All I could think about was how I should have been there. How I let Sinclair down. “I feel like shit for missing this. I’m so sorry.”
She grabbed my face and kissed me. “I forgive you. And you forgive me. We need to focus on moving forward.”
She was right, and yet, I still felt like the worst person ever. “Were you afraid?”
She took the box and set it aside. Then she straddled my thighs and held my face in her hands. “I’ll tell you everything, but you can’t use it to beat yourself up, okay?”
I nodded; not sure I could actually keep that promise.
“Yes, I was afraid, but I think that’s normal. I had my parents and Ryder, so I knew I’d be okay. One thing I did learn was that I was strong. And organized. It wasn’t easy to balance classes, working and being a mom, but I did it.”
I kissed each one of her palms. “You amaze me. You always did.”
She smiled. “Good.” She rested her head on my shoulder.
“I can’t go back to give you what you lost, but I promise to give you everything in the future.” It was vitally important to me that she understood that from this day forward, she could count on me. Whatever came her way, I’d be here.
“What will happen if Stark ends up winning?” she asked.
“I’m not worried about it. With you by my side, I feel like I could take on the world. But if we have to sell, we’ll move. Maybe we can build a house in the oak tree.”
She laughed. “That would be awesome. By the way, Stark has been getting pushback. Momentum is moving in our direction.”
“How?” I rubbed my hand up and down her back. She had the loveliest skin.
“I’ve been sending out some articles and did a couple of radio interviews, mostly about how Nebraska, America even, is abandoning its family-owned farms, and using our situation to highlight it.”
“See, this is why you’re going to be mayor. I can’t wait to be first man.”
She sat up. “You’re hilarious.”
“I’m not joking. Mayor Sinclair Simms-Jones. It has a great ring to it. And then in thirty years, President Alyssa Simms-Jones.”
“Oh, I almost forgot.” She slid off my body and out of bed. I was a little annoyed she didn’t respond to my statement that our daughter would be president one day.
She pulled an envelope from her purse and handed it to me. “This is for you.”
I eyed her suspiciously as I pulled the paper from the envelope. It was a birth certificate listing me as Alyssa’s father.
“I haven’t been able to officially change her name yet, but-”
I didn’t let her finish as emotion overtook me and I had to pull her to me. “I so fucking love you.”
She lifted her head. “By the way, I want you to know that the only reason I didn’t put your name on it in the first place was that you’d been so adamant that people not know about us.”
“I thought you’d told Ryder.”
“Well I did, but you know how people are here. They might think badly of you not being here and I didn’t want that for you or Alyssa.”
I was touched by her thinking about how others might view me.
“It wasn’t because I wanted to hide it from you. I need you to know that. The need to hide came once you returned home.”
“No more hiding anything, Sinclair. And no running. We have to promise that to each other.”
She nodded. “I promise.” Then her eyes turned flirty. “But you’re already breaking this rule.”
I arched a brow.
“You’re hiding from me,” she insisted.
“I am?”
She gripped the covers and whipped them back. “Ah, there you are.”
My dick sprang to life.
She licked her lips, and why I wasn’t coming just from that I didn’t know.
“Come out, come out,” she sang as she leaned over and sucked my dick into that wet, hot mouth of hers and shot me to the stars.
Epilogue
Sinclair – Three Months Later
Ten years ago, I dreamt of a life with Wyatt that was built more on fantasy than reality. As an eighteen-year-old, I really didn’t understand life. Ten years later I knew what life and love really involved, and I was ready to get started on the journey with Wyatt. Today, my dreams were coming true but they were so much sweeter than what I’d imagined as a school girl.
Today we were getting married again, this time for real. I wasn’t in a princess dress with sparkles, but that was okay. The lovely white lace backless halter dress felt exactly right for a rustic outdoor wedding by the river and the oak tree.
Alyssa wore a pretty pastel yellow dress, causing Wyatt to call her his beautiful daisy. He wore a suit without a tie, the top buttons of his shirt undone showing just enough chest to tease me.
The one part of my youthful wedding fantasy that did come true was the number of guests. Of course, our families were there, as was Trina and even Mo, after I made him promise to behave. Between our two families, we must have known everyone in Salvation and they all seemed to show up. It felt like the Salvation I grew up in; the one in which we were all one big family supporting each other. I hoped Mo would take note. While we were making headway against Stark, the fight wasn’t over yet.
Alyssa carried our new “real” rings, and my father and I followed her up the aisle to the old tree, where we’d made our child and now were going to join our lives for real. Wyatt’s smile was so wide, his green eyes filled with love, I felt like the luckiest woman in the world.
When I reached Wyatt, he leaned in to me. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”
I
