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

But she could now, couldn’t she? She could have them.

They both could.

“Yes,” she said quietly, looking into his eyes. “I’ll marry you, Damon.”

For a second, he stared at her, as if he wanted to memorize this moment. Then he surged to his feet and reached for her, pulling her into his arms. “Oh, honey,” he murmured, his breath warm against her ear. “I’m never leaving you. I’m never leaving you ever again.”

Astrid put her arms around his neck and turned her face into the warmth of his T-shirt, inhaling the familiar, delicious scent of him. “And I love you,” she whispered. “I love you so much.”

Then his fingers were in her hair, and he was pulling her head back, and he was kissing her, hot and desperate, the salt of her tears mingling with the rich, heady taste of him. And she wanted it to go on forever.

But all too soon he was lifting his head, his eyes blazing blue. “One last thing before I take you into your bedroom and lock the door for the rest of the night. Would you mind if I brought my mother to Deep River?”

Astrid leaned into his heat, loving the hard strength of him. “Oh God, of course not. Connor talked to her, didn’t he?”

“Yes.” Damon’s smile lit up the entire world. “I called her just before I was going to get into my plane and we had an honest chat.” His fingers wound tighter in her hair. “I think I’ve been angry with her ever since Ella died, for leaving me without support. She thought she was protecting me. That carrying on would help.”

“And you told her it didn’t?”

“I think she knew that anyway.” He leaned down and brushed her mouth with his. “I told her that I was in love with you and that I wanted to stay here. And she said that all she wanted was for me to be happy.”

Astrid’s heart squeezed tight. She knew what that meant to him. “Oh, Damon, did she?”

“Yes.” His eyes were so very blue. “She wants to come here and see the mountains.”

Astrid smiled, her throat tight with emotion. “Then we’ll show her.”

“We will.” Damon’s arms tightened around her. “But not yet. First, I need to show you something.”

“Show me what?”

“Show you that I’m really not much of a gentleman.”

She laughed as he picked her up in his arms. “Just as well. I don’t much care for gentlemen.”

* * *

A month later…

Connor leapt excitedly up the wooden stairs to the porch of Laura Fitzgerald’s new house, Laura herself trailing along behind him.

She moved more slowly than she once had, Damon noted, and with more hesitation, but she still walked tall, her chin lifted. She still was a proud woman.

It had taken them a month to move her from LA to Deep River, and it had been a bit of a mission.

A few days after he’d made his decision to stay, he and Astrid had thrown an engagement party at the Moose that the whole town had attended. It had been raucous and fun, and Silas had been totally disgusted that Damon had beat him to it with an engagement.

Damon didn’t care. He had his mother to move, which had involved a trip to LA to help her pack up her apartment. He tried to go alone, but Astrid and Connor had insisted on coming with him, the three of them helping Laura with her packing.

His mother had been a little cool with Astrid and Connor initially, but it hadn’t taken either of them long to endear themselves, Astrid with her practicality and Connor with his sheer exuberance.

Damon had determined that Laura living with him and Astrid and Connor wasn’t an option because not only would she not want to, but the house was too small anyway. However there was a small house next door to Astrid’s that was empty, and it had the same amazing view of the mountains that hers did. It was also very close, so Damon could keep an eye on Laura easily enough.

Now Connor stood at the top of the porch stairs, turning to offer Laura his hand. She waved it away irritatedly. “I can manage on my own quite well enough, thank you very much.”

Connor only grinned, not at all fazed by her temper—he himself was fairly irrepressible, as it turned out—moving over to where he’d placed the chair for Laura’s use and rearranging the pillows on it for the umpteenth time.

He’d been very particular about what kind of pillows were needed and what kind of chair, since he’d been the one to promise her those things. A nice wooden rocking chair, with red pillows since red was her favorite color—or so Damon had told him.

“Here you are, Mrs. Fitzgerald,” Connor said, patting the pillows. “I hope it’s comfortable for you.”

Laura sat down carefully in the chair. “Very nice,” she murmured. Then she turned a bright-blue gaze, almost the same color as Connor’s, on him. “You’re a good boy.”

Connor grinned, taking that as his due, and stepped back as she settled herself.

Damon came up the stairs, then stopped, Astrid beside him. “You don’t want to look around inside first, Mom?”

“No. Why would I want to look around inside?” She nodded at the view. “When I have this to look at?”

And what a view it was. The surrounding mountains, still capped with snow even though it was mid-summer, cradling the town and the river, the dark green of the forest a perfect contrast. And Deep River itself, the ramshackle collection of buildings that made up the town clustered at the river’s edge.

“Can’t argue with that,” Astrid said, amused. “Come on. Let’s get her bags inside.”

“Thank you, dear.” Laura sighed. “Bring out some whisky, would you, Damon?”

He smiled, small threads of tension that he hadn’t realized were there unwinding inside him. When his mother wanted a whisky, it meant she was home.

So he and Astrid went inside and put the bags down. Then Damon got the whisky