Broken Love (Broken #4)(54)

“That will be easy to do, Reed. She is the only reason my heart beats.”

He rolled his eyes. “Save that shit for her, not me.”

With a laugh, I nodded. “Will do.”

Ava and Courtney hugged one last time at security. Ava started crying, so I wrapped my arm around her waist and led her to the line. Resting her head on my shoulder, she sniffled.

“I’m sad and I’m happy. Please don’t mistake my tears for sadness,” she softly said.

My finger went to her chin as I brought her eyes to mine. “It’s okay to be sad. You’re leaving your family and moving to a new state. I don’t blame you for feeling sad, Ava. I was sad when I moved to Texas.”

She nodded. “Ryder, when we get back to Montana, can we spend tonight in the stone house?”

“Of course, I figured we would.”

She wiped her nose and looked into my eyes. Those baby blues looked lost. “Is everything okay, baby?”

Swallowing hard. “I read something in Kate’s diary that I need to talk to you about.”

My heart leapt to my throat. “O-okay. I promised my parents we’d have dinner with them, but then we can say we’re tired and head to the house right after.”

She chewed on her lip and I couldn’t ignore the sick feeling that was settling into my stomach. I had no idea what it was she wanted to talk to me about. I knew it had something to do with Kate and she was clearly worried about it. It had me wondering if I really wanted to know.

Sometimes it was best to leave things left unknown.





“DINNER WAS AMAZING,” Ava said with a huge smile. I knew she was happy to be back in Montana. I could almost see the change in her when we walked out of the airport. It warmed my heart knowing she loved it here as much as I did.

“I’m glad to have you back and to see you walking without that dreadful cast,” my mother said as she and Ava cleared the table.

“We’ve got this if you two would like to talk business,” my mother said. She motioned to my father and he gave her a knowing look.

Once they were both in the kitchen he stood.

“So, I heard from my lawyer. Once your marriage with Ava is final, the house in Helena gets put into both your names.”

I stood and walked over to him and gave him a light slap on the arm. With a wide grin, I said, “Thanks, Dad, for getting all of that taken care of.”

“You know it’s going to be a pain in the ass if you two decide you want to live there. That forty-minute drive will get old really fast.”

Lifting my eyebrows in agreement, I followed him into his office. He sighed and sat down behind his giant mahogany desk. “But, I know what we will do to make the woman we love happy, so I can’t fault you on if you do move into the house.”

I sat down in the leather chair and chuckled. “I do love her, Dad. It’s crazy.”

He lifted his eyes. “What is?”

With a shake of my head, I looked out the giant window that overlooked the snow-covered mountains. “This feeling. I’ve never before felt it with any other woman.” Turning my attention back to him, he was grinning from ear to ear.

“It’s like the moment she walks into the room I sense her. I can actually feel her there before I even see her. She looks my way and I literally have to catch my breath.”

He leaned back in his chair and seemed to get lost for a moment before he laughed. “I remember the first time I asked your mother out.”

You could see the love on my father’s face and it warmed my heart. I knew my love with Ava was just as strong.

“She turn you down?” I asked laughing.

“Yes!” he said. “She turned me down flat. Told me there was no way she would get mixed up with a cowboy.”

“Wow. I never knew that.”

“Oh, she made me work for that first date. I can’t tell you how many times I went into the little bank in Helena she worked at part time. Your grandmother was so angry with me. She told me I was wasting my time chasing after a city girl. That even if I did manage to make her marry me, she’d get bored of living on the ranch and leave me.”

My smile faded. The same thought had crossed my mind a few times with Ava. Even though she grew up on a ranch, she loved her place in Austin. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to move into the house in Helena. Granted it wasn’t Austin, but it was still the city.

“Did Mom ever feel that way?” I asked.

He shrugged. “If she did, she never told me and never gave me any indication she felt that way. The first time I brought her to the ranch I remember her eyes lighting up as we brought in some new cattle. The whole time she sat on the fence and took it all in. When we were finished and I walked up to her and I’ll never forget the smile on her face. Then she said, ‘I could watch you do that every single day for the rest of my life.’ It was right at that moment I knew this was the girl. The one I would spend the rest of my life with.”

“I only hope that Ava and I are as blessed as you and Mom.”

“You are. I see it in the way that girl looks at you. Hell, the very first time the two of you were together in a room I’m positive everyone saw it.”

The light knock on the door caused us both to turn and look. Ava grinned and said, “Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I’m feeling rather tired and was going to excuse myself.”