Page 20 of Redemption

It was an important document, and I knew how Kat would feel about not having it. With a sigh and a groan, I realized I was going to have to drop it off to her tomorrow.

Let’s hope this time she didn’t scratch my eyes out when she saw me.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Katarina

“Do you think she’s alive?”

“I dunno, she doesn’t smell like it…”

Their conversation filtered in through my ringing ears. My head pounded and my mouth was so dry I could hear the rasp of my tongue as it peeled itself from the roof of my mouth.Ugh, what’s that smell? What’s that taste?

A cold finger prodded my eye.

“Ow!” I shouted, batting at it wildly and the sudden action caused my stomach to lurch dramatically. “Oh no,” I moaned and a moment later I was handed the small trash can from my room.

I retched for a few minutes before I managed to pull myself together. I looked up through the dankstrands of my hair to see Tilly and August watching me with interest.

“Why are you looking at me like I’m the newest zoo exhibit?” I grumbled, clutching my pounding head.

“Because you are?” Tilly shoved two aspirin at me and August held out a glass of water. I took them and swallowed the pills with only a small sip of water because my stomach was already gearing up for round two.

“Youneverget wasted. It was super funny,” August giggled, and I shot her a withering look.

“You sang…it was not good,” Tilly snorted.

I pressed a hand to my forehead. “Okay, thank you very much Nurse Tilly and Nurse August but I can look after myself now.”

Tilly shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

“Might I suggest a shower?” August piped up, expression innocent.

“You might,” I grumbled and reluctantly heaved myself out of bed. I wobbled to the adjoining bathroom, wondering what the hell had happened last night. Thankfully the steaming hot shower soon had me feeling like myself again.

I dressed in my raggedy overalls and The Lonely Bison tee and pulled my wet hair back into a high ponytail. I ventured downstairs to find a blissfully quiet house, poured myself a cup of coffee and took it out onto the porch. Resting the steaming mug on the porch railing, I looked out over the land.

Gorgeous green pastures with grazing cattle, the hazy sun rising in the blue sky. The lodgepolepines and bur oak trees swaying in the breeze as they guarded the land from the road. I picked up my mug and strolled down the steps and around the back of the property where I was greeted with a view of the Teton mountains off in the distance. This place was so damn picturesque and Icouldn’t imagine not being here.

I’d moved back from Christchurch College when it became clear that Daddy was struggling in his grief to look after the ranch and raise four young girls. My classes hadn’t been going great. I was behind, and it took me longer to wrap my head around everything the way other students did so easily. I’d felt like a total failure trying to keep up with everyone else, but I was determined to push through.

However when I knew Daddy needed help, I dropped everything: my life, my dreams, gave them all up in a heartbeat to help my family. And I would again. Being at the ranch, looking at this view and knowing there was nothing else out in the world that could ever beat it, gave me the boost I needed to do something I’d been dreading.

I started to head back inside to make a call but stopped when the cabin caught my eye. It was an old log cabin that was meant to be a little getaway. One bed, one bath and a whole lot rundown. The windows needed replacing; the miniature porch had two broken steps and the gutter was hanging off. I didn’t know what the inside looked like, as I had never really been in it. It was Daddy’s domain.

“Oh, shit,” I gasped when a flicker of memory from last night came back to me. Jack, the bench, the vomit, thedeed!

“Shit, shit, fuck, shitting, fuck, fucker!” I chanted as I ran back towards the house, sloshing coffee everywhere. I set the mug down inside the doorway and pounded up the stairs to my bedroom. I found my discarded clothes on the floor and rummaged in the pockets of the shorts.

“No, no, noooo!” I wailed, coming up empty.

Jackhad the deed.

I’d waved it in his face, a red flag to a bull and now I didn’t have it. He could sign it and take what was, rightfully, his. I slumped onto the floor and buried my head in my hands. How was I going to tell the girls what happened? When he turned up and started living there and they had to face him every day? A reminder of what he’d taken from us.

My bedroom door swung open. “Hey Carrie Underwood, when’s your next concert?” Maddy chuckled to herself as she came in. When she saw me, the smile slid from her face.

“What’s wrong?”

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