Always On My Mind (The Sullivans #8)(71)

She grinned at him and nodded, and for a moment he thought maybe she was going to agree with him. That is, until she said, “Come on, Milliebob, let’s go home.”

For the rest of the drive, she chattered to the kitten—whom he swore he’d never, ever call Milliebob, even as he knew he’d be breaking the vow by week’s end—telling the little cat all about the farm and the other animals and how much she was going to love it there. As soon as he pulled up, Lori jumped out of the truck to take the kitten to meet the pigs she’d named after her brothers and sisters.

Later that evening as they walked outside, hand in hand, to be together in the cool, dark silence that you could only get on a thousand acres, Lori told him, “I really missed it here.”

Her voice was full of awe at the beauty all around them. An hour ago, she’d been covered in mud and had been as happy as a pig in it. Now she was fresh from the shower he’d given her out by the barn, one that had started with soap and ended with pleasure.

Lori stopped short as they passed the large grove of oak trees and she saw the new foundation he’d been putting in. “What’s this?”

He’d missed her like crazy every second she’d been in Chicago and New York City, so much that he’d thrown himself into this huge new project, praying with every board he’d cut for the forms, every nail he’d hammered, that she’d actually come back to him.

“A studio. For you. And your dancers.”

She threw her arms and legs around him and was about to kiss him when the night sky suddenly lit up so much that they both turned to look up at it.

“A shooting star!” Her eyes shone with excitement and happiness as she gazed down at him. “What did you wish for?”

Standing in the middle of wildflowers and blades of dark green grass beneath the stars, Grayson pulled a ring out of his pocket. “I wished for you to be mine. Always.”

And as Lori told him she’d always been his, and promised that she always would be, the two of them danced together on a thousand-acre stage beneath the spotlight of the moon.

* * *

Three months later...

“Now that every Sullivan from around the world has arrived for our family reunion,” Lori said to Grayson, “do I need to get you a bag to hyperventilate into?”

Despite the dozens of Sullivans and spouses and kids and animals running loose all around them, Grayson wrapped a lock of Lori’s long hair around his fingers and tugged her closer, as if they were the only two people in the world. “I’ve got a much better idea for what to do with my mouth.”

Even though they’d kissed approximately a trillion times during the past three months, it felt like the first time all over again as Lori’s heart raced, she lost her breath, and her toes tingled in her cowboy boots while her fiancé showed her, yet again, just how much he loved her.

“Seriously, though,” she said when he finally let her come up for air and her synapses had begun to fire again, “you’re amazing for agreeing to have so many people here on your farm.”

“Not my farm. Our farm.” He stroked her hair one last time, then moved his hand down past her shoulder and over her arm to leave a path of tingles all across her skin, before he slid his fingers through hers. “And you know I like your family.” He lowered his cowboy hat against the bright sunlight as he looked out at the huge group of Sullivans. “Even if there are a whole hell of a lot of them.”

Just then, she saw one more rental car pull into the makeshift parking area they’d set up by the side of the barn. Grayson’s mother and father got out. His hand tightened slightly in hers and she lifted it to her mouth to press a kiss to it before saying, “I’m so glad your parents happened to plan their trip for this weekend, too.” It had been a surprising coincidence of timing when he’d told her about their travel plans, but of course she’d been thrilled by the news.

Not wanting the Tylers to feel at all out of place around her big family, she made sure to hurry over to give each of them a warm hug. “I’m so glad you could come for a visit.” When she and Grayson had visited them on their estate in New York a month earlier, she’d been able to see just how much they loved their son, even if they weren’t great at saying the words aloud. Just as she’d known better than to wait for Grayson to invite her into his heart, she knew she couldn’t let him and his parents wait any longer for each other, either.

He shook his father’s hand and put his arms around his mother, and Lori happily noticed that they all held on just a little bit longer than they had a month ago. People said miracles couldn’t happen overnight, but wasn’t that how quickly love had blossomed between her and Grayson? And hadn’t life always been one miracle tumbling and leaping after another, from her family to dancing to her little nieces and nephews to the man standing beside her?

A few moments later, her mother was there to welcome Gina and Brent Tyler. Lori loved watching the effect her mother had on people—the way she immediately made them feel relaxed and appreciated.

“You raised a wonderful son,” Mary Sullivan told the Tylers. “Every single day I’m so happy that he and Lori found each other.”

As Grayson drew Lori even closer and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, his mother’s eyes grew damp. “Yes,” she agreed, “they are a perfect match, aren’t they?”