Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' (35 page)

I grinned. “That’s my official healer’s
tattoo.”

My dad pulled a cup out of the cupboard
and filled it with coffee for me.

I smiled and added cream and sugar.
“Thanks.” I walked to Jasper and gave him a soft kiss. “Where did
you get the shorts?”

“Your father lent them to
me.”

“Your cousin Tyson came to spend the
weekend a few months ago while your aunt and uncle went out of
town. He forgot these here.” My dad smiled. “He’s a bit more
Jasper’s size than I am.” My cousin Tyson was sixteen years old and
already six foot one inches tall.

I grinned up at Jasper. “You look good
in them.” He smiled back at me, knowing full well what I was
thinking. Good was the understatement of the year. “So what was so
funny before I got down here?”

My dad started laughing. “Jasper was
telling me a few stories.”

“Don’t believe anything he tells you,
Dad. If the stories are about me, he’s lying.” I
blushed.

“I would never lie about how stubborn
you are, you know that, Shlova.” Jasper laughed and hunched over a
bit to absorb the slap I gave him. I noticed that now that we were
in this world his slightly Scottish sounding accent was a bit more
noticeable.

My dad laughed even harder. “I agree
with Jasper. No one could exaggerate that fact.”

I stuck my tongue out at both of
them.

“What’s so funny down here?” My mother
came walking into the kitchen looking just as beautiful in her
pajama pants and t-shirt as she would have in an evening dress. Her
long blond hair was pulled up in a ponytail. The blue colored shirt
she had on made her aqua green eyes bluer than normal. At five feet
eight inches tall I always thought she made a great match for my
dad.

I could tell she was fighting back the
tears when she crushed me into a hug. She took a few deep breaths
before looking down at me. The tears won the battle and rolled down
her cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I just can’t believe you’re
here.”

A lump formed in my throat and I
realized I was crying too. “It’s ok, mom. I missed you guys so
much.”

She smiled and wiped her tears while I
did the same. My dad gave us both a hug, his grey eyes looking a
bit misty.

Jasper appeared holding a cup of coffee
for my mom.

She took the mug and kissed his cheek.
“Thank you.” She laughed at the surprised look on his face. “Not
just for the coffee. Thank you for everything you’ve done. Taking
care of Hayden, keeping her safe.”

He nodded and smiled. “It’s been my
pleasure.”

I started to laugh. “Your pleasure, is
it? It seems to me that last night you told me I was the cause of
your hair going grey!”

He grinned. “I don’t mind sacrificing
the color of my hair to keep you around, Shlova.”

“He’s right, you know.” My dad was
laughing too. “Look at what you did to my hair.” His once dark
blond hair had more silver than blond in it.

“Ha, ha, ha.” I smiled. “Funny.” I
leaned back into Jasper and looked up at my dad. “We were wondering
if it would be alright if we stayed here until we could find a
place to rent. We have to stay here until next spring.”

Both of my parents’ eyes widened in
shock . “Of course we don’t mind.” My dad poured himself another
cup of coffee and smiled. “Can I ask why you need to
hide?”

I took a deep breath and nodded. I had
never lied about anything important to my parents before. I wasn’t
going to start now. I knew the truth would worry them, but they had
a right to know what was happening. “You’d better pour us all
another cup and we’ll go sit down. It’s a bit of a long
story.”

We all headed to the dining room and
sat around the table. We told them everything from the night I had
left after going to the roping jackpot until last night when Damian
had warned us to come back. Well, almost everything. I left out the
part where I had gone into heat but had failed to conceive. If
Jasper noticed he didn’t bring it to anyone’s attention.

By the time we had told our story and
had answered all of my parents’ questions it was almost lunch time.
Everyone was quiet for a few moments.

I glanced at my dad when he cleared his
throat. “Well, Hayden, I always told you you had been put on this
earth for a reason. I just had no idea it was something quite as
extravagant as this. At least we’ll know you’ll be safe for the
next year.”

Jasper grunted then smiled when he
realized he had done it loud enough for everyone to hear. He
shrugged at me and I laughed.

“So what are the rest of your plans for
the day?” My mom was getting up and heading to the
kitchen.

I smiled at Jasper’s half naked form.
“We need to go shopping.”

“Your bank card is in your top drawer.
You’ve sold a few of your prints at the art gallery at the lake. We
put all the money you’ve made off of them into your
account.”

I gave them both a hug. “Thanks, mom.
Thanks, dad.” I headed for the phone. I waited while it rang and
smiled when a familiar voice picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Shay!”

“Hayden! You’re here?”

I laughed. “Yeah. We have to hide out
for the next year. We got here yesterday. Is Shawn in
town?”

“Yeah! It’s his weekend off. He’s here
right now. What do you need?”

“Nothing. I thought we’d go for lunch.
I’m taking Jasper shopping for some clothes.”

“Oooh. You’re putting him in Wranglers,
right?”

I laughed. “Definitely.” I waited while
she relayed the information to Shawn.

“Ok. Actually, we’ll meet you at
Rider’s. Shawn needs to pick up a bigger cinch. You should see the
size of his new colt.”

“Alright. We’ll be leaving in about ten
minutes.”

“Sounds good. See you in a
bit.”

We hung up. “Let’s go get dressed.
We’ll meet Shay and Shawn at Rider’s. We can pick you up a couple
pairs of jeans and some t-shirts. Shawn needs a cinch. Then we’ll
go for lunch.”

He smiled and followed me up the
stairs. “You lead, I’ll follow.”

I changed into a pair of Wranglers and
a solid black t-shirt. I searched through the shirts in my closet
until I found the one I was looking for. It was a dark blue t-shirt
with the picture of a horse and rider spinning. I had won it in a
raffle and had never got rid of it even though it had been a couple
of sizes too big.

“Here. This might fit you.” I handed it
to him and smiled. It was a bit snug, but from my point of view,
that wasn’t such a bad thing. “Well, if you decide you don’t like
the cowboy look, we know you can pull off the jock
look.”

“And that’s a good thing?”

“Jasper, if we weren’t meeting Shay and
Shawn, I’d be tearing that shirt off of you this instant. Of
course, you could probably wear a dress and still manage to be drop
dead gorgeous.”

He laughed and shook his
head.

“Let’s go see if Tyson forgot some
shoes here.”

Luckily for us, my cousin was the
forgetful type. The black running shoes were a size too big for
Jasper, but would do until we could get him his own.

I gave my mom and dad a hug and grabbed
my keys from the key holder.

“I moved your mom’s car
already.”

“Thanks, dad.” I slipped my bank card
into my back pocket and wished I had known we were going to be
coming here. My wallet and driver’s license were back at the cabin
in Sageden.

Outside, I pulled the tarp off of my
truck and threw it behind the seat. After unlocking the passenger
door and opening it I made my way to the driver’s side. Jasper’s
eyes widened as the truck rumbled to life.

I smiled at him and put the truck into
reverse. “Shawn can explain this one to you. I know a bit about
motors and that sort of stuff, but not enough to talk about it so
it makes sense to you.”

I made my way through the streets and
ten minutes later we were parked in front of Rider’s, the only
western and equestrian shop in town. I put a hand on his knee and
looked into his eyes. “How are you doing?”

He shrugged. “I’ll live.” He smiled,
but I could see the pain he was trying to hide.

“Alright.” I watched Shawn’s green
pickup pull up beside us.

He hadn’t even pulled to a full stop
before Shay was jumping out of the passenger’s side. I jumped out
of the truck and met her hug with my own.

“Oh, my god! Hayden! I had managed to
convince myself you weren’t coming back! This is great!”

Shawn gave me a hug of his own before
turning to Jasper. “How are you doing?”

“Quite honestly, I’m not sure how
you’ve done this for five years.”

“Believe it or not, it actually gets
better. The hard to breathe part I still feel. But after a few
weeks it doesn’t feel like your ribs are being pulled out of your
chest anymore.”

“Well, that’s good to know.” Jasper
glanced at me and took my hand. “I’m fine, Shlova. Really. And you
heard Shawn. It gets better.”

I wanted to cry. Here he was, feeling
like his chest was being broken open and he was comforting me. I
hugged him close. “Lest allais dernaugh.”

I felt him shake his head. “We’re not
going back.”

“We could just stay at the clearing by
the waterfall. If anyone we don’t know wandered near, we could just
come here.”

“You want to live at the waterfall for
a year? Through the winter?” He chuckled. “Hayden, you complain
you’re cold when you’re in the house and the fire is
going.”

“I know. It’s just, geez, Jasper. It’s
in your eyes. They have that same look as when we rescued you from
the cave. Maybe even worse.” I swallowed hard. “It is worse because
here I can’t help you.”

He squeezed my hand and brought it up
so he could brush his lips over my knuckles. “You do help me. See?”
He stepped away from me and I saw him take a quick breath. His eyes
narrowed ever so slightly. If I hadn’t been looking for it, I
wouldn’t have seen the change. He took one step toward me and I
reached out and touched his chest. I felt him relax; his breathing
seemed deeper, like he was getting more air. He took my hand and
started leading me toward the door to Rider’s. “Now, let’s go get
some of these Wranglers you and Shay seem to be so excited
about.”

Shay winked at him and I
laughed.

We spent a half hour browsing the
store, getting Jasper into some new jeans, a pair of lace up boots
and some t-shirts.

“Why don’t we grab subs and go sit on
the riverbank?” Shay suggested as we headed back to the trucks. “I
have tons of questions and I don’t think this conversation will be
for just anyone’s ears.”

I laughed. “If anyone was eavesdropping
they would think we were on some bad drugs.”

I put the bags in my truck, locked the
doors, and we all piled into Shawn’s truck.

At the riverbank, we grabbed one of the
many empty picnic tables. We told them our story and answered all
of their questions.

Shawn was shaking his head. “This is
unreal!”

Shay put her hand over his on the table
and I grinned.

“Um, Shay?”

“Hmm?”

“Is there something you need to tell
me?”

She frowned. “Ah. No. I don’t think
so.”

I reached across the table and held her
hand up like she had done to me the last time I had crossed back
over.

She laughed. “Oh. That! With finding
out that you were here and getting Jasper to model all those jeans,
I totally forgot!” She took the engagement ring off and handed it
to me. It was a beautiful white gold band with a raised diamond in
the middle of two smaller emeralds.

“Very nice.” I handed it back to her.
“So, did you set a date?”

Shawn nodded. “April twenty ninth of
next year.”

I looked at Jasper. “A blond girl in a
white dress when the snow melts. That’s when we have to cross back.
The night of the wedding.”

“We’re sending out the invitations next
week. I was going to give yours to your mom. I thought that maybe
she could send it your way with your little blue bird. I wasn’t
sure if you’d be able to come, though.”

I smiled. “Of course I would have
come.”

“But this is even better! I would love
it if you could be my maid of honor!”

“Really?”

“Definitely! Do you think there’s a way
to get Tara here so she can be a bridesmaid? We’re going to be
keeping it pretty small, and the two of you have always been there
no matter what.”

I nodded. “We’ll send her a note. The
bluebird said she would keep contact during the next while that
we’re not over there. She won’t miss this for the
world.”

Shay was grinning from ear to ear.
“Awesome!”

We spent the rest of the afternoon
catching up and trying to explain anything and everything to Jasper
so that nothing he ran into while he was here would be too much of
a shock.