But the rumble in my spirit had me pushing the accept button on the steering wheel.
“Courtney.” Her name was grit.
“Jace . . . you need to go out to the plantation.”
Concern lit, but I bit it back. “I’m already on my way out of town.”
“Then turn around,” she snapped.
“I’m not playing games, Courtney. I’m leaving.”
“Neither am I, and you need to turn your ass around. Faith needs you.”
“Is she hurt?” I was unable to stop the panic, the throb inside me that drew me right back to the girl. That place that would always belong to her.
Courtney’s voice quieted. “Yes, Jace, she is hurtin’ like crazy, and I’d venture to say you are, too.”
“Don’t do this to me,” I almost begged.
“I already warned you I’d kick your ass if you hurt her, Jace Jacobs.”
“I didn’t want to hurt her.”
“Then don’t.”
A sigh pilfered from between my pursed lips.
“Don’t make me hunt you down and maim that pretty face. Don’t want to do it, but I will.”
“Courtney.”
“Jace,” she returned just as hard.
Silence wavered between us. “Just . . . go out there before you leave. That’s all I’m asking of you. After everything, please do this one thing.”
“Fine.”
This was such a bad idea. Such a terrible idea because walking away again was going to be the most excruciating thing I had ever had to do.
Leaving for good.
I ended the call and made a quick U-turn. My sluggish heart instantly racing.
I made it back through Charleston and hit the quiet streets of Broadshire Rim.
I swore that I could look at the sidewalks and see all those ghosts.
Speeding through it, I felt unprepared for the million memories that slammed me as I made the last turn onto the dirt road that ran along the backside of town.
The car jostled down the bumpy dirt road, and I remembered the stake to my heart the first time I’d seen her.
Standing there in that corner of the office like she was trapped by a wild animal.
The feeling she’d invoked.
The care she’d given.
Meeting her on this road what felt like a million times. Falling fast. Loving her hard and so stupidly.
But not as stupidly as when I’d come back here, when I’d tripped into all that grace and found comfort in the one who I never could keep.
I’d known it.
And I’d tried to keep her anyway.
But I’d always been that kind of fool.
My heart hammered like a bitch as I got closer to the plantation, grief climbing my throat when I thought of seeing them again, as I worried what might be wrong.
I slowed when I noticed something in the distance, right at the end of the turn to the plantation.
I squinted into the bright sunlight, my pulse kicking, blood pounding through my veins.
Faith and Bailey were standing at the end of the drive.
A big wooden sign had been erected, painted white, an outline I couldn’t make out etched over the top.
Terror hit me hard when I realized it had to be a for sale sign.
Everything churned when I came to a stop and killed the engine.
Just staring out the windshield at Faith who was staring back.
Energy thrashed.
A shockwave through the humid air.
Drawn, I clicked open the door and warily stepped out, that feeling rising higher.
Her grace so full.
Her spirit so warm.
I wanted to rest in it forever.
My heart tumbled in my chest when I glanced down at Bailey who swayed at her mother’s side, hearts and rainbows printed all over her shirt and magic in her brown, brown eyes.
My Unicorn Girl.
My throat grew thick, so thick I could barely speak, but I finally forced out the choppy words. “Courtney said you needed help.”
Faith nodded, blinked, and let her gaze sweep to the sign. “I’m going to need some help paintin’ this.”
I shook my head. “I won’t help you give up your dream, Faith. I won’t. Please, don’t do it.”
But Faith . . . Faith smiled. She smiled that smile that annihilated me.
Joy and life and light.
My goddamned knees went weak.
“I’m not givin’ up my dream, Jace. I’m asking you to live it with me.”
She took a tentative step forward.
Stealing air.
With that one footstep, I was hit with a crush of need.
“I know what you did,” she whispered, her voice so soft it was a song.
“What do you mean?”
She gestured toward the house that was hidden in the protection of the row of spindly trees. “You gave me this. My dream. Even when you thought you couldn’t be a part of it.”
She wasn’t supposed to know. Not ever. My head shook, trying to stop her from coming closer, but she didn’t stop.
She just took another step while she stared up at me with those chocolate eyes.
Bailey trotted along with her, holding onto her thigh, the little thing an extension of her mom.
“You bought this house, didn’t you? For me?”
God damn it.
My hand went to my chest. Like I could physically rip the pain from where it lived.
Reluctantly, I nodded. “It was always supposed to be yours.”
Her lips pursed, so soft, so goddamned soft that I wanted to dip down and taste them one more time.
Her words cut off that thought. “No, Jace, it was always supposed to be ours.”
My chest tightened, and she edged an inch closer. “I knew the second you barged into my life that I was never goin’ to be the same. I wasn’t. You changed me. Changed me in the best of ways.”
Grief climbed my throat. “I failed you, Faith.”
She reached out and set her hand on my cheek. “You saved me. You saved me and my daughter.”
“I lied to you.”
Emotion twisted across her face, and her head canted to the side. “Because you loved me.”
“I hurt you.”
She brushed those fingertips across my bottom lip, and I nearly came undone. “Because you had to.”
“I . . .” I struggled for the words, the sound of them gruff when they finally broke free, my heart cracking right there in the open. “I can’t stand the thought of you looking at me and seeing what you lost instead. What I stole from you.”
Moisture gathered in her eyes, and I thought she’d step away, but she moved closer, so close I could feel the warmth coming from her sweet, sweet skin.
Roses.
Like she’d just run through the gardens.
All I wanted was to bury my face in her neck, to breathe her in.
“When I close my eyes, I see you. When I think of you, I see us together. When I look at you, I see where I belong. I see you.”
My teeth gritted. “I betrayed Joseph, Faith. My own blood.”
Her head shook. “You saved him, again and again. I know what he did, Jace. It was Joseph who betrayed us. I will forgive him . . . someday . . . I will.”
She searched my face, those eyes caressing every inch. “You asked me in my kitchen if I knew all the horrible things you’d done in your life, if I could forgive you, and I promise you, there is nothing to forgive. The more I know about you, the more I love you. You are the best man to ever walk into my life.”
She searched my face. “Do you remember you once told me I taught you how to believe? That I had given you the hope that you were worth so much more than the world gave you credit for? That I helped you accept you were destined for great things?”
She ran her fingers down my chest. “It was you who brought all of that back to me, Jace. You who brought me back from despair. From fear and helplessness. It was you who made me believe I deserved more.”
She wet her lips, her words rough. “I let you walk out of my life once, I’m not willin’ to do it again.”
“But Faith—”
She pressed a finger to my lips, and I swore I could feel the earth shift. The world spinning. “The only thing I need to know is whether you love me for me or out of obligation. If you love me because you ache for me or if this was always about Joseph stealing me away.”