Fighting Fate: Book 2 of the Warrior Chronicles (16 page)

He held up his palm. Then more laughter. Then he seemed to calm a bit, but he’d laughed so hard he had to wipe tears from his eyes too. The fact that she’d thought he’d lost what little sense he had must have been apparent because he forced himself to calm, although he wasn’t able to tone down his brilliant smile or the mirth in his eyes.

“That wise-ass Irishman was way too pretty anyway. Maybe now he won’t look like such a candy-ass.” Jordon shook his head. “All those times I sparred with that acrobat and I’ve never come close to that nose.” Jordon covered his eyes with one hand, holding his temples with a thumb and middle finger for a moment before he met her eyes again. “That was quite a shot, honey.”

Taryn stood, not understanding what Jordon was trying to tell her, not sure she wanted to follow if he was indeed leading her anywhere. Jordon sobered, seeming to sense her anxiety.

“Tell me why you hit him.”

“He hit my moth…” Taryn swallowed hard under Jordon’s scrutiny. “He hit, ah…Reed.”

Jordon’s eyebrows scrunched together in what Taryn took to be a frown, but he looked more confused than worried. She used small words and spoke slowly. She didn’t want to confuse him further, or worse yet make him laugh again.

“I hit Shay because he hit my…he hit Reed before she was ready. He hit her again and again, hard and fast.”

Jordon stood in one fluid motion, his gaze as sharp as a peregrine’s. She had seriously underestimated Jordon’s powers of cognition. This man was no fool. “Is she alright?”

The transition in his demeanor, from affable to intense, made Taryn take a step back. “Reed had her foot on his throat a few seconds after that. I think she probably broke one or two of Shay’s ribs as well.” Taryn shrugged, hearing her words, acknowledging Reed had the situation in control after the first few moves.

Jordon visibly relaxed and his crooked smile, which Taryn had to admit she found pretty damn charming, was firmly back in place. He looked down at her and shook his head, affection glowing in his light brown eyes, his tone mildly self-deprecating when he said, “I’m painfully familiar with that particular move.”

Then, before she could protest, Jordon pulled Taryn into a quick, but full hug that conveyed acceptance, real warmth, and affection. Taryn couldn’t think of one good reason she was worthy of any of those things. Jordon pushed away almost as quickly as he pulled Taryn to him. Holding her by her shoulders, Jordon looked deeply into her eyes, smiling openly.

“Taryn Campbell Mohr-Bennett, you are going to fit in here just fine. Potter’s Woods is lucky to have you. So is my son.”

He pulled her to him again, gave her a fatherly kiss on the top of her head, and then took off at a lope toward Jesse’s house. The odd man was laughing again, muttering something about smart-ass Irishmen finally paying the piper. When Jordon was about twenty feet away, he turned back to Taryn and shouted gleefully. “Oh, and Taryn, don’t worry about the gi. Jesse won’t mind a little blood on it, especially if it came from Shay’s nose.” He gave a little wave and was off again.

Crazy. They are all certifiable and I jumped right in, drank the Kool-Aid, and now I’m breaking noses, bloodying gis, falling for a navy eyed dream-lover incarnate and calling a complete stranger ‘mother’.

Merlin stared at Taryn as she picked up another handful of stones, throwing them one by one into the water, watching the gentle waves they made as she tried to make sense of her new life.

“May every ripple bring you closer to your truth, Keeper of the Light. Closer to your truth, and your love.” Merlin turned and set his sights across the sea. He had his own plans to make before they left, and it was going to be a rocky journey.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Jesse found Taryn tossing rocks into the pond from the edge of the pier. He handcrafted the wood and iron bench that was bolted to the pier and carved Irma’s name in Celtic script into the back rest. It was lovely, but Taryn seemed to prefer the decking to what he thought was a pretty comfortable seat. Jesse wondered if she really just wanted to put her feet in the water or if she just didn’t want to disturb the sanctity of the place.

Irma’s spirit still lingered here, more than a decade after her death, infusing the small space with her expansive love. Everyone who gravitated to this small wooden pier seemed to gain a sense of peace when they settled here for a moment, as if pier and pond commingled into a confluence of healing energy. Jesse still missed Irma, the grandmother of his heart, who took her last breath here, but since he still felt her when he came to this spot, he considered himself lucky.

Taryn didn’t seem to be absorbing the peace of the place. She didn’t look like she was drawing on its gift of revitalizing strength either. If anything, she appeared dejected and bone tired. It took a crazy kind of courage to do what she’d done on the dojo floor, and in that Taryn reminded him of Irma. They were not similar in looks or stature, Irma was frail and small, but, they were very similar in character and in will.

Irma had been an auto mechanic in WWII. She opened her own auto repair shop after losing her job when the troops came home. She looked death in the eye every day for the last two years of her life, battling the ravages that time and disease played on her petite frame. The woman was a lion well into her nineties and she never gave up. After today, it wasn’t hard for him to picture Taryn at ninety, standing tall and proud and giving hell to whomever she thought deserved it. He hoped he’d be around to see it.

He wanted to be there every step of the way to watch her pass through every stage of her life, with more glorious abandon than she’d shown in the previous one. He wanted to see Taryn the lover, the mother, the grandmother, the friend. More than that, he wanted to be a part of it all. Jesse was feeling sappy and emotional. He hadn’t seen himself spending the rest of his life with a woman before and it irked him that not only was he thinking about it now, he was waxing poetic in his head. Pretty soon he’d be seeing the heavens open and hearing angles singing, ‘AAAHHH’.
Jeeze, man. Get a grip.

Jesse shook his head to clear it, ran both hands through his hair, clasping them behind his head as he looked up into the cloudless morning sky. “Damn, Irma. Every time I think of your weathered mug scowling at me, brandishing the wrench you always kept in the basket of your electric wheelchair, I get as maudlin as a thirteen year old girl. I could sure use your help here. I haven’t a freaking clue how to help her, and she’s got me so tied up in knots, part of me doesn’t even want to try.” Jesse closed his eyes and let the sun shine on his face a moment before unclasping his hands.

If you’re going to curse, young man, go for the gold. Anything less diminishes you and the impact of your statement. If you really want to do something for her, get your johnson out of your pants and take the woman to bed. You’ve been dancing around long enough. Shit or get off the goddamned pot. Now that’s how a grownup talks.

Jesse laughed. He would have blushed, but Irma’s voice in his head would call him out about that too. He’d never gotten used to Irma’s propensity for vulgarity, but he loved the old bat anyway.

Love you too, boy.

Jesse walked over to Taryn. He stood silently beside her while she tried to skip her remaining stones. She wasn’t getting the wrist action right and the most she was able to coax out of each stone was two bounces. He didn’t try to help. He didn’t rush her either. He simply stood there with her, waiting for her to finish. Moments after she did, she looked up at him. Jesse offered her his hand. She took it and pulled herself up.

“What now?” she asked.

“Now, I take the advice an old friend just gave me about pots.”

…

No one in this place made any sense to Taryn, but in that moment when Jesse offered his hand and looked at her with such banked heat in his eyes and acceptance on his face, she didn’t much care about making sense. Instead, she took solace in Jesse’s company. She’d missed him over the last ten days and it was good to have him near. She’d awakened every morning with his scent on her skin and in her bed, but that wasn’t enough. Taryn wanted much, much more.

“Where are we going?” She asked. Jesse wasn’t leading to the path that went back to his house.

“I have something I want to share with you.”

Taryn kept up with Jesse’s easy pace as he led her away from the pond, past the big house at Potter’s Woods and the small cottage that she’d been told was her Aunt Finn’s workshop. The stone path behind the cottage led toward Jesse’s property. They took that path until it split. One fork leading back to Jesse’s house, she could see it from here, one leading away from his home. Jesse took the path leading where she’d never been. Part of her was grateful. Taryn didn’t want to be anywhere near Jesse’s dojo right now. If she ran into Reed or Shannon O’Shay she wasn’t sure any of them would survive it. Tomorrow would be soon enough to face what she’d done and why she’d done it. Today she wanted to continue hiding behind her righteous indignation.

Jesse must have sensed her tension because his thumb began to rub her palm where their hands intertwined. Without thought, Taryn raised their hands and brushed the back of his hand across her cheek before kissing it and letting it fall back to her side. Jesse didn’t stop walking, but she noticed the slight catch in his gate and the swift intake of his breath when her lips touched his skin.

She’d been inextricably drawn to him from the start. Denying it was futile and a bit silly since she wanted nothing more than to be with him right now. She was so lost in the vagaries of her mind’s inner workings that she missed the first part of what he was saying. His voice was heavy with memory and rough with affection.

“I was fourteen when Reed brought me here. I couldn’t believe people like her and Finn really existed.” He laughed and the sound squeezed her heart. “I didn’t talk to her when she tried to get me out of my last foster home. Not for weeks. But she just kept coming. I didn’t believe her when she said I was going to be living with her. Then I kept waiting for her to kick me out when she realized what a loser I was.”

Jesse stopped walking. He was lost in some memory he kept to himself. He was looking past the path to what looked like an endless forest of trees on either side. Taryn didn’t want to intrude on his history, but she was curious about him and what made him tick. She sensed a depth of emotion in him that would rival the black depths of the ocean.

It didn’t scare her. It made her feel like she could, like she should, trust him with her safety and her heart, knowing he was worthy of both.

Where had that come from? Taryn tried to dismiss the thought as soon as it registered, but it was stubborn and decided to hang around longer than it was welcome.

“I didn’t belong here, with these people who had more heart than sense. They’d welcomed a mongrel into their midst without ever contemplating the ferocity of the beast’s bite, should he choose to attack.”

“Did you? Attack, I mean.”

Jesse looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face, his navy eyes bright with emotion. “No. I didn’t attack. But I was a real shit for a good year and a half. I don’t think I so much as smiled for most of that time. I certainly didn’t talk. Not unless I was asked a direct question that I couldn’t answer with a nod or a shrug.” Jesse reached for a leaf, pulling it from the branch, rolling it up in his fingers. He didn’t seem to enjoy talking about himself as a teen, which made her wonder why he was insisting on doing so now.

“Ignoring them became impossible. Reed and Finn have this way of teasing one another that would make a stone crack a smile. Reed has a quiet way of collecting what Finn calls ‘strays’ that managed to melt the wall of ice I’d built around me. They were funny and kind and patient. I wasn’t used to any of that. Their easy camaraderie scared me. I didn’t fit in. Not then. Hell, I didn’t fit anywhere then. Much less with good people who were trying to make life better for me, and the few elderly clients they had back then. They couldn’t afford me then. That was two years before Jordon. They took me anyway.” He threw the leaf on the ground, his eyes soft as he turned them on her. “I’m still here.”

Her chest began to swell and her throat got thick. Taryn didn’t like what the kindness in his eyes was doing to her. She wanted him, needed him, if she was honest, but she didn’t need to carry the weight of his experience with Reed into her future, no matter what that held. She wasn’t a teenager. She was an independent woman who already had a mother and a life.

“Is this where you tell me that if I just give these crazy people a chance I will grow to love them? That if I just open my heart all will be right in the universe.” Taryn’s voice was sharper than she intended.

“This is where I tell you these crazy people saved me. They’re my family. If you open up just a little they could be your family too.”

“I’ve got a family.”

“I know you do. No one’s trying to diminish that. There’s nothing wrong with finding more people to love you, Taryn. Life doesn’t have to be either, or. You can belong here. Everyone here will accept you. All you have to do is be open enough to let them.”

Taryn could tell Jesse meant every word he said. She also knew there was more starkness in his life, before he came here, that he wouldn’t be sharing with her yet. Maybe he’d never share it. That made her angry and curiously filled her with a need she didn’t understand. She didn’t need autobiographies from any of the other men she wanted to take to bed. She certainly didn’t need to make nice with their extended families. She felt manipulated, even though she didn’t believe Jesse would stoop to manipulation even if he thought it would work. She wanted him. She didn’t want any family strings tied to that prize.

“The only one I want to let inside me is you.”

Something in Jesse’s eyes flashed. Did she imagine his disappointment before the window to his soul slammed shut? She wasn’t sure, but it felt like he suddenly found her lacking. She lost something in that moment and that just added to her feelings of self-recrimination. Since she wasn’t into long-term self-flagellation, that feeling didn’t set well with her at all. Taryn dug in her heels when Jesse turned and began walking again, pulling her along with him.