Matt attempted to lead her out of the little park, but Rebecca tugged on his arm, pointed to her father, who was, she couldn’t help noticing, the only one standing. She walked over, smiled at her family. “I’m sorry. But then again, I’m not,” she said cheerfully.
“Don’t ever be sorry, baby!” her father said. “I’m so proud of you, girl! You finally stood up for yourself, and that’s what I’ve been trying to get across to you these last two years—stand on your own two feet,” he said, and grabbed her in a fierce bear hug, holding her tightly. And when he released her, she thought she saw a glimmer of a tear in his eye, but he quickly turned to Robin. “You could take a page out of her book, you know.” To which Robin groaned as she came to her feet and hugged Rebecca.
“Way to stir up a party!” she said proudly.
“Are you coming with us?” Rebecca asked.
Robin looked at Jake, then both of them looked at Dad, who was beaming at Rebecca. Robin shook her head. “Are you kidding? We can’t wait to see what happens next!”
“We better go,” Matt said low, nodding to where Tom, Doug, and Jeff were making their way through the tables to reach them.
“Yeah, get the hell out of here and enjoy yourselves,” Dad said, and put his hand on Rebecca’s cheek, smiling at her again before pushing her to leave.
Hand in hand, she and Matt walked quickly out of the gates, headed for her truck.
But once they were out of the gate. Matt abruptly stopped her.
“Come on,” she urged him.
“No. I have to say this. I mean, what you did back there . . .” He paused, shook his head, his gray eyes dancing with laughter. “When you take the silk gloves off, you’re one tough cookie. You know, I love how weird you are, how beautiful you are, how righteous you can get. I love everything about you. And I realized tonight when you had the guts to stand up and ask what we’ve all been wondering, that I don’t think I can live without you.”
She laughed, flung her arms around his neck, and kissed him. “And I never loved anyone as much as I loved you when you stood up for me. Thanks for standing by me, Matt.”
“Are you kidding? I should have stood up a long time ago. I knew there’d be trouble the moment I met you, but now I am prepared to follow you all the way to the ends of Planet Rebecca if I must.”
With a grin, she grabbed his hand and tugged. “The way things are going, it might at least be Mexico,” she said, and laughing, they ran for the monster truck.
Chapter Thirty-Five
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on . . .
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Robin and Jake brought an enthusiastic Dad back to the lake house with them a couple of hours later, and Rebecca broke out the champagne and ice cream.
Dad looked a hell of a lot better having heard the news of Robin’s pregnancy. After the usual interrogation about marriage and college funds (which earned a groan from everyone), Dad turned his attention to what Rebecca had done, giggling like a schoolboy.
Robin said that Senator Masters spent the rest of the evening going from table to table, frantically assuring his sponsors that he did indeed care about ranchers. And she added that Pat Griswold had asked her to tell Rebecca that she wished she had said it. Dad said again he was so proud of her for standing up, and proclaimed the bastard Tom Masters had it coming, and the five of them laughed and made a game of thinking up new campaign slogans for Masters the Bastard.
But the next afternoon, when her family had left and it was just the three of them again, Matt and Rebecca pored over news from around the state, slowly realizing that they had effectively ruined any political aspirations for Matt. He said he was glad, that he didn’t think he had the stomach for it and thought he could do more good elsewhere.
“Like where?” Rebecca asked.
“I’m not sure,” he said honestly. “But I’d like to give people who don’t have money a chance at decent representation,” he said. “That’s what I want to do.” It helped when Matt’s father called later and asked him about all the flack. He told Matt he was relieved and heartened that his son wouldn’t be going into politics. “I spent my career there, and son, you’re above politics.” he assured him, “You deserve a better life.”
As for Rebecca, she felt exhilarated, scandalized, enlightened, and most importantly, finally and completely free to be herself. She felt shiny and new on the inside. She felt like her own person, one who was less than perfect, the evidence of which was played up in the local papers for several days following the event while she and Matt hid out at the lake house.