by Etta Foster
Jude sighed softly at that, shaking his head slowly. No, he didn't want that. The two of them had genuinely seemed like they were getting along well, and a part of him had been happy to see it.
He always knew deep down in his heart that he'd done his brother wrong, and he did feel bad about that, but the past was the past. He and Claudia had managed to be somewhat happy together, and he didn't want to give that up.
Yet now he had gone and caused problems between Gavin and his bride-to-be and said something so horrifically cruel that she was talking of leaving. This wasn't going to bode well for him if he had to live with that on his conscience. “Is there anything that I can do?”
“I think that you have done quite enough,” his mother replied shortly. “Just try not to say anything to upset Jessica even more. Can you do that for me?”
She walked away before Jude had a chance to reply, leaving him speechless. His mother usually never got this way, and that was more worrisome. He might have really messed things up this time. It wasn't intentional. How could he have known that the words he’d carelessly thrown out just to be spiteful would turn out to be true?
It made him feel bad for Jessica, too. That would be a horrible thing to discover about your future husband, to realize he had just been using you for his own personal gain.
Damn shame that he would put a girl that pretty through a situation so ugly.
He thought back to Gavin's comments about cows having gone missing, biting his bottom lip gently. What if Virgil really was the one who was responsible for it? After all, he had opened the door by telling Virgil he'd consider selling the ranch to him. He should have known the greedy rancher would have jumped on the chance to buy Jude’s share. Of course Virgil would have been adamantly opposed to anything that would prevent the sale.
Jude would just have to go and confront Virgil himself, before things had a chance to escalate any further. Turning back in the direction of their little abode, Jude stepped into the living area and looked directly at Claudia. “I need to come clean with my family.”
“What’s brought this on?” Claudia asked, her eyebrow arching quizzically. He had just spent last night complaining about the girl and Gavin, but now he was turning his story completely on its head.
“Jessica says she’s leaving,” he said abruptly, watching Claudia's mouth drop open in surprise.
“What? Why would she just suddenly decide to leave? Because of what you said last night at dinner?” Claudia asked, her voice sounding accusatory as she glared at him.
“I'm sure that it wasn't just that,” he repeated for the second time that day, growing irritated because that seemed to be the default response he kept getting from people. “It probably didn't help matters much, though, I will admit.”
“Way to go, you fool!” Claudia snarled, rising from the couch and moving to press her index finger into his chest. “Another example of you letting your mouth fly off the handle and getting your ass in trouble.”
He would have smiled in any other case at her words, since Claudia was rarely ever moved enough to curse. “I don't need another lecture, alright? I already had to hear the riot act from Mother, and that was bad enough. I just need you to help me come up with a way to get back on everyone's good side.”
“Do what you want. You'll do so whether you get my blessing or not, so there’s no use in me arguing. I'll just have to allow you to run with whatever stupid plan you have and see whether it blows up in your face or not,” she said with a smile, sticking her tongue out at him playfully.
“I’m glad I have your blessing,” he muttered, leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek. “I have to ride into town. I shouldn't be long, assuming all goes well. I need to have a talk with Virgil.”
* * *
The saloon was once again alive with raucous laughter, though this time Virgil seemed to be at the center of it all. Jude found the rancher sitting amongst a group of ten rough-looking men whose beady eyes followed him as he walked in. He hadn't exactly expected a warm welcome, but the sight of men cracking their knuckles menacingly in his direction made him wonder briefly if what he was about to do was wise.
“If it isn't my good friend, Jude. Are you here because you came to your senses and want to sell your half of the ranch to me after all?” The smug smile on the rancher's face annoyed Jude, but he did his best to hide it.
“Afraid not, Virgil. You and I have some other business we need to discuss,” Jude said, sitting down at the table across from Virgil with his arms crossed over his chest.
“What's on your mind?” Virgil asked, motioning toward the bartender for a drink. “Nothing too troublesome, I hope.”
“You’re acting awfully pleasant today,” Jude replied, his eyes narrowing slightly. “If I didn't know any better, I would say you’re trying to get on my good side.”
“Me? I would never patronize you like that. I just feel like we might have left things on a sour note the last time we saw one another, so I figured I would go out of my way to try and make amends,” Virgil replied, the bartender placing a glass of whiskey on the table in front of Jude. “Now drink up, and let's let bygones be bygones.”
“I sure would love that, Virgil,” Jude said softly, not even reaching for the glass. His gaze had been centered on Virgil the whole time, and the other man began to look uneasy, though he did his best to hide it. “Except I believe you’ve been up to some shady business while I've had my back turned, haven't you?”
“What do you mean by that?” Virgil asked coolly, the atmosphere around the table suddenly growing tense. “I hope you’re not accusing me of some sort of misdeed.”
“You know damn well that I am,” Jude said, slamming his fist on the table hard enough to cause some of his whiskey to slosh out onto the table. “My family is missing cows from the herd, and I think you are responsible.”
“You better be careful with your next words,” said a bald man from behind Virgil, who went silent when the man raised his finger and waggled it vaguely.
“And what exactly makes you so certain that I’m the culprit? There could always be some random vagabond coming through town who wished to profit, or maybe they simply got loose from the pen and escaped into the mountains. The world is filled with possible outcomes, and I could think of five other things off the top of my head that could explain those missing cows,” he said cheekily, raising his own glass to his lips and taking a noisy sip.
“Well, I know that the cows didn't go missing until after you had that little altercation with Gavin and Jessica on our land,” Jude said darkly, his voice loud enough that the few other patrons in the bar fell silent. That smile had never left Virgil's lips, but now there was a dark twinkle in his eyes.
“That is, admittedly, a strange coincidence. I can see why you might come to such a conclusion. But I swear to you, on my honor, that I have not committed the crime that you are accusing me of. Now, please, drink with me. Let’s chat like old friends, and put this little bit of unpleasantness behind us,” he said, interlacing his fingers on top of his belly.
“I wish that I could do that, Virgil. But I think that both of us know that isn't how this is going to end. I’m afraid I need to ask you as a friend, but I also must demand it as the future owner of that land. You need to stop sabotaging my family’s ranch. You’re jeopardizing my family's livelihood for petty reasons, and I won't stand for that,” Jude said, watching as a few of Virgil's men slowly began to try and inch around him.
“And what happens if I don't?” Virgil's voice was barely above a whisper now, causing Jude to slowly rise from his chair.
“If you don't stop, Virgil, then you and I shall be enemies. And I won't hesitate to put a stop to you myself. Even if it means I need to take on you and all your boys here,” he growled, his hand slowly moving down toward his hip. He had brought his pistol with him just in case, but the number of Virgil's men worried him. If it came to a shootout, he wouldn't have enough bullets to take them all out. He would ultimatel
y end up getting shot.
“It saddens me greatly that we've been brought to this point,” Virgil said, shaking his head from side to side. “If I can't convince you to reconsider your opinion, I guess there is nothing I can say. I just hope that you’re still considering selling your land to me, for you and your woman's sake.”
“The deal is off, Virgil,” Jude snapped, turning on his heel. “I'd sooner be dead than let you take what my brother worked so hard to build.”
“Big mistake, Jude,” Virgil said softly.
Chapter 34
Gavin tossed another pitchfork of hay over his shoulder. He had already been out for a few hours, doing his best to keep his mind off what had happened between him and Coralee. Discovering Coralee's deception was painful, and he felt like his entire body had gone numb. He couldn't even bring himself to cry, the tears refusing to come, no matter how much he ruminated on the newly discovered facts.
He thought back to what she had told him about Jessica's death, and a part of him wondered if he should grieve for her. He hadn't really known her aside from her letters, the rest he had learned about her through Coralee during her charade. It didn't make sense to him why Jessica would have told her to do such a thing. Had their situation really been so horrible that she'd tell Coralee to go, just to escape Jessica’s brother, Lucas?
She still should have told me the truth from the beginning. She should have cleared up who she was when she got off the train. The news of Jessica's death would have been a surprise, but it wouldn't be as bad as this. How could she just lie to me this whole time?
“Gavin, we need to talk,” came a voice from behind him. He paused mid toss, lowering the pointed end of the pitchfork and resting it on the ground as he turned to face the speaker. He wasn't sure how he felt when he saw that it was Jude.
“What do you want?” Gavin asked gruffly, leaning the pitchfork against a tall pile of hay before tugging off his work gloves. He stuffed them in his back pocket, waiting for Jude to speak again. “Sometime today, Jude. I do have other things I need to deal with.”
“What happened to us? We used to be partners in crime; when did you turn so much against me?” Jude asked, wringing his hands gently.
“I suppose it was around the time that you eloped with my fiancée and left me with the responsibility of not only running the ranch but also caring for our sick father. Do you have any idea of the suffering I've undergone to keep this place going? Can you even fathom the soul-crushing weight of that burden? While you were off chasing a fool’s dream with the woman I loved, you left me with the aftermath of everything! That’s when I turned against you,” Gavin snarled.
The look of sadness on Jude's face was enough to make Gavin pause. For the first time in a long time, Jude looked defeated and exhausted. “I know I haven't been the best brother to you, Gavin. I've said terrible things to you, done even worse things, and I never seem to regret them.”
“I'm glad it's coming from the horse's mouth,” Gavin muttered, turning away from Jude and going over to the water trough and emptying it so that he could clean it out. To his surprise, Jude moved up beside him with another scrubbing brush and bucket and silently got to work. Figuring that two people would manage the job a lot faster than one, Gavin didn't refuse his help.
“You know that you've made my wife-to-be talk about leaving,” Gavin said, trying to alleviate some of his own guilt about the situation. “You've shattered the lovely illusion that I had going.”
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” Jude said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. “How was I supposed to know that she didn't realize the real reason why she was here? You’ve had almost two months now; I’d have thought it would’ve come up in a conversation at least once.”
“I didn't want it to overshadow our relationship,” Gavin said softly. “I didn’t want issues between us as we were just starting our lives together. But then I found out that she'd been lying to me about who she was the whole time, and I don't know if I can forgive her.”
“This sounds like a story,” Jude said, glancing over at Gavin.
Gavin took a deep breath and sighed, proceeding to fill Jude in on what had happened. He told him about Jessica's death, as well as the reason why Coralee pretended to be Jessica. For his part, Jude remained silent and merely listened. He had a thoughtful expression the whole time, but not in his usual ‘how can I use this information against Gavin’ kind of way. When Gavin finished, Jude clapped him gently on the shoulder.
“Look, Gavin, I may not be the best one to give advice, but here goes. I know that I ended up snatching Claudia out of your hands, and I'm sorry for that. I had never intended to do that to you, things just sort of happened that way. This woman may have lied to you about her name, but the feelings the two of you seem to have for one another are not easy to fake,” Jude said sternly, wagging his finger in the air.
“I don't believe for a single instant that she doesn't love you dearly, and you letting her walk out over something small like this is beneath you. Love goes through many troubles throughout our lives. If we aren't willing to fight for it when things get hard, can we truly enjoy it when things are good?”
Gavin didn't know how to respond to that. Even if she hadn't truly been Jessica, the fact of the matter was that the two of them had been great for one another. He could tell that she was haunted by her past, but if the stories about how Lucas had treated her were true, it was easy to understand why. “Would you forgive someone if they lied to you like that?”
“I think that if I loved the person, I would find it in my heart to forgive them. It sounds like she had her reasons for keeping the truth from you, and you weren't exactly a hundred percent honest with her, either. Maybe the two of you can just meet in the middle, admit you made mistakes, and try to move past them together?” Jude let his words hang in the air for a while, then stood up and carried his bucket of water back to the entrance of the stable, chucking the filthy water out.
Could it really be that easy? Could they still make it work despite how much they had hurt one another? And more importantly, did he want things to keep going? Coralee had already told him that she intended to leave, so would he be able to convince her to stay and talk things out?
“Gavin, I don't think this is something you should delay. You need to go to her before she walks out of your life completely. You don't want to spend the rest of your days wondering how good things could have been if you would have just fought for them a little more. I'm sure Pop wouldn't want you to have that kind of regret either,” Jude said, clearing his throat.
“Ultimately, it has to be your choice. Do you want to let that woman leave your life forever, or are you willing to overlook the one mistake she made with you?”
“When you put it like that, I feel like there’s really only one way that I can go with all of this,” Gavin said, scratching the back of his head.
“That's because there is only one sensible option,” Jude replied, smirking. “And even you know that. You might be slow most of the time, but I'm sure even you can put two and two together here.”
“Don't treat me like I'm some sort of idiot,” Gavin snapped back, smirking in return. “I’ve caught on to a lot of things that would leave you clueless.”
“I choose not to open Pandora's box by replying to that, so I'm going to instead ask you what your next move is. You need to get yourself married relatively soon, and your best chance for that is with Coralee. You already have a good thing going, so all you really need to do is get over the fact that you'll have to call her a different name,” Jude replied. “Honestly, I've heard of significantly worse hurdles to have to jump over in a relationship.”
“You mean like you do with Claudia?” Gavin asked snidely, warranting a scowl from his brother.
“Let's not approach that minefield of a topic, thanks. We don't have time to focus on two disastrous relationships, so let's focus on the one that is in more danger of coming to an end, shall we?” Jude count
ered, immediately wiping the smile from Gavin's face.
“Fair enough,” Gavin muttered, rinsing off his brush and splashing the rest of the filthy water out of the barn like Jude had done.
Once the buckets and brushes were put away, the two took turns carrying buckets of water from the well to the barn until the water trough was completely refilled. “I said some pretty hurtful things to her when I found out the truth. I'm not sure she'll forgive me,” Gavin thought out loud.
Jude smiled weakly. “If I've learned anything while being married to Claudia, it’s that there are going to be a lot of times when you’ll find yourself saying something to upset your partner. You won't always mean to, but it will happen all the same. When it does, you need to be man enough to swallow your pride. Wounds of the heart are never easy to heal; they require actions just as much as pretty words. A woman won't know you’re sorry unless you tell them, and then you also have to show them.”
“When did you become such a grown-up?” Gavin laughed, feeling like a little of the weight on his shoulders had been lifted. It felt good to be able to talk to his brother without arguing.
