Page 58 of Moonlight & Matrimony (Oak Ridge #2)
Luca
? What a Time - Julia Michaels her curls are longer, peeking out from beneath a pom pom tipped hat, her eyes are a little less brilliant, and her smile has faded — I hate it.
“Hey Bug,” I whisper, taking a seat on the tree stump. It reminds me of all the plans we made but never brought to life. Just another thing Austin stole from us right along with our future.
Rylin glances over at me, her blue eyes meeting mine for the first time since the morning they left. “I missed you so much,” I say. “You and your mom.”
She watches me with rapt attention, still not speaking but taking in every word.
“I visited Chance and Sage and Hazel, too. They were sad for a while, but Griff was taking good care of them.” That gets a small tilt of her lips, so I continue, a little more hopeful.
“Oreo is going to have kitties any day now. I wonder what they’ll look like. ”
She stops swinging then, her mitten clad hands still clutching the ropes. “I bet there’ll be at least one with little socks like their mama. And maybe an all black kitty, too. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
She hops down from the swing, taking a tentative step in my direction.
I open my arms, beckoning her to step into them for a hug, and I’m not disappointed.
My girl throws herself at me, her little arms wrapping around my neck as I inhale her sweet scent and memorize the feel of her curls underneath my palm.
I don’t know how I lived without them for almost a month.
The hug lingers, shattering another small piece of my heart.
“I missed you, little one,” I murmur into her hair.
“Miss you.” It’s barely a whisper, so soft I’m almost certain I’ve imagined it. She shifts in my hold, brushing her nose against mine like she so often does with Ivy.
“Bug? Did you say something?”
She nods, a little light coming back into her eyes as I smile down at her. “Do you want to say something else?” Just those two small words feel monumental, and although I’m dying to hear more, I won't push. She shakes her head. “That’s ok. You talk when you’re ready.”
I kiss her forehead. “Let’s go find mommy, yeah?” She tugs on my hand, leading me up the walkway. I jerk to a stop as I spot Ivy there, arms curled around her knees at the top of the steps.
“Did she… Did she just speak?” she asks.
I nod at the love of my life, face turned down and tear stains on her cheeks, wishing I could fix everything that’s broken between us.
Rylin releases my hand to sit beside her mom, resting her head on Ivy’s shoulder.
Without hesitation, Ivy pulls Rylin onto her lap, wrapping her in a tight embrace.
“Love you to the moon infinity,” she whispers.
Suddenly the short distance between us feels insurmountable, and I wonder, not for the first time, if winning her back is even a possibility. I don’t know what she wants anymore; maybe I never did. But I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I will stop at nothing to bring them back to me for good.
I’m the last to arrive at the Ridge and the place is shockingly quiet for a Thursday night.
The guys are all waiting for me at the bar, beers in hand.
Liam slides another down the pristine bar top and I catch it, downing the cool liquid in one long pull, barely tasting the bitterness on the way down.
“Shit. Rough day?” Liam asks.
I throw my head up to the ceiling, keeping my emotions in check. “Rylin spoke.”
“Holy shit, dude! That’s amazing. What did she say?”
“‘Miss you.’ Just two words but it knocked me flat on my ass.” Doing my best not to break in front of the guys, I motion for Liam to pass me another beer.
Truth be told, I’m still reeling from the moment with Ry.
Her little voice hasn’t changed in the time she’s been gone, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me the moment I heard her speak.
I glance around at the faces of my friends, observing their sympathetic looks, and I fucking hate it. I don’t want their pity. Cade must sense my agitation because he’s the first to break the silence.
“Alright, so what’s the plan?” Cade asks.
“Was hoping you had some ideas? Last I checked, you were the master at sweeping women off their feet.”
“Not women — Paige. And I don’t know Ivy as well as you do.”
“Other than art, what’s she into?” Dean asks. Miles’ mouth curves into a smile and I glare at him, recognizing the direction of his thoughts immediately. I can’t afford to be thinking about Ivy like that right now.
“Actually, I don’t think it’s her interests that we need to tap into. I think we need to find something you did together that meant something and work with that,” he says, surprising me.
It hits me like a flash of lightning. “The ranch. She fucking loved that place. The time we spent there was…” I let my words trail off, remembering some of the happier times before our world came crashing down. “Maybe those wounds are too fresh to go back there just yet.”
“No, I think you’re onto something with this,” Miles says. “She’s always loved the ranch. You should ask Griff or Jax to have Copper and Maybelle ready, then take her on a trail ride.”
“I’ll do ya one better,” Cade chimes in, a wide smile spreading across his face. “Talk to Russ. I’m pretty sure he has a little something up his sleeve for Ivy, and it just might be the thing you need to take this over the top.”
“You’re not gonna tell me what it is?”
“Nope.”
“Luca, my boy!” Russ beams from atop Rusty, his buckskin quarter horse. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“I’m on a mission.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. Follow me,” he says, hopping down from the saddle as he leads both me and Rusty towards the barn, flagging down Griffin along the way. “Son, can you take Rusty for me? Got some business with Luca here.”
Griff turns to me, studying my face. “Gonna get your girls back?” he asks, without even a hint of judgment.
“Hope so.”
Griff nods his approval before taking the reins from Russ. “Don’t fuck it up.” And with that, he disappears into the barn.
Following in step with Russell, we head in the direction of the shed that houses the ATVs.
“Before Ivy’s mama passed, she made Evie promise we’d take care of her girl.
We didn’t know it would happen so soon or so horrifically, but I think she suspected she didn’t have much time left.
I don’t know how she knew, but the universe works in mysterious ways, I ‘spose. Evie promised, and that was that. We’ve taken care of Ivy the best we could ever since, but that girl is stubborn.
” I hang onto every word as he gestures for me to join him on the side-by-side.
“She spent a lot of time trying to keep us at arm's length. No doubt she was, or is, afraid of losing another person she loves.” I flinch, and Russell doesn’t miss a beat.
“Make no mistake, Luca, that girl loves you, whether she knows it or not.”
“I don’t know about all that, Russ.” I cling to the overhead bar as he drives us over some rocky terrain around the back pasture.
“I do. You get to be my age and you notice the little things. Ivy never looked at Austin the way she looks at you. That’s not to say you don’t have a long row to hoe — Ivy girl’s a tough nut to crack.”
“You could say that again,” I chuckle.
“Few years back, when we thought she might be leaving Austin, Evie and I put a plan in place,” he explains as we come to a stop not far from the waterfall where I made love to Ivy on a picnic blanket.
I scan the area, eyes stopping on a cleared parcel of land I hadn’t noticed before.
“That,” he says, “belongs to Ivy. We had a few acres transferred to all of our kids, and this area has Ivy Jo’s name on it.
We never told her because we didn’t think she was ready to accept everything we wanted to give her. ”
“She might not be ready now,” I say. “She’s only back because my grandfather passed away. Once she realizes I’m okay, she’ll run right back to Colorado.”
“If that’s what you think, you’re dumber than I thought. Love ain’t gonna sit around and wait for you to take it, Luca. It’s gonna knock you on your ass whether you like it or not.”
“Alright, so what do I do with all of this?”
“That’s for you to decide. I’m just the messenger.”
I stood there for what felt like hours, mulling over what this could possibly mean for us — how this parcel of land could bring them back to me. “Come on, Son. Evie’s making dinner at the big house and she’d kick my ass if I didn’t invite ya.”