Her father said nothing, confirming her fear and wrenching a pitiful sob from River’s throat. Where had he gone? Oh God, what if he vanished again before she could reach him? No…it couldn’t happen this way. Not after they’d gotten so close to having everything they’d ever dreamed of. Love. A family. No time limits.
“Didn’t you ever stop to think how much Vaughn must love me, if he would leave behind everything familiar in a heartbeat, just so I would have a home? Or how much he must love me if joining the Army and getting sent overseas was the only way he could manage to stay away? Did you?” She had to get out of there. Had to go find him. “I want that kind of love for my daughter some day. I’m sorry you’ve let pride turn your heart black. Get out of my way.”
River ran down the stairs, stopping in the kitchen long enough to assure herself Duke’s sisters could watch Marcy until she returned. Then she kissed her daughter on both cheeks and went after her man.
Chapter Twenty-Two
River sat on the motel room bed, wondering if she’d gone insane. Three hours had passed since Vaughn drove away from the curb in front of her house. After confirming he hadn’t returned to the motel, she’d checked the Third Shift, the factory construction site, Duke’s house…but he’d been nowhere. Vanished. Again.
Somehow, she continued to have faith. Faith that he wouldn’t leave her alone again after making so many vehement promises to the contrary. Most of all, there was a lit candle in her heart, refusing to go out. Maybe it had remained lit over his forty-nine month and three-day absence, too, nothing able to snuff it out. That certainty, that undying need to trust the man she loved, was what led River to renting a room at the motel. Not just any room, though. Their room. The room they’d met in so many times during their youth, making desperate love on the creaking mattress while traffic whooshed softly past in the background.
He would come. She knew he would. And she wouldn’t let him have doubts or worries or reservations about staying in Hook, staying with her and Marcy. If it took forever, she would let him know their fate had been sealed in the Hook High parking lot, and she would never, ever, meet a better man as long as she lived. Just thinking of how helpless he must have felt with her home—a home he’d just needed more time and support to make for them—hanging in the balance…it made her entire body throb with pain.
Being in the same room with her worst memory wasn’t easy. But she would pull out every stop to keep Vaughn from trying to be noble again. If they had to live in this very room to stay together, they would get through it. They would get better together. All three of them. Father, mother, and daughter. Because apart? They were loose ends that were meant to be tied.
When River heard a door slam out in the parking lot, she shot to her feet, her blood already flowing at warp speed. Squaring her shoulders, she went for the door and flung it open, halting Vaughn in his footsteps where he crossed the parking lot.
“Riv? What…” She watched as he registered the doorway she stood in, watched as he tried to decide why. Whatever conclusion he landed on, it propelled him toward the room, his big hand banding around River’s elbow. “What are you doing in there, doll? I don’t want you in there.”
“I’m waiting for you.” She pulled out of his hold and clasped the sides of his face. “Part of me has been here, waiting for you the whole time.”
He fell onto River, giving her no choice but to walk them backward into the room, while Vaughn released heaving breaths into her neck. “I won’t do it. I won’t do it this time.”
Every molecule in her body screamed to a halt. “Do what?”
“Leave. I refuse to leave again.” His voice was rich and deep, just like the relief that clamored through River’s blood, getting it running again. “I must be a selfish bastard, because I didn’t even try.” He lifted his head and searched her eyes. “Tell me why you’re in this room. If you’re trying to bring this full circle by ending things where I ended them, I’ve got news for you—it’s not happening. Get it right out of your head. They’ll have to take me away from this town—from my wife and child—in a coffin this time.”
River’s heart rejoiced, lifting and dancing inside her rib cage “Wife?”
“Yeah. Wife. Husband. Forever. No questions.” She felt Vaughn’s hand moving at their hips…and then he raised a ring between them. A gorgeous, old-fashioned, antique-looking ring that instantly became the most beautiful piece of jewelry she’d ever beheld, despite its slight tarnish. “I’m not going to lie, Riv. It’s from a pawn shop. I’m a pawnshop guy, okay? But I won’t be forever. I’m making good, doll. I’m going to make you proud of me. Proud to call me your man…and Marcy proud to call me dad.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks, but the warmth felt good and healthy, so she didn’t bother swiping them away. How could she focus on anything but the man in front of her? The startlingly gorgeous man she’d loved beyond reason since they’d first locked eyes. “I want to be your wife,” she managed. “Of course I do. I’m in this room because I wanted to propose to you.”