Everglades Wildfire, page 15
“Can’t completely let go of the old ways. Who would we be if we did?”
Rick scoffed. “I could say the same thing to you, you know. For letting Maria go.”
“Maria went home. To look for her sisters.” He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “She’s coming back.”
Rick nodded, softening his tone as he spoke. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy she has a shot at finding them after all this time. But considering how things, politics you know, are now, I’m surprised she was able to get that immigration stuff worked out so she can go to Cuba and come back.”
“The judge helped her.”
“I didn’t think he was... interested in helping...”
“Cubans who’d arrived here in non-traditional ways? Me either.” Ricky shrugged. “But he did. Everything will be fine for her. For us.”
Ricky didn’t sound totally certain, but there were things that could keep her from leaving Cuba and coming back into the US. Still, she needed to go back home, see the people she’d left behind. Her reason for leaving wasn’t like Amber’s. “Amber is going to marry some guy up north.”
Ricky scoffed. “I don’t believe that and neither do you.”
“It’s what she said.”
“Has it occurred to you that she lied?” Ricky’s voice was kind but firm. “Made that up?”
Rick let out a deep breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding. “Why would she do that?”
“Same reason you’re still here feeling sorry for yourself and pretending you don’t care that she’s gone.” His father got to his feet. “You’re a fool, Rick, if you can’t see that she loves you.”
The glimmer of hope he’d been trying to deny flared in his chest. “It was just pretend, Dad.”
“No. You’re the one doing the pretending. Pretending that you don’t love her. Pretending that you don’t want her here with you.” His father set the half empty bottle down. “Don’t make the same mistake I did. Accept that you’re only trying to protect yourself and then stop. You have to take chances, accept that you might get hurt, but hope that you won’t.”
* * *
Rick checked the address on the slip of paper in his hand and then started up the flower-lined walk. The blue house in front of him, with clean Midwestern lines and plain white trim around the windows, looked like the other two-story houses he’d passed on the way to Amber’s town. He paused at the end of the walk. The two-hour drive from the airport had given him plenty of time to reconsider his decision, but he had to see Amber and apologize for the way he’d treated her. He owed her at least that much.
When he spotted Amber’s shoes on the mat, he leapt up the steps and rapped on the door. A petite gray-haired woman opened it. Her clear eyes studied him for a long minute.
“Hello Rick.” He wasn’t surprised Amber’s mom knew who he was. There weren’t likely to be many tanned guys like him around here.
“I hear all the charges were dropped. That true?”
He didn’t blame her for bringing that up. He admired her for coming right out and asking. “That’s right, completely dropped.”
She stepped back to hold the door for him.
He was glad, though, she didn’t want more details. He opened his mouth to ask if he could speak to Amber, but she’d turned away to call up the stairs. “Amber, your Florida man is here.”
Rick’s gaze roamed across the many photos hanging in the entryway, Amber and her parents sailing, Amber and her sister on vacation, Amber graduating from high school and another of her graduating from Ohio State with her bachelor’s degree. In all of them, she looked happy—well loved. The way she should always look.
“She’ll be down, I’m sure.” She cast him an appraising glance then left the room, swinging a blue checked dish towel onto her shoulder.
When he turned back to the stairs, Amber was coming down, her hand skimming across the banister. The instant his gaze met hers, his truth flashed through him, pulling the pieces of himself together with such force he realized he hadn’t understood how fragmented he’d been. He was madly, hopelessly in love with her. He needed her and wanted her to need him.
She stopped at the bottom step, her gaze cautious and guarded. “Is there a legal problem?” A tiny smile lifted the corner of her mouth. “You need me to sign some documents?”
“Legal problem?”
“With the marriage,” she said, the tiny smile fading. “Can’t it be broken soon enough for you?”
“I didn’t come about that.” He looked around. “Can we talk outside?”
She nodded toward the door. He followed her outside and planted himself in front of a pot of red plants.
Once she’d pushed the door shut, he let the words tumble out on the porch. “I’m sorry, Amber.”
She folded her arms across her chest and eyed him carefully. “Sorry?”
“Sorry I put you through all that.”
She shrugged and moved back to stand beside one of the two white chairs on the porch. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”
There were so many things he wanted to say, but he couldn’t find the words. The one question that tumbled out was the one he least wanted answered. “Did you set a date yet?”
Her eyebrows shifted, her expression blank.
“For your wedding,” he clarified.
“Oh.” She stepped and reached up to pull a dead leaf off a hanging plant. “I’m not getting married.”
“I’m going to take care of the legal stuff as soon as I get home. It shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
She tossed the leaf onto the porch and then kicked it with her foot. “That’s not why.”
Conflicting emotions tumbled through him but the one at the center was his regret for hurting her. “I’m sorry, Amber. I’ve ruined that for you.”
“No, you didn’t,” she swung around and looked him straight in the eye. “I did that all by myself.”
“You? I don’t... How? How did you ruin it?”
She touched his chest, laid her palm flat across his heart. “By falling in love with you.”
Hope flashed through him, blocked out the last traces of fear and regret. “You love me?”
“That night on the beach, I realized its love. Not just lust. Just so you know, Christopher never even proposed to me. I made that up. I was trying to keep you away.” She scoffed. “You know how well that worked. I made a mess of my life. You didn’t make me do anything. I did it all because I wanted to. Now, I live with the consequences.” She moved away from him and started picking at the plant again. “I don’t regret helping you though.”
“Marrying someone to help them, it’s not the best reason.”
“No,” she replied, turning away from the plant. “It isn’t.”
“What about because you love someone.” He took her hand and turned it over to kiss her palm. “Is love a good reason to get married?”
She whispered her reply, “That’s the only reason.”
For the first time in a long time, he wasn’t afraid for his future or of what was in his heart. “And if the man offers you security and a house and maybe kids. Is that okay?”
Confusion blurred her eyes. Her lips quivered.
“I told you, Amber, you belong to me. Weren’t you listening?”
She laid her free hand on top of his. “Belonging has to go both ways.”
He lowered their hands and kissed her lightly on the mouth. “I belong to you, Amber. If you want me.”
Her gaze cleared. He loosened his grip on her hands, let go of them, then wrapped his arms around her. She rose up to kiss him. The instant her lips touched his, he took a deep breath, his soul filling with Amber, the woman he wanted to love every day, as often as possible, for the rest of his life. As he tugged her closer and held her tight, he knew, this time, he’d never have to let go. She made him whole, and he was the man who’d get to spend his days making all her dreams come true.
About the Author
Isabelle Drake got her start writing confession stories for pulp magazines like True Confessions and True Love. Since publishing those first few stories she has written in multiple genres, earned an MFA in Creative Writing and became an English & Writing Professor.
When away from her keyboard, she watches films, especially classic noir, horror and romance, and reads (of course). An avid traveler, she’ll go just about anywhere—at least once—to meet people and get ideas.
Find Isabelle as Isabelle Drake on Facebook, YouTube and Goodreads & @isabelledrake on Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr & isadrake on Snapchat.
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Isabelle Drake, Everglades Wildfire
