“I’ve heard.” Howard turns back to me with a false smile, his teeth showing. “Heard the farm was turning profitable.”
I’m slow to register what Howard’s said, but Jedd steps forward. “Is that why you’re here?”
For a moment, I’m caught in a warp of wonder, and I want to snap, Maybe Howard’s here for me? Could that be possible? But quickly, I erase the thought. He’s here because he’s heard of the divorce. It’s the only reason he’s returned.
“I’ve heard the farm has horses for rodeo.”
My heart stops.
It isn’t me.
It isn’t us.
Howard’s after money.
Every fiber of my being screams to tell him to get out, get off my land, yet I can’t find the words. It’s like my tongue is swollen, filling my mouth. Like a child with too much food in her cheeks, I can’t speak.
“You’ve got no business here,” Jedd defends.
“My business is her,” Howard remarks, nodding in my direction.
“Over my dead body,” Jedd growls, and for the first time, I notice another man is witness to this farcical pissing match in my driveway. Tower Hudson, I presume, fits his name. Tall and lanky with a wave of rust-colored hair and beard to match, he looks as if he hatched from the Appalachian Mountains around us. Then I see the scar. A gapping gash down the right side of his face from eye to lip. Unable to help myself, I gasp, and intense blue eyes catch mine.
He nods once in recognition of what’s startled me, but he doesn’t lean forward to introduce himself. His hold is on Jedd, long fingers firmly over each of Jedd’s shoulders preventing Jedd from lunging at Howard.
A moment later, another thought clicks into place. Jedd’s only here for the horses as well. Protecting his investment.
“What do you want, Howard?” I ask, knowing we don’t need to discuss anything. I’d always struggled to come to terms with why Howard had left me, how he could’ve stepped out on me, and how he could’ve abandon his child, but now I have an epiphany as he stands before me. I don’t care for his answers. I no longer want them. I just want him gone again.
“We have things to discuss, baby,” he sweet-talks in that patronizing tone, making my bones rattle.
“You’ve got nothing to say to her,” Jedd interjects, and my head cranes in his direction. My mouth gapes, ready to defend myself when Howard steps forward.
“I have plenty to say, and it doesn’t involve you.” Howard’s head twists from Jedd to me and then back to Jedd. His weaseling eyes narrow, intensifying the crow’s feet at the corners. “Unless you’re involved with each other.”
Howard’s tone is so accusatory I want to smack him. How dare he? He will not make me feel guilty for something he’s done a thousand times over.
Still, a twinge of unwarranted guilt rustles forward. Sensing a shift in me, Jedd reaches over for me again.
“Bee,” he whispers, his hand making contact, and even though I twist out of his grasp, he follows the retraction by gripping the back of my shirt. “Bee, you did nothing wrong. We did nothing wrong.”
“Whatever stunt you’re pulling isn’t going to work any longer,” Howard warns Jedd, but Jedd isn’t listening to Howard. His focus is on me. I can feel his eyes watching me as mine are lowered to the dirt at my feet. My body slumps over my crutches. I don’t tremble as much as I suddenly feel like all the blood has been drained from my body. I’m too weak to hold myself up, and I’m tired, so very tired.
“Bee, honey,” Jedd mutters again, but with his inability to be quiet, the endearment is heard by all of us.
“Honey?” Howard snorts. “Get off my land, Jedd.” My gaze flicks from Howard to Jedd and back to the dirt. Jedd straightens, continuing to clutch at my shirt as if he’s afraid I’ll try to make a break for it, and he won’t let me go.
“Go,” I’d whispered once to him.
“No,” he’d said in return.
How far could I even get in my condition?
He was with another woman.
The reminder makes me stand a little taller.
“I think you should go,” I say in a voice scratchy and rough, like little nails crawling within my throat.
“You can’t mean that.” Jedd’s head spins in my direction, his eyes wide as ours clash. His are stormy midnight with questioning and concern. He roams my face, strokes over my lips, and returns to my eyes. “No, Bee.”
“I heard about your date,” I whisper, despite our audience. “I think you should leave.”
Jedd jostles my clutched shirt, stepping forward into the space between my crutches.
“What?” His tone rings angry. “I didn’t go on a date.”
“Last night. Hannah saw you,” I state, exhaling in hopes not to inhale the scent of him. Manly. Woodsy. Horse. My eyes close.
“Where is my daughter?” Howard asks as if he’s an English gentleman come to claim his offspring. He has no right to her, and for a moment, I send up a quick prayer of gratitude she’s an adult.
“I did not have a date,” Jedd continues, as we both ignore Howard. “I went to dinner with my sister.”
“Your sister?” I question. Jedd’s very rarely mentioned his siblings, and it’s a reminder he’s still a stranger in many ways.
“I…” Jedd stops as he licks his lips.
“Your sister,” Howard interjects in a long-drawn-out breath, and a chuckle fills his throat. “How is Janice?”
The pause between Howard’s question, and the twitch in Jedd’s jaw drags out for an eternity.
Janice is the name of my attorney.
Janice is the name of the girl to whom Howard was engaged.
Janice is the name of Jedd’s sister.
“Janice Julius,” I mouth to no one in particular, but Jedd reads my lips and closes his eyes. His hand slips from my shirt and swipes down his face.
“Get off my land,” Howard repeats with more dominance in his voice along with a touch of excitement, as if he’s one-upped Jedd somehow. Only, I’m the one turned upside down. I don’t understand the connections.
His sister. Howad’s ex-fiancée. My attorney.
“Beverly.” My name is a plea in Jedd’s voice.
“You should go,” I repeat.
“I am not leaving,” he states, his voice rising louder than it already is. Actually, I don’t want him to leave. I want him to sweep me off my feet, tell me he loves me, and get us out of here. But this isn’t a fairy tale, even if Howard is a villain. And I’m so confused. Jedd’s sister was Howard’s ex-fiancée. He must have known who I was then. The pregnant girl who stole Howard from her.
“What are you doing here?” My eyes narrow. “Is this some kind of joke?” Is he here for retribution for his sister? Is this Ewell and Crawford all over again?
“I told you I wanted to borrow the land.”
“The land,” Howard scoffs. “Your family forfeited it. You lost it.”
“You stole it.” Jedd turns on Howard. “You took advantage of Boone.”
Who’s Boone? But I don’t ask. I’m still reeling between the two men arguing over stealing and taking.