My Texas Sweetheart (book one)

by Acheson, Pauliena

  “He sent a poem home once that we haven’t let Mom or Maggie read. It shows how broken he really is. I don’t think Dad will ever let them read it. I can’t remember it all but I do remember the title…Where Broken Soldiers Go. I just hope that, one day, he talks to us about what’s bothering him.” I hope that, one day, Adam shares that poem with me, and that their brother comes home. He needs them as much as they need him.

  I hear a sound and look around. OH, SHIT! MAGGIE HEARD THAT! I turn back to Adam. He looks shocked. “Mags, please, let me explain…,” Adam begs.

  She starts shaking her head. “How could you keep that from Mom and me?! We had a right to know!” she yells and walks off.

  Adam is about to go after her when I stop him. “She needs some time, Adam. Let her have it,” I say. He nods. I don’t think any of them see how much all of this is ripping them apart. Wish there was something I could do but let’s face it the only one that can make this better is Chase!!

  “Fuck!... how could I be so stupid?” Adam yells out, I know it isn’t a question he wants answered

  “Bro clam down… there’s no way you knew she would over hear that”

  I didn’t even hear her coming so how could he, Adam starts pacing back and forth. I could go talk to Maggie, make things right between her and Adam or I could stay out of it. Fuck it this is something I can do for them. Just when I go to leave, we hear a door and a few minutes later we see Maggie walking towards us...... Thank fucking god! They need each other.

  Chapter 7(Maggie)

  I cannot believe my father and brothers kept something like that away from Mom and me. I am beyond pissed. Why couldn’t they just share it? Why won’t Chase come home? Should I go tell my dad that I know about the poem? Chase is my hero, but why won’t he come home? This is breaking all of our hearts. The family is going to fall apart. We are only so strong. I just… I just don’t know what to do anymore. I do know that I should go find Adam. He didn’t deserve being yelled at. I doubt it was his idea to keep the poem a secret.

  I walk back outside to find Adam and Jase in the same spot. “Adam, I’m so sorry I yelled at you.” I walk over to hug him, and he hugs me hard. I know this is just as hard on him as it is me. After all, Chase was once Adam’s hero, too.

  “Maggie, its fine. I understand. Dad had no right to keep that from anybody, but he knew that it would break Mom…and you. It wasn’t that easy to read it. I’m pretty sure that Chase didn’t want any of us to see it.” Adam sighs.

  “I know. I should have thought of that before I yelled at you,” I say. Adam nods, but doesn’t say anything else.

  I look back at Jase, who’s looking out at the river with a sad look on his face. I walk over and give him a hug. He looks shocked for a second before he wraps his arms around me. “Thanks for the hug, beautiful, but why?” he asks. Oh, my god. Did…did he just call me beautiful? I ignore it for now.

  I smile up at him. “Because it looked like you needed one, too.” He smiles at me, but says nothing. The three of us just sit there and look out at the water.

  Jade, Creed, Mark, and Gabe soon join us and we all sit there. It’s like there is an unspoken communication between all of us, and we don’t want to break it. Hours must have passed before someone finally said something. “I say we go kick our brother’s ass home,” Creed says. We laugh and agree that we should.

  Jade jumped up like his butt was on fire. “I have an idea,” he said. Okay, not sure I’m going to like this, but we wait for him to tell us what it is.

  “Well, what is it, Jade?” Creed asks with eyebrows raised.

  “I think we should play hide-and-seek.” He looks at us. “Hey, don’t give me that face. I’m serious. It’ll be fun and we’re not too old,” he grumbles. It makes us all laugh.

  “Okay, I’m in. It sounds like fun,” I say. I look at everyone else and, after a second, they all nod and stand up.

  Jade starts going over some rules about not going too far out, watch out for wild animals, blah blah blah. “Maggie, were you even listening?” Jade asks. I smile and shake my head, causing him to roll his eyes. I really don’t think anyone was listening to him, actually.

  Creed decides that he’ll be the one finding us first so the rest of us start running. I end up hiding with Mark because he grabs me and says that he has a great spot to hide…up in a tree. After about 25 minutes, my butt starts getting sore. “Is he ever going to find us? I wonder if he found the others,” I whisper.

  Mark looks down, then back at me. “God, I don’t know, but this sure as hell is taking forever,” Mark whispers back.

  We can hear Jade, Gabe, Creed, Adam, and Jase somewhere around the tree so Mark and I share a look. We both have big grins on our faces, waiting for them to look up. Mark elbows me and points. I look down to see that Adam and Jase are standing right under us, looking around. “Shit, where the hell are those two? I forgot how good they are at this game,” Adam says to Jase.

  Soon, they all are standing under the tree. “I’m going to kick their asses for hiding so good,” Creed says.

  Mark and I are both shaking our heads and muffling our laugher. “How can they not feel us staring at them?” I whisper in Mark’s ear. He just shrugs. God, my butt really hurts. Please, just look up already…geez.

  “Let’s go look over that way,” Jase says. God, how dumb can they be? I mean, Adam and Gabe should both remember this hiding spot. They all disappear from view.

  I look at Mark again. He’s shaking his head. “Try and get comfortable, baby girl. This might take all night,” Mark whispers. I lay down on the tree branch, and Mark does the same on his side. I can’t even see the stars. There are too many leaves in the way.

  Suddenly, I can hear Adam yell, “Fuck! Why didn’t I think about this before?! I know exactly where they are! Hey, dudes, get over here!”

  We hear all of them running towards the tree. “How’s the weather up there?” Gabe says.

  Grinning, I turn my head to see them looking up. I can hear Mark sitting up so I do, too. I look down at the faces staring up at us. “It’s about damn time you five looked up,” Mark says, with a smirk.

  “Um, aren’t you two coming down?” Jade asks. Mark and I both look at each other, then back at them.

  “Give us a minute. Our butts are numb. We’ve been up here forever,” I grumble and they all laugh.

  We start to climb down and I slip. Everyone gasps, and Mark grabs my arm, steadying me. “Shit, Maggie. Are you okay?” Mark asks and I nod.

  When I get down far enough, Creed reaches up for me. “There ya’ go, baby girl,” he says.

  As we’re walking back to the house, Mark laughs. “We thought it would take all night for you guys to find us,” he said and everybody laughs.

  We walk through the door to the kitchen, still laughing. Mom and Dad turn to look at us. “What’s so funny?” Dad asks, smiling.

  “We decided to play hide-and-seek. Maggie and I were hiding in the tree so long that our butts were numb. We thought it would take them all night to find us. At one point, they were standing right under the tree that we were in, but they never even thought about looking up,” Mark says.

  Mom and Dad both started laughing, too. “Seriously? None of you boys remembered that hiding spot”? Mom said. They all shake their heads.

  “I made cookies and hot chocolate for you all. All you have to do is heat up the water,” Mom says.

  I put on the water, then went and stood by Jase. “Did you have fun tonight?” I ask.

  He looks at me for a minute, then smiles. “I had a blast. I can’t remember the last time I played that game.” I smile back, nudging him with my shoulder. The kettle starts whistling so I walk over and turn it off, then start making everyone’s hot chocolate. Once everybody has theirs, we all sit around the table, talking about Christmas and joking with each other.

  After a little while, Jase stands up, saying he should get home. He said his thank-yous and goodbyes, looked at me one last time, then lef
t. The rest of us started heading to bed.

  ****

  The next morning, Mom and I start baking and cooking for the party tonight. We heard a knock on the door and, because he was coming down the stairs anyway, Jade said, “I’ll get it.”

  We heard him talking, then he came into the kitchen. “Maggie, it’s for you.”

  I wiped my hands off, then went to see who it was. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. I plastered on a fake smile. “Hey, Christian. When did you get back?” I looked over at Jade, who was glaring at him. Neither my brothers, nor my parents like Christian. They think he’s bad news.

  He walked over and wrapped his arms around me, giving me a kiss. I tried not to cringe. I can’t do this anymore. I just don’t like him that way, and it feels all wrong. Did I just hear Jade growl? I look over at him. He looks pissed. I look back at Christian. “How’s my gorgeous girl?” he asks. Did I just hear Jade snort? Why is he even still standing there? I glare at him, and he just smirks back at me.

  I roll my eyes, turning back to Christian. “I’m great. I’m helping my mom with cooking and getting ready for the party so I can’t go anywhere with you right now, but we should talk later.”

  Jade starts laughing so I look over at him. What the hell? Now the rest of my brothers are standing there, glaring at Christian. I give them a warning look, but they all just wink at me. I grab his hand, leading him outside. I ask, “Do you want to meet up somewhere later?”

  “How about I just come back here so we can talk?” I nod and he gives me another kiss before walking to his car.

  I hear another car pull up. Oh, shit. What are Heather and Jase doing here? Jase glares at Christian before he and Heather start walking towards the porch. I can hear Jade and the rest of my brothers still laughing when they come outside. “What’s so funny?” Jase asks, which makes the bastards laugh even harder. I’m going to kick them in the shins, and see if they think that’s funny, too.

  Glaring at my brothers, I grumble, “Nothing. They’re just jerks.”

  “She cringed when he kissed her, then she said that they ‘needed to talk’,” Jade says.

  Glaring at him, I walk over and kick him in the shin. “Ouch, Maggie. That hurt,” Jade grumbles.

  “Good. It was supposed to.”

  I look over at Jase, who is laughing and shaking his head. “You seriously cringed when he kissed you?” Jase laughs.

  Growling, I start to walk towards Jase. Creed grabs me from behind. “Alright, baby girl. Calm down,” he says. I grumble at them and walk into the house. Mom looks over at me, shaking her head. I ignore it and get back to work. Heather soon joins in and helps with the baking.

  ****

  A few hours later, I head upstairs to shower, and put on a tank top and shorts. I throw my hair up into a ponytail and do my make-up. Heading back downstairs, I find Heather to see if she wants to go riding with me. She’s still in the kitchen with Mom and the boys. “Hey, girl. Want to go riding?” I ask.

  “Yeah, sure”

  We ride around on Storm and Dixie for a while before Gabe came riding out to tell us that it was time to change and clean up for the party. We head back to the barn, brush Storm and Dixie, gave them some food, and head into the house. “When is Kara supposed to be here?” I ask Gabe.

  “Anytime now”, he says.

  Heather and I head upstairs to clean up and change. Heather’s dress is a long, purple strapless dress. She has her hair up in a ponytail and has on purple high heels. My dress is a long, white strapless dress with a slit going up the side. I have on white high heels and my hair is curly and down. I redid my make-up and put on my necklace.

  When we get back downstairs, my dad says, “Wow, don’t you two look amazing?”

  “Thanks, Daddy,” I say and kiss his cheek.

  As we head towards the kitchen, Jase is standing there and staring at me. “Wow, Maggie. You look beautiful,” he whispers.

  I smile. “Thank-you, Jase. You look amazing, too.” We’re just standing there, staring at each other.

  I hear someone clearing their throat and look over to see Jade and Creed smirking at us. One of these days, I’ll figure out a way to embarrass them. “Kara is here, baby girl,” Creed says, winking at me.

  I look at Jase one last time before I go off to find Kara. I see her standing with Gabe in the kitchen. She looks amazing in her short red dress, her hair pulled up. “Kara, you’re finally here,” I say, smiling at her.

  “Just got here. You look gorgeous, Maggie.” Gabe nods in agreement. She says, “Hey, Maggie, can we talk for a second?” I nod and we go outside. “So I see the way that Jase and you were staring at each other. Is there something going on, or is he still being a moron?”

  I laugh. “He’s still being a moron. Besides, with his lifestyle, I’d always be worried that I’m not enough for him. I don’t want to be with someone like that.”

  She nods “Everyone changes, Maggie. I felt the same way about Gabe at first, and I almost lost him because of it. If you and Jase decide to give it a go one day, you have to trust him that you’re the only one that he needs. Don’t let stupid stuff get in the way.”

  She has a point. “I’ll think about it, Kara,” I say and give her a small smile.

  We head back into the house. “Baby girl, can you give me a hand for a second?” Mom asks.

  “Sure, Mom.”

  We put out trays of baked goodies, sandwiches, veggies, cheese and fruit platters, and drinks. Dad puts on the music, and the rest of our guests show up. I see Christian walking towards me and try not to groan. I was hoping he would come back earlier so we could talk. I really don’t want to do it right now. I look around and see that my brothers and Jase are looking at us. Oh, great, just what I need is for them to be watching. As soon as Christian gets close enough, I grab his hand and lead him outside so we can get away from them. “Hey, I thought you would be back before this,” I say.

  He doesn’t say anything, just leads me towards one of the barns. What’s going on? This was a bad idea, I should have stayed inside. Something feels off with Christian. When we get inside the barn, he pushes me up against the wall and starts kissing me. I try to push him away, but he is a lot stronger than I am. Try not to panic. “Christian, you need to stop. I don’t want this. That’s why I needed to talk to you. We can’t be together. I don’t feel anything for you. I’m sorry but we need to break up,” I say, but he isn’t listening to me. He keeps kissing my neck and starts to lift up my dress. “Christian, stop!” I try to push him away again.

  Suddenly, he’s off of me and hits the opposite wall, somebody punching him in the face. “When a woman says stop, you stop.” Oh, my god! I know that voice! I run over and throw my arms around his neck. I can’t believe he is here. Chase smiles at me and then looks back at Christian. “Get the hell out of here now. You come near my sister again, I’ll kill you,” Chase growls. Christian runs out of the barn.

  Chase pulls me in for a big bear hug. “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner, baby girl. Did that son of a bitch hurt you?” he asks.

  “No, not really. He scared me more than anything,” I say. I can’t believe he is here. “I thought you weren’t coming home.” This is the best gift ever. Chase wipes the tears that are running down my face.

  He looks at me for a few seconds. “I wasn’t going to, but I’m glad I did. Who knows what he would have done to you,” he says. I don’t want to think about that.

  “Does anyone else know you’re here yet?”

  “No, I saw the barn door open so I came over to close it first.”

  Chase and I head for the house. He tells me all about his SEAL buddies, some of whom will be here in a few days. I tell him all about Jase and Heather. “Sounds like you got it bad for this Jase guy.” He laughs and I slap his arm, which only makes him laugh harder.

  I told him about us playing hide-and-seek last night and how long it took them to find Mark and me. He laughs. “They forgot about that hiding spot, d
id they?” I laugh too

  “Yeah they forgot all about it”

  When we reach the door I look at him and say. “So, big guy, you ready?” He nods and opens the door for me to go in first.

  As soon as we walk into the house, it gets so quiet that you can hear a pin drop. “Oh, my god! Chase! You’re home!” Mom cries out, running over to him and throwing her arms around his neck.

  As soon as Mom lets him go, Dad walks over and hugs him, too. “It’s about time you came home, son.” Mom and I are both crying.

  Once everyone has gotten a hug, they ask him when he got in. “Not too long ago. Came straight here.” He tightens his grip on my hand. I look over to where Jase is standing with Kara and smile at them. I start to pull away from Chase, but he tightens his grip. I look up at him and he shakes his head. I look back at Jase and shrug. I can’t believe what almost happened tonight with Christian… what would have happened if it wasn’t for Chase! Yeah my big brother is my HERO! I don’t care what anyone else says, he is there when I need him the most. He needs to ease up on his grip… my hand is starting to hurt. Looking back over to where Jase and Kara are sitting, I notice how pissed off he looks. Huh, why is he mad? I rise an eye brow at Kara and she shrugs. Okay she’s no help.

  “When are your buddies supposed to be here” Jade asks

  “In a few days… they don’t have a lot of family so I invited them here! I hope that’s alright mom”

  That’s something else I love about my big brother, he’s always trying to take care of those he loves. Our parents raised us that way, and in this small town we never had to worry about anyone! But I think that is about to change… especially after what almost happened tonight. I know for a fact there is no way Chase is going to keep his mouth shut, so my other brothers are going to know soon enough. I am also pretty damn sure that I haven’t seen the last of Christian, I have a feeling the next time I see him that things are going to go downhill fast. All hell will break loose! I get so lost in thought that I didn’t hear Chase calling my name.