41. Chapter Forty-one

Chapter Forty-one

Remington

The next couple weeks were filled with confusion and action. Some questions were answered, but others might always remain a mystery. Our family and town rallied around us, showing support in the delivery of flowers and food, stop-ins, phone calls and, most helpfully, rebuilding the garage that had been destroyed.

There was no replacing the contents that had gone up in flames, but fortunately, not everything had been lost. Most of Graham’s tools had been salvageable, which was really what Hannah had cared most about.

We were on our way to having a whole new structure. A dozen guys from the ranch had come out to demo the charred remains and returned this week to frame out the walls.

We’d gone through something ugly, and our town had answered in beauty. That beauty had helped heal Hannah and me, reminding us the universe tended to bend toward goodness even when it felt the opposite.

“Remington Town, come on, you slow poke. You’re falling behind.” Hannah laughed over her shoulder before urging her horse to go faster. The breeze caught her hair and the tails of her white eyelet bow as her horse galloped toward the creek beyond the crest of the hill ahead.

“Maybe I just like the view from back here.”

Her laughter echoed off the endless sky, and my heart lurched. The night she’d fallen into my arms, fire blazing outside, dead woman upstairs, I’d wondered if I’d ever hear that sound again. But my woman rallied, and she did it quickly. There’d been tears, nightmares, new fears awakened, but Hannah had wanted to move on and get back to good, so she’d worked at it. And I’d been right there with her for all of it, no matter how hard going it got.

No way out but through.

I clucked my tongue, and Dynamite, the black mustang I regularly rode when working the ranch, gave chase, galloping over the rough, rocky terrain as easily as a fully paved path. His ears twitched as we drew closer to Hannah and her mare, the view opening to the true vastness of the Kelly ranch and all the wonders it held.

“There you are! I was wondering if you’d fallen asleep back there.”

“Nope. My boy just likes to stop and smell the roses.” I patted the mustang’s neck and murmured, “Didn’t mean it, Dynamite. You go at your own pace. Doesn’t matter if our girl is faster. We like seeing her win.”

Hannah watched me over her shoulder. “Are you gossiping about me?”

“That’s between me and Dynamite.”

Another throaty laugh, and she took off, her hair flowing behind her like chocolate streamers.

We finally caught up to her when we reached the creek. She’d already dismounted and was in the process of tugging her boots off. I let Dynamite graze with Hannah’s mare and sat on the ground beside her to take my own shoes off.

She leaned over and pressed her lips to mine. “Hey.”

I took her chin between my fingers. “Hey yourself.”

Her smile came on slowly, curving the corners of her mouth then spreading to her cheeks and lighting up her eyes. “I’m happy to be doing this with you.”

My heart thumped, and I pulled her closer, curling my arm around her shoulders. “Ah, Hannah-girl, how I love you,” I crooned. “More and more every day.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah.”

It’d been close. If Henry hadn’t bypassed the fire to check on Hannah, I would’ve lost her. That weighed on me, and it would for a long time. How could it not?

Hannah hopped up and reached for my hand. “Come on. Soon, it’s going to be too cold to do this. It’s our last chance until summer.”

I let her lead me to the creek, walking straight into the burbling water. We waded out to the middle, jeans rolled up to our knees. There we stopped, rocks beneath our bare feet. The cold, lapping stream hitting our calves. I took her by the waist and pulled her flush with me, her toes overlapping mine.

A smile broke free as I looked at her, the wind lifting her hair, sun glinting off her rosy cheeks, her chin quivering.

“I’m thinking we’re too late, Han. There are fucking ice cubes floating past us.”

She laughed. “What do you mean? It’s so balmy.”

“You lie, sweetheart. But if you wanna stay in here, I’ll stay with you.”

She poked my chest. “You’ve gotten weak. Don’t worry; one Wyoming winter will toughen you right back up.”

“You might be right about that.”

She trailed her fingertip along the outer corner of my eye. “When you smile, you get these gorgeous lines that look like starbursts. I love your starburst smiles, Remington.” She touched her lips to mine. “I’m ready to move back to the house. Are you?”

Since the night of the fire, we’d been staying at Hannah’s apartment. Along with rebuilding the garage, work had been done inside the house too. I hadn’t been sure Hannah would ever want to step foot in there again, but I’d needed to make certain there was no evidence of the violence that had taken place if she did.

Elena and Lily had put themselves in charge of redoing the bedrooms, moving our bed and belongings to the primary bedroom that had once been my father’s. The fact of the matter was, even if Hannah was okay sleeping in the room where Christine had intended on ending her life, I never would be.

“I go where you go, Hannah. I know you love the house—”

She sucked in a breath. “I’m ready. I’m not letting one person take away the place that’s always felt like home to me. She doesn’t get that.” She flattened her palm on my chest, right over my heart. “You had bad memories there, but we rewrote them together. We’ll do the same now and make so many new ones the bad ones will be specks in our history. That house, that land, it’s where we belong.”

I kissed her forehead and stroked her silky, wind-whipped hair. “Like I said, I go wherever you go. If you think you’ll feel safe, I’m more than willing to move back to the house.”

“It’s over, Rem.” Her lashes brushed her cheeks as she exhaled a soft breath. “Those people will never touch us again.”

The same night of the fire, the police had taken Cleve Jones into custody, and he’d sung like a canary. According to him, Christine had been the one who’d left the notes and forced him to slash Hannah’s tires. He’d said she’d been behind the wheel when the truck had jumped the curb, almost hitting us. He claimed not to have known his wife had intended to kill Hannah, but we’d never know how true that was.

He wouldn’t see the inside of a jail cell, but he’d left us alone. Last weekend, we’d gone grocery shopping and Cleve had turned down the aisle we were browsing. One look at us, and he wheeled around and went the other way. Legally, he’d had to, given the protective order Hannah had been granted against him.

There wasn’t a lot of good about Cleve, but he was pretty much all bluster and very little bravery. I had a feeling he would do a lot to keep out of jail, and that meant staying far, far away from Hannah. Rumor had it his landlord was evicting him and he’d be moving to Utah to live with his brother.

Brady and Teller hadn’t been so lucky. They’d been picked up outside a diner in Idaho and both were in jail, awaiting trial. Hannah would have to face that, but for now, it wasn’t anything we were worrying about.

Hannah was safe, and we were together. We would see the rest of it through when it came time to face it.

“Then we’ll move back to the house.”

She shot me the sweetest grin. “And fix up the stables so we can get a few horses.”

“I thought we were going to steal some from the ranch. I’m taking a liking to Dynamite over there.”

“That’s an option. I think I could sweet-talk my dad and Caleb into almost anything right now. I’ve got to milk the almost-dying-twice thing for all it's worth.”

“Hannah,” I sighed, resting my forehead on hers, “I’m not ready to make jokes about that yet. Maybe not ever.”

Her fingers flexed on my chest. “I don’t think I am either. I was testing it out, but it didn’t feel great. Still, I’m sure we can work something out with Caleb if you’re mad for Dynamite.”

“Dynamite’s a good boy, but I think he’s firmly attached to the Kelly ranch. What if we start fresh?”

“I would love that.” She laid her head on my shoulder and wrapped her arms tightly around me.

I had to close my eyes, inhale the scent of her hair, to feel the solid weight of her leaning against me. I’d been a hairsbreadth from losing this and the heavy knowledge of that had struck me in quiet moments like this over the past couple weeks.

Then, Hannah laughed, bringing me back to reality, where my woman was beautifully alive, colorful, and free.

“You’re right, Remington. There are fucking ice cubes in this water. I think my toes now have frostbite. Get me out of here.”

Grinning, I lifted her off her feet and carried her onto solid ground, where I collapsed to my ass, then my back, dragging her with me. Stretched out on top of me, she propped herself up on my chest, all smiles and sunshine as she tucked her icy feet between my legs.

“Better?” I laughed.

“So much better. I can always count on you, can’t I?”

Meeting her gaze, I trailed my knuckles along the side of her face and gave her starbursts. “You can, sweetheart. Lean. I will always be there for you to rest on.”

Her fingertip dusted over the corner of my eye. “Love you, Remington Town.”

“Love you like crazy, Hannah Kelly.”

Her grin slipped from adoring to mischievous. “Are you going to take me home and show me how crazy you can be?”

“All you had to do was ask.” Taking her in my arms, I brought my mouth to her ear. “Let’s go home.”

No way out but through, and I couldn’t wait to see it through with Hannah.