Drawn to a Cowboy (Brother Duet #1) (18 page)

Seeing Sage behind his desk engulfed in paperwork and a bit frazzled, I excused myself. Something big appeared to be going down and I think he was thankful that I left him to sort it out. His expressions wandered from sadness to pure rage. I had noticed that more and more, he seemed to be lost in his thoughts. At first it was when he had stepped into his business boots. Then lately, even when he was outdoors doing his beloved activities, he had a worried look that snubbed out his usual smiling face. I wanted to ask him questions to try to help, but something held me back. I figured if he wanted me to know what was bothering him, he would’ve shared with me.

Whatever it was, I left him to it and opted for a stroll down to the lake. Content, I wandered along snapping photos of what Mother Nature had created with my phone. I had probably collected at least a million wildflower pictures since I’d arrived. I loved all the flowers around the property and often bundled some together to place in a vase, to decorate my room. Even Sage had brought me some, it was how I ended up with a glass vase to begin with. I couldn’t get over how beautiful they were and how many there were everywhere.

Turning around to capture a butterfly flitting by, I noticed a blonde woman off in the distance sitting on the number five bench. She looked so pretty gazing out toward the water, I snapped a picture, and walked toward her. Close to her, I stopped, and my mouth fell open as I heard a man on a horse come up behind me. I turned and looked up at him, then started to walk on. Slipped off his horse, Sage walked alongside of me.

When we had gotten right up behind the seated woman, I asked in authoritative voice, “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t be rude, I invited her here,” he answered before she could speak.

“Invited her? How?”

“She comes to the ranch to getaway. She hasn’t been here in a few years. She’s here to help me fight against the Griffin twins.”

“Twins?” I turned back to face him. “You know her?”

“Yes, I’ve told you about her and Hank. She used to be here every summer.”

“Every summer? Hank and her?” I shook my head, trying to grasp what he was saying. Trying to remember the stories I’d been hearing.

“Jade, this is Miss Ginnylee.”

“No! This is Jinxie!”

“What?!” Sage stood shocked and silent looking between me and Jinxie. She had yet to say a word.

“The romance you told me about was with my mother!”

“Your mother…” Sage’s words trailed off as I turned away from him completely.

“Surfing safari? Rendezvous with a cowboy? Is this Hank guy my father? The mysterious owner of the ranch.” As the words spilled out from my mouth, it finally sunk in, hit me. All of the things Sage had been telling me, all of the things that had been going on behind my back as I was growing up, were about my mother and her cowboy lover. My brain was frazzled.

Standing up, moving closer to me, she finally spoke, but barely. “Yes, but…”

Sage cut her off, “Holy shit! Hank is her father?”

I didn’t give her a chance either. “You’ve come to see him every year? You’ve denied me a relationship with my father?”

“You have.” Jinxie finally uttered a couple words before I continued to speak.

“I have what?” I wanted answers, but at the same time I had so much I wanted to say to her. I wanted to scream. I wanted to run, but running wasn’t the right thing to do. I’d watched my mother run off enough. I stayed and listened.

“You’ve had a relationship with your father since you were born.”

“What?” What the hell was she talking about? The only man in my life besides my grandpa was… Carson.

“Hank is Carson,” Sage was mumbling under his breath, talking to us or talking to himself, I wasn’t sure. “The ranch was his escape. He bought it under his real name, Hank Griffin.” Did Sage know who I was all along? I stared at him. I didn’t know whether to lash out at him… or her… or both of them. I felt like screaming again, I felt like crying—neither appeared as I continued to speak with barely any emotion.

“You knew?!” I asked Sage in an accusing tone. He just looked at me with a bewildered look on his face, and I lashed out at him more. “You knew that I knew Carson. You knew that Hank was Carson, Carson was Hank.”

He nodded his head, “I did know that you knew Carson, but…” his words fell off.

“You suspected me? You thought I was here to try to steal the ranch from you? All the stories you told me about a possible daughter?” How could he think that of me? How could he not trust me? I didn’t come to the ranch. I was drawn in by him.

“Sage didn’t know,” Jinxie was quick to defend him. “He is finding out about you now. Hank is the only one that knew… or suspected. He always begged me to admit that you were his, I wouldn’t.”

“How could you do that to me?” I asked as a lone tear escaped from my eye and trailed down my cheek. I was sure that more tears would follow as she began to tell her story… their story… my story.

“I had a crush on Carson as a kid. My crush grew stronger the older I got. I hated when he brought girlfriends down to grandpa’s house. It nearly killed me when he had me teach his two bastards to surf while he and his girlfriend, their mother, sat cozily on the beach. She didn’t give a shit about him, nor did his twin boys. She talked him in… shamed him into marriage, then once they were married for over ten years she left him, taking a large chunk of his money. He told me that he had only married her to do the right thing. That he had never loved her, I was so happy.” She stopped to wipe a couple tears from her face, Sage handed her a handkerchief, and she continued.

“When I graduated high school, I was eighteen, legal, and ready to go after him. He had told grandpa that he was getting away to a ranch he had bought. I had listened to every detail. With my VW bus packed with surfboards, I took off for the ranch. It took me almost the entire summer to convince him that I loved him. He finally gave in and… gave me you, unbeknownst to either of us. My parents weren’t happy with me, to say the least, but they supported my decision and they have always helped me raise you.” She walked back to the bench and sat down, I followed.

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?” She shook her head, patting the seat. Reluctantly, I moved from behind the bench and sat down as far from her as I could get.

“Carson always came to see grandpa. He got a big surprise on one of his visits when he saw me wearing a bikini with a big, round belly. He was not happy with me. I had told him I loved him, that I’d always loved him and that I would love him forever. Then turned around and got myself knocked up by someone else. On the day you were born, he was in town and working out the math in his head, he refused to leave the hospital until he saw you. He recognized some similar features to him right away. He asked me if you were his, I denied it, but he wasn’t dumb. He let me have my way, but he never missed one of your milestones.” She was right. Funny. Sad. I had always thought of Carson as the father I never had.

“We spent summers with him at the ranch until your vocabulary expanded. I was afraid that my parents would question your jabbering. You were always so vocal, such a little smarty…” her voice trailed as if she was picturing me young. A memory?

“Why not tell Tex and Bonnie?”

“Grandpa and Carson were best friends, I didn’t want to come between them. Grandpa was always adamant about me staying away from the Hollywood scene. Once I mentioned that I wanted to act like him, he literally came unglued. Then I really threw him for a loop with my favorite song. I swear he turned the darkest shade of red every time I hummed or sang
I wanna be a cowgirl, so you can be my cowboy
…” She sang it as she always did and laughed. “He always said, ‘you don’t want a damn cowboy.’ He was wrong, I always wanted one certain cowboy, make-believe or not.”

“Hank was a real cowboy,” Sage interjected. She turned toward him and smiled.

Nodding her head, she agreed, “Yes, he was. And a real gentleman. So loyal. He kept my… our secret protected for a little more than thirty years.” I watched her reach her hand back and rub the bench plaque.

“That’s about to change,” Sage interrupted and Jinxie looked up at him, dabbing under her reddened, bluish green eyes.

“Why?” I looked between them like they had some other secret that I was about to hear.
Would the secrets ever stop? How much more could I take?

“Carson’s sons are trying to take the ranch,” Sage answered.

“You said that Hank willed you the property?”

“He did, but there was a clause. They claim that it proves Hank wanted the ranch to be in the hands of a relative. With the resurgent popularity of Carson Crosby, thanks to him being digitally added to a couple recent films, his assets have become more valuable, according to the twins’ attorneys.”

“What clause?” I asked, but Sage remained silent.

Jinxie spoke up, “If Hank’s daughter ever stepped forward the ranch would be hers to claim.” I glanced at both of them.

“I don’t want to take the ranch away from Sage.”

“There are stipulations that protect Sage’s interest. You can’t take it from him. And you can’t sell it, unless you both agreed. Ownership would be shared. I came to help prove that they have no rights, that his daughter did… does exist. I brought your birth certificate, Jade. On that piece of paper I didn’t deny Carson, both of his names are on it.” She looked down briefly, before stating powerfully, “Those bastards will not get their hands on this ranch.”

That word
bastard
shot straight up my spine. I had heard it on a few occasions growing up when grade-school kids found out that I didn’t have a daddy. “Guess they could call me the same.”

“No, you were conceived in love. They were out of greed, that starlet bitch trapped him. She got pregnant with the twins on purpose, she wanted her hooks in him when he started getting media attention.” She took a few deep breaths. “He’s… his estate is about to get more notice. Sage is right, so are you, but I can’t let them take this ranch. That’s why I flew in as soon as the lawyers contacted Sage that the twins might weasel their way in on a technicality.”

“It’s Sage’s ranch. He can’t lose it.” I loved him enough to put him first. I would let her expose me to the world and to my grandparents. “Do Tex and Bonnie know?”

“Not yet. I had no idea you were here. This will make things a whole lot messier and easier—a simple blood test will back up the birth certificate, DNA even better. The paperwork I thought would halt things, but I say let’s throw it all at them. I was going to call you after I met with Sage. I was going to rent a car and drive to where, I thought, you were working. Guess you’re more like me than I thought, off on your own summer adventure… romance.” I noticed her looking from me up to Sage who was standing behind me.

Suddenly, I felt like I was about to give up my lunch. “I don’t feel well. I need to lie down.” Standing slowly, I looked at both of them one last time, then took off walking at a fast pace. I needed air. I needed space. And I didn’t want to get sick in front of them. “Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up,” I told myself all the way to the stable. Inside my private quarters, I let my tears loose along with my last meal.

I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was. The morning had started out so great and then… then everything turned to utter confusion. My mind was reeling and my tummy was churning. All of the stories Sage had been telling. The couple he idolized. The people he thought of as family… they were my parents. Their great love had created me. All of my life, my father had been present?
What the hell!
I felt… felt… numb in a way that I wasn’t sure how or what to feel.
What happened now? Where did I go?
The ranch was part of my father… my mother… where I was conceived. I had been on the ranch as a toddler. I had an instant calmness envelope me, a true feeling of belonging since I had arrived a couple months ago.
What did I do now?

Curled up on my bed, my mind was working overtime, running in so many directions when a knock sounded on my door. It was Jinxie. Just who I didn’t want to see at that moment. I asked her to please leave me be. I didn’t want to hurt her, but she had hurt me and I just wanted to be left alone. Thankfully, she respected my wishes and went away. Not long after, a new familiar thumping rapped on the door. My plea wasn’t any different with Sage. Part of me wanted to let him in, but I really needed the solitude. The final request of the night to be let into my room was Norma. She didn’t give me a choice. She said either let me in or I use my key, you have to eat—I let her in.

She was neutral. She didn’t say a word to me. She sat and watched me devour my dinner. Then she made sure the showers were clear and stood guard. Cleaned, I slipped into a certain cowboy’s t-shirt, and Norma tucked me into bed. After kissing me on the forehead, she lifted my empty dishes and told me to come see her bright and early in the morning. She also mentioned before she disappeared for the night, that if she didn’t see me, she’d be back with breakfast. “Sweet dreams. See you in the morning. And don’t worry, it’s all going to work out, you watch and see.” God, I hoped she was right.