Chasing Butterflies (26 page)

Yara’s eyes go wide and her mouth drops open.

“I thought it was about time you two met,” I say, smiling at her.

Before I can say anything else, Yara squeals and throws herself at John. Despite how fragile he looks, he wraps his arms around Yara and holds her tight as tears leak from his eyes.

John Edwards was once a strong man. I can tell that even now as I see the muscles in his arms flex as he holds onto his granddaughter. “Oh, Yara,” he says into her hair. “My little Yara.”

“Grandad,” she whispers, hugging him even more.

“Oh, my girl,” he sobs. “You look just like your mother.”

I see Yara shaking in his arms and decide to leave them to it for a minute.

Stepping out from the shade of the house, I walk around the side and stare off into the distance at the acres of fields and miles of ocean that stretch out as far as my eyes can see.

I’ve spoken to John on the phone a few times. I know he never remarried after Joanna left him, and I know he didn’t have any more children. He dedicated his life to this farm and the horses he kept. For the majority of his life, he’s worked with schools for disabled children, using the horses as equine therapy.

John Edwards is easily the kindest, most generous person I have ever come across in my whole life. And at nearly ninety-five, he’s probably the oldest person I’ve ever met too.

And while I know this means that he won’t necessarily have a long time left to spend with Yara, he will have some answers to the questions that have tortured him for most of his adult life. I know because he told me so. He’s confessed to not knowing if meeting Yara would be the right thing to do—not for him, he assured me, but for her. He didn’t want to cause any more heartache for her, and when I asked him what he could possibly mean, he said he didn’t want his eventual death to hurt her.

“Gabriel!”

I turn and see Yara shielding her eyes from the sun as she leans over the railing of the deck to look at me. My stomach flips at the sight of her and how much she looks like she belongs right there.

“John said he’s already told you that we can stay here.”

I nod as I start to walk towards her. “Yes, that’s right.”

“He also said that he offered to let us stay for as long as we want.”

“He did,” I say as I stand on the other side of the railing.

She leans down and kisses me long and slow on my lips before pulling away and running the back of her fingers down my cheek. “Thank you for doing this for me,” she whispers.

I smile and kiss her hand as she pulls it away from my face. “I’d do anything for you, Yara.”

“I know you would, and that’s just one of the reasons why I love you,” she says.

I give her forehead a quick kiss and then nod towards the house behind her. “Did John have anything else to say?”

“Yes,” she says, grinning at me. “He told me that you are madly in love with me, and that I should hurry up and marry you.”

“Wise words,” I say, smiling at her.

“I feel like I’ve been here before, but I know I haven’t,” she says, sliding her hands around my neck. “This place feels like home already.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Really good,” she says. “But what happens when I have to go back to work in a week?”

“What do you want to happen?” I ask.

She shrugs, but I can tell she already knows what she wants to do. “I’ll go where you go,” she says.

“What if I want to go where you want to go this time?”

“You have your business to run.” She shrugs. “And I have April.”

“April has a new home to go to,” I remind her. She told me so on the way here. “Go back after this week until she’s settled, and then let’s move out here. I know John will have us because he’s already asked me. I can let my manager take over the business for a while. We’re young and life is too short,” I tell her seriously. “If you want to stay here for a while, then that’s what we’ll do.”

“I love you, Gabriel King.”

I lean forward and rest my forehead against hers. “I love you too, Mrs King.”

“Not quite,” she says, giggling as I pull her over the rail and into my arms.

“Soon,” I tell her as I walk towards what I know will one day be
our
home. “Very soon.”

THE END