Page 100 of A Cowboy's Trust
“Does he know all the bullshit Melissa put you through?” Tansy asked quietly.
“Sort of?” Jake offered. “Jackson is one of the guys I asked to track Melissa when she vanished. So he knew things weren’t great—how she was treating Jeffrey.”
Tansy’s brain couldn’t line up everything neatly, but she did remember one part. “What paperwork?”
Jake took another deep breath. “Remember when Melissa wanted to add me to Jeffrey’s birth certificate? During the apartment purge after she left, Declan found the paperwork she’d already signed in the garbage. He kept it. I’ve signed it, and Petra’s loaded a copy into the database. I’m officially listed as Jeffrey’s dad on paper, which means no one can take him away from us.”
A sudden spark flared in Tansy’s chest, and she gasped at the sensation. It was painful and perfect, and the next second, tears burst free like a dam had exploded, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.
“Oh God,Tansy. What’s wrong?” Jake brushed his hands over her as if searching for a new wound. “Do I need to call the doctor?”
“No. I’m happy,” Tansy gasped out between sobs. “So happy.”
They’d held onto hope for so long that having an answer that meant Jeffrey was safe seemed unreal.
She let herself cry it out, leaning into Jake’s arms. Letting the sadness of her own five-year-old self fall away and find a solid footing with High Water and all it stood for.
A solid footing with Jake by her side.
When she eased away, he didn’t move. Just stayed close, offering his support. “Thanks for being here,” she whispered.
“There’s nowhere else I want to be,” Jake offered quietly. “I’m not the only one, by the way. Your entire family stuck around for hours until I convinced them to head home.”
She snorted. “How did you do that?”
“Bribery,” he admitted. “We’re expected at your parents for dinner as soon as you feel up for it. Then a visit with Ivy and Walker followed by Rose and Chance.” His grin widened. “Plus, it appears your sister Fern has big news she wants to share with you in person.”
“Really?” Tansy thought back to her sister’s odd behavior at the auction. “Okay. So we’re booked for the next week?”
“Definitely.”
Tansy hesitated. Jake had said everything was okay, but fear lingered like an ache in her soul. “Where’s Jeffrey?”
Jake tenderly brushed a final tear off her cheek with his thumb. “He’s at High Water with the family. We didn’t know how long you’d be out after the operation to set your leg.” He made a face. “Plus, I didn’t really want him around for the police investigation. Jackson is rock solid, but just in case?—”
“No,” Tansy said quickly. “I’m glad Jeffrey’s not here. Although I’d love to see him. He was so brave, Jake. So scared, but so brave.”
“He’s a brave little boy. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to tell him that, though, because it’s late. It’s already after visiting hours, and they’ve got him settled down at the house.” Jake indicated the clock on the wall. “You missed supper.”
“Not hungry.” She hesitated. “I’m sorry Melissa’s dead. I never wanted that.”
“None of us did,” Jake said softly. He linked their hands together and stared at the connection for the longest time before lifting his gaze to hers. “Melissa made choices, Tansy. Same as you and me. Every step of the way, we had to decide how we’d act and react to the hand we’d been dealt in life. Somewhere along the line, she broke and took a wrong turn. That’s on her. All we can do now is try to make a difference in the life she left behind.”
“Jeffrey.”
He nodded. “Jeffrey.”
A knock on the door sounded an instant before a nurse paced in. “Time for your meds,” the young man offered cheerily. “It’s better to stay ahead of the pain so you get some rest tonight.”
“Okay.” Tansy watched as he administered the dose into the IV tube beside the bed then quietly left. She turned to Jake, “Tomorrow I go home, though.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed.
Home. Which was a place, but more than anything, it was a feeling. It was the people in her world who meant everything to her.
It was love.
How did she tell him that? How did she make it clear that this thing inside her, for him, and for Jeffrey, was big and huge and shiny, even in the sadness of loss, and the messed up cliff, and trunks with glowing pull handles and?—
