Taken (One to Hold 7.50)

She smiles, tilting her head to the side. A wavy lock of chestnut hair falls across her beautiful face. “As long as I’m with you, that’s all I care about.”

My brow lines, and I think of my mother and my sister. I think of all the women I’ve known. Wilderness life might sound exotic, but when reality hits, is not their cup of tea.

We’re young in love, and making a commitment to that life, taking her away from her friends, access to her art… It’s not a decision I’m comfortable asking her to make on a permanent basis.

“We’ll help out this summer while you’re out of school. Derek won’t mind if I telecommute.” Cupping her small face in my hand, I kiss her lips. Lifting her hand, I kiss the rose engagement ring on her finger. “I’m not ready to take you out of this palace. I want to give you everything.”

“I’ve never been a princess, Stuart.” She shakes her head, blinking up at me through thick lashes. “I’m just a gypsy girl. You know that.”

Catching her face, I look deep into those sunset eyes that haunted me every day we were apart. “I want you to have every beautiful thing I can give you.”

Her hands are at my neck, and she meets my gaze with equal force, the amazing strength inside her that’s always matched mine. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever wanted. You and our babies and our family.”

Our mouths meet, and I kiss her hard, tongues sliding together. How I found this girl is one of those twist-of-fate mysteries I’ll never solve, yet here we are.

Stepping off the private jet in Great Falls, I hold her hand as I carry our bags to the parking lot where my uncle left us a classic Silverado to drive back to the ranch. She’s dressed in a filmy white dress, a flower in her hair, and I help her in the step-side before closing the door and going to the other side.

We drive miles down the lonely dirt road to the ranch situated in the middle of nowhere. The big main house appears on the flat lands, and I pull into the yard to park by my uncle’s orange Ford.

I get out and go around to the passenger’s side to help her down. “It’s as incredible as I remember,” Mariska sighs, and I pause to follow her gaze past the barn where the horses wait, and across the great plain.

The sky spreads out as far as the eye can see in orange, yellow, and blue twilight, and it’s nothing but brown grasses and big sky.

My soul aches for this land as much as my heart beats for the woman at my side. My mother’s right. I belong here, but I’ll be damned if I’ll sacrifice Mariska to have it.

We’ll have to find another way.

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