Dance Away with Me(114)

“I don’t want to get rid of you!” he exclaimed. “You’re the one who doesn’t want me.”

She was stunned. “Why would you say something like that?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You like the sex, I get that. You like me. I appreciate that. But you’re not in love with me.”

“I’m what?”

He turned away from her. “I’m not saying it twice.”

She darted in front of him. “You’ve inhaled too many paint fumes.”

“Have I?” His familiar belligerence was back, but this time it had an overlay of pain. “In all our arguments, all our conversations, all our over-the-top sex, you’ve never said you love me.”

“Of course I have.”

“Not even once.”

“You’re delusional.”

“Not one single time.”

“But . . .”

“Never.”

“Are you sure?”

“Believe me. I’m absolutely sure.”

“Oh.” She swallowed. He was right. Of course, he was right.

He waited. She collapsed on the side of the cot and rubbed her temples. “Now who’s the coward?” she said.

The smallest kick of a smile caught the corners of his mouth. “I’m sure you have your reasons.”

She sprang back up and laced her hands around the back of his neck. “Ian Hamilton North the Fourth, I love you. I love you with my whole heart. I will never stop loving you even when I’m mad at you or you’re mad at me or Wren’s mad at both of us, and people are pounding on the door. You’re kind and fascinating and scary-smart. You’re ambitious, which I know is a weird thing to say, but after Trav, it means a lot to me. And the thing with Trav . . .” Her voice caught. “He would love me loving you.” She smiled as she saw a glaze of tears in his eyes. “You’re mine. Is that good enough?”

“That is most definitely good enough.” He kissed her long and hard until Wren, who was squeezed between them, squawked.

Ian brushed the baby’s silky hair, slipped his free arm around Tess, and gave her a crooked grin. “Of all the places to find a muse, I never expected to find mine dancing in her underwear on top of Runaway Mountain.”

“Am I really your muse?”

“Who else would it be?”

Wren squeaked.

Ian smiled down at her. “You’re second place, sweetheart.”

Right then, an image flashed through her head of the three of them— Ian, Wren, and herself . . . All of them . . . All three . . . In front of the tree house. Dancing together.

But as it turned out, she’d miscalculated the number.





Epilogue




Hi, Grandma Dee! Hi, Papa Jeff! It’s me, Wren! But I guess you can see that. I know you’re still on your safari, and you won’t have WiFi for a while, but I’m making this video with Dad’s phone so it’ll be waiting for you when you do get WiFi. You always miss us so much when you go on your trips, and Mom and Dad agreed this would make it easier on you being separated.

As you can see, I’m in the tree house. Honestly, I had to get away from the house. The twins are running all over the place playing ninjas, and that’s making Snuffles go crazy, so he’s barking his head off, and Dad is yelling at him to stop barking, and Mom’s throwing up again the way she did in her first trimester with the twins. It better be a girl this time! Dad says we don’t have a family. We have a menagerie.

Oh, and the carpenters are here, working on the new addition. Dad says if the schoolhouse gets any bigger, it’s going to be a university.

I know you’ve been worried about Mom working so hard, but the new midwives at the clinic are helping a lot. And Eli’s mom has taken over all the talking-to-teenagers stuff, so Mom has a lot more time off.

And remember I told you that Savannah said I could be in the room when she had her new baby? It happened two days ago. Zoro didn’t want to go in there, but I did, and I got to help Mom. It was so gross and cool! I think I want to be a midwife when I grow up. Or maybe a doctor. Or a forest ranger. I do not want to be an artist like Dad. Painting doesn’t make my heart sing the way he says his heart does when he finishes a new canvas or mural or one of his big light installations.

I can’t tell him this other thing because it might make him worry, but I kind of wish he wasn’t so famous. Like when we go to New York, sometimes people ask me what it’s like to be his daughter, which is super embarrassing. He’s just my dad.

Another thing that’s getting annoying . . . You know how Mom and Dad like to talk to me about Bianca, my birth mother, so I don’t forget her. They’re always saying how much she wanted me, and how artistic she was, and all that kind of stuff, blah blah blah. But I’m not stupid, and I can sort of tell she might have been kind of a loser, too. Maybe you could find out more about that next time you’re here. Still, I definitely hope I look like her someday!

What else do I want to tell you? Me and Zoro and John are going to hike up to Eli’s today. He said he’d help us look for salamanders, but I had to promise him I’d stop asking so many questions about the time he kidnapped me. Even though he’s a teenager, it gets him upset. But I like to hear the details. It’s kind of cool how brave he was.