When they came together this time, no ghosts would stand between them.
Chloe’s note on the bedside table read:
Faith fell asleep in my bed, so Nate and I are taking hers, which leaves Dalton all alone. Don’t tell Mother where I am until at least noon, and don’t be an idiot. Go to him.
Impertinent brat.
Yet, the wisdom was undeniable, and EV meant to do just that. She brushed the morning-after fuzziness from her teeth, downed a glass of water, and let the hot spray from the shower beat away the last of the cobwebs. A headline on one of those women-shouldn’t-take-crap-from-anyone-but-they-should-still-look-good magazines in the gift shop insisted that Fifty is the New Thirty. A frank assessment of her body in the mirror told her she still looked good, but maybe not thirty-good. So what if her butt was moving south for the winter, and her breasts rode a little closer to her waist. She wasn’t too old for a new love, right? If there was anything in her life to regret, it was having spent way too much time hoarding her secret pain like a broody hen.
Having her loss dragged kicking and screaming out into the light had tamed it from a hideous monster to a healing wound she could carry without bending under the weight. Telling someone—being vulnerable enough to share the burden—takes strength, but not as much as it does to carry alone. Ridiculous to be learning something so basic, so seemingly simple a lesson at her age.
Even now, two days later, the truth of why Remy had turned to revenge left her feeling like she imagined Dorothy felt when she first laid eyes on the humbug masquerading as the great and powerful Oz. A deathbed promise to an old man with dementia was a flimsy excuse for the actions that had turned Tomas into collateral damage.
All of that was over now, and, grateful for the distraction, EV realized her feet had carried her to Dalton’s door. She swallowed the irrational fear that he might have changed his mind, and tapped rapidly but lightly to find out; her heart rapped to the same beat in her chest.
Then the door opened, and she was in his arms, and he was kissing her. Deep, drugging kisses that sent tingling heat all the way down to her toes. She pressed against him, whispered over his lips, “mine,” and “more.”
Before he tumbled her to the bed, Dalton answered with a single word, “Forever.”
Later, Dalton leaned up on one elbow to look down at her. “How are you feeling?” He lifted a broad hand to brush a lock of hair from her face, scowling at the mark where Remy had hit her. “You should see the other guy,” she joked. Dalton didn’t see the humor. “It doesn’t hurt, honest.”
“I failed, and he got his hands on you.”
“Not where it counts. He touched my face, but you touched my soul.”
His gaze turned solemn. EV turned her face until he cupped the tender flesh with his hand. “I love you,” She said the words he needed to hear, because if she didn’t, she was afraid they might burn their way out of her.
Everything he felt for her was there in his eyes. Hers fluttered closed, then opened to show him all the shadows had gone.
* * *
A quiet knock on the door leading from Lila’s room to the castle hallway interrupted her nightly beauty ritual. After removing her makeup, applying a creamy, anti-aging mask, and a thick layer of night cream, she was finishing the routine with a roll-on eye serum. She needed to look her best tomorrow.
Though the drama seemed to have subsided, but since she’d banished Javier for the night so he couldn’t possibly see her in her dress before the wedding, Lila looked through the peephole before opening the door, and was surprised to see Nate’s face distorted by the curved lens.
“Is everything alright? Is it Chloe?”
“No, no. Everything is fine. I was hoping I could talk to you about something.” Lila ushered him inside, indicating that he take a seat on the sofa while she perched next to him.
Nate did as directed, leaning over to place his elbows on his knees, nervous energy spilling out of every pore. She remained silent, waiting for the question she knew he was about to ask.
“I want you to know that I love your daughter more than anything in this world. I get the feeling you’re not so thrilled about that, and I’d like to know why.” This wasn’t the path Lila expected; she was being put on the spot, and that wasn’t something she was used to.
Lila sighed; she knew she had been less than hospitable toward Nate, and realized that he had shown nothing but care and concern for her Chloe. What more could a mother ask for? It might be time to let him off the hook.
“Chloe has been my whole world; she’s everything to me. I’ve been lonely since she moved back to Ponderosa Pines. At some point, I figured, she’d tire of provincial life and things would get back to normal.” Lila stalled by brushing at an imperceptible bit of lint on her pants. “I thought I was giving her a life of adventure, the kind of life I dreamed of when I was her
