Stay (Love In Montana Book 5)

A month passed by and Anastasia nicely settled down in LA. She had already started attending her classes at FIDM and in fact enjoyed her studies more than ever before. Madame Slovene trained her rigorously and she started picking up well. In fact even her mom couldn’t help but appreciate her daughter's efforts for the first time in her life. Her treatment continued and soon her health started deteriorating. 

“Freya, have you asked Grant to go to the airport?” Asked her mom. Freya nodded. 

“Yes, aunt Bianca. He has left already,” said Freya, making Bianca Farrell's face light up with happiness. Anastasia smiled at her knowingly. She knew that her mom had been looking forward to this day as her dad was arriving. He was shifting to LA permanently and Anastasia was happy that she would have both her parents right in front of her. It would be easier for her to take care of them. Freya walked away, her body stiff and nervous since Anson Farrell was also arriving today and she wanted to escape his arrogant and hurtful remarks. But she had nowhere to go. Being an orphan, she lived with Madame Slovene in her house. It had been her home since her mom used to work for Madame Slovene when she was alive.

Two hours later, Madame Slovene’s faithful chauffeur, Grant Murphy arrived at the mansion with Anastasia’s dad and brother. Anastasia rushed out to welcome them. “At last! I’m so happy that you’re finally here for good, dad,” she said, hugging her father. She glanced at a stuck up Anson who looked all around him first as if looking for someone. 

“Can’t you recognize me, bro? Where’s my hug?” she frowned at her brother. Anson grinned and went forward to give her a bear hug. 

“I’ve brought something for you,” he said with a grin. 

“What?” asked an eager Anastasia.

“First please me. Make my favorite dishes. I’m dying to eat your food,” said Anson.

“So am I,” said her dad.

“Come inside, please. Mom isn’t well, I’ll take you to see her,” said Anastasia. She took them to her mother’s room. Her mom was overjoyed to see them. David Farrell hugged his frail wife and they both had tears in their eyes. It was apparent that her mom didn’t have many days left with her. The next few days, her dad visited her doctors and took an update on her treatment. He forced Madame Slovene also to get her diabetes and cholesterol tested and start her treatment that she had been postponing for so long. Anastasia prepared their favorite dishes to please Anson. They all asked him to shift his business to LA but he didn’t pay any heed to their words. The day before he would return back to Las Vegas, he gave Anastasia a ring. 

“What is this?” she asked, opening the box and taking out a beautiful heart-shaped ring with a sapphire and tiny diamonds encrusted in it. 

“Ryder came to see you five days after you left. He wanted to surprise you,” said Anson, making Anastasia’s face fall. She sat down on a nearby couch as the color drained from her cheeks. “He was heartbroken to see you gone. He stayed with us for three days, taking care of dad. He wanted to propose to you, he wanted you to be his forever but with you gone, he just sent this. He said that he’ll call you soon,” said Anson. 

“Thanks Anson. I wish he would come here to see me,” she said, feeling upset. 

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he will,” said Anson. Anastasia kept the ring instead of wearing it. She wanted Ryder to place it on her fingers. The whole of last year, they hadn’t talked much, as they both had been busy. They called each other once a week or so. Anastasia had started to feel that maybe Ryder was losing interest in her. Now after receiving the ring, her heart skipped a beat and she was again hopeful that maybe one day, he would come all the way to LA to see her. 

Anson went back and Anastasia called Ryder in the evening. “Thanks for the ring but I won’t wear it,” she said with a pout.

“Why not? Have you found someone else?” he asked, sulking already. 

“Are you crazy? With both mom and aunt Vida unwell, I’m neck deep in work. I have to juggle between work and studies. It hardly leaves me any time to make friends, let alone hunt for someone else. So have you found someone else?” asked Anastasia.

“I wouldn’t be sending you a ring if I found someone else, would I?” he asked, softly. Anastasia grinned, wanting to hear exactly this. Long distance relationship is the most difficult thing in the world to maintain and she had no idea how they would sort out their relationship. 

“Just sending me a ring won’t do. You have to come and propose, Ryder. I want you to place it on my waiting fingers,” said Anastasia. 

“I will, soon,” said Ryder. “So when are you returning to Las Vegas?” he asked curiously.

“I’m not returning, Ryder. I’ll stay here for life,” she told him softly. Ryder looked disappointed but didn’t say anything much. After they disconnected the call Ryder realized one thing. Anastasia was never returning to Fordsville as her life was settled in LA. Then what about their relationship? Could he go to LA and start fresh? It was a decision that he couldn’t take on the spur of the moment. His whole life, his career depended upon it. His family might not agree at all. Having lived in Fordsville all his life, LA would be a daunting experience for him. What would he do there? 

So as the months passed by, Ryder kept in touch with Anastasia but kept postponing his visit to LA. At home, nothing had improved. Sawyer hadn’t returned yet and Renée had become a ghost of her former self. Amidst all this, River who was his aunt Katherine’s daughter returned home with her best friend, Sera. A few days later, they discovered her pregnancy. Since the father of the child refused to take responsibility, they all started looking after Sera, especially Rhett. Adelaide, his girlfriend, had returned back to New York three years ago and hadn’t contacted him ever since. Nine months passed by and Sera gave birth to a baby boy who grew very attached to Rhett. After hearing Adelaide’s wedding plans in New York, Rhett agreed to marry Sera. 

However, amidst all the wedding preparations happening at home. Adelaide returned back to Fordsville forever. Everything changed ever since. Sera returned to Las Vegas when the father of her child arrived in Fordsville to take her home with him. Rhett and Adelaide cleared their misunderstandings and decided to get married. 

Amidst all this, they received information about Sawyer’s whereabouts in Mexico. Their dads went to Mexico to bring him home. Everyone was excited and the next few weeks, they all were busy with Sawyer, trying to improve his health. Rhett and Adelaide’s wedding was a joyous occasion for the family in almost four years. 

Soon Sawyer and Renée too announced their upcoming wedding. Ryder was contemplating upon going to LA to fetch Anastasia since she had promised to attend the wedding when he received Anson’s call. Anastasia was in Las Vegas with her dad. Her mom had died three months back and they arrived here to wrap up her work, close her boutiques as Anastasia couldn’t handle so much on her own. With Anson having no interest in the fashion industry, Anastasia was struggling to manage the vast empire all on her own. He knew that her mentor, Vida Slovene was extremely unwell and could hardly go out of the house, let alone manage an empire. 

“I've called Ana and invited her to my wedding,” said an excited Renée. Despite her traumatic state she had regularly kept in touch with Anastasia, even if not everyday like they used to before. 

“She’s in Las Vegas now. I’ll go to get her. This time we won’t wait for her to agree to come. I’ll not give her a choice, a promise is a promise,” said Ryder. 

So he immediately bought his ticket and packed up to leave for Las Vegas. His heart was jumping with excitement at the prospect of meeting her after so long. Two years had changed her a lot. He had seen the interviews Anastasia gave to the press as the sole heir and MD of Madame Slovene’s business empire. Ryder admired her from afar. It was now that he realized what an impossible dream he had been harboring in his heart for so long. She was now a celebrity, a gorgeous woman whom the world adored. Men flocked to her and he knew that she was way beyond his league. 

Last year they hardly talked on the phone as she was always busy, having no time to attend to his calls. He still loved her from afar and called her diligently. He hadn’t lost his hope. Even friendship with her would do as long as he could talk to her, knowing that she was well. He didn’t hope to ever have her in his life, so whatever he had with her, he held onto it with his heart and soul.