Every step felt heavy. Deep. Like with each one, my feet sank through the hardwood floor, past the concrete foundation and into the earth.
Like a tree’s roots taking hold.
A wave of emotion welled in my chest and I was crying again. Damn it, I’d cried more in the past twenty-four hours than I had in the last eleven years.
Maybe that was expected when someone like me finally found it.
Home.
I hadn’t cried for long when two arms banded around me and Easton pulled me into his chest. “You okay?”
I nodded, leaning into his embrace. “They’re happy tears.”
“Good. Welcome home, darlin’.”
Epilogue
Gemma
Six months later . . .
“I don’t like the doctor.”
Easton chuckled. “At last week’s appointment, you loved her. You invited her to the wedding.”
“She can forget that invitation now.”
He reached across the cab of the truck and took my hand, holding it as we bumped down the road. “We’ll get the car to California. It’s just not going to be for a while.”
“A long while.” My shoulders fell. “I need to call Londyn.”
“She’s not going to care.”
“She might.”
He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “She won’t.”
My fiancé was right. Londyn wouldn’t care about the car. Hell, she’d had it in West Virginia for a year before I’d taken it on my adventure. Mostly, I was pouting because the doctor’s news was not what I’d hoped to hear.
As of today, I was on activity rest. I’d be trapped inside the house for months while I finished growing this baby. And the trip that we’d planned to take to California in three weeks was on hiatus. Neither Easton nor I would risk being on the road with the warning light on this pregnancy.
“I hate this,” I muttered. “I’m scared.”
He looked across the cab. “It’s going to be okay.”
“What if we can’t get my blood pressure down?”
“We will.”
I found it cruelly ironic. If the doctor didn’t want me stressed during the remainder of my pregnancy, she shouldn’t have told me all the bad stuff that could happen.
She was definitely not invited to our wedding.
The day Easton had stopped me from leaving and given me his caveman proposal, we’d spent alone at the house. He’d brought in my things and had helped me unpack, moving me into his house—our house. And that night, he’d insisted we go to family dinner.
We’d walked in the door at Carol and Jake’s, and before anyone could react to the fact that I wasn’t on my way to California or scold me for leaving a note, he’d announced we were engaged.
Two weeks later, he’d come home with a diamond ring.
Two weeks after that, I’d come home with pregnancy tests.
So far, this pregnancy had been a cakewalk. I hadn’t had any morning sickness and my energy levels had been great. But two weeks ago, I’d gone in for a routine checkup and the doctor had worried that my blood pressure was higher than normal. This week was more of the same. If next week’s checkup was a continuation, I’d have to take medication, something I’d avoided completely since my pregnancy test had shown positive.
I was eating healthy. I was getting exercise. But the anxiety of growing a human and becoming a mother was getting to me.
I hadn’t exactly had a good role model during my formative years.
“I just want the baby to be okay.” I stroked my belly, taking deep breaths.
“He will be.” Easton clutched my hand. “You both will be.”
It would be easier to believe him if his nerves weren’t coming through his voice and there wasn’t a worry line between his eyebrows.
Easton was over the moon that we were having a boy. Last month, he’d gone into Missoula with the trailer to pick up some specialty mineral supplements for the livestock, and while he’d been at the farm and ranch supply store, he’d found a pair of baby cowboy boots. And a baby cowboy hat. And a baby pair of felt chaps.
The getup was currently in the nursery closet, awaiting the day when he’d be old enough to wear them and I’d take a million photos.
Easton had also told Cash that the best colt born this year was ours.
Maybe I hadn’t had good parents, but I was lucky that the man at my side would more than compensate for my shortcomings. And we could lean into our family.
The Greers were as excited about this baby as we were.
We pulled up to Carol and Jake’s place and Easton shut off the truck. We were late for family dinner because my appointment had gone long, but it was a gorgeous evening.
The May flowers were in full bloom, the front of Carol’s flower beds brimming with canary-yellow daffodils and fuchsia tulips. The ranch was as green as I’d ever seen it, the meadows lush and the trees overflowing with blossoms.
Calves danced around their mother’s legs. Fawns bounded through the grass. JR and Liddy had a batch of baby chicks and there was a litter of new barn cats.
And soon, I prayed, we’d have a healthy and happy baby boy.
“Don’t get out,” Easton ordered. “I’ll come around and help.”
Normally, that would earn him an eye-roll. But tonight, I’d listen because he was worried and I knew he felt helpless.
As he opened my door, I swung my legs to the side and took his face in my hands. “I love you.”
He leaned in, sliding his arms around me and tucking his head against my neck. “I love you too.”
We held on to each other until the front door opened and Cash called, “Granddad wants to know if you both want cheese on your burgers.”
“I’m pregnant. What kind of stupid-ass question is that?”
Easton laughed and leaned away to holler at Cash. “Yes, cheese.”
“Double on mine!”
He grinned and helped me to the ground, then pinned me to his side as we walked to the house. The minute we crossed the threshold, we were bombarded with questions about my appointment. Carol ushered me to a chair at the dining room table, Liddy brought me a glass of iced water and Katherine sat down beside me.
Easton dropped a kiss to my cheek, then disappeared outside to find the guys who were hovering beside the grill, while I gave a recap of my appointment.
“So I guess this means your trip is canceled,” Katherine said.
“Yes.” I sighed. “I’ll call Londyn later and tell her.”
“She won’t care.”
“I know. It’s just disappointing.” I’d been looking forward to the trip, not only to find Karson, but because Easton would be going with me.
When—if—I decided to see my mother, I wouldn’t have had to face her alone.
I shrugged. “Eventually, we’ll go.”
It would be after the baby was born, and after the wedding we’d planned for next June. Maybe this road trip to California could be part of our honeymoon.
Carol, Liddy and Katherine had thrown themselves into the wedding planning. The four of us met each Sunday to go through bridal magazines and talk about ideas. They were anxious to make me an official Greer, though I didn’t need the last name to feel a part of this family. Every day that went by, those roots grew deeper.
I’d been dealt a miserable set of cards for the first part of my life, but now I was getting straight aces.
“Can I help with dinner?” I asked, practically begging not to have to sit here while people waited on me.
Carol scoffed. Liddy gave me a sweet smile while shaking her head. Katherine hid her laugh in a glass of wine.
“Activity restrictions,” I muttered. “This sucks.”
And if I knew Easton, he was outside right now talking to his grandfather, father and brother about how to cut my hours at the training facility.
The expansion was in full swing on the new property, with Cash taking the lead. We’d planned to take the
trip to California in a few weeks because it would be before the construction crew broke ground on the stables at the new training facility.
Once construction started, I didn’t want to miss a minute, especially after contributing a million dollars to the project. It was the first of three major investments I’d made in the past six months, though with the other two I truly was silent.
One was a women’s shelter in California for women who’d escaped their nightmares. Dr. Brewer had recommended the organization to me and they’d been thrilled to welcome me aboard. The other was a national children’s organization that focused on serving runaway kids. I’d been happy to give them large sums of money and let them run with the dollars.
Benjamin had been more than happy to take them under his wing so I could concentrate on activities in Montana.
The expansion would be time consuming for us all to get it off the ground, though particularly so for Cash and me. Easton thought the expansion was part of my elevated stress levels. He wasn’t entirely wrong.
If they voted to have me station the lodge’s front desk again, I was moving back to the cabin.
Not long after Christmas, the time spent planning the training facility had ramped up. On top of the already busy resort and ranch activities, Easton and Cash had struggled to keep up with the emails and phone calls and general office work.
Enter me.
I loved barking orders and making decisions and as it turned out, my entrepreneurial expertise came in handy, so I’d been promoted from silent investor to joint director of operations. Cash and I were working together to get the breeding and training facility open. We were having a blast, though the hours had been demanding.
Maybe too demanding.
But it was hard to slow down when everyone was so excited. When I was excited. This was more than just my new job. This was more than turning a profit. This was about building a legacy for my son.
“Promise you won’t make me sit at the front—” Before I could get Katherine on my side in this inevitable war about what was best for Gemma, the doorbell rang.
“Who could that be?” Carol stood from the table, but before she could take a step, Cash flew inside.
“I got it. I got it. I got it.” He waved us all back into our seats and rushed to the door. He swung it open and a female voice floated through the air.
My stomach dropped and I turned to Katherine, seeing all the blood drain from her face as Cash escorted a pretty blonde into the house.
Holding her hand.
No. Cash, you idiot.
Katherine’s eyes were glued to their linked hands. She studied them for a long moment as Carol and Liddy greeted the guest, surprised as we were by the addition.
“You guys remember Dany?” Cash asked, getting nods.
“Hey, Kat.” Dany waved.
“Hey.” Katherine forced a smile but it didn’t reach her eyes.
I stood, using my growing belly to block out Katherine and give her a chance to recover. “Hey, Dany. I’m Gemma. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
I let go of her hand just as Easton came inside carrying a platter of burgers.
He saved me from making small talk and with everyone clustered around the table, fixing their burgers and diving into the meal, it allowed Katherine time to pretend this wasn’t killing her.
I loved Cash. We’d gotten to know each other these past six months and he was genuinely a good man, like his brother. But for fuck’s sake, he was stupid when it came to women.
What on earth had possessed him to bring a woman tonight? Who was this Dany? And when had they started dating? The two of them sat side by side at the dinner table, whispering and canoodling and annoying the hell out of the rest of us.
I nudged Easton’s elbow with my own, then shot him a silent question. Had he known about this?
He shook his head, as shocked as the rest of us.
The minute her burger was done, Katherine took her plate to the kitchen without a word. I stood to follow.
“Leave your plate,” Carol said.
“It’s an empty plate.” I ignored her and found Katherine in the kitchen, refilling her glass of wine. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“I take it this was a surprise.”
She nodded and gulped her wine.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“Liar.”
Katherine hung her head. “I’m so stupid. I mean, I knew this would happen eventually. I just hoped . . .”
That Cash would love her, like she loved him.
“I can’t keep doing this,” she whispered. “Waiting. I need—I don’t know what I need.”
“A vacation.” An idea sparked.
It happened to me every so often—where something hit me with such force that I knew instantly it would be brilliant. Like the time I’d sunk an entire year’s profit at Gemma Lane into development of an organic, eco-friendly skin care line. It had paid off tenfold within thirteen months.
“I don’t have time for a vacation,” she said.
“You need to make time. Get away from here. Get away from him. Carol and Liddy and JR will cover for you. Let your heart heal a little bit.”
Her eyes tracked to the dining room where Dany had said something to make Cash burst out laughing. “Where would I go?”
“Drive the Cadillac to California.”
“No,” she said instantly. “I’m never going back there.”
I didn’t blame her for that. “Then how about, um . . .” I snapped my fingers. “Oregon.”
“What’s in Oregon?” she asked.
“Not what, but who.” I smiled. “Aria.”
“Huh?”
“Take the car to Aria. It’s fitting, don’t you think? I took the Cadillac from Londyn. You can take it from me. And if you don’t want to go to California, I bet Aria would. Give her the car.”
“How do you know? Have you talked to her?”
“Well, no. But worst case, she doesn’t want to, and you return home with a car. Then once the baby is old enough, Easton and I will drive it and find Karson.”
“How do you know Aria’s still in Oregon?”
“Well, I don’t. But it wouldn’t be hard to find out.” One call to my private investigator and we’d know before breakfast.
“What about Londyn?”
“You said it earlier. She’s not going to care.”
Katherine sipped her wine, thinking it over. Then her eyes went to the dining room once more just in time to see Cash drop a kiss to Dany’s forehead. “Okay. I’ll go. Give me a day to get things in order.”
Oh my God, it worked. I thought it would take more convincing. “Great! We’ll have the car ready to go.”
She nodded and set her wine aside, then she walked out of the kitchen, not headed toward the group, but straight for the door. She paused with her hand on the knob and looked back. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
I stayed put, watching as she slipped out.
“Damn.” Easton sighed, appearing at my side. “She’s upset.”
“Yeah.”
He put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. “How are you?”
“Full. Tired.” I leaned into him. “Ready to go home.”
“Okay.” He kept hold of me as he called into the dining room, “We’re taking off. Kat’s headed home too.”
After a round of goodbyes and a plastic container of chocolate chip cookies, we drove home with the windows down, savoring the fragrant spring air.
“Katherine’s going to drive the Cadillac to Oregon,” I told him.
“Alone? When?”
“Well . . .” I took a deep breath and told him my plan.
My whole plan.
What I’d told Katherine had only been a part of my grand scheme.
“You sure this is a good idea?” he asked as we walked into our house and he tossed his keys on the kitchen island.
“For Katherine’s sake, and Cash’s, I hope you’re right.”
“Me too.” I rubbed my belly, feeling the baby kick. “Ooh. Come here.”
Easton came closer and I took his hand, positioning his palm on my side. We stilled, waiting, then another kick jabbed in just the right spot.
“Did you feel that?”
His eyes softened, his palm never moving as his free arm wrapped around me and he dropped his cheek to my head. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah. It’s going to be okay.” I sank into his side.
I’d work the boring front desk and let Cash handle the expansion. I’d stop spending late nights in our home office. I’d take up reading or crochet or prenatal yoga. And if needed, I’d go on the medication.
Because this baby was worth every sacrifice in the world.
“It’s going to be more than okay.”
* * *
Two and a half months later, our son was born. Jake Easton Greer joined the world in perfect health with a mat of my brown hair and his father’s dark eyes.
And that real life I’d been searching for . . .
It had been in Montana the whole time.
Waiting for me to come home.
* * *
The Runaway series continues with Quarter Miles.
Turn the page to read a preview.
Quarter Miles
Enjoy this preview to Quarter Miles, book three in the Runaway series.
KATHERINE
“Are you sure about this?” Aria asked. She’d buckled her seat belt but hadn’t closed the passenger door.
The ocean breeze drifted inside the cab and caught the flyaway hairs by my temple. One strand tickled my nose and another stuck to the gloss on my lips.
Was I sure about this?
No.
I wasn’t sure about anything anymore. But that’s what happened in life. You endured the moments of excruciating pain. A death. A heartbreak. A betrayal. You made decisions that would alter the course of your life in the hopes that there was something good waiting for you at the end of the road. You survived today to get to tomorrow.
Wild Highway: Runaway Series - Book 2 Page 18