Page 108 of Sweet Madness
“She’s happy here,” I finally respond, my voice carrying a rough edge, betraying the emotions swirling within me.
“A woman like my daughter deserves the world. We both know this.” Sebastian’s voice softens slightly, but his resolve remains firm. “She has dreams too big for Montana,” he reiterates, his concern for her future palpable even over the phone. “And she deserves more than you’ll be able to give her.”
Crack.
A knife to my heart would hurt less.
I know all of this, but it still hurts like hell to hear it from the man who means the world to the woman who means everything to me.
I listen, my jaw clenched as I struggle to breathe. I am caught between emotions—love for my moonshine and a deep-seated desire to protect her dreams versus the stark reality of what she deserves. What she deserves is all the finest things in life. She deserves someone who isn’t angry at the world and who would gladly put on a suit to accompany her to every event in her world. A man with ambitions who fulfills her father’s expectations.
A man who makes her proud.
A man who is not me.
“It will hurt her heart,” I warn, my voice heavy with resignation. I know this conversation is inevitable, that our little world hidden in Montana can’t last forever. But that doesn’t make it any less painful.
Sebastian sighs on the other end. “I’ll contact you again when it’s time,” he says, the finality in his tone cutting through my heart.
As the call ends, I stare out the window, raindrops tracing silent paths down the glass. Poppy nudges against my leg. “Love always leaves. It never stays.”
I should have guarded my heart better. Now, it no longer belongs to me. It belongs to her, and she will soon leave, taking my entire being with her.
Space Note
“When you look at a star you are seeing how it looked in the past.”— S
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
OLD MISTAKES
Bastian
“I was never good at letting go.” — S
Past mistakes have a way of reminding us of what truly matters. I’ve made many mistakes throughout my life, but none have hurt as deeply as when I break the heart of the woman I love more than life itself. I think I am doing what’s best for her, believing she deserves more out of life.
I still believe she deserves the world, and that will never change.
But now my daughter’s happiness is at stake, and I don’t take that lightly. After hanging up the phone with Shaw Banning, my daughter’s bodyguard, I feel the weight of my words settling uneasily in my chest. Shaw, a man older than her, had one job: to keep her safe and hidden until we could deal with the threat to my family. But he crosses the line.
Maybe I’ve been too harsh and quick to judge the man, but I’m not blind or oblivious. I’ve seen the changes in my daughter since she’s been with him. The sparkle in her eyes that had been missing for so long now radiates from within her. At first, I thought it was just the excitement of being in a new place—a charming small town where no one knows her. But it’s more than that.
It’s the unmistakable glow of a woman in love. My girl has stars in her eyes every time she calls, sharing her day at that damn ranch with him. Yes, she is glowing.
I know that glow all too well. I see it reflected back at me every day in my wife, in the way her emerald eyes soften when she looks at me and in the warmth of her smile across the dinner table.
I should be glad my daughter no longer feels the need to hide from the world and her family. I should be ecstatic that she’s found her place in the world and is going after her dreams.
I’m proud—really proud.
Still, knowing all of this, I can’t shake the pang of sadness gripping me now.
Love.
My baby girl is in love, and to my dismay, it’s with a man much older than her—a hardened man set in his ways. The age gap troubles me, though I know it would be hypocritical to criticize it. After all, I was older than my wife when we first met.