by Arlene James
“Kathryn, please.”
She ignored him and addressed Wyatt. “Will you take me ho—” She gulped down a fresh spate of tears. “Back to the house, please.”
Wyatt sent Jake a loaded look and nodded grimly. Kathryn turned and walked out of the room. Tears were dripping off her chin before she reached Wyatt’s truck. He arrived a few seconds later and let her in.
Kathryn stared blindly out the window, keeping her face averted and swiping impatiently at her tears. They drove quite a while in silence before Wyatt said, “He just wants...he needs to help you, Kathryn.”
“Everyone’s hero,” she remarked bitterly. “What happens when I don’t need to be rescued?”
“Could be he’ll need you to rescue him.”
“How could I possibly ever do that?”
“You’d be surprised.”
Kathryn sighed and laid her head against the window. “I used to wish for a surprise every now and then, anything but the same old same old. Now I just want a quiet, steady, peaceful life.”
“You think you’ll find that by selling your house and moving away?” Wyatt asked.
“No,” she admitted after a moment. “I don’t think I’ll ever find that. But maybe at least the pain will stop.”
“You pulled away from everyone and everything once before, Kathryn. Did that make the pain stop?”
She closed her eyes, so tired. “No.”
* * *
Tina pointed an accusing finger. “You’d better fix this, Jake Smith, and fix it fast! You brought her here, and now we can’t manage without her.”
“If I just knew what to do,” Jake said miserably, his head in his hands, elbows braced against the tabletop.
“You can convince her that you love her,” Wyatt said, coming through the door.
Jake dropped his hands. “Don’t you think she knows that?”
“I do not think she knows that,” Wyatt stated flatly.
Angry at the way this whole morning had turned out, Jake shot to his feet, his chair screeching against the floor. “I told her that I was willing to give up the shop and go into debt to help her! Does she think I’d do that just out of the generosity of my heart?”
“Yeah,” Tina said, folding her arms. “She does. She thinks you’re the kindest, most generous man in the world. Or she did before you started treating her like a leper.”
Rocked, Jake felt the color drain out of his face.
“Think about it,” Ryder said from his seat at the table. “You rescued her from the side of the road, got her a job here, fixed her car for free. And as soon as all her troubles were taken care of, you treated her like the biggest inconvenience on the face of the earth.”
“No. That’s not what—”
“And as soon as she’s in trouble again, off you go,” Tina interrupted, “riding to the rescue. What’s she supposed to think? That she’ll have to run from one calamity to another to hold your attention?”
“She said it herself just now,” Wyatt told him. “Everyone’s hero. That’s what she called you.”
Jake passed a hand over his eyes. “I only want to be her hero, but how am I supposed to convince her of that?”
Tina shook her head, looking at Wyatt. “I thought she was the innocent and he was the one with the experience.”
“How did you convince Jolene that you loved her?” Ryder asked.
“I didn’t,” Jake said. “We just sort of fell into it.” He tried to think what to say, how to make Kathryn hear him, but his brain didn’t seem to be working. He wasn’t sure it ever would again. “I don’t know how to make Kathryn listen to me now. I’m not sure she’ll even open the door for me.”
“Well, you’d better think of something,” Tina muttered.
He closed his eyes, silently talking to God. Is this the end? You have Jolene with You, so I know she’s all right. But Kathryn is alone, and if she leaves here, she’ll always be alone. And I’ll always be alone because I don’t know how I’m supposed to live without her now.
Frankie came stumbling into the room just then, yawning and rubbing his eyes. “Where Ty’er?”
“The school bus picked him up, sweetie,” Tina said. “Let me make you some breakfast.”
Suddenly, Jake knew what to do. “We don’t have time for that,” he said, taking Frankie by the arm. “Go to the bathroom. I’ll bring down your clothes.”
“I’ll get them,” Tina said, her face brightening as Frankie shuffled off.
“I have something that might help,” Wyatt told him. “Let me get it.”
Jake nodded, not sure what Wyatt had in mind and not caring. “Ryder, can you find an apple or a cheese stick, something for Frankie to eat on the way?”
They all went in different directions. Tina returned with the clothes, and Jake quickly dressed Frankie.
“We goin’, Daddy?”
“Yes, son. We’re going after Kathryn.”
Frankie smiled and let Jake lead him back to the kitchen, where Ryder waited with a cheese stick and slices of apple in a small plastic dish.
“Here you go, pard. Eat it slow.”
“And this is for you,” Wyatt said, handing Jake a small box.
“What’s this?”
“Mom’s engagement ring. It’s too small for Tina’s hand, and I hated to alter it, but I’m guessing it’ll fit Kathryn.”
Gulping, Jake opened the box. The diamond was middling, maybe just over half a carat, but the setting was elegant and the slender band platinum.
“You and Jolene bought a ring before we could offer it to you. Dad said God must have other plans for it.”
“I hope so,” Jake said in a thick voice, hugging his brother. He swept Frankie toward the door, but at the last second he paused and looked back. “Well, start praying. I need all the help I can get.”
Chapter Fifteen
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Kathryn jerked at the sound of a fist applied to her door. She’d finally stopped crying long enough to look for the local real estate agent’s number, and now this. If it was another man asking her out, she was going to bodily remove him from her porch; she didn’t care if he wanted to take her to Buckingham Palace.
Boom. Boom. Boom. The sound came accompanied this time by lighter sounds that peppered the bottom of the door. What on earth? She finally got up and went to see.
“KKay!”
When she opened the door Frankie threw both arms around her, as usual, knocking her back a step. She glared at Jake. Oh, this was low, unforgiveable. To use his own child against her. What kind of complex drove a man to such extremes?
“I’ve made up my mind,” she told him firmly. “I’m selling the house and leaving here.”
“Okay,” he said, crowding inside and forcing her back another step. He got her in far enough to reach behind him and close the door. “If that’s what you want to do, we’ll go with you.”
“What?”
He rested his hands on Frankie’s shoulders. “We’ll go with you. Anywhere you want to go.”
She stepped back out of Frankie’s embrace. “I can manage by myself.”
“I know. You always have. But I can’t let you do it this time. I love you, Kathryn. And Frankie loves you, too. It’ll kill me and break his heart if you leave here without us. Or if you stay without us.”
He loved her? She was too stunned for a moment to do anything but stare. How could that be?
“What? Why? Why hold yourself back? Why make me think—”
“Fear,” he admitted. “Sheer terror. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone, Kathryn, but I’ve been down this road before, and the thought of losing someone else I love...” He shook his head. “I was so afraid that I tried to keep my distance. I made up every excuse for it I could think of, but the truth is I knew...from the beginning, some part
of me has known that if I loved you and lost you...” He spread his hands. “I don’t know how to survive that. God forgive me, I don’t know how I would survive that. My faith just isn’t that strong. What I had to figure out is that losing you is losing you, no matter how it happens. But I’m not going to lose you because I was too stupid to tell you how much I love you.”
She stared at him, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. Then the tears came again. She couldn’t stop them. And with them came all the hope and trust she’d tried so hard to put away.
“Oh, Jake. I’ve loved you from the very start, and I hoped you might feel the same, but I didn’t dare believe it.”
He heaved a huge sigh and stepped to the side, reaching for her. “Thank God. Thank you, God.” He pulled her against him.
“It hurt so much when you stopped being nice to me,” she said into the hollow of his shoulder. “The silence and the distance. It was unbearable.”
“Honey, I’m sorry. You don’t know how sorry. If it’s any consolation, I was utterly miserable the whole time. And I hated—hated—seeing you with those other men.”
She bit her lips, and then she giggled, elation rising up within her at last. “That part was kind of fun,” she admitted. Pulling back a few inches, she looked him in the eye, adding, “But none of them could measure up to you.”
Smiling broadly, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. Suddenly so happy she couldn’t contain herself, she started to laugh.
“Hey,” Frankie said, elbowing his way between them. “S’that my KKay.”
Grinning, Jake put a hand on his head. “Back out, buckaroo. I can handle it from here. And you have to learn to share.”
Frankie stepped aside, but he folded his arms and frowned up at his father. Jake ignored him, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small box. Kathryn gasped.
“Hold on,” he said, taking her hand and going down on one knee. “I’ve got to do at least one thing right in this cockeyed courtship.”
“Jake!” She clapped her free hand over her mouth.
“Kathryn Kay Stepp,” he said, smiling up at her, “will you marry me? Please?”
“Yes! Oh, yes!”
Rising, he grinned ear to ear and pulled the top off the little box. “It was my mother’s. The diamond’s not all that big, but—”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Let’s hope it fits,” he said, taking the ring from its bed of cotton. It slid onto her finger as smoothly as silk.
“Later, if you want to,” he said, holding her hands and rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles, “we can get a bigger diamond.”
She yanked her hand away. “No! It’s perfect. Why would you alter something this precious? I won’t let you ruin it.”
Jake chuckled and wrapped his arms around her. “Kathryn, I love you more than life. Promise me you’ll never change.”
“You’re going to make me cry again,” she grumbled. “And of course I’ll change. So will you. We’ll change together. Until we morph into an old married couple who finish each other’s sentences and...” She dissolved into tears again. “Oh, Jake, I’m so happy!”
How could she not be? A man who loved her. A man she loved. Family. Friends. Even a son.
As Jake kissed the tears away, grinning all the while, Frankie shoved in between them again.
“My KKay!”
Laughing, she wiped her face with both hands. “Yes. I’m your KKay.” She put her hands on her knees, stooping enough to bring her face level with his. “But now I’m going to be your mommy, too. Is that all right?”
He looked at Jake as if to say, Well, duh. Like I haven’t known that all along. Then he wrapped his little arms around her again, tilted his head back as far as it would go and very clearly said, “Mama, I’m hungry.”
Kathryn and Jake both laughed. Reaching down, he caught Frankie beneath the arms and swung him up onto his hip.
“Neither of us have had breakfast.”
She smiled. “I guess I’d better cook then.”
As she turned toward the kitchen, Jake slung an arm around her neck, pulling her sideways so he could kiss her temple.
“Let’s eat,” he said. “Then let’s figure out how to save our home.”
She nodded, a lump forming in her throat. Suddenly, nothing seemed impossible. They’d figure this out. Together.
* * *
“What a ride,” Wyatt said the next afternoon, looking at the ring on Kathryn’s finger again.
Jake nodded. Yeah, it had been some roller coaster, but he couldn’t be happier. Whatever happened, he and Kathryn would face it together. They’d shared their news with the rest of the family yesterday, then talked long into the night about what they hoped for and how many options they might have. He’d slept like a baby afterward, and Kathryn had said much the same thing when she’d come in this morning.
“I still haven’t fully recovered from the heart attack you gave me when you called yesterday,” Tina said to Kathryn. She pointed a finger at Jake. “If you hadn’t fixed this, Jake Smith, you’d be living in the bunkhouse with him.” She jerked her head at Ryder.
Jake looked at Kathryn, sure she was thinking the same thing he was. They might both wind up living in the bunkhouse. He hoped not, but he couldn’t worry about it anymore. Kathryn was going to be his wife, and whatever happened, he would live in that joy. Besides, if God could arrange that, He could work out the rest of it. Jake just didn’t want her to be unhappy if they had to sell the house, after all. As long as they were together, though, they’d be fine.
Kathryn got up from the table to start dinner, but a tap on the door turned her attention in that direction.
“That’ll be Rex,” Wyatt said, and it was.
Rex came in and hung his hat on a peg. Jake saw the way Kathryn stiffened, as if preparing herself for bad news. He got up and went to wrap his arms around her.
“You saw my father.”
“Spoke with his attorney,” Rex corrected. “After I did a little research.”
“Oh?”
“Can I get you some tea, Rex?” Tina asked.
He shook his head. “Naw. This won’t take long.”
“Spit it out,” Jake said. “We can take whatever you’ve got to say.”
“Twenty-five thousand. He’ll settle for twenty-five thousand.”
Kathryn turned in the circle of Jake’s arms and laid her head on his shoulder. It was less than they’d feared, but still more than they could pull together.
“That’s all?” Jake asked, suspicious of the amount. “He’ll sign over the deed for a buyout of twenty-five thousand dollars?”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Kathryn said. “He was so adamant that I sell the house and split the proceeds with him.”
“He has no choice,” Rex divulged. “It’s that or go to jail.”
She whirled around. “Jail!”
“He’s willing to take that now rather than wait for the house to sell,” Rex explained, “because he has a judgment against him in Tahlequah. A restitution judgment. Seems he got drunk one night and entered the wrong house.”
“He did that to our next-door neighbor!” Kathryn exclaimed. “Nearly scared her to death. She still hasn’t forgiven him.”
“Well, this time the homeowner pressed charges. Apparently, there was considerable damage—broken door and windows, some lamps and furniture. And he owes attorney fees. If he doesn’t pay up, he goes back to jail, and I’m sure he’s running out of time.”
“That explains a lot,” Jake said. It did, indeed, not that it mattered. It was what it was, and they would deal with it. “The bank should be able to loan us that much, especially if we put down the insurance money.”
“Without a steady income?” Kathryn asked softly.
“That’s not a problem,” Wyatt said.
>
“We’ve got income,” Jake pointed out, focused on Kathryn. “The ranch makes money, and if the shop turns a profit, we’ll have no worries.”
“I’ll get a job,” she said.
“You’ve already got a job,” Tina told her, but Kathryn had told Jake that she couldn’t accept money from family for just helping out around the place.
“I’ve already applied at all the home care agencies,” Kathryn went on. “One of them will call.”
“Will you two shut up for a minute and let somebody else get a word in edgewise?” Tina demanded.
They pulled apart, staring at her in surprise. She walked over to Wyatt and linked her arm with his. “Jake,” she said rather primly, “Wyatt and I have discussed this thoroughly, and we’ve agreed. You and Ryder have done a lot of work on my house. I owe you both.”
“Don’t be silly. I live here, and we agreed at the beginning that Ryder and I would work on the house in exchange for room and board.”
“That was before I married your brother,” Tina insisted.
“And truth be told,” Wyatt put in, “the division of income we agreed to at that time is unfair, and we knew it even then. Tina and I shouldn’t get half while you and Ryder each get a fourth.”
“But there are four of us in this,” Jake argued.
“And soon there will be five,” Wyatt countered, pointing at Kathryn. “And one day there will be six. No, the only way to do this fairly is a one-third split for each of us brothers.”
“And the wives share in the husbands’ split,” Tina said. “Simple.”
“That being the case,” Wyatt pronounced authoritatively, every inch the big brother now, “we’ve put cash aside for you and Ryder. You don’t have to dip into your savings, and Kathryn doesn’t have to give up her insurance money. It’s covered, the full amount.”
Stunned, Jake walked slowly across the floor and brought his hands up to rest on his brother’s broad shoulders. “Wyatt, I love you and Tina for this, but I can’t take your money.”
