Love Unspoken (20 page)

After telling her daughter to hush, Noelle’s mother turned to
him. “I’m afraid both my girls were born with an attitude I have no control
over.” Her smooth face revealed their tiny wrinkles as she smiled. “You
mentioned Noelle. I take it you have no idea where she is.”

Cole nodded at woman staring at him expectantly. He had a feeling
these women knew too much about his guilt in dealing with Noelle.

Notepad in hand, he wrote to her.
I’m sure you know everything
that happened. I’d like to apologize to your daughter and ask her forgiveness.
Please tell me if she’s here or not.

Would they be cruel and keep him from her? Mrs. Williams seemed
reasonable enough. The other one…he didn’t know. She had her arms folded and
looked as if she wanted to stab him. He liked her already and would thank her
if he could for being on Noelle’s side.

“Noelle moved out a long time ago,” the sister blurted, a look of
triumph on her face. “I doubt she even remembers your name.”

Ouch. The spitfire was out for blood. He hoped she was a liar,
too.

“Aleah’s right, Cole. Noelle no longer lives here. I’m sorry you
came here expecting to see her.”

Sorry? Like hell he was going to walk away without finding out
where his woman lived.

Nothing to be sorry about Ma’am. It’s been a pleasure talking
to you, but I came here to see Noelle and I’d appreciate your help to at least
let her hear me out and decide for herself.

Aleah stood on her tiptoes glancing over Mrs. Williams’ shoulder
as the woman read his note. He could see the outrage forming on the girl’s
face.

“No way. You come here expecting us to help you break my sister’s
heart again. You must be out of your mind. Noelle would be better off dating
a—”

Mrs. Williams spun on her daughter so fast Cole almost missed it.
“Will you be quiet? You’re doing a bit too much talking for Noelle.” She looked
at Cole and gave him a tiny smile. “Talking too much is another problem I have
with my girls. Aleah is right though, I’m not sure it’s the best thing to give
you an opening back into Noelle’s life. She was extremely hurt after her visit
with you. I’m sorry, Cole.”

Fuck.
Leaving Copper Mesa without seeing Noelle wasn’t an
option. They had been separated far too long because of his stupidity.

Cole gazed at Mrs. Williams, placed his hand over his heart and
tapped it. Dammit, the woman had to understand that he loved her daughter.
I
love Noelle. I just want to try and make her happy.
He handed the piece of
paper to the woman standing in front of him, ignoring the open stare of
Noelle’s sister.

“I want to do right by my daughter, Cole. You have to understand
the position I’m in. Right now, I don’t think it’s best to give you her address.
I’m sorry. It was nice to finally meet you, however. I can see how my daughter
would fall for you.” She drew the door to a close.

Cole stood there in shock. Why hadn’t he suspected she would have
moved out? He turned toward the driveway when the door slowly pushed open. Mrs.
Williams’ head popped out of the doorway. Cole clenched his fist. She was
probably about to warn him from trying to find Noelle.

“Foxhead Trail might seem like the best place for someone in your
position to sit and contemplate if a life with my daughter is what you truly
want.”

Foxhead Trail? Cole nodded then waved at the woman before taking
off in his truck. Mrs. Williams looked to be in her early fifties. He didn’t
expect her to start going crazy so soon. There was only one trail around these
parts and it wasn’t called Foxhead. She had to be hinting at something else and
if it led him to Noelle, he was damn sure going to find out what the woman
meant.

Chapter
Nineteen

Noelle stepped out of her car and turned the corner of the icy
entryway to her apartment. The spikes of ice jutting from the rooftop and
pavement marked this season as one of the harshest winters she had experienced
since moving to southern Colorado in her teens. She’d spoken with Mr. Somerset
a few days ago during a visit with her parents. The rancher had declared the
frigid cold hell on his cattle. When he’d said those words, her mind drifted to
Cole and his family. She wondered how the winter was treating their herd of
cattle. All thoughts of Cole she had, she kept it to herself, not wanting
anyone to know the burly cowboy was still on her mind.

She hadn’t made it to the staircase leading to the entrance
before she saw him. Like something out a dream, he stood there against the
railing, hat in hand, thumbing the curved brim. He was wearing a thick fleece
jacket. His brown hair seemed darker than ever, without the glint of the
sunrays hitting it. His strong jawline was covered with a thin layer of dark
hair. Noelle smiled to herself. He looked good. The facial hair fitted him,
especially in wintertime. She almost let loose a full-blown smile that would
have given away her emotions. Now he really looked the cuddly bear she’d
secretly thought of him, but never would have voiced in a hundred years. Noelle
sighed. Those thoughts reflected when they were on good terms, when she and
Cole had a relationship and were not just two people drifting about the world
in separate directions.

Noelle straightened her shoulders and stepped forward.
This
should be interesting to see what he has to say.

“Should I be flattered or terrified that you found me?” She
stopped below the staircase, gazing up at him before climbing the distance to
meet him.

He gave a crooked smile. Noelle pursed her lips and arched a
brow. She needed answers, not smiles meant to placate her.

“What are you doing here?”

His eyes coursed over her entire frame, concealed in the wool
coat. “Nothing’s changed, Cole. I still look the same and act the same. Same
shitty past. Nothing’s changed. So I ask again, why are you standing in front
of my apartment?”

“I’m sorry, beauty. I’m so sorry.”
He stretched out a cold
hand, touching her face. Noelle flinched and pulled away from him. His hand
fell to his sides, then he lifted them and signed,
“Do you hate me?”

“Yes and no. I hate how easily it was for you to get rid of me. I
hate that you were bothered by my past when you should have been able to look
past it within a split second if you cared about me. I hate that I don’t know
what you feel for me. But do I hate you as a person? No. I don’t hate anyone,”
she added, to make her words appear neutral.

He nodded slowly, a slight look of embarrassment cutting across
his face.
“Can I write to you?”
He reached into his jacket pocket and
pulled out the notepad and a pen.
“I have more to say. Things I need to have
you understand.”

Her anger waned somewhat. She had forgotten how vulnerable he
could be sometimes underneath all that masculinity. “Of course you can write to
me.”

Like a lightning bolt, the pen flashed across the notepad as he
jotted down each word. Finally he handed the paper to her. Noelle read each
word, a hand on her throat, smoothing the clog from her heart that was bounding
upward.

Noelle.
He wrote her name again.
Noelle. I wish I could
say your name. I’d say it every chance I got to remind you how sorry I am for
ruining what we had. I’d say it everyday when I get up to work, reminding
myself of my reason for living. I know it’s not an excuse, but I was trying to
save you from me. I love you so fucking much Noelle, my beauty. So much that I
didn’t want you to be stuck with a no good cowboy, barely holding on to his
livelihood and a family to support. You deserve better. I told you to go
because I thought I was sparing you from all the struggles we’d have to go
through.

It was never about your past…not in the long run. I was an
idiot for my reaction and it makes me feel ashamed knowing how badly I hurt
you.

If you read this far, without throwing the paper in the snow,
I want you to know I still don’t have much to offer in terms of money, but I
will work my ass off to keep you warm and comfortable. I’m not asking for you
to say you love me in return; I only want you to know that whether or not you
decide to open your heart to me again, I’ll always love you. I can’t stop. I
wouldn’t know how to stop, beauty.

Noelle wiped away a tear before the next one fell, completely
wetting the spot where he signed his name. She should hate him. Slap him across
the face for rejecting her love, but how could she? Not once had she ever told
him ‘I love you’. She had lain with him, scorned him, railed at him and shouted
her hatred, but the three most important words she should have said went
unspoken. Noelle glanced at him. She saw the uncertainty and fear in his eyes.
Her heart blossomed with love. He was no longer closed off from her. She could
read into those gorgeous dark eyes and see into her man’s soul.

“You love me?” She wanted to see it in his eye when he answered.

He unzipped his jacket, held her gloved hands between his big
palms and brought it to his chest, over his heart.

I. Love. You
, he mouthed.

A tear rolled down her cheek at his silent declaration. She knew
he must have practiced how to form each word in his mirror.

Wiping away the wetness, Noelle pressed her head to his solid
chest and held it there, his large hands smoothing along her back. She loved
him so much and by some miracle she had him again.

 Noelle raised her head, stood on her tiptoes and brought her
lips to his. How she missed his taste on her tongue. She wanted more of him,
but in this moment, out in open, a kiss was the ultimate gift. When the kiss
ended, Noelle took his hands and placed it above her heart, in the same fashion
he had done.

“I love you.” She held up her right hand and signed the words as
well.

His chest rose and his eyes closed then open, blazing with
intensity. Suddenly the winter didn’t seem so frigid.

“I never thought I’d hear those words from you. Thank you,
beauty.”

Noelle held his hands and brushed her lips across his knuckles.
“Don’t ever thank me for loving you. My heart belongs to you and now I know you
belong to me. I can’t do anything but love you, Cole. I had about as much
choice in it, as needing air to breathe. When I thought I’d never see you
again, I made up my mind to live as best as I could without you.” Noelle
swallowed, so thankful she no longer had to be without him. “I didn’t like it,
and I thought about you every single day. I always hoped you hadn’t forgotten
me. That you hadn’t fallen for the sweet little farm girl I taunted you about.
It feels like a dream with you here. That’s what we should be thankful for. Our
second chance. I won’t ever turn my back on you, Cole, not for my family, not
for anyone or anything in this world. Can you promise me the same?”

“I promise you that and more. I’ll always be on your side. You
will be the only woman in my heart.”
He lifted his hands to sign something
else. Thought better of it and whipped out the notepad once more. His fingers
lingered on the paper before handing it to her.

Noelle, I want to be with you for as long as you’ll have me.

Noelle grinned, folded the paper, and put it in her pocket.
Amazing how she felt so much lighter as if she would flutter away with joy
because of him. She never wanted her happiness to be dependent on anyone else,
but it was and she knew it was the same for him. They were each half of a
whole, needing the other with the same intensity and splendid passion.

Reaching for her keys, Noelle smiled while looking up at him. “No
less than sixty years, cowboy. Anything below that and I’ll consider it a
breaking of your promise.”

His arms came around her waist as soon as they entered the
apartment, his large boot kicking the front door closed. Sighing in bliss,
Noelle leaned into him cherishing the feel of his warm lips on her neck, the
woodsy scent of him she had missed so much. This she could definitely get used
to for the rest of their lives.

Epilogue

Noelle still hated to count the days, but today was different. It
was exactly seven months to the day that they were married in the small church
ceremony, nine months and five days since she had moved onto the Tumbling Y
Ranch inside the guesthouse that was currently being remodeled and extended.
While she was elated by the many blessings that came her way over the past two
years, Noelle was overjoyed for Cole even more. Today marked the day the
Tumbling Y, belonged solely and without a cent of debt to Cole.

After their reunion in January, they’d spent the next two days
locked inside her apartment making love until her legs became numb and she lost
count of the numerous orgasms. Cole hadn’t minded in the least of her dilemma,
insisting the bed was the best place for her anyway.  When they’d finally
decide to rejoin the rest of humanity, Cole returned to his family’s ranch out
of necessity and Noelle made a visit to her parents’ home informing them of her
relationship with Cole and that this time it was forever, regardless of what
they thought. It came as no surprise that her mother supported the union. The
biggest shock had been her father’s quiet acceptance, simply stating that he
wished her happiness and perhaps she just might find it with the ‘ranch hand’.
She knew he hadn’t meant it in a derogatory way, but nevertheless it irked her
to no end.

In the months leading up to their wedding, her father’s attitude
toward their relationship shifted. Perhaps he saw and felt the love Cole had
for her. She didn’t know, didn’t really care. It was nice to have him treat
Cole with the respect he deserved.

A few weeks before the wedding, her mother showed up at the ranch
unexpectedly, a stack of papers in hand. For a second Noelle wondered if things
were falling into reverse and her mother wanted to use her as an assistant once
more. Naturally Noelle had been stunned when her mom broke down and explained
what the paper work was, the same ones she’d seen her working on that night a
year ago. Money they had set aside for each daughter to be available after
reaching the age of twenty-one. Her mother confessed that Aleah had received
hers years ago, while they had been on the fence about handing over such a
large sum of money to their eldest.