Chapter 25 - THE RETURN TO THE PEAKSThree days later, our private jet touched down at the Boulder municipal airstrip under a brilliant, cloudless Colorado sky.
Stepping off the plane, the crisp, pine-scented air hit our lungs like an old friend welcoming us home. The transition from the high-stakes elegance of Geneva back to the rugged, grounded beauty of our fifty-acre ranch felt less like a return and more like an exhale.
Our security detail met us at the tarmac with two black SUVs, and within twenty minutes, we were winding our way up the private mountain pass toward home.
As the iron security gates swung open, revealing the timber-and-glass ranch house framed by the jagged peaks of the Rockies, Betty and Mia pressed their faces against the car windows, cheering.
"Barnaby! Duchess!" Mia yelled, spotting the two chestnut ponies trotting across the lower pasture as we pulled up the driveway.
The moment the vehicle came to a stop, the girls bolted out the doors, dropping their luggage on the gravel and sprinting across the lawn toward the stables.
Daniel and I stood by the car, watching them go with fond, amused smiles.
He reached down, picking up my suitcase in one hand and his briefcase in the other, before pausing and turning to look at me.
"Home," Daniel said simply.
"Home," I echoed, taking his hand.
May you like
We walked up the stone pathway together, our footsteps steady and unhurried. The past was burned to ash; the corporate wars were history; the ghosts of Chicago had been laid to rest in the deep waters of Lake Michigan.
All that remained was the mountain, the sunshine, our daughters laughing in the pasture, and a future that stretched out before us as endless and beautiful as the Colorado sky.
