Chapter Eighteen
Peyton tucked the quilt around Mel’s legs as Ryder fluffed the pillow. She hadn’t been surprised that he’d been waiting at her cabin to help get his daughter settled. Hovering as only a parent who blamed himself could. Peyton refrained from trying to reassure him and she and Mel had shared more than a few knowing glances as Ryder treated the young girl like she was three rather than ten.
“Anything else, honey?” Ryder asked, shifting a pillow that had been shifted at least ten times.
“Dad, I’m fine. Just tired.”
Peyton smothered her laugh as Ryder remained oblivious to the textbook definition of an eye roll. She placed her hand on his arm and stilled his unnecessary fluffing. He met her gaze, shock and concern fighting amongst the chocolate brown depths.
“Let’s give her some breathing room. She hasn’t sprung herself from this house yet, I think we’re safe for a few moments.”
Mel giggled and Ryder’s shoulders slumped. “Overbearing, huh?”
“Concerned father,” Peyton launched back.
Ryder tensed to argue, but Peyton wrapped her hand around his wrist and tugged him away. She maneuvered the reluctant man through the door and looked back at their daughter. “Call if you need anything, sweetie.”
Mel smiled and snuggled down in the pile of pillows and stuffed animals.
Peyton followed Ryder into the kitchen. He collapsed into a chair and Peyton went to work brewing some coffee. She doubted they would get much rest tonight, so might as well have some help with the eyelid propping part.
It was only after the coffee was ready and she set a steaming mug in front of him that she grasped his chin and forced his gaze to meet hers.
“It wasn’t your fault.”
Rough stubble leaned against her palm as his eyes closed. “Peyton, I was—”
She silenced his argument with her lips. A brief brush leaving her aching for more. She paused, their breaths swirling together, and waited for brown eyes to meet her green.
When they did, pain and hope begged her. She met those firm lips again. Again too brief.
“It. Wasn’t. Your. Fault.”
She scooted away before either could get lost in the simmering passion the oh-too-brief kisses had stirred. They needed to talk and while a table might not be a permanent barrier it at least should garner her a few minutes to get some of the heavy stuff out of the way.
“There was a skunk,” Ryder said, speaking to his hands.
“I know. Mel told me.” Peyton took a sip. “Why didn’t you? When I was being less than polite in the hospital.”
He looked up then and laughed. “You mean when you were wearing your full-on mama bear fur. Would you have listened?”
“No, and I’m sorry. But that shouldn’t have stopped you.”
He dropped his gaze and examined his cup of jet-black coffee. He didn’t need to answer. They both knew why.
“Why did you kiss me?”
“Because I knew it would work.”
He arched an eyebrow, that familiar and oh so damn sexy smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“And because I wanted to.”
They both let the confession and what it might mean for their future linger around the room.
A knock sounded, and Peyton sat her mug down.
“You stay. I’ll get it. I’m expecting someone.”
He left through the archway and Peyton smiled at the view. She hoped whoever he was expecting wouldn’t be here long. They still had a lot to figure out.
“Hello, dear,” Polly said, unraveling her scarf as she came through the archway.
Peyton jumped up and gave her grandmother a hug. “What are you doing here?”
“Ryder asked me to come over and watch Mel for a bit.”
She looked over at the smirking man leaning against the doorway. He had something up his sleeve, and anticipation warmed her blood.
“Now you two go do whatever it is you do.” She winked. “And I’ll keep an eye on our girl.”
Three minutes later, Peyton found herself bundled up and in Ryder’s truck.
“Where are we going?”
He laughed. “Enjoy this, Peyton. The details don’t matter at the moment.”
He was right. They didn’t. Mel was safe and recovering being watched over by her grandmother, and she was with the man she loved. Of course she hadn’t told him that yet. Maybe after he finished whatever it was he needed them to do, she could continue what she’d tried to start back at her house.
When they pulled into Sky Lake she grew wary. What could he need them to do here? But as he continued through the ranch and around to the lake property, her concerns eased.
Pulling to a stop he hopped out and circled around opening her door. She asked the questions with her eyes, but he just laughed and kissed her. “Enjoy the moment.”
Grabbing something from the bed of his truck, he tucked her arm in his and they headed off toward the construction site of the first cabin.
They arrived at the poured concrete pad with several vertical logs already in place. Ryder stopped and pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her within an inch of having her melt at his feet. Just as fast as he started, he pulled back, their heated breaths forming mist in the cool night.
“Peyton, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left you all those years ago and for the repercussions of my decision to not trust you enough to tell you everything.”
“I’m sorry, too. I wish you had talked to me. You told me it was bad, and I believed you, but until I heard it I didn’t truly understand.”
Ryder’s eyes widened.
“I heard you guys today. I was in the vending area.”
He pulled him against her and stroked her back. “It doesn’t matter. I no longer need his approval.”
“But you still want it?”
He nodded and kissed the top of her head.
“And you deserve it. I don’t know why he’s so different with us. With Mel and your mom. Even with Dan.”
Ryder sighed. “To be honest. I don’t know if he knows anymore. I think he’s held whatever it is for so long that maybe he doesn’t remember any other way.” He stepped back and smiled. “But I didn’t bring you out here to talk about him.”
Ryder led her onto the structure of what would become the first cabin. “Did you know that Alex and I name all the buildings we design or build?”
She shook her head. She remembered a brief mention of her holding a naming contest as a form of PR before the official opening but couldn’t recall anything beyond that.
He handed her the package he had grabbed from the truck. “I can’t promise you a life that will always go according to your plan, but I can promise you that every day I will show you how much you mean to me. I want so desperately to be a family. To give Mel the love I didn’t have. To love you.” He paused and waved his hand around. “I thought this was to symbolize my triumphant return. The proof that my father was wrong, but I no longer need or want that. I want it to symbolize my hope for the future.” He glanced down at the package trembling between her hands.
She slid her finger along the wrapping and pulled the paper off to reveal a slice of wood. Engraved in a beautiful flowing script, were the words Second Chance.
“Do you think you can accept the man I am today despite the mistakes of my past? I love you, Peyton.”
She slid her hand around his neck and stretched up on her toes. The kiss was sweet, simple, and her answer. She loved this man. Wanted to explore their family, their passion, and who they were as adults. Their second chance was staring her in the face and she was embracing it with all she had.
Ryder pulled her closer and the kiss changed. Sweet transformed to sexy and as his tongue swept hers in delicious coffee-tasting strokes, she moaned, her legs taking on the form of jelly and her body urging her to pull him down to the floor despite where they were.
The sound of a crack in the woods pulled them apart.
“How about we continue this discussion in the comfort of home.”
The longing in Ryder’s eyes nearly broke her. “I would love nothing more than to go home with you.”
…
They’d barely managed to get Polly out the door before resuming what they’d started out in the woods at the cabin, the sign he’d given her now sitting on the middle of her mantle. He ran his hand down her back and over her butt, pulling her tighter against him.
A succinct knock at the front door had them both breaking apart panting.
“Get rid of them fast.” Ryder growled, peeling his fingers from her ass.
Peyton laughed and walked to the door, smoothing down her hair. She opened it and froze, her gaze darting from the visitor to Ryder. “Mitchum, what are you doing here?”
Ryder stayed put. The last thing he wanted to do was cause an argument with his father in front of Peyton and possibly wake up Mel. Mitchum had to have seen his truck outside, and he’d still knocked.
“I brought this by for Mel. I believe Ryder has some plans for it, and I thought it might help with the healing.”
His father’s words. The catch in his voice. The love he so obviously had for his granddaughter. Ryder clenched his fists following the surge of jealousy. Why not him? He knew he could be loved. Knew he was capable of loving.
He caught Peyton’s leery glance and gave her a firm, short nod. She opened the door and gestured his father in.
Mitchum met his son’s appearance with nothing. No hardening of the eyes, no smile, just a blank canvas of a face. He’d brought the moose rack Mel had found during camp.
Peyton closed the door and came up beside Mitchum. “Can I take that for you? Mel’s asleep right now, but I’ll let her know you dropped it off.”
The strain, the plea in Peyton’s voice was obvious. She didn’t want the scene to play out any more than he did, but the thrumming in Ryder’s veins told him that something had happened. Shifted. His father, while not happy, was definitely not in attack mode. His shoulders were hunched, his gaze locked firmly on the moose rack he’d brought for him. He looked weary and even more aged than when Ryder had arrived home just two weeks ago.
Mitchum placed the rack on the floor, leaning it against the couch. “If you need the tools to finish it, let your mother know. You might want to engrave it, too.”
Although he’d spoken basically to Peyton’s carpet, Ryder couldn’t help but smile at the small olive branch his father had extended. He could have sworn just a few hours ago that there was no hope for the two of them. That Mitchum probably would have finished the rack for Mel anyway despite knowing Ryder had told her he would do it.
Peyton smiled and looked to Ryder. She shrugged.
“Can I get you something to drink, Dad?” Ryder hadn’t known what else to say. Didn’t know how to respond to this shift. It wasn’t his house but at this point formalities seemed out of context.
Faded blue eyes met his and he shook his head. “I need to say something to you. Drinks will just delay that.”
“I’ll leave you two alone.” Peyton brushed by Ryder, squeezing his hand in support.
Ryder crossed his arms and waited. Mitchum would just get riled up if you tried to speed things up. He did things his own way and in his own time, but it didn’t help that although Ryder may have looked solid and stoic on the outside, inside he was a five-year-old begging his dad to put him on his shoulders and toss him in the lake.
“I looked over your plans for the lake cabins. I think it’s going to be a good enhancement to Sky Lake.”
Ryder nodded. “Thanks. Alex and I have tried to keep and preserve as much of the area as possible.”
“And you’re right. I wouldn’t have listened if you had called and offered to buy it.”
“Can I get that in writing?”
The corner of Mitchum’s mouth shifted a bit. “No. Can’t have something like that floating around to haunt me. Your mother would hold it over my head until I was long in the ground.”
Ryder smiled. “True. She does know how to capitalize.”
They stood in silence each looking anywhere but at the other. So much history and baggage between them and yet Ryder knew in that moment that his father did love him.
“Have you ever believed something for so long that it becomes the truth and you can’t remember any other way?”
Ryder nodded. He knew that demon by a first name basis.
“This issue, this thing between you and I. It was on me. It was never about you. My failings, my insecurities. Every time I looked at you I was reminded of my failure and how Sky Lake might not be around for you, my son. And then you started making suggestions, and to me they came out as ‘here is another way you screwed up.’ When you left I used it to convince myself that I had been right. That we were better off without you. But we weren’t. We aren’t.”
“You didn’t fail, Dad.”
His face hardened “Didn’t I?”
Ryder stepped closer and placed a hand on his father’s shoulder. It felt smaller, less strong, and he hadn’t realized how much burden his father had carried all these years. A burden he’d increased by leaving instead of trying to figure out how to work with him.
“Sky Lake is still here. It’s still strong and going. That’s not failure, Dad. That’s perseverance.”
Mitchum grabbed him and hauled him in for a hug. “I’m proud of you, Ryder. Proud of the man you’ve become, and I do love you, Son. I haven’t been a good father or even a good person but I never stopped loving you.”
They broke apart. Emotion clogged Ryder’s throat and he cleared it several times. “I’m sorry, Dad. I handled everything poorly all those years ago, and I let my pride get in the way but I never stopped caring. About you, Sky Lake, or Mom.”
Mitchum picked up his hat from the couch and adjusted it on his thinning hair. “The past is over. Let’s keep Sky Lake running for you and Mel.”
Ryder nodded, and his father let himself out. Peyton came down the hall a few minutes later and walked right into his arms.
“You okay?” she asked, planting a kiss on his heart.
He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “I’m perfect.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Glad to hear. Now where were we?”
She pulled away and grasped his hand. He followed her willingly down the hallway and into her bedroom. She’d lit a few candles and he remembered the first night in here less than two weeks ago. When they’d still been reeling from the past. Now they were firmly planted in the future.
“Welcome home, Ryder.” Peyton pulled him into her willing body and when their lips met in a crushing kiss, his heart reared up in triumph. Ten years had led them, him, to this moment of pure perfection. A family, a home, and a future.
…
Two months later…
Pinned to the aspen was a green card. Peyton trotted Trixie over and shifted in the saddle to reach it.
What kind of hide and seek game were they playing? She made her way to the indoor roping arena. She circled the building and on the back set of doors was another card, this one blue.
I didn’t punch him. You remember the spot.
Her face heated as she remembered that night. The crest before they’d come tumbling down. She turned her mount toward the river and followed it coming up on the back side of the paddock. Circling the fence, the horses inside trotting along with her, she found the next card blowing in the wind attached to a post. Snagging the red card, her fingers shook as she read the words.
The card slipped from her fingers and she tightened the reins and kicked her heels. The climb up Roaming Trail seemed to take hours when in reality only minutes had passed. She worked her way off the trail, allowing the mount to pick and choose her hoof placement even as she wanted nothing more than to spur her faster. If the anticipation thrumming through her veins was even remotely accurate, the last thing she needed to do was fall off her horse.
She broke through the clearing to find Mel sitting on a fallen tree. She wore a card around her neck and a smile as big as the Grand Canyon on her face.
“Hmm, hide and seek is usually handled without sitting someone in the open.”
Mel just smiled and hopped down, meeting Peyton halfway. Peyton slid to the ground, drawing the reins over the horse’s head. Mel took off her card and exchanged it for Peyton’s reins. Her daughter led the horse over to the tree and looped the reins around a thick, sturdy branch. Satisfied both equine and offspring were safe, Peyton opened the card.
Tears dripped onto the card. She looked up to see Mel jigging up and down, her gaze fixed on something to Peyton’s right. She spun and there, on bended knee, was Ryder. Choking on a sob, she walked toward him, each step quicker than the next until she was all-out running. She slid to a stop and dropped to her knees in front of him. They were partners, lovers, and parents.
“I love you,” she said, cupping his face with her hands. She kissed him, melting into his body as his arms slid around her. They overbalanced and went tumbling backward, and still she sought his lips for more. The loud laughter of a ten-year-old broke through, and she shifted to the side to see Mel standing over them. Her cheeks pink and her smile from ear to ear.
“Did she say yes?”
Peyton looked back at Ryder and he flipped open the wooden box. There, nestled in green, sat a ring. Two horseshoes supporting a diamond, the band wrapped as if made of rope. She wanted so badly to reach out and trace it but the moment, the emotions sought to paralyze her. After everything, the years, the pain, the anger, the resentment, it all rolled together to bring them here with Mel. To their joining.
Ryder, in yet another moment of understanding, helped her sit up and with painstaking determination, love pouring out his expression, lifted her hand and slid the ring on her finger. She nodded, words failing her, and crushed his hand in hers. He extended his other hand toward Mel and their daughter joined them on the ground. The three of them tightly entwined in a moment of happiness. A family moment. They’d finally come home together.