Deep River Promise, Jackie Ashenden [large ebook reader .TXT] 📗

hadn’t run away or given up. She kept going, but it wasn’t because she sucked it up and carried on. It was because she loved her son. Love had kept her going, through her own personal darkness and into the light. And she hadn’t just found that light; she’d created something beautiful with it.

She’d become part of a community who supported each other, who had each other’s back. A family—together.

He wanted that. He wanted the light, the community, and a family. He wanted her with every single part of his soul. And not because of a promise he’d made to a dead friend or because he wanted to save her, protect her.

It was because he loved her.

“Damon?” his mother asked. “Are you still there?”

“Yeah, Mom.” His voice was gravelly as a dry riverbed. “I’m still here.”

A silence. A long one.

“You like this boy?”

“Yeah, I do.” He looked out over the river, to the hill behind the town and the scattering of lights on it, trying to find one specific light. “And I’m in love with his mother.”

“Oh.” His mom sighed, and he didn’t know whether it was shock or disappointment or something else. “Does she feel the same?”

“Yes, she does.”

“Oh,” his mother murmured again, and this time he heard a note in it that he was sure was relief. “Oh…I’m so pleased. You’ve been so unhappy. And don’t think I haven’t noticed. You try to hide it, but I can see. You haven’t been quite right since Ella died.”

Damon closed his eyes again. Of course his mother cared; she always had. He’d just been too blind to see it.

“I just want you to be happy, Son,” she went on. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”

Damon took a breath and opened his eyes. “Then will you come here, Mom? Will you come and live in Deep River with me? Meet Astrid and Connor? Let me take care of you?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “I believe I will. Like I said, I always wanted to see the mountains.”

* * *

Five minutes later, Damon ran down the gravel path to the dock. He didn’t know what he’d do if Kevin’s boat wasn’t there, but for some reason, it was still bobbing gently at the end of the dock.

Kevin was coiling ropes on the deck and he looked up as Damon approached. “Back again, are you?”

Damon stepped onto the ferry. “You were waiting, weren’t you?”

“It was an even bet.” Kevin shrugged. “Some folk can’t bring themselves to leave, and some you never see again. I figured you might be one who stayed.”

Damon smiled, and this time it felt genuine. It felt real. His heart was full of light and the heaviness had gone. “You’re right. I am.”

“Damn straight,” Kevin replied and went into the wheelhouse.

Fifteen minutes and they were on the other side. Damon sprang out of the boat, climbed up the stairs from the dock, then ran hell-for-leather all the way up the hill to Astrid’s.

He charged up the steps and hammered on the red front door.

It opened and Connor stood in the hallway. Shock rippled over his face as he took in Damon before it changed into sheer, blue-eyed fury. He opened his mouth.

“I changed my mind,” Damon said before he could speak. “I want to stay here with you and your mother. And I’d very much like to be your friend. If you still want that.”

Connor shut his mouth. Fury cycled through to shock, then something else more intense. “I don’t know. It depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether you’re going to leave again.”

“I’m not,” Damon said fiercely. “I made a mistake. I thought leaving was the best thing for both of you, but I was wrong. I want to stay, Connor. And it’s not for some promise I made to your dad. I want to stay because I need someone at my back to look out for me. Someone I can trust. And I’d really like you to be that someone.”

Connor stared at him and slowly all the fury dissipated, replaced with a dawning hope. “Seriously? You really want that?”

“Yes,” he said. “I’ve never been more serious about anything in all my goddamn life.”

Joy broke over the kid’s face, and Damon had the impression that Connor kind of wanted to hug him but was holding back, too uncertain.

But Damon wasn’t uncertain.

He stepped over the threshold, pulled the boy into a brief, hard hug, then let him go.

“Friends?”

Connor grinned. Hugely. “Friends.”

“Oh,” Damon added. “One more thing. I’m going to marry your mother.”

Chapter 17

Astrid was sitting in the kitchen, staring into the glass of wine she hadn’t touched, trying to tell herself that she was okay. That yes, she’d had her heart broken, but she’d been okay before and she’d be okay again. She’d go on; she always did.

She’d known that the last meeting she’d had with Damon hadn’t made any difference to him, and sure enough, it hadn’t. Not that she’d expected it to. He’d made his decision, and if there was one thing she knew about Damon Fitzgerald, it was that once he’d made his mind up, he didn’t change it.

He would be at his plane now, ready to take off into the sky. Flying away from Deep River.

Flying away from her.

She’d never particularly been one to indulge in tears, but she couldn’t stop one as it escaped and rolled down her cheek.

No, it would be fine. Some sadness now, and then she’d be better. She’d recover and get over him. She had so much to do: the food co-op and nutrition classes, the oil stuff…

No, you won’t. You won’t ever get over him.

Someone hammered on her front door.

She ignored it, picking up her wine and taking a sip.

Connor must have answered, because she could hear voices drifting down the hall. Her son’s and a man’s deep tones. Rich and so achingly familiar.

Astrid went very, very still as a sudden and very real fury went rushing through her.

It was Damon, wasn’t it?