He Sent Me Away So I Took His Crown Chapter 17
On the drive back to Denver, I read the appointment letter three times.
Outside the car windows, the grasslands were just beginning to turn green again, and herds of pronghorn moved like shadows in the distance.
The things that had weighed on me were not suddenly gone.
The smell of disinfectant could still throw me back into the quarantine room. I still woke up at night and checked that the door could open from the inside.
But now, the key was in my hand.
So was the choice.
“Lark will arrive at the new paddock today,” Elias said. “Mara already left with the trailer. Do you want to stop by the office first, or go meet her?”
“Meet her.”
“Okay.”
The car turned off the highway and onto the road leading to Reed’s newly built test farm.
By the entrance, the hillside that had been empty all winter now wore a thin green cover.
Scattered through it was a small patch of blue flax, just starting to bloom.
No expensive arch. No family witnesses.
Elias hadn’t decided for me whether the flowers should stay.
He had only planted the seeds and waited for me to come see them.
The horse trailer was parked up ahead.
Lark poked her graying face out through the opening and gave a soft nicker.
I unfastened my seat belt, then suddenly asked, “Where are we going tonight?”
Elias glanced at me.
“Your apartment. My house. Or the duty cabin here. You choose.”
I took his hand.
“Your house.”
Then I smiled.
“This time, I’m the one who wants to go home.”