“I was the guinea pig, you mean.”
“It’s just how things sometimes are, especially with more than one child in the family. The oldest always seems to get the largest load of responsibility. And where your choices led you away from his expectations, he didn’t have any of your other brothers to practice on.” She added a smile to the words, hoping he would read them as she meant them to be.
He considered this. “You think he did it because he cared about me.”
She stroked his cheek. “Yeah, I do.”
He sniffed. “That’s what my mom insists, too. I just have a hard time seeing it.”
“I’m sorry he didn’t give you something more valuable.”
Adrian turned away from her. “I don’t want something valuable from him. Not moneywise, anyway. I was hoping for—” He rubbed a finger under his nose. He was more fidgety than usual. She suspected it was his way of fighting off emotion.
She voiced what she thought he was trying to say. “You wanted to know that he loved you.”
His jaw ticked.
“It’s okay, you know,” Gabby said. “To admit it. I won’t think any less of you. Haven’t you heard? Emotions make a man more appealing, not less.”
“You’re saying you’ll make out with me if I cry?”
She laughed, though it was short-lived. Gabby stroked his back in soft circles. “I’m saying, your dad died. You’ve just found something of value, something he left for you. I know it’s affecting you, and if you need to, I won’t mind if you cry.”
It was why she’d wondered whether he’d really wanted her there or not.
His brow snapped. “What’s this?” He pulled an envelope from within the box. It was tucked in the top of the lid.
“Looks like a letter,” Gabby said.
He slid a finger beneath the seal and opened it. “‘Contrary to our many arguments, I had great pride in you. I hope you can see I invested in stocks also. Some belonged to Grandpa before me, but I hope this shows I didn’t think any less of you for your chosen business venture. I only wanted you to have a family because I knew it was where you would find the most joy life could offer. I’m sorry it never came across that way.’”
Adrian’s gaze lifted to hers. “Why would he write this all in a letter? Why not just tell me?”
“Maybe he tried to,” she suggested.
“Maybe.” He cleared his throat. “I wasn’t exactly a terrific teenager who would sit and listen to his every word. Every time he started in on my life goals, I shut down.”
“It’s not your fault, Adrian,” she said, resting a hand on his shoulder.
He read on. “‘Within this letter, you’ll find the deed to your own plot of land, something I know you once wanted and that I hope you will again. I’ve been saving it for you, for the right time. Maybe whenever you read this it will be the right time.
“‘I love you, Adrian. You know I don’t say that lightly. Dad.’”
Adrian folded the letter and pulled out the other slip of paper. It was a written deed for a plot of land, not on Rustic Ridge, but not far from it either.
“He left me land? Why would he do that?”
Gabby took his face in her hands. “He’s giving you an opportunity,” she said, “to decide what you really want.”
“You got the job,” he said. “Your life is in Chicago. My life is in Chicago.”
“It doesn’t have to be. School doesn’t start for another month. They have time to find someone else. I have time to apply in Two Pines. I’ll stay with you in Chicago if that’s what you want.”
“What about you?” he asked. “What do you want?”
“You,” she said. “I want to be wherever you are.”
“This plot of land,” he said, swallowing. “We could build a house. Not two doors down from my mom and Chase, but a drive away. This is what I always told him I wanted. My own land. My own space.”
“Our own space,” Gabby corrected. “Assuming you ever ask me.”
“Ask you?”
“Our lives are together, Adrian. Shouldn’t we make it official? I don’t want to live in a guest house on your land,” she added with a laugh. Not that she was complaining about his guest house in Chicago. It was nicer than any hotel she’d ever stayed at, including his family’s bed and breakfast.
“You’re saying you want to get married?”
“You’re the one who said I had to initiate everything,” she said with a shrug.
Adrian set the letter down and scooped her into his arms. “Gabrielle Bybanks, are you asking me to marry you?”
“What if I am? What’s your answer?”
He kissed her, long and hard. “Yes,” he said. “My answer is yes. As long as you let me do the official asking.”
She folded her arms. “What are you waiting for?”
“A ring? And maybe to ask your father for your hand.”
“You can do all of that later. I like princess cut, by the way.”
“You’re something,” he mumbled in that way she was becoming accustomed to when she said something that amused him.
Adrian knelt in front of her. “Gabrielle Goldie Bybanks, will you be my wife? Share my life in Chicago and Two Pines and wherever else life will lead us?”
She knelt in front of him in response. “Yes. You going to cry any time soon? I’m ready for that make-out session you promised me.”
He laughed, cradled her face in his hands, and kissed her.
EPILOGUE
Gabby had never traveled so much in her life, but with Adrian at the wheel--and with his ring on her finger--she couldn't say she minded. As far as honeymoons went, this was bliss. Every day together. No more nighttime goodbyes. Every morning in his arms.
They'd married in a little chapel in Baldwin. Bethany had made the trek from Montana to Wisconsin to celebrate. Tension had been high when Bethany had first arrived, but
