Page 80 of Skye's Fall
I nod, “Me too.”
“She has made some bad choices in her life,” she gives me a stern look.
“As have I,” I admit.
“I’m not here to place blame on anyone. I just want to know if you’re in it for the long haul,” she says pointedly.
I swallow hard, “I am. Getting to this point has been rough, but I’m not going anywhere.”
“Glad to hear it. I think you should read some of those,” she gestures to the books on the table. They look like notebooks.
“They’re her journals. About you. She poured her feelings into those. And if you look at the dates, some of them were written after she married Memphis. She thought she was protecting you. She was young, immature. I don’t think she did any of it out of spite. The bullying? That was jealousy. You’ll read all about it in the journals.”
I pick one up and start skimming through it. The page I’m reading talks about how she feels bad for treating Ever unkindly and that she wanted to hurt herself after the accident. She goes on about the guilt she carried around.
I’m torn apart at her words.
I read about her hopes and dreams. She wanted to sell crafts that she likes making. She wanted to open an online shop, but never got around to doing it. I didn’t even know she was into crafts or sewing. There’s so much I need to learn about my woman. Yes, my woman. I like the ring to that.
I keep reading. Her poems, her songs that she made up. How she wants to own lots of dogs and cats. Once she wanted to own a ranch because she wanted to be a rodeo queen.
I read about how she loved me more than she could put into words and that she hoped that her child looked like me and acted like me. She writes about how her heart broke that day, the day of her wedding. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, me or Memphis.
I keep reading until DD sets down a plate of food.
I look up to find her smiling at me as she wipes a few tears away that I didn’t know I shed.
“It’s hard to read that. Skye has never really been good with spoken words. She likes to bottle things up inside at times. I know she loves you,” she says as I take a bite of my sandwich.
I nod, letting her go on.
“I know you will be good to her. I know you waited, even if you don’t admit it. You haven’t ever been with anyone since that day and I know you won’t after, just her. I’m happy you two found your way back.”
I continue to eat and listen.
I watch her get up, go over to a bookshelf, and pick up a box, setting it in front of me. I glance at her with a quizzical look on my face.
“I know the original proposal was a little unconventional but thoughtful. But I figured as a man, you would want to do it the right way. This ring has been in my family for generations. I knew I would always pass it on to her, but I knew it wasn’t the right time when she married Memphis. Nothing against him, he just wasn’t the right one. You are. That is my great-great-great grandmother’s ring. I want you to propose to my baby the way you feel is right.”
I have no words for what is happening right now. She’s giving me a family heirloom to re-propose to Skye.
“DD,” I start.
She yanks me off the couch and pulls me into a hug, “You can call me mom, now.”
And my heart has been pieced back together.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Skye
Iwaited around all day. More like paced, wearing a hole into the rug in the living room. I wished him well with my mom since she can be intense. Linc called on his way home from my mom’s and told me to get dressed. I am dressed so not sure what he means other than we’re going somewhere. But that was hours ago, so I’m back to pacing. What did my mother say to him?
I am staying at the ranch even though my stuff is still at my mom’s.
Beau is going to help me move all my stuff so then I can say I’m officially moved in, even though this place already feels like home.
My mom can be a terror. Downright scary. The tongue lashing I got after all that mess with Ever had me shaking in my shoes for weeks afterward. It took me a long time to get on her good side again. I deserved it. But she loved me even though I did all that. Sometimes all we need is a mother’s love.
