“Damn straight they ain’t. You’re mine, Hadley Doss.”
“And you’re mine,” she whispers back, and that warmth, the one that comes from being loved by Hadley, spreads through me like a California wildfire. “Thank you for the party.” She sighs happily, and I wear that like a badge of honor.
I pull back to look in her face. “I had worried if I was making the right choice, but I thought this would be a good way to celebrate your birthday.”
“Oh, it’s a good party, there’s no doubt. I can tell you went to a lot of trouble to set it all up. I can’t believe Rosie never mentioned it.” There is a touch of laughter in her voice that has me pulling her in a little closer.
“I had to swear her to secrecy. I swear that woman wears me out. She wanted to make sure everything was perfect.”
Hadley laughs, but she knows it’s the truth. “You know she’s never going to let us forget that she’s the one that set us up, right? You do realize this is all because of her.” She says it with sass, but I know she believes it true. I cringe to think what would have happened if Rosie hadn’t pushed Hadley into hiring me all those years ago.
“We do owe Rosie. I guess making her godmother to the two munchkins was a good start.”
I look over at Rosie braiding our daughter Hanna’s hair as our son DJ stands next to them, no doubt telling them some epic story. Hadley nods. “Yeah, it’s a good start.”
“Sooo… you were surprised, right?” I ask her, still not believing that I was able to pull it off.
“I was definitely surprised, and it’s the best party anyone has ever thrown me. There’s only one thing that will make this my best birthday yet.”
I’m already nodding my head. Whatever she wants, she gets. Hadley never asks for a thing. “Whatever you want.”
“Well, I’m thinking that after everyone is gone, we can send the kids with Rosie, and you and I could celebrate my birthday… just the two of us.”
I kiss her forehead. “Fuck, woman, I like the way you think. So can I kick everyone out now?”
“No, let’s finish our dance first.” She lays her head on my chest.
I rest my chin on top of her head. I hate to get sentimental, but Hadley brings it out of me. These past fourteen years have been everything. Everything that happened before that, my previous marriage, the way it ended and becoming a traveling cowboy, I don’t regret any of it. I know it led me down the path to Hadley.
And she’s my everything.
She and our son, DJ, and our daughter, Hanna.
Hadley might say I looked past her scars and saw her. But she has no idea what she did by taking a chance on me that morning at the feed store. She made me open to love. I couldn’t resist her, and I’m thankful for it. “I love you, Hadley.”
“I know you do, Gray.”
And that right there is everything. Our love is an everything kind of love. It’s peaceful and reassuring. It’s sometimes messy but always loving. It’s protective and proud.
Loving Hadley is my beginning, middle, and end of every story.
And it’s forever.