by Linda Warren
She looked directly at her father. “No. I haven’t been for a very long time. I finally let go, but I don’t think Quincy is ever going to believe me.”
Her father gave her a minute. “You know we haven’t talked about the accident and me seeing your mother. I know Lindsay thinks that’s crazy, but I did see her and I needed to see her. All these years, I haven’t been able to let go because if I did, that would mean she was really gone. I realized that night as I lay on the cold ground with the rain beating down on me that she’s really never gone. She will always be in my heart.”
She thought about the light mystery, but decided not to tell him. When he was stronger she would. “Dad, that doesn’t have anything to do with Paxton and me.”
“What I’m trying to say is that letting go is sometimes hard until we realize it’s best for us. You spent a lot of years on Paxton, bad years, years where he hurt you, and years that you cried and cried because he wouldn’t call or show up. I don’t want to see you go back there. Let him go.”
She stopped fooling with the lights and smiled at her dad. “I have. Trust me, I have.” She looped the lights around her neck. “What do you think? Would this work as a necklace?”
“As good as anything I’ve seen.”
The front door opened and Lindsay came in with an armful of groceries. Jenny ran to help her carry them into the kitchen.
“Dad seems happy and the tree looks great, except those lights around your neck need to go on the tree.”
Jenny made a face at her sister. “You’re in a good mood, and I say that because it’s such a rare occasion.”
Her sister made a face right back at her. “I was hoping I could talk you into staying in tonight.”
“As if I go out so much. Oh.” Jenny’s eyes opened wide. “You have a date? Is it a full moon or something?”
“Shut up. Dr. Caulfield asked me out to dinner to discuss some nursing issues.”
Jenny leaned against the counter. “And you’re hoping it’s more than nursing issues?”
“I can hope.”
Lindsay’s career was her life, and she seldom dated because all the interns and doctors were terrified of her.
“Good for you.”
“I want to shower and change so I better rush. I brought all kinds of stuff for supper and snacks.” She hurried toward the door and then stopped. “How come Quincy hasn’t been around lately?”
She hadn’t told her sister about Quincy. It was private. Intimate. Only between her and Quincy. But her sister deserved an explanation.
“We had a disagreement.”
Lindsay frowned. “About what?”
“He’s afraid I might still have feelings for Paxton.”
One of Lindsay’s eyebrows darted all the way up to her hairline. “And?”
“I’m waiting for him to figure that out on his own.”
“Jenny...”
She could almost see all of Lindsay’s bossy nature gathering strength like a hurricane. She could never resist putting her two cents in. That was why she was so good at her job. She had opinions and she wasn’t afraid to voice them.
Holding up a hand to stop Lindsay’s little lecture, she said, “My life. My business. Remember?”
Lindsay shook her head and walked off down the hall. Score one for Jenny. Rarely did Lindsay concede so easily. Dr. Caulfield must be very important to her. Good luck, sis.
Jenny was giving Quincy time, but she didn’t know if she could get through Christmas without seeing him. Patience was not her strong suit.
* * *
ALL QUINCY’S GOOD intentions of seeing Jenny didn’t happen. Other things had to happen first, like confronting Paxton. His brother had to know how he felt about Jenny before Quincy could move on.
Things slowed down on the ranch, and mainly they just kept up with the feeding and looking after the herds. Phoenix came home a week after the finals in Vegas, but Paxton still hadn’t made it. Instead, he had gone to California again to try to sort out his relationship with Lisa.
Christmas drew near and Quincy went to Plano to see Will, who was finally home. Although he enjoyed visiting with his friend, it was hard because it brought back so many memories of Afghanistan. He took Little Will a gift and told him he couldn’t open it until Christmas. By the time Quincy left, the boy had torn off all the paper piece by piece. It did him good to get away, and he was prepared to face Christmas without Jenny.
Zane practiced every chance he got with Bear, and Jude was right there egging him on. Quincy and Jude leaned on the fence and watched as Zane rubbed down Bear for the night.
“He’s getting better, isn’t he?” Jude asked.
“Yep. He’ll be ready for that race and we’ll all be rooting for him.”
Jude pulled out his phone and looked at the time. “We have to go, Zane. We have to meet Ms. Hurley in thirty minutes.”
“You have an awful lot of meetings with the teacher.”
“Yeah.” Jude grinned and it was a sight Quincy hadn’t seen in a very long time.
“You like this teacher?”
“Annabel Hurley. She’s blonde, twenty-five and about the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. She’s taking us out for dinner as a Christmas reward for all Zane’s hard work in the tutoring program.”
“And you get a reward, too.”
“You bet.” His brother grinned again and Quincy slapped him on the back. He couldn’t be happier for his brother.
As Jude and Zane left, Phoenix strolled in with a frown on his face. “What’s wrong?” Quincy asked, making sure all the horse stalls were closed for the night.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Sure.” Quincy walked into the barn area. “What’s up?”
Phoenix looked down at the tips of his boot. “I did something stupid.”
“Really? Isn’t that an everyday occurrence?”
“This isn’t about my usual goofing off. This is serious.”
“Okay.” Quincy leaned against a stall. “What is it?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose. It just kind of slipped out. Paxton sometimes makes me so mad. He called and was going on and on about Lisa and how it was fine if they broke up because Jenny would be waiting for him. Like she always was. Before I could stop myself, I told him Jenny was seeing you. He’s coming home in the morning and I just wanted to warn you. He was fighting mad when I told him. There was no reasoning with him.”
As Phoenix talked, Quincy curled his fingers into tight fists. “Don’t worry about it. He would have found out one way or another, and it’s time it was out in the open. Although Jenny and I are not seeing each other anymore.”
“It’s not because of Paxton, is it?”
He uncurled his hands and flexed his fingers. “No. It’s because of me. I want to be sure she’s not still in love with Paxton. So you see, this isn’t up to me or Paxton. It’s up to Jenny.”
“You’re just going to let him have her?”
Quincy moved away from the stall and placed an arm across his brother’s shoulders. “You think I should fight?”
“Hell, yeah.”
Fighting wasn’t in Quincy’s nature. Even though he’d been known to break up more fights than he could count. But when it came to Jenny, he wasn’t sure what he would do. He just wasn’t letting Paxton walk all over her again. That was his bottom line.
At the thought, a revelation warmed his heart. Jenny didn’t need him to protect her. She could handle her life on her own. Her strength was one of the things he loved most about her. She could work twelve hours at the hospital, come home and feed cows, cook supper and take care of her dad. That kind of woman wouldn’t take any more crap from Paxton.
* * *
QUINCY DIDN’T AGONIZE over the problem with Paxton. What
ever happened, happened.
The next morning, they were all in the barn getting ready to start their day. It was a few days before Christmas and it was the only time of year one or two of them took care of the cattle.
“I’m out of here,” Egan said. “Rachel’s not feeling well and I’m going home and play nurse.”
“She’s probably pregnant,” Grandpa quipped from his seat on a bale of hay.
“What?” Egan shook his head. “No. She has the flu. It’s going around at school.”
“Whatever,” Grandpa muttered.
“Eden’s watching the baby over at Mom’s, and Leah and I are going shopping.” Falcon glanced around at his brothers. “Who’s on duty?”
Elias held up his hand with a smirk on his face. “That would be me, Jericho and Quincy, but I’m not hanging around long. I’m meeting a girl in town early this afternoon and I might not be back for a couple of days.”
Grandpa chimed in again, “Phoenix is cutting my toenails, so he’ll be busy.”
“Grandpa,” Phoenix wailed. “My sentence doesn’t last forever.”
“It ends when I say it ends.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Zane is out of school and he and Eden are putting up the Christmas tree. I think I’m the referee.” Jude made his way to the door.
“Well, Rico—” Quincy nodded at Jericho “—looks as if it’s just you and me on work duty.”
“Fine with me.”
The sound of brake shoes grinding echoed loudly and all the brothers waited as Paxton came charging into the barn. He went directly up to Quincy and his right fist connected with Quincy’s jaw. He staggered, but he didn’t go down.
Paxton pointed a finger at Quincy, his face red with rage. “You broke the brothers’ code. You betrayed me and stabbed me in the back. Jenny is mine and she will always be mine.”
Elias started to laugh, big chortles shook his body. “Did you rewrite the code to suit yourself? Last I remember, you embarrassed and humiliated Jenny in our mother’s living room.”
Quincy rubbed his stinging jaw. “Stay out of this, Elias.”
Elias bowed from the waist in a mocking gesture.
Quincy stepped closer to Paxton. “How do you figure Jenny is yours, as if she’s some sort of material thing?”
“Jenny loves me and only me, and the sooner you realize that the better off you’ll be.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re marrying someone else and yet you want to keep Jenny on the side. Is that what you think of her? She’s some cheap slut you can go to whenever you want?”
“Stay away from Jenny.”
“No. I’m not staying away from Jenny just because you’ve suddenly decided you want her back. A lot has changed since you’ve been gone.”
“Jenny will always love me. When you touch her, she’s thinking of me. When you hold her, she’s thinking of me. When you make love to her, she’s wishing it was me.”
That was when Quincy’s fist connected with Paxton’s jaw. He fell backward into some hay. “Get up,” Quincy ordered.
Paxton lay there and he seemed unable to move. His brothers made no move to help. Quincy took a deep breath, surprised by his own actions.
“Dad said...never betray...your brother over a woman. You broke the code, Quincy. I expected that from my other brothers, but not from you.”
The fight left Quincy and he stared down at a brother he loved and realized no good could come from any of this. But he wanted to make one thing clear. “I live every day by everything our father taught us. Can you say the same? In the past few years, Jenny has spent more time with me than with you. Where were you on Valentine’s Day? Her birthday? How many of them did you forget when you were with other women? And when you did come home, you spent most of your time down at Rowdy’s. Jenny is not like an old pair of boots you can claim and come back to when your new ones don’t suit you. She’s a beautiful, strong woman and she deserves to be treated as such. Until you do, I’m not stepping aside. You got that?”
Paxton staggered to his feet and wiped blood from his lip. “I love Jenny.”
That was the first blow to Quincy’s chest, but he stood his ground. “Is that why you’re marrying someone else?”
Paxton picked his hat up from the ground. “Lisa and I broke up for good, and I’m going over to Jenny’s to ask her to marry me. I should’ve done it years ago, so please, just leave Jenny alone.”
The second blow almost brought him to his knees, but he would never show any weakness. He turned toward his horse and swung into the saddle.
“Quincy!” echoed through the morning breeze as his brothers shouted his name.
He urged Aries faster, praying he could outride the pain.
Chapter Sixteen
Jenny didn’t have to go back to work until after the first of the year. That was one of the perks of having a sister with power. Lindsay didn’t give herself the same perks but Jenny understood that meant she would be home to take care of their dad.
Her dad walked into the kitchen, leaning heavily on his cane. His worn jeans and Western shirt hung on his thin body. He’d lost a lot of weight. Jenny was determined to help him gain some of it back.
“I’m gonna sit out on the back porch for a while. If the cows see me, they’ll come up to the fence and I can check on them. That black heifer should be springing pretty heavy. We need to watch her.”
“I saw her this morning. She’s fine.”
“Good.”
“It’s cold out.”
“I’ll take my jacket.”
Jenny didn’t want to point out that he’d just gotten over pneumonia, so she followed him to make sure he was wrapped up with his coat, his hat and a scarf around his neck. She didn’t want to take away all of his independence. After he was safely in a chair, she went back to fixing lunch.
A knock sounded at the front door and she went to see who it was. People from Horseshoe had been coming by to visit, and she hoped it was someone who would stay and visit with her dad. Miss Kate had come by with a casserole and a pie. Mr. Abe and all the Rebels had stopped in to see how her dad was doing. Everyone, except Quincy. Maybe it was him.
She swung open the door and froze. “Paxton.”
“Hey, babe. Can we talk?”
She’d been hoping he’d made up with Lisa and they wouldn’t have to have this conversation, but that would be the coward’s way out for her. She opened the door wider. “Come in. And don’t call me babe.”
He sat on the sofa and threw his hat to the other end. Jenny eased into her dad’s recliner. There was a bruise on the left side of Paxton’s face.
“Did you hurt yourself bull riding?”
“No. Quincy hit me.”
“What?” That wasn’t like Quincy. “What did you do that would make Quincy hit you?”
Paxton shifted in a nervous gesture. “I said something crude about you. I didn’t mean it. I was just upset.”
“What did you say?”
“It doesn’t matter now. Like I said, I was just angry that he was seeing you behind my back.”
“Excuse me? Have you just absolutely lost all your senses?”
“I messed up, Jenny. I screwed up my life and it’s all my fault.”
She had a lot to say to that, but the ache in his voice stopped her.
Staring at his hands, he added, “I thought I loved Lisa, really loved her, but everything I want is right here in Horseshoe, Texas. Right here in this room.”
“Paxton...”
“I know I hurt you, but I love you and I’m sorry for all the bad stuff I’ve done.”
She had no words, so she just let him talk.
“I’ve worked all these years to become the best bull rider, and I blew it all in Vegas becaus
e my mind was on Lisa. The guys are laughing at me and I decided to just come home and put the rodeo behind me.” He looked into her eyes. “Let’s get married and have that family you’ve always wanted.”
She waited so many years for him to say those words, and now that he had it didn’t have the ring of truth that it should.
“Because you have nothing else, so you’ll settle for me?”
“It’s not that.”
She got up and walked over to the sofa and sat beside him. “I think it’s exactly that. You want me now because Quincy does. And Lisa’s still doing a number on your head. Can’t you see that? I’m not the answer to your problems.”
“You are.” He put an arm around her and pulled her into his side. “I can’t go on without you, Jenny.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “You’re giving up the rodeo?”
“Yeah.”
“To marry and have babies?”
He shifted uncomfortably again. “I’m not too crazy about having kids, but if it makes you happy, that’s what I want.”
“That’s not happiness, Paxton. That’s not love.” She sat up to look at him. “Your whole world is crashing down around you and you’re reaching out to me because that’s what you’ve always done. I’ve always been there, but now you’re going to have to stand on your own two feet. You’re gonna have to cowboy up.”
“But you’re my girl.”
She shook her head. “No. I’m your friend. And as your friend, I’m telling you, you need to take some time to get your head straight. Rodeoing is your life, so get back into the game. You had a bad ending to a good season. It happens. Show the world you can be a champion. I have faith that you can do that—without me.”
“I don’t want to do it without you.”
“Paxton...”
He put his arms around her and held her tight. “I need you, Jenny.”
Paxton was applying all his charm, just as Quincy had said. Now Jenny knew exactly what he’d meant.
* * *
QUINCY RODE UNTIL Aries grew tired. He slipped from the saddle at Yaupon Creek and sat on the cold ground, the north wind tugging at him. The water moved at a steady pace, lapping at the bank. The scent of rain was in the air. He drew up his knees and rested his forearms on them. He’d said he was prepared for whatever happened. He wasn’t. He knew Jenny loved him, but when Paxton asked her to marry him, what would she do? He had to trust in their love, which he hadn’t done before. He had to keep on trusting until she told him otherwise. But the thought of Paxton and Jenny was cutting into his heart at the moment.
