Tackling Tobias (Big Sky Universe)

“My wife didn’t want her to live.”

“You’d kill your own child to please your wife?”

“She said she didn’t need a reminder of my love for my first wife, so I had to get rid of her or she’d leave me. I couldn’t stand losing Karen.”

I press stop and leave the Billings Police Station without a word.

I finally work up the strength to respond, having thought about what I learned today. My father, even with his confession, will never get out because I’m sure Derek won’t allow it. “No. I don’t want to talk about him at all. I’ve decided he’s not worth the pain. Nothing can change what he attempted to do, so I’ll be happy if he rots in prison for the rest of his miserable life.”

“That’s good, but if you want to talk, I’m here.” He holds my hand

“Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Tobias.”

“Me either. I’d be starving away,” he says, dropping his head back on the sofa with an Oscar-worthy performance.

“So that’s all I’m good for? I see. I’ll take myself elsewhere.” I stand up and get a half a foot off the sofa before I’m being dragged down onto Tobias’s lap. “Excuse me, Mr. Reynolds. I’ll go where I’m wanted.” I playfully try to get out of his hold, so he flips me onto the sofa, tickling me with his stubble.

“I’m only teasing. I love you, Ava, with my entire heart and soul. There’s no way I’d let you leave me. Food or no food. You could have been the shittiest cook in the world and I still would sit there and try to chew it because I’m crazy about you.”

“I’m teasing too. I love you, Tobias.”

He sniffs the air. “What’s that smell?”

“Oh shit.” I nudge him off of me. “I forgot about our dinner.” I rush to the kitchen and he follows behind me. I pull out the rack of ribs from the oven. “It seems you’re going to prove your declarations. This doesn’t look edible.” I toss the tray onto the stove and press the stove vent on high.

He looks at the charcoal bits and then back at me. “How about I take you out instead?”

“Ciao?” I offer.

“Sounds great to me.” He stares at my dinner, looking sad. He loves it when I make my ribs.

“I’ll get ready. I’ll make them another day, Tobias.”

“Next time, I’ll do my best to keep my hands off you. Or at least take you hard and fast in the kitchen instead.” He winks and turns off the stove vent.

Epilogue

Tobias

Seven months of marriage, and life can’t get any better. Okay, one thing sure as hell can. We could be expecting our firstborn. It’s been incredible just having her to myself, but I’m itching to catch up with a family of my own. My sister just gave birth to their third baby two months ago. According to the doctor, birth control can take a long time to leave the system. Ava stopped taking birth control before the wedding, but no baby on the way.

Today, we head out on our long-awaited honeymoon. Maybe we can make our first baby on the island. That would be fantastic. I plan to be buried deep inside her the entire trip. Two weeks of pure fucking and relaxation. I can’t wait.

Our trip was postponed because of the shooting, and then the season picked up as it usually does by then and I couldn’t take time off to give her the honeymoon she deserved.

We had an increase of pregnant cows in January, so yesterday alone, we had three births, all healthy and done with ease. By the end of last week, we had sixteen new calves. I managed to hire three more crew members, all of which are hardworking and love their job. Two are divorced, so they prefer the solitary life and take up more shifts than the others. Landon and his security team have done an extensive background check on each guy for me since I’m busy handling the ranch issues.

About two months after the shooting, Ava decided to help me manage the ranch and has done wonders, making my life a lot easier. She’s worked on her last semester of credits online. It got approved by the school because she had extenuating circumstances. Now she has her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, which works perfectly for us. She doesn’t have to work more than a dozen hours a week on the business side of the ranch.

As for the cooking, she still takes care of that most days. I do try to take her out every week and we order in once as well and make her go back to bed after I leave. One of these days, I’m going to learn to make my own breakfast so she doesn’t have to get up at all. Ava adamantly refuses to hire another cook. As long as she’s not overdoing things, I’m okay with her being the wife she wants to be. I love her and will do anything for my woman. I still bring in the cleaning crew for the shit that I know Ava hates to do.