“How did you do that?” she asked as she scanned through the pictures on his phone.
“I told him it was a nice thought that he’d do the mural for you, but that he should do it for himself, and for his brothers. Then I drove him into Brookings to get supplies.”
“Lucas,” she said quietly.
“You gave us all so much. The momentum to renovate the library. The roses. The ring. I gave it to Tanya before she went into rehab.”
Alana’s eyes filled with tears. “Your grandmother would have wanted her to have it.”
Lucas nodded. “Engagement rings are about hope,” he said. “Wedding rings are about commitments, but engagement rings are about hope for a future together. That ring is a reminder that we can find things we thought we’d lost forever. Tanya needs hope right now.”
“I’m so glad,” she said.
“It reminded me that I found what I thought was gone forever, too,” he said. “Letting you leave was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made, and God knows I’ve made plenty.”
“Because you cared and tried and wanted to do something good for people,” she said staunchly. “Because you got involved.”
“Because you got involved,” he said.
“So . . . you’re here for me,” she said.
“I’m here for you.”
“You drove a long way for nothing,” she said.
His face went blank again.
“No! No, I don’t mean it that way,” she hurriedly added, and felt the blush climbing her neck, into her cheeks. “Oh, God. I meant I’d already decided to leave tomorrow. This isn’t home anymore. Walkers Ford is. You are. You are my home.”
He bent his head and kissed her, full of heat and promise lingering warm and purposeful against her lips.
“You must be the entanglement.”
They broke apart to find Freddie standing beside Alana. She held out her hand. “I’m Freddie Wentworth.”
“Lucas Ridgeway,” he said, and shook Freddie’s hand. “What entanglement?”
“I told her not to get entangled out there on the prairie because we needed her here,” Freddie said. She gave Lucas a considering look. “She’s amazing, and she’s been my best-kept secret for a long, long time. But I can see she’s not just my secret anymore.”
“I don’t need to be here, Freddie. I can do my job for you and the foundation from Walkers Ford. But I need to be there. They need me, and I need them.”
“I need her,” Lucas said.
“We need her, too,” Freddie said. Alana straightened her shoulders in anticipation of an argument, but then Freddie surprised her. “But she knows what she needs. I wouldn’t let her go for anything less.”
Lucas stared at Freddie for a long second. He’d thought Alana’s sister would be a diva. And she was, but a completely different kind of diva. Instead of demanding her younger sister’s constant presence to smooth her way through life, she demanded Alana get nothing less than what she deserved. Someone who loved her for her. Nothing more. Nothing less. He reached for Alana’s hand. “How much longer do you need to stay?”
Alana didn’t hesitate. She didn’t think about who she should talk to, or what people would think, or what her mother would say. “I can leave right now,” she said firmly.
Freddie laughed out loud. “I’ll tell Mother you’re going home.”
Alana looked at Lucas, and wove her fingers more tightly with his. “Tell her I’m already there.”
? ? ?
ONE YEAR LATER . . .
“Tell it again! Tell it again!”
Cody Burton hunkered down among the little kids clustered at his feet. “I can’t right now,” he said gently. “The library is about to close, but if you come back next week, I’ll be here and I’ll tell you another story about Growler. What do you think he has to carry next time?” Little eyes widened expectantly. “Watermelons.”
He detached himself from the crowd of kids and parents sprawled on beanbag chairs in the newly renovated children’s section and made his way past the touch-screen computers to Alana. It had taken nearly a year of work to complete the renovation from the building’s framework to the exterior, but it was the most rewarding year of Alana’s life. The children’s section had been freshly painted in a pretty pale yellow, and murals by the high school students lined the wall above new shelves. Low, brightly colored chairs surrounded circular rugs to create seating areas for kids to read. Origami cranes and elephants, created in an art workshop earlier in the month, hung from the ceiling and danced gently in the warm breeze.