Page 72 of Our Sweet Destiny
Hal Braden pushed between his sons. He put his hand on Rex’s shoulder. Rex snapped his head toward his father. He didn’t know what to expect after the words they’d exchanged in the barn.
“These boys are the finest in all of Weston. Your daughter can’t do any better and you know it.” He looked at Jane. “Jane here knows it. Don’t you, Jane?”
Rex had had enough of the posturing and enough of the games. He wanted honesty and he needed clarity.
“What is going on?” Rex asked. “You just threatened me in there, and now you’re supporting me?”
“I’m supporting your mother’s wish, son.” Hal walked up to Jade and nodded at her necklace. “Show that to your mother.”
Jade’s eyebrows drew together as she nervously turned toward her mother and lifted her necklace.
Her mother gasped a quick breath. She covered her mouth with her hand and reached a trembling hand toward the silver charm. “Wh-where did you get this?”
“A woman in Allure said she got it from Rex’s mom when she was in high school,” Jade answered.
Jane’s eyes welled with tears. “That’s hers,” she whispered. “She used to talk about this dance of two lovers.” She looked at Hal. “Remember?”
Hal nodded; his eyes were also damp.
Jane continued. “Everything in their lives was meant to keep them apart, and against all odds, they found their way to each other.” She looked up at Rex. “Your father had that necklace made for your mother for her fifteenth birthday. She treasured it, wore it every day. One day she didn’t have it on, and when I asked her why, she said she’d put it in a safe place for someone who would need it more than she and your father.”
Hal lowered his eyes.
“Dad?” Rex watched his father close his eyes and rub them with his thumb and forefinger. He saw so much of himself in his father’s mannerisms that his heart clamped down, dislodging the simmering anger that had settled there only moments before.
“Her father didn’t want us together either,” his father admitted.
“I don’t understand any of this, but, Dad, Mr. Braden, what do we have to do to get past this family feud?” Jade asked.
Rex stepped forward and took Jade’s hand. “If we can’t resolve this, Jade and I will be forced to build our lives without you. The choice is yours.” She squeezed his hand and leaned in to him. Rex put his arm around her. “I love your daughter. Let me love your daughter.”
Earl Johnson stepped forward, eye to eye with Hal. “You know that I’m not buying any of this necklace hogwash, so if this is your way of having our children mend the miles of broken fence between us, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Hal shifted his eyes to Rex and Jade, clinging together in a bubble of love so thick, Rex knew they all could see it. He brought his eyes back to Earl.
“You screwed Adriana over. All those years ago, you threw loyalty out the window and threw us both under the bus at the same time,” Hal said.
“I had no choice. I know we agreed not to do business with the worthless lowlife, but I had no choice. I’d have lost everything.” Earl’s harsh tone carried angrily into the night.
“Bull hockey. I could have given you enough money to carry you over a few months; instead you went and dealt with the devil,” Hal accused.
“Hal, you’re the most stubborn, bullheaded man I know,” Earl snapped.
Treat and Josh stepped up and flanked their father, chins held high.
“No, he’s not, Earl. Have you looked in the mirror? You’re every bit as stubborn. Yes, you needed the money, but you knew that selling horses to that man was wrong. You admitted as much then, and you did it anyway,” Jane said.
“I was building a life with you. Without that money, we’d have had to sell the ranch altogether.” Earl looked from Hal to Jane and then to Jade.
Jade and her mother were looking at Earl with serious eyes, almost cold. Rex felt badly for him. “I can’t even pretend to understand what this is all about, but my best guess is that you broke some time-honored loyalty to my father, and my father, being the honor-driven man he is, tossed you aside for it.” He shot a heated stare at his father. “I can think of only one solution to your mess. Forgive and forget, or kick us out of town. The ball’s in your court.”
He took Jade’s hand and pulled her toward the driveway, then turned back to the stunned faces of his siblings. “I’ll do that one better. If you two can grow up, I’ll buy that patch of land between your two ranches and build a house there for me and Jade. Cash deal, but only…only if you two make up, because I’m not going to have my children feeling the stress of grandparents who can’t communicate.”
“Children?” Jade asked as they headed up the driveway toward her car.
“Son!” His father’s voice stopped him in his tracks. Every muscle clenched. This was it. No one challenged Hal Braden. He dropped Jade’s hand and faced his father.
“Yes, sir?”
