“Don’t be thick, Bri. This is more your home than you have ever had. Finding you at a cabin, dressed as a bum,” his voice softens as he turns to shoot a teasing grin at me, “cooking. You were cooking dinner for your mountain man. Jesus, you looked so normal, Brielle. So at peace and most definitely at home. Happy. Happier than I have ever seen you.”
“I am happy here,” I admit, eyes stinging with tears, “I was happy with him. I was going to tell you both. We were faking it, but I wanted to let you know that I was not faking it anymore. I....I love him, and I wanted to stay.”
“Then why did you leave with us,” Caleb asks with a frown.
“Because she did not think I loved her,” a gravelly voice calls out, startling me.
Turning, I see both the front and rear passenger doors on the truck thrown open. Father is pacing out in the snow, shouting into the wild winds. Snow is starting to come down and I tell myself for a moment that it is just shadows I see. The wind I am hearing. But it’s not. I see him and then I can feel him.
“Br-brett?”
“Bunny...I ought to have known. For you to believe it, I need to say it. Not just show it or think it or even feel you. They said you like romance and I guess they were right,” his voice is strong and clear despite the howling weather.
Pulling me from the truck, he cradles me against his chest, wrapping me in a blanket. Walking a few steps towards his jeep, he pauses. We almost get lost in the blowing wind and I feel as if it is just the two of us.
“I love you Brielle. I loved you the moment you slid down the slopes at my lodge. You need to hear it so I will always say it. They might have never said it, but I will, bunny. Because I love feeling it, I love having this. I love you, bunny. You knew but when I did not say it....”
“I thought it was fake,” I whisper, bowing my head to roll my brow across his. “I would have let it keep being fake if you would have let me. I loved faking it. I loved being up on this mountain with you. I even loved faking it at all those parties. But when my father threatened the lodge and you never said you loved me, I just figured I had to stop faking.”
“Your father could only take one thing from me that matters, bunny: you. I love you, baby. Always have. And I promise I always will.”
“You never break your promises to me,” I whisper, the words almost lost in the blowing wind. “I love you, Brett. I love you so much.”
Brett’s grin tells me he heard those words loud and clear. He bends his head and I meet him halfway, kissing him deep, soft, clinging to the moment
as it swirls around us. Another of the little moments I wish we could capture.
“Come on, bunny. Let’s get home. I think we might be snowed in if we get lucky,” he teases, both of us chuckling as he rushes to his waiting jeep.
“Wait! My brother!” I shout, trying to wiggle from his grasp just as he sets me in the jeep.
“I will make sure they are both fine,” he says gently, belting me in before he kisses my head. “Stay here, please, I don’t want you getting lost in this snow.”
Nodding, I let him close the door then turn to watch his dark figure rush across the road. I turn to keep an eye on him, turning up the heat to warm the Jeep. I bounce a knee as I wait, watching the darkness, hoping he comes back and tells me my brother is fine. And that my father is too, I guess.
“Yeah!”
I hear a shout, twisting back and forth in my seat to see where it came from. I shout when the driver’s side door flies open and snow and icy air blow in. It’s Brett and I cry out, trying to throw myself at him before my belt snatches me back. Chuckling, he reaches over, undoing my belt. He slips icy hands beneath my sweater, lifting me to draw me into his lap.
“Warm me up, babe. Your brother is coming back tomorrow. After he gets your father out of town. They were bickering when I loaded them, safely, back in that truck. Your brother is laughing his ass of. You really shocked the hell out of him. Also, he has no business driving that truck.”
Laughing, I nod, pressing kisses all over his face. “I love you, Brett. I love you so much. Take me home. I want to warm you up a lot more.”
“Oh yeah,” He hums, tipping his head back as the dome light slowly starts to dim. “I am down for getting warmed up. First in that mouth and then in that sweet pocket,” he teases with a laugh.
“Take me home, Ace,” I say with my own laugh.
We argue about me moving from his lap until he gives in and lets me stay there. Only after I let him strap us both in—as if that is any safer. But he knows these roads almost as well as he knows my curves. I trust him. I trust him with my life and with my heart.
“We won’t talk about tonight again,” his voice is soft, calm. I press closer because I hate that tonight even happened. Or almost happened.
“I want to talk about it once,” I argue as he takes a turn that slams me into him. “They never did tell me they loved me. Caleb tried to show it. My father...I think his love died with my mother. It just took all the good out of him, losing her. I had everything a girl could ever have. How could I want more? How could I be so selfish? That is why the causes and charities. Why I protest and march.”
“To make up for wanting to be loved? For wanting what most of us want the most? Bunny, you were loved. You had your brother. I believe your father loves you the best he knows how to. Quinn, Lennon, some of those goddamn lumberjacks. And I love you. You were never being selfish. And you are always worthy of being loved. Of being happy.”
Nodding as tears slip down my face, I snuggle closer. He has made me feel loved. Happy. He has made me feel at home for the first time. I don’t want to run off to South America or Asia to march for something or save someone.
I just want to exist. Brett told me once that existing is enough.