The afternoon progresseswith my girls spending time together. I can’t wait until my baby girl falls asleep so I can have my way with Andi. Her beautiful body is lush and full of my child. Her breasts are fuller and will overflow my hands. I can’t wait to get her nipples into my mouth.
For dinner, we both worked around the kitchen, making steaks and baked potatoes for ourselves. Ria had a bowl of baby rice with a partial jar of sweet potatoes. Now we’re sitting in the living room talking as Ria wears herself out before bed. Her schedule is all jacked up from today’s travel.
“What’s going on with your classes?” I ask Andi.
“I’m doing this semester online and taking next semester off. My advisor wasn’t really happy with me, but I explained that I’m expecting in January, and he said he understood. I took some extra online classes to help me hopefully graduate next December.”
“Good. So, you plan to go back to Eastport?” I’m nervous to hear her answer.
I need her close. I’ve told her how I feel, but she still hasn’t said the words back to me. She’s keeping her distance, and I know it’s partially because of her stalker.
“I’m hoping to, if they can capture my stalker before then. Ridley said Vegas called her with some new evidence. They might have a suspect, but they wouldn’t share anything more.”
I move over to where she’s sitting on the floor by Ria and tilt her chin up to look at me. “Andi, I want you to come back to Eastport. I want us to raise Ria together.” I rub my hand against her body where our child grows. “I want us to raise this baby together.” I watch tears form in her eyes.
“I told you I loved you. I do. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you are safe and that everyone knows where we stand in the future, even you. I’m sorry you were hurt and felt like running. But know this, I will chase you down every fucking time. If it weren’t for me fighting for Ria, I would have come for you as soon as I realized you were gone.”
“Ria needs to be your focus.” She puts her hand over mine on her belly. “Just like this one.”
I slide my hand from her chin along her face until it’s buried in her long hair. I’m about to lean in and kiss her. I can’t wait to feel her lips on mine. Then Ria lets out a loud burp, startling her. We both chuckle, and I pull back.
“Guess my little girl needs some attention.” I start to move, but Andi puts a hand to my chest.
“Please let me. I missed so much while I was gone.”
I nod and offer her my hand to help her up.
As Andi reaches down to pick up Ria, I can almost see my future with her in this moment. I watch them move out of the room and head toward Ria’s. My eyes drift around the place that has become her home. She has a small desk set up in the corner, and I see a picture of us she took our last night together. We’re cuddled, both smiling up at her phone as she snapped the shot.
Next to it is a photo of a man I know is her father. He’s holding her in his arms, and they’re smiling. A horse standsbehind them. In the same frame is another picture of the same man on a horse, with a very young Andi sitting in front of him.
But it’s the final picture in the trio that makes me pause. It’s of the two of them again. Their smiles are almost mysterious as they look at each other. She looks so much like him in the eyes. They were close, and it shows.
“That’s my father. He would have liked you.” Her voice breaks me from my perusal.
“Are you sure? I knocked up his baby girl before putting a ring on her finger. I also let her run from me because of a misunderstanding.”
She chuckles and shakes her head. “I was conceived before my parents got married. My father was a man who believed in tying my mother to him in every way, just like you.”
She looks at the picture for a moment, then her eyes move to the bookshelf, where a worn leather book catches her attention.
“What’s that?” I point at it.
“My father’s journal.” Her eyes briefly mist over. “He loved the ranch so much. I hate that it’s because of that ranch he’s dead.”
“Do you want to go back there?” I worry about her answer.
“Oh no. I hate that place. Between what happened to my father and how my mother is, I don’t ever want to go back except to visit.”
“He wouldn’t be disappointed in you not wanting to be there?”
She sits on the sofa, and I sit down beside her as she gently rocks Ria, helping her calm before we put her to bed.
“No.” She points to the book. “He journaled every day of my life until his death. Letters to me. Things he wanted me to know but couldn’t tell me then because I was so young. He told me to find my own path, that the ranch would survive without me.”
“He knew you didn’t want to stay on the ranch?”
“He knew I didn’t want to be a part of the ranch in that capacity. I think he thought I would get my vet degree and come back to take care of the horses. But what he really wanted was for me to not live my mother’s life. He didn’t want me to barrel race. They fought the night before he died. It was about me racing. I’d already started in the young kid’s circuit, and he didn’t want me in it.”