She was tempted. She felt so uncertain about Ryan, about what would happen between the two of them. But he had Rafael with him, and she couldn’t leave her child behind. She would wait. She needed to give them a chance as a family. To find out once and for all whether Ryan could ever make a commitment to her and honor it. He would not leave her in a lurch, she knew, no matter what she decided. But running from him helped no one.
She looked at the clock in the restaurant. It was 1 p.m. She was early, that was not good. She would be conspicuous. And she was pretty sure this was not a good day to be conspicuous. She went to the bathroom and saw a pay phone by the door to the bar. She hesitated, and then she called Vic collect.
“Where are you, girl?” he asked urgently.
“At El Caporal,” she said, apologetically. “I know I’m early, but the camp was in a mood and with the family gone on, I felt out of place, so I walked in. Is Ryan on his way?”
“Thank the Lord,” Vic said, as if he actually meant it. He was usually irreverent. “There was a raid in Twin Falls. They scooped up everyone, and we haven’t even been able to get a list out of them yet. We didn’t know if you’d gone on with them or not.”
She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. “No, I’m here,” she whispered. “What about them? They were good to me.”
“That’s getting fixed,” Vic assured her. She could hear the relief in his voice. He had truly been worried about her. “I’m going to get off the phone with you and call Ryan. He’s frantic.”
“I’m here,” she repeated. “I’ll stay here until he gets here.”
It was nearly 4 p.m. when Ryan walked into the small restaurant. He was carrying Rafael. A waiter came up to greet him, and Ryan just lifted his chin toward the small brown-haired woman sitting in the back by the kitchen.
“Mi novia,” he said, savoring the word. He could barely move he was so relieved to see her there. Even when Vic called him during a spot of cell reception in La Grande, he hadn’t been able to relax. So many things could go wrong. ICE could realize they didn’t get her and backtrack to Nampa. So many things. He didn’t think he’d be able to let her out of his sight for a long time to come.
She looked up and saw the two of them. Her face lit up and then she was flying toward him, laughing and crying and he had her in his arms with Rafael in between. And he just kept repeating, “I’ve got you. I love you. I won’t ever let you go.”
They ate lunch. Ryan found he was hungry, now that he had Teresa safe within his sight. And Rafael had been cooped up too long. He really needed a nap, but he wouldn’t let go of Teresa.
“There is so much to tell you,” Ryan said, but then he just blurted out, “Will you marry me?”
Teresa lifted her chin a bit. “I won’t share you, Ryan,” she said firmly. “If we marry there will be no other women.”
He nodded. He told her about his therapy appointments. About the Washingtons and that he wanted what they had. “Dr. Clarke, remember her? She says it isn’t that desire ends, it’s that you make the commitment not to act on the desire, because it would hurt the person you love, and it would harm the relationship you’re building. Does that make sense to you?”
She considered it seriously, as she always did their conversations. And she nodded. Then she smiled impishly. “Yes, for example, I can see that Cage is a fine-looking man, but I wouldn’t do anything about that, because of what I want for us.”
“Not sure how I feel about that example,” he muttered, but it reminded him about what J.J. had told him. She giggled when he told her.
“We have to get home soon, so we can watch that,” she said, laughing.
And then they talked about the fact they would be honeymooning in Mexico while Vic got all the paperwork straightened out. “First to San Francisco,” Ryan said. “We can be married there. Perhaps when we get home, we can have a reception at your parents’ place.”
“And one at the newsroom,” she murmured, knowing the newsroom was his real family.
“I want to get my degree,” she said. She told him what she had been doing and what she had learned about herself and what she wanted to do.
“McShane thinks I have a future in academia,” Ryan said, and ducked his head a bit.
“Yes, of course, you do,” she told him. “Do you know where you want to get your doctorate?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Listen to us, planning our lives out,” he said. “What I want is to do is get to Boise. Vic is supposed to have plane tickets ready for us to fly to San Francisco. I’m done with this driving shit.”
“Language,” she said severely. “He’s at that age....”
“So I’m told,” he said laughing.
“But how will we pay for all of this?” she asked.
“Let’s go,” Ryan said. “That’s a long story.”
He put down some cash on the ticket. And then he said, “Wait.” And he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. He felt her pressed up against him, and he widened his stance a bit to pull her closer. He kissed her eyes, the corners of her mouth, and then as her lips opened, he kissed her mouth.
And he knew he was home. Home wasn’t a place, he realized, home was this woman. This child. Home was the people he loved.
Chapter 26
6
