Feels Like Love (11 page)

“Because
of the sedation,” the nurse explained. “He started to wake up, so we had to put
him under so he’d hold still for the MRI.”

April
nodded, swallowing against the lump in her throat.

“He’ll
be okay,” Wade put his arm around her shoulders. “He’s tough.”

After
a long, anxious wait, Ben stirred and opened his eyes. His gaze traveled around
the room and came to rest on April. “Hey, buddy. How are you?” she smiled and squeezed
his hand.

He
moaned.

“I
know,” she said. “We’re going to get you out of here as soon as we can, okay?
Do you want to watch TV?”

She
found a cartoon for him on the TV and slumped on a chair next to Wade. “Trevor
says Mom and Dad will be here in a few hours,” she mumbled after checking her
phone.

“Do
they need a ride from the airport?” Wade asked.

“They
left a car there,” April yawned. Her head was fuzzy and her eyes felt like they
were stuffed with sand. Wade guided her head gently to his shoulder. She curled
against him and sank gratefully to sleep.

“The
doctor said
the MRI didn’t show anything unusual, but they want to keep him a while longer
for observation,” April updated her parents when they arrived a few hours
later. “Em’s afraid he won’t be home for Christmas.”

“Tell
her not to panic, we’ve still got a few days,” her mother said as she swabbed a
moistened sponge over Ben’s dry lips. He had been growing increasingly agitated
as the day wore on, but calmed down considerably when he saw his mother.

April’s
dad gathered her into a hug. “Thank you for taking such good care of him,” he
said, his voice gruff with emotion. Then his eyes found Wade. “And thank
you
for taking such good care of
her
.”

In
spite of the cold, the fresh air felt wonderful after being cooped up in the
hospital for so long. April tugged Wade’s coat tighter around her shoulders as
she walked with her dad to the car. Wade had gone, reluctantly, a few hours
earlier to do the chores and she missed him already.

“Looks
like there’ve been some changes,” her dad said with a glance at Wade’s coat
once they were on the road.

“Uh
… yeah.” She gave him a quick update without going in to too many details. There
were much bigger things to worry about at the moment; her tangled love life
could wait.

Their
mother stayed in Billings with Ben, so the job of finishing preparations for Christmas
fell to April. She spent most of the next day wrangling Emily and Trevor
through cooking, cleaning, last minute decorating, and shopping, but her mind
was on Wade. Where had they left things and what would happen now? She tried
not to fret when he didn’t call or text; he was probably busy too. Besides, he
was coming for Christmas Eve; she could be patient.

Maybe.

They
were grateful and relieved when Ben came home on Christmas Eve Day. He had a follow-up
appointment the next week and needed a lot of rest, but the doctors did not anticipate
any more seizures. April noticed everyone in the family stopped by his room often
to check on him or sit with him for a while. Her heart skipped a beat when she
thought about what might have happened. She could not imagine life without Ben.

It
was a perfect Christmas. The family was together, the house was clean,
neighbors dropped by with small treats and gifts, Christmas carols played in
the background, and from the kitchen came the aroma of the turkey baking for dinner.
Outside the sky was intensely blue and the snowy fields glistened in the
sunshine.

Well,
it was
almost
a perfect Christmas. April’s heart stung as she pulled the
gifts from Scott from under the tree and set them aside; waiting to be returned
to him once she went back to school. She sighed and across the room her mother
met her eyes with an understanding smile.

April
was doing her makeup when the doorbell rang. She figured it was another
neighbor until Trevor’s voice echoed down the hallway.

“Apriiiiil
… Wade’s here.”

He
was early. She hurried through the rest of her makeup, her eyes bright and sparkling
and her cheeks flushed with excitement.

Her
heart sped up even more when she saw him, handsome as ever in a blue button
down shirt, jeans, and a soft leather jacket. He was smooth shaven and the
subtle scent of his cologne made her knees tremble. He grinned at her, his eyes
crinkling at the corners.

“Hey,
beautiful,” he said. “Want to take a drive?”

What
she
really
wanted to do was thread her fingers through his still damp
hair, pull his head towards hers, and never, ever stop kissing him. But Trevor
gave her a broad smirk so she hurried to the kitchen to announce they’d be
back, then let Wade take her hand to lead her outside.

When
they reached the porch, April took a startled step back. A shiny silver
Corvette was parked in front of the house.

“What
… is this
yours
?” she gasped as Wade pressed the remote. The car’s
lights blinked and she blushed – stupid question, of course it was his.

But
…
how?

Wade
winked and opened the passenger door for her. She gave him an incredulous look
and slid into the deep black leather seat.

“What’s
going on? Why do you have a car like this?” April demanded when he was behind
the wheel.

“Later,”
he said as the engine roared to life. “Let’s drive.”

He
went slowly down the bumpy lane, but when he reached the highway, he gunned the
engine and the car took off.

“Wade!”
April said incredulously. “Tell me.”

He
smiled mischievously and shook his head, his eyes never leaving the road.

They
drove across the valley and through town. When Wade steered up the winding road
into the foothills, April knew where they were going. His farm.

Then
they turned a corner and her mouth fell open.

The
crooked barbed wire fences had been replaced by miles of lodge pole rails,
which blended seamlessly into the landscape. The pasture she remembered being
full of scrubby cows now held several sleek horses. The rusting cars and broken
machines were gone and instead of the old barn, there was a huge stable and several
other new buildings. The old trees in the yard were still there and so was the
house, but it was obviously renovated.

Wade
didn’t say a word. He just steered the car behind the house to a four-car
garage, killed the engine, and turned to her. “So … want to see the inside?”

She
stared at him. “Are you messing with me?”

“Of
course,” he grinned. “C’mon, I’ll give you a tour.”

The
house looked nothing like she remembered. Every room had been skillfully remodeled
to incorporate modern luxuries, but retain its old-world charm. Or maybe it had
gained
its charm as well; April didn’t recall much
charm
about
the place when the Eddingtons had lived there.

However,
despite the gourmet kitchen, expensive finishes, and modern conveniences, it
still looked very much like a bachelor pad. The furniture wasn’t so much
arranged
as it was
scattered
, the great room was dominated by a huge TV on the
wall, and there were no plants or homey little knick-knacks to indicate a woman’s
touch.

They
ended the tour in the great room by a fragrant Christmas tree alongside windows
overlooking the pastures below.

“Where
are the cows?” April asked as she watched the horses picking their way through
the snow. She had long since given up pestering him for an explanation. He
would tell her in his own sweet time.

Stubborn
man.

“I
don’t have any cows.” Wade leaned against the back of the couch with his arms
folded. He gave her an easy grin, but she could tell he wasn’t quite as relaxed
as he was pretending. “I don’t have any pigs or sheep or chickens either,” he
added.

“Just
horses?”

“And
a few goats. I like goats.”

She
looked around and shook her head. “It’s incredible. But seriously,
how
?”

“Look,”
Wade pushed off from the couch and came toward her, pulling his phone from his pocket.
He jabbed the screen a few times and opened a folder with several icons.

When
he tapped the one labeled
Farm Life
, the screen zoomed open to show a
little cartoon farm. A tiny tractor circled a tiny field, harvesting what
looked like grain, while a herd of chubby cows grazed in a nearby pasture. She
had never been very interested in computer games, but she knew enough about
apps to know
Farm Life
was very popular.

“I
said I was a farmer,” Wade said. “This is my farm.”

She
looked from the screen to him and back to the screen. “I don’t get it.”

“This
is
my
app,” he explained. “I built it and I operate it and I make my
living selling advertising on it.”

She
watched a family of ducks waddle across a dirt road. “You did all this? But
you’re not an artist.”

“I
have a creative team,” he said. “I mostly handle the business end of things.”

He
waited, looking for all the world like the guilty schoolboy waiting for Mrs.
Snow to mete out punishment.

“
You
bought the van for Ben,” April finally said.

He
shifted uncomfortably. “That’s not important.”

“Yeah,
it is,” she countered. “And don’t try to appease me. You did, didn’t you?”

He
nodded.

“And
you’re paying for his nurse?”

Wade
shrugged it away. “It doesn’t matter. But look at this,” his eyes grew excited
as he swiped his finger over the screen and moved around the farm until they
came to a big white barn. The sign over the door said
Benny’s Barn
.

“We
opened this last week. Players can come here to sell and trade equipment,
animals, crops, basically everything in the game. There’s also a chat feature so
you can connect with people all over the world.” He gave her a quick
demonstration.

“
Benny’s
Barn?" April asked.

“He’s
my silent partner,” Wade said. “Proceeds from barn transactions are for his
care and anything left over goes to a foundation we formed to help families who
have kids with CP. We help them pay for care, medical expenses, new equipment,
things like that.”

April
gazed at him in admiration. “That’s got to be expensive … how much can you make
off an app?”

“I
don’t want to go into details right now,” Wade hedged. “And I didn’t bring you
here to try and impress you.” He paused and gave her an impish grin. “Okay,
maybe a little bit. But mostly I just want us to be honest with each other.”

“You
don’t have to give me a number, but – ”

“Plenty,
April,” he interrupted softly. “More than enough. It could probably be even more
if I was aggressive with the marketing, but I haven’t wanted to spend the
time.”

The
house, the horses, the car in the garage … “No way,” she burst out. “There is
no
way.
I would have heard about this from every person in town.”

“I
don’t really talk about it,” he said. “In fact, I doubt anyone knows.”

“What
do they think then? You robbed a bank? Came into some kind of an inheritance?
Found a gold mine?”

He
chuckled. “I have no idea. If anyone asks, I tell them I work with computers
and that seems to be good enough.”

April
shook her head. “I don’t even know what to say. It’s just …” Irritation flared.
“It’s
ridiculous
, is what it is. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

“Before
you get all fired up, answer me this,” Wade broke in quickly, “
when
exactly was I supposed to tell you? Up until a few days ago, you were engaged
to someone else. And the hospital certainly wasn’t the right time to bring it
up.”

She
opened her mouth to reply, realized he was right, and shut it again. “I don’t
know,” she finally grumbled. “But a few hints here and there would have been
nice.”

He
tossed his phone onto the couch, reached out, and grabbed her hips. His fingers
threaded through the belt loops of her jeans as he pulled her close. “And miss
the chance to see this look on your face? No way. You have
no
idea how
long I’ve been looking forward to this moment.”

She
slid her arms around his neck. “Probably not exactly like this though.”

“True,”
he admitted. “I
did
think it would feel more like revenge …”

“But
this feels more like cake,” she finished.

“Cake?”

“A
big gooey chocolate cake,” April said and laughed at his puzzled look. “I’ll
tell you later. Right now, just kiss me.”

He
dipped his head and as their lips met, April’s heart soared. Who knew that cake
could feel so much like love?