Vivian Arend - Rocky Mountain Haven

I’m on early chores in the barn. I’ll stop by to see you later. Take you out for a coffee?

Her mom’s question came back: If Daniel was someone she was truly going to trust, how was she going to let him know? Show him, and herself, she thought he was worthy of being trusted. Last night she’d shared things with him she’d never told another person. Did he understand how difficult that had been? What it meant to have felt she could tell him—everything? She’d already done something huge by leaving him alone with her boys. There wasn’t a much more tangible way of saying she trusted him than that.

But she hadn’t verbally said it, and she hadn’t said what was in her heart. And after dictating what she expected of this relationship all those months ago, if she was going to change the rules, she needed to tell him.

She made a quick phone call then called to the boys to get their things together.

“Where we going?” Lance checked the clock and frowned. “It’s too early for swimming.”

“Not too early for a visit. It’s Saturday, and Mr. Coleman said he needed you to show him where the kittens are you found yesterday.”

Squeals of delight rose and Beth smiled. Yes, and Marion Coleman needed to show them how to bake and eat too many cookies. And the rest of the Coleman boys needed to teach them how brothers could love and support each other even if they didn’t always see eye to eye on everything. How to be a family, with strong men who weren’t afraid to love their women wholeheartedly.

She blinked back the tears and hustled everyone out the door, desperately trying to figure exactly what she was going to say to Daniel when she finally saw him.

It was poetic she found him in the barn, the same place she’d searched him out three months earlier. He wandered from stall to stall, pouring grain from a bag. One of the horses sniffed his hair and made little nickering sounds. Daniel laughed, reaching up to rub its nose, the easy way he moved speaking of his familiarity with the animals and his patience. Her physical pull toward him was incredible, even in dirty jeans with his hair all mussed. She’d never seen him look more attractive, except maybe the previous night when he’d cradled Nathan so carefully.

She took a deep breath. “Hey.”

He swung around and his face lit up.

“Good morning, darling.” He strode forward and took her in his arms, planting a juicy kiss on her lips before he paused and released her, glancing around in embarrassment. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t even think to check if the boys were with you.”

“They’re at your parents’ house.”

“With my folks?” He frowned in confusion.

She twisted her fingers together, shy and nervous again. “You got a minute? We need to talk.” Damn, how often had she said that? Or him to her?

He smiled. “I feel as if we’re caught in one of those time warps. You want to walk or sit here in the barn with me?”

They laughed together, and suddenly she wasn’t anxious anymore. She tucked herself back against his body, resting her head on his chest. “I missed waking up in your arms this morning.”

He kissed her forehead. “I didn’t want to push it with the boys, but damn you were hard to leave.”

Beth looked into his eyes, marveling at the way he waited patiently for her to make the next move. To speak. She really did feel safe with him. “Remember when I said that I wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship and you said we had to be friends as well as lovers?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you feel as if we’re friends?”

Daniel held her for a minute, staring off into space over her head. Her mind darted with the possibilities of his response. Was she pushing too fast? Then he lifted her chin so their eyes met. She could see the caring on his face.

“I think in some ways we are, and others, we’re still learning.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe that I never knew about your husband. I should have been so much more careful with you, so much gentler.”

He had been. “Oh, Daniel, everything you did was right, even if it was by accident. All our early visits were out in public, and you pushed my comfort levels the right way. You were yourself. I got to see how you dealt with the people around you, see what they thought of you. There was no pretending with you, ever. I don’t think I could have been comfortable so quickly with anyone else.”

“Do you think we’re friends?” he asked.

She kissed him. “With benefits.” He stiffened, and she hurried on before all her hard-won courage failed. “But it’s not enough. Not anymore.” She stepped back so she could look him straight in the eye. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

“Oh, thank God.”

His completely unexpected reaction made the last bubble of fear burst and joy well up in its place. She laughed out loud. “Daniel Coleman, you are impossible. What’s that supposed to mean?”

He picked her up and spun her around in a circle, clasping her close. “Just that it’s a good thing to know you’re falling, because when you land, I’ll be there waiting for you. I fell awhile ago, and I’ve been hoping you’d catch up.”

“Are you saying—?”

“I love you. I think the world of you and how you’ve faced your fears and made a new life for yourself and the boys. The way you smile and laugh, the way you pour yourself into your kids at home and at the school.” He set her back on her feet and wrapped his arms around her torso, pressing their bodies together. “I love the way you feel under me, and yet sex is a small part of it. I love the whole package, Miss Beth.”

She hugged him tightly as he spoke. He loved her. She could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice, and every bit of it rang true.

“So…what now?” she asked. He led her to a bale, and once again the coincidence of the situation hit her hard. They settled next to each other, hands linked.

“If it were just you and me involved here, I’d be willing to do whatever you feel needs to be done. I’d go down on one knee and propose if that’s what you wanted. I’d move in with you, and we could be partners for the rest of our lives without the need for any piece of paper or fancy words being spoken. But what about the boys?”

She lifted their joined hands to her lips and kissed his knuckles. It was so like Daniel to try to think the whole thing through. If she could be any surer, that would have been the final nudge she needed, that he was concerned about her sons.

He was the one they all needed in their lives, for better or worse.

Daniel could barely breathe, the raw emotion running through his body drawing his throat tight. He was looking at the possibility of forever hovering in front of him, and damn if he could figure out the right move to make.

“The way I see it, those kids have been through an awful lot over the past year, and they must be pretty confused. You were hurt pretty bad in the accident, and suddenly their daddy was gone. Yeah, the man wasn’t a good father, but he was still all they knew. You moved them to a new home and new schools, new friends. All that for the best of reasons, but it has got to make their heads spin. They might not take kindly to me coming in as someone other than a temporary babysitter.”

Beth shook her head. “I want what is best for my boys, but that doesn’t mean letting them dictate what I do with my life. It’s not going to be all sweetness and roses trying to make them understand who you will be in their lives, but just because they balk a few times doesn’t mean it’s not the best thing for them.”

“But should we push them too fast? Do we have to push them?”

“What are you suggesting? That we carry on like we have?”