Unconditional Love (25 page)

I sat on the sofa opposite Azurdee and watched as she and Ryn giggled about something. This had been the perfect Christmas. Even though Azurdee was trying to stay true to her pledge not to have sex with me during the rest of our trip, I could already tell she was beginning to fold.

I glanced over and saw Tristan staring at Ryn. For someone who claimed he only wanted to have fun, he sure did look at her like I looked at Azurdee.

My father hit me on the shoulder and said, “Come on. I want to talk to you and your brother before you leave.”

Azurdee snapped her head up and looked at us. “Are you leaving?” she asked in a panicked voice. I smiled and said, “We’re leaving early. I thought we would go spend a few days at my parents’ beach house.”

The smile that spread across her face about dropped me to my knees.

My father gave Tristan a pat on the back and we both followed him into his office. He shut the door and then walked over to the window and stood there, staring out.

“Dad, is everything okay?” Tristan asked. My father stood there for a few more seconds before he turned around and nodded his head as he took a seat in his giant leather chair.

I looked around his office. I loved it in here. I loved the smell of the leather furniture. The animals hanging on the walls and the pictures, they were everywhere. There were pictures of Tristan and I scattered through out his office. I glanced over at the one picture of me holding the antlers of my first deer. I smiled as I thought back to the day when my father and grandfather showed me how to gut and clean a deer.

My father cleared his throat and said, “The last week a few things have been brought to my attention.”

Tristan and I both squirmed like two little boys who were fixin’ to get into trouble.

When his eyes pierced mine and then moved over to Tristan’s, I let out the breath I had been holding.

“Whatever it is, Dad, I’m sure it was Michael who did it.”

I snapped my head and looked at him. “You do know the Marines trained me to kill. Right? You’re aware of this information?”

Tristan rolled his eyes and my father chuckled. “Boys, settle down and listen to me.”

He looked at Tristan and said, “Your intentions?”

Tristan tilted his head and said, “For?”

Now it was my father’s turn to roll his eyes. “Ryn. What are your intentions with that lovely girl?”

Tristan let out a laugh and then quickly shut his mouth. “Why?”

“I see the way you look at her and it’s obvious you have feelings for her.”

Tristan quickly looked at me and then back at Dad. “Ryn and I are just having fun, Dad. Nothing serious. She isn’t the type of girl who is looking to settle down or anything like that. She’s just…fun.”

My father lifted his eyebrow in the all-knowing way of his. “Is that so?”’

Tristan nodded and said, “Yep. That’s so.”

My father placed his hands together in a folded position and then tented his pointer fingers and rested them on his chin as he looked at me.

“Your intentions?”

My hands started to sweat and my heart began pounding. I closed my eyes and pictured Azurdee’s smile when I told her I loved her.

I slowly opened my eyes and said, “I love her, Dad. I love her and see myself marrying her as soon as I get out…”

Tristan kicked me and I stopped talking.
Shit. I almost spilled out my guts a little too much.
This was why Skip said no girlfriends. They screw with your head.

“Marry her, huh? That’s a pretty big commitment there, Michael. Are you sure?”

I instantly felt the heat moving through my body.
Why was my father questioning if I’m sure?

I sat up straighter and said, “What the hell kind of question is that, sir? No disrespect, but I’ve never been so sure of anything in my entire life. I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

My father slowly smiled and turned slightly and opened one of his desk drawers. He pulled out two bottles and a small black jewelry box. Tristan and I both looked at each other and I shrugged my shoulders.

Tristan laughed and said, “If you want to drink to Lark’s big news, Dad, we’re kind of gonna need alcohol in those bottles. I mean I’m shocked, too, by his admission, but empty bottles?”

Dad just looked at Tristan as he began talking again. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a few years. I had the same conversation with my old man and younger brother when I was about your age, Tristan. It was right after I met your mother. I brought her home to this very house and introduced her to your grandparents.”

He smiled and shook his head as if remembering a certain memory. “I was nervous as hell about bringing your mother home to my parents. I just knew she would see the life I wanted and run as fast as she could back to Austin.”

Tristan and I both looked at each other and smiled. Tristan was the one who wanted to take over the family ranch. I wanted to start a cattle ranch on the property I had bought over a year ago outside of Marble Falls. That was my dream.

I looked down and thought about Azurdee. I hadn’t even thought about if that was something she would want to do. She was opening her restaurant in Wimberley. I frowned as I thought about being apart from each other.

I looked back up at my father as he continued to talk. “Lucky for me, your mother fell in love with it here and well, the rest is history.”

I tilted my head and said, “Still doesn’t explain the empty bottles, Dad.”

My father let out a chuckle and nodded his head. “My father knew the moment he met your mother and saw the way I looked at her that she was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. He waited a few days before he called me into this very office and had me sit down in the same seat you’re sitting in, Michael. He asked what my intentions were with your mother. I laughed at first but when I saw he was serious, I spilled out my heart and soul to him. It was in that very moment I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with your mom and I would do whatever it took to make it happen.”

He looked over at Tristan, who began moving around in his chair like he was very unsure of what to say or think. “Tristan, you better take a long hard look in the mirror, son, if you think for one minute that you don’t have stronger feelings for Kathryn. I see the way both of you look at each other. I seriously don’t think that girl is just hanging around you for a good time.”

Tristan opened his mouth to talk but nothing came out. He finally looked away without saying a word.

“Michael, I’ve never seen you so in love.”

I slowly smiled and it felt like my heart was about to lift out of my chest. “I’ve never felt this way before, Dad, and to be honest, it scares the hell out of me.”

He chortled and said, “I’m sure it does. My advice to you both is to listen to your heart. I know you think your head will always lead you the right way, but that is wrong. It’s your heart that will lead you.”

He reached for a bottle and handed one to me and then set one down in front of Tristan. “With you and Azurdee heading to the beach, this is perfect timing.”

I looked at him confused as I held the bottle in my hand.

“When my father handed me my bottle I thought the same thing you’re both thinking. He had lost his damn mind.” He let out a laugh and said, “Then he explained the journey of love to me. We all go through the journey, some easier than others. Michael, your journey has taken you down roads that I wish it hadn’t. A parent wants nothing but happiness always for their child, but sometimes all you can do is sit back and watch where life takes them. Tristan, your journey has also begun, whether you want to admit it or not.”

Tristan looked down at the floor and slowly shook his head.

“When you start the journey with that one person who you know you want to spend the rest of your life with, you have so many emotions going on in your heart and head. You’re excited, scared, nervous, and even angry sometimes. My father passed along to me a tradition that I’m now going to pass along to you boys. The bottle.”

I looked at the bottle and then looked at my father. “Dad, are we supposed to know what…the bottle…is for?”

“No, Michael. When my father saw that my journey had already started with your mother, he explained the meaning behind the ‘journey of love’ bottle. My father told me when he gave me my bottle to take your mother to the beach. We were both to sit in opposite rooms and write each other a letter about where we wanted our journey of love to take us. What our hopes, fears, dreams, doubts, and goals were for our relationship, or as he called it…our journey. You see boys, love is nothing more than a journey. It’s a road we each venture down, not knowing how things are going to turn out. Sometimes it is filled with so much love and happiness we think this whole love thing is a piece of cake. Other times it’s filled with doubt, anger, jealousy—and you will question the journey. There are going to be rough seas, boys, no matter how much in love with each other you are.”

I sat there not really knowing what to say. I knew in my heart I was ready to start my journey with Azurdee. “Do you read the letters to each other?” I asked.

My father smiled. “No. After you write them, you place them together and then roll them up and put them in the bottle. Then you send your bottle out to sea.”

Tristan laughed. “Why? I mean, if you’re going to pour your damn heart out, why wouldn’t you want the person to know what you said?”

My father looked at Tristan and shook his head. “I guess once you’re ready, you’ll know the answer to that question, son.”

I had to admit I was a bit confused as to why you wouldn’t read the letters to each other either, but I just went with it. I looked back down at the black box. “What’s in the box, Dad?” I asked.

He leaned back and stared at the box. “It’s your grandmother’s engagement ring. She gave it to me right before she got sick. She wanted one of you boys to have it. Now, you don’t have to use it if you don’t want. I know things are different these days and young ladies like to pick out their own rings and such, but if you want…the ring is yours. To which ever one of y’all is wanting it.”

He opened the box and I smiled the moment I saw the ring. I remember being little and spinning my grandmother’s rings around on her finger. I closed my eyes and could almost smell her perfume. When I opened them again, my father was staring at me. I smiled and reached for the ring.

“I remember how much she loved this ring. She would take it off before she did anything.”

Tristan let out a laugh. “Remember the one time she thought she forgot to take it off before she worked in the garden, and she had us looking for over three hours before she found it on her damn ring holder in her bathroom. Here she had taken it off and had forgotten.”

I laughed and nodded my head. The oval-shaped diamond was at least a carat and had small baguettes lining the white gold band. It was simple, yet elegant.

My stomach dropped when I pictured slipping my grandmother’s ring onto Azurdee’s finger.

My father cleared his throat. “Now, Tristan, you’re older, and per your grandmother’s wishes, the ring was to either go to whoever was planning on marrying first, or to the oldest. Now you boys have to decide, who gets this ring?”

I looked over at Tristan. I knew he had feelings for Ryn and Liberty. I also knew that he thought by bringing Ryn home, he was making the safer choice, and this last week was proving his thinking wrong. The feelings he had for Ryn were stronger than he wanted to admit.

Tristan swallowed hard and then stood up. He pushed the bottle back toward our father and looked at me. “Well, I sure as hell am nowhere near ready to be making any commitment to anyone…let alone start some damn journey. I know how much you love Azurdee—I think you are the better choice for Gram’s ring.” I looked at my father and then back at Tristan. “Tristan, Ryn is…”

Tristan laughed and said, “A good time. That’s it. That girl has no desire to settle down with anyone and that’s what I like about her. We’re just having a good time.” He looked back at our dad and said, “Sorry Dad, I’m not quite ready for all of this right now.”

He turned and walked to the door, opened it and walked out, closing it softly behind him. I slowly turned back around and looked at my father. He raised his eyebrow and said, “Honestly, I thought that whole thing was going to play out differently. I thought it would be you getting up and walking out.”

I pulled my head back and looked at him with a shocked look on my face. “What? Why?”

He raised his eyebrow at me and said, “Really?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “She’s changed me, Dad. I can’t imagine my life without her in it. I mean…this past year has been nothing but hell. I couldn’t stop thinking about her, dreaming about her. I would be sitting alone and she would pop into my head and I would have to force myself not to text her and ask her what she was doing.” I let out a laugh and shook my head. “Then when we finally… Well, let’s just say I can’t get enough of her. I want to be with her all the time. When I’m gone for work she’s all I can think about. She consumes my world, Dad.”

He smiled and said, “Welcome to the journey of love. Hold on tight, son. Shit’s about to get real.”

I was totally caught off guard by my father’s response. I began laughing, which caused him to laugh. Before I knew it we were both in tears as we laughed our asses off. There was a knock on the door, and when I turned around I saw my mother walking in. She had a concerned look on her face and attempted to smile but was doing a bad job of it.

My father stood up and said, “What’s wrong?”

She took a deep breath and said, “Tristan just told me he was leaving early. Something about having to get home to take care of something for work. What did you say to him, Peter?”

My father let out a sigh and said, “Nothing, sweetheart. Your son is just running from love.”

She nodded her head and said, “Yes, I know. I’ve been watching him the last three days avoid poor Ryn like she had a disease or something.”

I stood up and looked down at my father. “Thanks, Dad.”

My father stood up and held out his hand and said, “Just always remember…hold on, son, during both the good and the bad times. Just hold on.”