure that watching the fireworks from the middle of the lake would be beautiful, she just hadn’t been in the mood. Brooke had been such a good friend since Nate left, and Megan hadn’t wanted to risk bringing down the mood tonight.

  She’d also been invited over to the Wilde house. It was the first weekend of reservations for the cabins, and unless things had changed since she’d handed the information over to the new manager earlier in the week, all ten cabins were booked for the weekend. The new business venture looked to be starting off to a great success.

  Another bottle rocket sounded, and this time a couple of roman candles went up with it. She smiled as kids she couldn’t see cheered. It wasn’t dark enough for the official show to begin yet, but it was certainly dark enough for the kids who were anxious to see the bursts of colors and noises.

  She turned her hand over to look at the face of her phone and saw that there had been no messages while she’d been sitting there. Which she’d known. She’d pretty much been holding her phone nonstop for the last few days, as if hoping for a text. Or maybe a call. And she knew that was silly. But she hadn’t been ready to let Nate go yet. She’d been hurt when he’d left, then she’d gotten mad when he hadn’t put out a true effort to get in touch with her. But in the back of her mind, she’d thought he’d keep trying. She’d wanted him to keep trying. And now, there had been nothing for six days.

  Her nose burned, and in the next instant, tears slipped over her cheeks. And she didn’t even try to wipe them away. She’d started crying over the last few days. At the drop of a hat. Which was yet another reason she hadn’t wanted to be around anyone tonight. She didn’t want anyone to see how broken she was. Especially not Nate’s family.

  More tears fell, and she lowered her head as if in shame. She hated the idea of sitting there crying over a man.

  She hated even more that twice that week she’d typed out a text message to Dre, asking where Nate could be found. Because she was ready to go to him. She was ready to beg.

  She’d deleted the texts both times before she could send them. But she was considering typing up another one tonight.

  Another family showed up about twenty feet to her right, and the mother must have caught sight of Megan’s tears when Megan glanced over. The woman wore a concerned expression and took a moment to send Meg a questioning look, asking if everything was okay.

  Meg nodded. Then she dug out a fresh tissue from her jeans’ pocket and blew her nose.

  And then more tears fell.

  More light filtered from the sky, leaving longer, darker shadows stretching out onto the lake, and she closed her eyes and dropped her head back to rest against the bench. Until the show started, she’d just sit there and daydream. And what she daydreamed about was that instead of sitting on her little bench, she was stretched out on a blanket on Wild Horse Island. And that fireworks were exploding in the night sky above her, raining down wide arcs of magical bright colors. And on that blanket with her was a man she loved. And he loved her, too.

  And he told her that he’d never leave her again.

  A boom sounded in the distance, and she opened her eyes to see the start of the show. But what she saw instead was Nate standing in front of her. And he looked as uncertain as she was miserable.

  “Hi, Meg.”

  Her nose burned again. “Hi.”

  She couldn’t get anything else out. Just one tiny syllable.

  A burst of red, white, and blue exploded in the distance over Nate’s head.

  “Would it be okay if I talked to you for a minute?” he said, and she gave a little nod. The movement had been small, and everything inside of her felt deflated, but she managed to inch herself over to one side of the bench. Then she nodded toward the newly created space.

  “Have a seat,” she somehow managed. She then turned her gaze back out to the lake.

  “Thanks.” He joined her on the bench, his hard thigh pressing against hers in the cramped space, and leaned forward. As he shifted into place, Meg pulled her gaze back from the water and watched him. He rested his elbows on his knees, cupped his hands together in front of him, then he stared out at the water, same as she had. “How are you?” he said, and as if turning off one faucet and opening another full blast, her weepiness was quickly replaced with her prior anger.

  “How am I?” she parroted. “That question’s about as useful as ‘how’s the weather,’ isn’t it?”

  Nate turned his head to look at her. She stared a hole through him.

  “Should I start with an apology instead?” He asked the question hesitantly.

  “Only if you want this conversation to go beyond your next words.” Explosions continued in the sky behind him, but she didn’t pay any attention. “It’s your move, Wilde. Do you want to stay and play the game or forfeit straight out of the gate?”

  She much preferred her anger to the weepy, crying mess she’d been the last few days.

  Nate swallowed, then he opened his mouth again. “I’m the biggest idiot on this planet, and I never should have driven out of town the way I did. And then after I did drive out of town, I should have turned my truck around and driven right back. Right to your place. And I should have told you that day, same as you did to me, that I love you, too. That I don’t know how it happened so quickly, and that three months ago, I couldn’t have fathomed how someone’s feelings for another could change so drastically in such a short span of time, but that I’m living proof they can. And then I should have begged your forgiveness for every mistake I’ve made to date plus the ones I know are to come. Because I do screw up. We both know that. But what you may not also know is that I definitely want to learn to do better.”

  Megan blinked. That had been a lot. And she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it all yet.

  So, she turned her gaze back to the sky, and she focused on the fireworks. “That’s a better first attempt,” she said without looking at him. “It’s enough to let you stay for round two.”

  A soft burst of air sounded from him, sort of like a laugh-sigh, and something inside Megan softened. She closed her eyes, attempting to keep any threatening weepiness at bay, and let herself feel the sounds of the fireworks instead of see them. It wasn’t Wild Horse Island, but she was now with a man who’d just professed to love her. That had to be a good sign.

  “Why’d you come back?” she asked. She wasn’t about to take anything for granted.

  “Two reasons.”

  She glanced at him. “And the first one?”

  “To apologize to my family.”

  He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and she found herself focusing on the whiskers running along his jawline. “For?”

  “Basically for ghosting them. For leaving without sticking around to face the fire about everything that had gone down, and then for not doing anything more than letting them know I was alive for over a week.”

  “So, they basically got the same treatment I did.”

  “They got less at first. I, at least, texted you. Tried to talk to you.”

  “It wasn’t a hard enough try.”

  “I know that. And I’m not making excuses for it.”


  The fireworks show was still going, so she redirected her attention back to the sky once again. She’d also noticed that the woman who’d caught her crying earlier was now watching them, probably hoping to eavesdrop.

  “So, your family got more than I did in the end?” she asked. He’d said they got less than her at first.

  “I called Gabe Tuesday afternoon. Needed to apologize, and I decided it couldn’t wait. I’d waited too long as it was. Then I called Dad to apologize for not taking his tractor keys away from him.”

  “And how did those calls go?”

  Her gaze had drifted back to his again, and he seemingly hadn’t taken his off her since he’d started talking. “Gabe told me it was water under the bridge. We had a long talk. I’m still not sure I deserve his forgiveness, but he’s accepted my apology, and I’ve accepted his forgiveness.”

  That was good to hear. She’d known there wouldn’t be any lingering issues there. Not after all she’d learned about Michelle after Nate had left.

  “And your dad?” she said. “Did he set you straight, too?”

  The corners of Nate’s mouth curled slightly. “He tried.”

  “You don’t believe him?”

  His gaze lowered to her hands then, where she had them gripping the edges of her wrap, her arms now crossed in a protective X over her chest. “The thing is,” he said, then he stopped and seemed to need a moment to get himself under control. He turned his head, and this time it was he who stared at the sky. But then he turned back. “I apparently have more lingering issues from my mother than I’d realized. She always blamed me, right?” His shoulders scrunched in a little before he continued. “Well, I think I do the same thing. I blame myself for more than I should.”