Page 67 of A Cowboy's Trust
Examining her face, Jake would’ve sworn she was telling the truth. Or at least the truth that she believed, which wasn’t necessarily the same thing. That had kind of always been the problem with Melissa.
“Where were you living?” Declan asked.
“Winnipeg.” She pulled a tissue out of her pocket and dabbed at her eyes.
“Why didn’t you go to your parents?” Jake knew his wife hadn’t always seen eye to eye with them, but it seemed under the circumstances that would’ve made more sense.
Melissa gave a bitter laugh. “I haven’t seen them in five years. Not since Jeffrey was born. They told me I made my mess, so I could live with it.”
With every word, Jake’s hands felt more and more tied. Again, if it’d only been her, he could have offered her temporary relief. Hell, he would’ve given her some money and told her to get her shit together somewhere else.
But there was a kid involved.
Jake turned to his brother. “Deck, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Out on the porch, the lingering cold of the tail end of winter surrounded them. It seemed suitable, Jake supposed. There was nothing warm and happy about this entire situation.
“Hell of a thing,” Declan muttered.
“I don’t want her here,” Jake said, “but the kid?—”
“I know.” Declan laid a hand on Jake’s shoulder. “This complicates things. I know we’re set up as a rescue, but there’s a level of trust involved for all the people who come here.”
Crap. “Melissa’s not done well at earning our trust.”
Declan shook his head. He considered for a moment and made a startling suggestion. “We’ll have to be smart to keep her from figuring out what we’re doing.”
“You want her to stay?” Jake sounded shocked, even to himself.
“Not sure we can turn her away. But we can reduce the interactions between her and the rest of the ranch hands.”
“Going to be tough to do with her living in the house with the ladies once I go back to my space under the art studio.”
Declan raised a brow. “I think instead of you leaving the house, we should put her in your apartment.”
For a moment, Jake hesitated, then the wisdom of the suggestion hit. “That makes sense. Because she’s got Jeffrey, that’ll give them more private space without adding a kid to the other ranch hands’ world.”
“We’ll help her out with groceries and that sort of thing, but she can cook for herself most of the time. And it will probably be less frightening for the kid than being shoved into a huge adult-dominated world.”
Jake sighed. “I still don’t like it, but I don’t know how much of that is who we’re dealing with rather than the whole messed up situation.”
“The whole thing sucks,” Declan agreed. “But if she’s here for a couple of weeks, we can manage.”
An uneasy feeling lingered in his stomach as they slipped into the house to inform Melissa of their decision. She took the news with a fresh bout of quiet tears. “Thank you. I’m really, really grateful.”
Jake headed to his apartment to grab the few things he might still need. The rest he pushed to the side of the closet, and when Declan brought Melissa and Jeffrey in, he was ready to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Ready to get back to the house and take Tansy into his arms to reassure himself all the dread and negativity thathismemories were throwing at him were a thing of the past.
As soon asMelissa and her son had left the house with Declan, Tansy wilted like week-old lettuce.
Petra curled an arm around her, guiding her to the living room where Aiden waited. “That was not on the agenda.”
“It’s total bullshit,” Aiden agreed. He made a face. “I’m torn between not being able to believe that she showed up here and being one hundred percent convinced this is Melissa and status quo.”
“And yet, this is what High Water is about,” Tansy said slowly. “As long as Jake knows he’s got our support, he can willingly put up with some bullshit for the sake of a kid.”
Aiden and Petra both hesitated. “That’s a completely mature response,” Aiden offered. “I don’t know that I’m quite there yet.”
