Page 25 of Something Tangled Something True (Rosa Ranch #1)

BORN PROTECTOR

My fingers trail over the smooth edges of the box and wrap around the perfectly tied blush-pink ribbon, pulling it loose.

I can hear Ryder a few feet away, plating the congri, maduros , and pollo guisado I made us for dinner. The least I can do for him is cook, considering I feel like a mantenida . It’s only been a couple of weeks since I moved back, but not having a job or any prospects is really wearing on me.

Plates clang, but those sounds become faint behind the noise my heartbeat makes, pounding in my ears when I lift the lid of the box to find my wedding dress inside.

My eyes shoot to him. “Ryder,” I breathe out.

“Yes, darlin’?”

“What’s this?”

“It’s your wedding dress,” he tells me, as if that answers anything.

“And what’s it doing on our kitchen table?”

“You said you wanted to keep it, and I promised you’d have what you want in this life. It seemed important to you, so it’s important to me.”

A sudden pressure clamps down on my chest, and before I can stop myself, I’m up on my feet, the chair scraping loudly against the floor.

My legs move on their own, and in a blur, I’m right there, colliding into Ryder’s arms, his warmth grounding me.

I stand on my tiptoes, winding my arms around his neck.

He reacts immediately, pulling me against his hard chest, which rumbles with laughter.

“Well, hello to you too, darlin’.”

My heart bursts into a million beautiful, glittery pieces around me. In just a few days, Ryder has managed to be a better partner to me than Russ ever was, and that should make me sad, but it doesn’t. It makes me so unbelievably grateful to be in his arms instead.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re perfect?” I tease as I reluctantly pull away from him.

“Not that I can remember,” he says, tapping his chin. “But I’d love for you to be the first.” He winks, and sparks zip up my spine from that alone. I’m in so much trouble.

I ignore my brain’s warning. “You”—I point directly at his chest—“are perfect , Ryder Lockhart.”

“Right back at ya, darlin’,” he tells me, warming me from the inside out. He reaches for a plate beside him, piled high with food, and shoves it toward me. “Now, go eat. I’ll grab us some drinks and be right there.”

He takes a seat across from me a couple of minutes later, and instead of the awkward silence that had always encompassed meals spent with Russ, we jump right into casual conversation.

“Do you remember the time in second grade when Ashley McAllister decided on the first day of class she didn’t like you?” he asks.

“How could I forget? That little brat put glue in my shoe!”

“She didn’t get much better as we aged either,” he says with a light chuckle. “I swear, she enjoyed bullying you more than anything, including arts and crafts. ”

“She did.” A smirk curls my lips. “Until someone pushed her into an ant pile, and when she yelled at that someone, claiming he couldn’t do that because she was a girl, he told her it would be sexist not to treat her the same way he’d treat any boy.” A sharp laugh bursts out of me at the memory.

“She was lucky it hadn’t been a fire ant pile,” he says. “And I stand by my words. She was a tyrant then, and the fact that she works in politics now makes entirely too much sense. Though I don’t believe it was the ant pile that got her to leave you alone,” he tells me with a quirked brow.

“No? Do tell.”

“Did Mayte ever tell you about my tenth birthday party after you had gone home with a sore throat?”

I shake my head no. “All I remember after that party is you stopping by to bring me a slice of cake after everyone went home,” I say with a smile.

He casts his eyes downward before snapping up to meet mine again.

“Well, after you left, Ashley made a nasty comment about you, and Mayte nearly flew across the table. She grabbed the first thing she saw, which happened to be a full rack of baby-back ribs covered in barbecue sauce. She slung that thing across that girl’s face so hard she fell out of her chair.

Mayte screeched about there being more where that came from if she ever bullied you again.

Ashley called her mom crying, and after she picked her up, my mom gave everyone an extra bowl of ice cream with dessert.

” He lets out a loud laugh that matches my own.

“And she gave Mayte the biggest scoop.” His shoulders quake with laughter as he admits his mom condoned the whole thing.

I can’t say it surprises me in the least.

“The fact that no one ever told me that is criminal,” I wheeze out between laughs.

“Sorry, darlin’,” he says, averting his gaze, the smile that had been present just moments ago seems to melt away, and my spine goes rigid, preparing for impact.

When his eyes meet mine again, he reaches across the table and takes my hands in his.

“I don’t think I can properly express how sorry I am for not seeing through Lemmon’s fake niceties.

I hope you know that if I’d known, I never would have married her.

” The words hit me right through the heart, and even though he’s told me this before, it’s never meant as much as it does coming from my husband.

I give his hands a gentle squeeze. “It hurt, Ry, it did. But I do know that had you known, things would’ve been different.

I shouldn’t have hidden it from you, but I was just so determined not to let her know that her antics bothered me as much as they did that I refused to tell you.

I knew you’d try to fight my battles for me, and it’s not what I wanted. ”

“I just keep thinking that I should’ve paid more attention. It’s hard for me to understand how I missed it.”

I shake my head. “She very rarely bullied me when there were witnesses, Ry. She was good about keeping her torment to private spaces or making it look like an accident. She’d had the nice girl act down pact for so long, I’d thought there was something wrong with me because everyone else seemed to adore her. ”

He clenches his teeth, the muscle in his jaw ticking.

“Believe me, Lola, I’d thought there was something wrong with me for not realizing everything she’d ever said to me was with the intention of making me feel safe enough to confide in her, only for her to prove to be the most dangerous person I knew.

” It kills me to know what she’d put him through, and even more at the thought that I probably don’t even know the half of it.

“I want to apologize too,” I tell him, blowing out a breath.

His brows knit, and he tilts his head. “What for? You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Please don’t do that. You’re not the only one to blame for our failed relationship.

I should’ve known you wouldn’t just move on after Logan’s death.

I should have done more to help you, to be that safe space for you to let it all out when you needed me.

Maybe if I’d tried harder, you wouldn’t have ended up the perfect target for Lemmon. ” My throat feels thick, eyes burning.

“Lola, listen to me. I wanted you to stay in Dallas and accomplish everything you set out to. I’d have been far worse off if you’d up and left to run to my rescue.

That’s a guilt I’d never be able to live with.

” He peers up at the ceiling, blinking away tears.

“Do you think this could be our second chance, darlin’?

Could we just promise to work toward being better together and agree to get over the guilt we’ve both been carrying with us for things we’d done when our frontal lobes were barely formed? ”

That makes me crack a smile, relief washing over me, but there’s still the thread of tension weaving through my heart.

Of course I want those things, but I need to be more careful with my heart this time around.

It’s what pushes me to say my next words.

“I think if we can forgive each other, then the next step should be forgiving ourselves.”

He gives me a small smile. “Thank you, darlin’. That means more to me than you could ever know.” The thing about that is, I do know, just as well as I think he does.

We continue eating with comfortable conversation, and when we’re done, Ryder scoots out of his chair. He gathers our plates and takes them to the sink.

“Hey, I’ll get those,” I tell him, but he waves me off.

“You cooked. I’ll clean. I don’t want you doin’ any dishes ‘til you get in to see the specialist once your insurance is active and your medication has had a chance to kick in.” His words warm me to my core, and the fact that he’s thought about my health beyond getting me on his insurance plan is so sweet.

It feels like my heart is literally melting in my chest. “How’ve you been feeling this week?

You haven’t seemed like you’ve been in any visible pain, but that might be optimistic of me. ”

I give him a small smile, remaining seated at the table. “I’m definitely not pain-free, but I’m doing better this week. I have my highs and lows, but I was dancing while cooking earlier, so that’s an improvement for sure.”

“I’m glad to hear that, darlin’. You have any plans for what you’d like to do as far as teaching again?”

I shrug, unsure what to really say at this point.

It’s all been such an adjustment from my old life these past few years.

“I’ve started calling around to studios nearby and haven’t had any takers yet.

My dream has always been to open my own studio, so maybe this was just a push in the right direction.

” Images of dance classes taught at the old red barn flit through my mind, the same way they have off and on for years.

“I’m hoping I can offer classes remotely soon since I’m worried there won’t be much of a clientele around here, but that doesn’t feel sustainable long-term. ”

He hums, deep in thought, as he rinses the last dish.

When he’s finished, he turns around, drying his hand on the dish towel slung over his shoulder, and leans against the kitchen counter.

“I’d be happy to put out some feelers in the area and find out if any studios are hiring or would be willing to add on Latin dance lessons,” he tells me.

My first instinct is to tell him no, but frankly, I need this to work, and if that’s going to happen, I have to be able to do what I love. His help would make things so much easier. “That’d be really great, Ry. I appreciate it.”

He finishes the dishes and takes his seat across from me again, reaching out to cradle my hands.

His eyes flit from our hands, where our new rings sit as evidence of the massive change we’ve just committed to, his teeth buried in his plump bottom lip.

“I want you to know I support anything and everything you want to do, okay?” he asks, and my gut starts to somersault with tension. This doesn’t sound good.

“Okay…”

He gives my hands a quick squeeze before his eyes finally find mine again. “You mentioned that if things got really tough, you could go back to Dallas and work with Karmella and Yanet again. Is that what you want though?”

I shake my head, no thought necessary. “No, Ry. I’ve missed entirely too much of Isabela’s life already, and this is my home. If I can make things work here, I want to. I just find it comforting to know there’s somewhere I can fall back on.”

He nods slowly, then runs the tip of his tongue over the slope of his bottom lip. The movement has no right to be as sinfully delicious as it is, but here I am, clenching my thighs together at the sight. His next words take me off guard.

“I won’t pretend to fully grasp the weight of what being Latine, especially in Western Oklahoma, means for you, your job prospects, or any of the other ways that you’ve always had to work harder to earn the respect that’s freely given to those who aren’t BIPOC.

So I don’t want you to think I’m dismissing any of your concerns or how they might impact your ability to start your own business outside of this town.

” My brows pinch, and he continues. “I know you’re willing to put in the extra work, but what if things could be a little easier for you by having the support of people who watched you grow up?

” He squeezes my hands again in a reassuring gesture.

“When we were kids, you always told me the red barn would be the perfect place for a dance studio, and I couldn’t agree more. What do you think about that now?”

My mouth hangs open. I blink slowly at him in bewilderment. He takes my silence for something it isn’t and backtracks. “I don’t want you to feel stuck here or anything, but I don’t want you to leave or give you another reason to leave me again, and I just thought that maybe?—”

I pull my hands from his grasp, lean over the table, and slap a hand over his mouth. “Stop,” I whisper. “Just stop talking.”

I suck in a breath and will my racing heart to slow. “It’s perfect, Ry. It’s just what I’ve always wanted.”

He rewards me with a massive smile I can feel beneath my palm. I drop my hand to get a glimpse of it, and it’s every bit as stunning as I’d expected. “But we need to figure out a payment plan because I don’t have much in savings.”

“You’re my wife, Lols. What’s yours is yours, and what’s mine is also yours,” he says with a lopsided grin.

“It’s not real, Ryder. I couldn’t accept something like that. I’m willing to offer you fifty percent of the income I collect from classes until I’ve paid off whatever amount we agree upon, and then I’ll continue giving you twenty percent each month,” I tell him with finality in my tone.

“You really don’t have to?—”

“I want to, Ry. It’s important to me.”

He gives me a resigned nod. “Anything for you, darlin’. Now, you wanna watch a movie? Tonight’s your pick.”

He’s made every night my pick. And now, he’s managed to help me make my dreams come true with a gesture he doesn’t fully understand the weight of.