When the Heart Falls(160)

"We can't skip the tour."

He snickers. "Right. You're a good girl. At least, you pretend to be. But I know what you want." He touches my arm, making my skin crawl. "Remember how that feels?"

"Get. Away." I mean it to sound like a command, forceful and intimidating, but it comes out like a mouse squeak.

"Come on. You know you want—"

There's a hand on Rodney's shoulder. "Excuse me,” says a man with a familiar Texas drawl, “but I'm going to need my traveling companion back."

It's Cade. My Cade. I blink through tears to make sure I’m not imagining it, but his cowboy hat comes into view, then his face, his beautiful magnificent face, and I want Rodney to curl up and die and never touch me again.

"I thought you left.” Rodney steps away from me, and I move behind Cade, shaking like a leaf.

"I had something to do," Cade says. "But it's done now." He looks at me, his eyes, so blue, so kind, so full of love. "I'm back."

I smile and wipe the tears from my eyes. No time for crying now. My Cade is back.

Cade looks at Rodney. "So if you don't mind, Winter and I have things to discuss."

Rodney puffs up his chest, not ready to back off. "Who's gonna make me?"

Cade pins him against the railing, just as Rodney had pinned me, and whispers something in his ear.

Rodney's face drains of blood, his eyes bulging, and when Cade steps away, the bully turned coward holds up his hands and scuttles away like the bug he is.

Once Rodney is gone, Cade pulls me to him. My body is still shaking, but for entirely different reasons. His smell, his touch, things I feared I’d never experience again, send me over the edge of happiness.

“Are you okay, Winter? Did he hurt you?”

“I’m okay, now that you’re here. Are you okay?” I’m not going to bring up the lack of phone calls. I’m too happy he’s here now.

“I am now that I’m with you.”

"What did you tell Rodney to make him leave?"

Cade smiles. "I reminded him of my fondness for sticks."

I don't get it, but it's not important. Cade is back. My Cade. Le sigh.

Then I remember why he had went away in the first place. “Stevie?”

Cade’s smile falters, and I hate that something I said caused that. “He died.”

I wrap my arms around his waist, still looking up at him. “Oh, Cade.” I don’t say I’m sorry, because those are such weak words, so instead I send him all the love I have in me and hope he feels it.

“I’m actually doing better than I thought. He passed peacefully, and I finally learned something important about my family, and about love.”

“What’s that?”

“That love is letting go.”

My heart skips a beat in fear. Is he breaking up with me? Did he come all the way back to Paris to break my heart?

He must see the panic in my eyes, because he brings his finger up to stroke my cheek. “Don’t worry, Winter. I’m not letting go of you, not in the way you think. I just mean that love is about letting go of the expectations we have of other people to make us happy. We have to find that in ourselves. No one else can give it to us. If we don’t, we’ll crush those we love with expectations they can never meet.”

Understanding dawns on me. “You forgave your dad.”

He nods. “I did, and I owe that to you. You helped me see the truth of my family. I lost Pete because my parents couldn’t stand that he was gay. He killed himself. At least that’s why I thought he killed himself, and I blamed my dad and I blamed myself, but in the end, it’s no one’s fault. It happened, and now we have to move forward and build something new. And I’m ready to do that, Winter, with you. You’re my support beam.”

I smile at the reference to our first conversation about Notre Dame architecture. Sparks ignite between us. He leans down, and I reach up to him and our lips meet in a tender kiss filled with love and hope and a future I can’t wait to live. I never want to let go of him, never want to stop holding him. I belong with this man, I know that now. Whatever we have to do, we will be together.

“Did your dad realize all of this too?”

Cade shakes his head.

"So, if he never speaks with you again, it's my fault, isn't it?"

"No.” Cade kisses my forehead. "He is what he is, and I'm okay with that.” He kisses me once more and then pulls me toward the stairs. “Now, I have a surprise for you."





WINTER DEVEAUX

CHAPTER 36





HAND IN HAND we walk through the streets of Paris, and I have to keep looking up at him to make sure he’s real, that he’s really here and not just a figment of my imagination. Our separation wasn’t that long in the grand scheme of things, but the threat of permanence made it infinite. To have him back is like a miracle, and I don’t want to ever lose him again. I don’t bring up the end of summer, but I know things are changing for both of us. I’m just not sure how yet, but ideas are forming. If I’m brave enough.

For now, I focus on the present, and like a child at Christmas, I plague him with questions trying to guess the surprise, but he just kisses me and smiles his secret smile. Infuriating. Le sigh.