Page 16 of Our Sweet Destiny
Chapter Ten
STUPID DIDN’T EVEN come close to describing how Jade felt when she woke up the next morning. She’d gone into the barn the night before, flicked on the light, and sat outside Flame’s stall. Her body was still reeling from the feel of Rex’s rough, strong hands, and his hot, insistent lips. She’d shivered with the memory, then given in to the tears that pulled at her heart. Before she’d gone to bed, she showered, trying to scrub the thoughts of him away, washing herself under the cold water until her skin went numb.
Now, hours after he’d touched her, after trying to wash his touch away, she could still feel the way her body hummed to life with the first thrust of his tongue in her mouth. When he touched her, he’d brought her to new heights. No man had aroused her like that before. That had to mean something.
She looked in the mirror as she dried her hair. “Right?” she asked her reflection. At thirty-one years old, she knew how these things worked. The chances of her and Rex ever getting together again were slim to none, and maybe that was for the best. She really didn’t want to hurt her father. She knew the damage it would cause if he ever found out. She’d chalk last night up to a mistake.The heat of the moment.Now, if she could only convince her heart to do the same.
She iced and massaged Flame’s leg and was pleased to see that he was still walking normally. She was fairly certain that he was perfectly fine and what he’d experienced was a quick nag of pain rather than a sustained injury, but she’d still take it slow with him for one more day. She knew he was climbing out of his skin to be set free.Like me.
Inside the house, she was reviewing her schedule for the remainder of the week when her mother appeared in the kitchen.
“I thought you were sewing Daddy’s new curtains for his office today.” Jade’s mother was the best seamstress around, and her father was continually asking for new curtains, blankets, even shirts,to keep her creative juices flowing.
“I am. I just wanted to visit with my daughter.”
Her mother sat beside her on the couch in her capri pants and flowery blouse. “Jade,” she said in a voice that made Jade stop what she was doing and look into her mother’s brown eyes. “What’s your plan?”
“My plan, Mom?”
Her mother put her hand on her leg. “Honey, you know I love you, but you’ve been here for a while now, and I’m just wondering what you’re thinking.”
Jade smiled. “Ah, I get it. You want me to get out. You and Daddy are used to having the house to yourselves, and now I’m in the way?” She wasn’t hurt by the thought; she was just a little surprised by it.
“No, no. It’s not that. I mean, I guess it is a little. Children are supposed to grow up and define their own lives. Granted, you had a bad experience with Kane, but you can’t let that hold you back from starting anew.” She folded her hands in her lap and looked at Jade expectantly.
“I am. I have a number of clients, and I’m trying to figure out where I want to be with all of this. I mean, do I want to stay here in Colorado, or move somewhere else altogether?”Which at the moment seems like a really good idea. Maybe then I could completely forget Rex and his captivating moods.
Her mother nodded, but Jade could tell she had something else to add.
“Mom, what is it? Did I do something? Do you want me to pay rent? What’s really bothering you?”
Jane pursed her lips and furrowed her brow, glancing at Jade and then back to her lap.
“Mom, whatever it is, just spit it out, please.” Her chest tightened just watching the anguish on her mother’s face.
“Let’s take a walk.” Jane nodded toward Earl’s office.
“Sure.” Jade followed her mother out the door, noticing determination in her gait and a quickness in her pace. The knot that had tightened in her chest twisted and pulled. She could remember the handful of times her mother had taken her out of the house for a discussion, and none of them were to relay positive news.
Once they’d cleared the yard and were deep into the property by the cattle field, her mother’s shoulders relaxed, and she slowed her pace.
“Mom, what’s wrong? You’re starting to scare me a little.”
“Honey, please don’t let your father know I said anything. Normally, I wouldn’t talk about family business, but you’re an adult, and with what’s going on, I think you need to be aware—”
Jade touched her mother’s arm to get her attention. When her mother took a breath, Jade said, “Mom, you’re rambling. I won’t tell Daddy. Is he sick? Are you sick?”
“No, it’s nothing like that.” Her mother looked at her then, giving a little shake of her head and letting out a sorrowful sigh. “We might have to sell the ranch.” She choked on the last word, holding back tears. Her hand covered her chest.
“Sell it? Why? I thought the business was doing well.” Sell their home? The ranch was the only home she’d ever known. She and her brother had grown up there, and her father had owned the property for forty years.The feud.She wondered if not selling the property that they owned with the Bradens had had a severe impact on their finances. The Bradens had plenty of money, but she wasn’t so sure that that was true of her family.
“Your father has worked very hard to take care of all of us. He’s a good man and he runs an honest business. It would kill him to know that I told you about this before he did.”
“Okay, I won’t say anything. You have my word.”Sell the ranch?
“He thought the business would bounce back, and it hasn’t happened. The bank has been very gracious and for three years has fronted us the money to continue, but now…” Her eyes ran over the fields, the cattle, the house.
“Mom, if the property that Dad bought with the Bradens was sold and he received half of the profit, would that enable him to keep the ranch?” She searched her mother’s eyes as she contemplated the question.
