A Diamond in the Dark (20 page)

“After one of his not too bad beatings—he had been a little more gentle with me when he found out I was pregnant and only aimed for my face—I contacted one of the ladies I had met and we worked out the details on how to get me away from him. A way that made sure he would never be able to find me. On the day I was leaving, he came home early from work. He reeked of beer. When he saw the bags and boxes near the door, he started… Well, I was nearly six months pregnant. I ended up in the hospital. I lost the baby, and he had done so much damage to me, and left me lying on our living room floor bleeding for so long, that they had to remove my uterus.”

Tia had tears rolling down her cheeks.
How awful.
She’d had no idea that something so dreadful had happened to Leonie. She had always been a happy person. There were no signs that she’d had such a horrific past.

“Please tell me they arrested the bastard.” Tia was unable to hold back the small sob.

Leonie pulled Tia into her arms, kissing her on the temple. On a whisper she answered, “Yes. And the asshole was murdered in prison three weeks later.”

They stood there comforting each other until the oven buzzed, telling them the cookies were done. Pulling away, Tia took the tray of cookies out, putting them on the cooling rack with the others.

“I’m sorry you went through that, Leonie, and I can understand why your feelings for Uncle Jack may have scared you in the beginning, but why are you still holding back from telling everyone?”

“Truly? I think it just became habit. I don’t know if he’s ready to move it to the next step. Don’t take this the wrong way, but he still grieves Maggie and...well, I can’t fill her shoes.”

Tia hadn’t thought of that. She had seen Uncle Jack go to Maggie’s grave every Sunday, thinking it was sweet that he loved a woman so much that even in death he made the effort to see her each week. Now that she had Axton... If he were a widower, she didn’t think she would like it if she saw him grieving so hard over his deceased wife. Not that she would ever want him to stop having feelings for someone he’d loved, just that she wouldn’t be able to cope with feeling like she was a substitute.

“God. I am so sorry, Leonie. Have you talked to him about it?”

“What am I suppose to say? Hey Jack, did you know that every Sunday when I watch you walk back from your dead wife’s grave, it almost kills me? You have tears in your eyes over losing her but you’re in my bed fucking me?”

“It’s because I feel guilty.” Neither of them had heard him come in.

Leonie covered her mouth and ran out the side door. They could both hear the sobs that escaped her.

Tia spun on her heels, her fingers connecting with his chest as she jabbed at him, Leonie’s pain fueling her own anger. “You need to fix this!” Tia saw red. This man had been bigger than life in her eyes, and she’d just discovered his biggest flaw.

“I never meant to hurt her, sunshine.”

“Don’t you
sunshine
me. That woman loves you, and I can tell you now, from a woman’s perspective, that you walking back from Maggie’s grave every Sunday, teary-eyed, would kill me too!” She watched the emotions cross his face. “Do you love her, Jack?” It was the first-time she had used just his first name.

“With all my heart. I don’t just go to the grave to see Maggie…I go there for Becca as well.”

Fuck!
Although Tia had known about Becca, she’d never considered that he would grieve for a person he had never met.

“I’ve told Maggie about Leonie, but for some reason I feel guilty that I’m happy while Becca never even had a chance at life.”

It was the first time she’d really seen him cry. Tears ran down his cheeks in a never-ending stream, once again reaffirming in her mind that Jack was a good man. She now understood, he didn’t come back from the grave teary over a wife who had lost her life, but over the daughter that never had one.

“You need to tell all this to Leonie, then you need to tell the boys about the relationship.” Tia moved closer to him, hugging him around the waist. “You deserve to be happy, Uncle Jack.” Standing on her tiptoes, she pulled him down to kiss his cheek. “Go and fix things with Leonie. Tell her I’ll clean up in here.” She pushed him toward the door.

Tia didn’t see either of them for the rest of the day. After cleaning the kitchen and boxing up a batch of cookies for Sharina, she finished off the supper that Leonie had already started.

Thoughts of Axton had crept into her mind, but they were good ones. So far they hadn’t had a problem communicating with each other, which she knew was a good thing, but after seeing what the inability to communicate could do to a couple, she was even more pleased with the easy way that she and Ax shared their thoughts and feelings.
Jesus! Uncle Jack could have ruined everything with Leonie by not talking to her.

When the boys came in for dinner, asking where their dad was, Tia just shrugged. It wasn’t her business to tell them.

Axton called her later that night, and she told him about what had happened. All he said was it about time that his brother moved on. She didn’t mention the incident with Jimmy, even though she desperately wanted to. She figured that it was something to tell him when he was standing in front of her, not when he was so far away.

He told her he should be home Friday sometime—two days before her birthday—and he couldn’t wait to see her. She could hear in his voice that he was missing her just as much as she was missing him. He told her not to expect a call tomorrow as they might not get cell service where they were headed. Apparently something had happened to the satellite phone, so they only had their cells. After giving each other their love, she went to sleep dreaming about Ax holding her in his arms and making love to her.

Chapter 14

Fucking hell, he was suppose to be home already. The bad luck from the ranch had followed Axton to Tennessee.

After finally arriving late Sunday night they had checked into a cheap hotel to grab a couple hours sleep. Which would have been fine, if the room had walls thicker than paper. Apparently Joe and ‘ride-me’ slut in the room next door to them had no consideration for those in the surrounding rooms.

It didn’t help listening to some woman screaming out Joe’s name the whole night, reminding him of the way Tia called out his when he was buried balls deep inside of her. So he had laid there with a stiff cock all night, thinking about Tia and not being able to do anything about it, seeing as how Luke was asleep in the bed right beside him.

The next morning, with little sleep, they’d headed out to the stables holding the stallions. He left Luke to look over the horses and get them ready for transport while he headed into town to get the present he had ordered for Tia. They’d rushed it and it cost him a pretty penny to have it ready on time, but he couldn’t wait to see it on her. When he’d first ordered it, he’d had about a minute of doubt, wondering if he was giving her the right thing. With all the tension between him and Jack, this was only going to add to it. But when he thought about not having her in his life, both his stomach and heart began to ache. He couldn’t picture his future without Tia in it.

Once they had hit the road heading back home, they’d had one problem after another. First, Luke had left the satellite phone in the back with the horses. By the time he realized what he’d done, one of the stallions had already stomped all over it. Add in a little shit—literally—and the thing was now useless. That night they pulled into the hotel where they’d booked a room, only to discover they weren’t able to get one. They were three days late, and there was some kind of festival taking place in town, so the hotel was booked solid. At least the owner was kind enough to let Ax and Ethan stable the horses over night, allowing the animals to stretch their legs, and gave them the chance to give the beasts a good rub down.

After an uncomfortable night sleeping in the back of the trailer that Ax had mucked out better than he had ever done before, the owner again showed his country hospitality and offered them both the use of his personal shower.
Thank Christ.
He didn’t think he would be able to sit in the truck for another eight hours with his own stench, let alone combined with Luke’s.

The day before they were suppose to arrive home, the truck broke down in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere’s-ville, and of course, there was no cell service there.

After standing on the side of the road for nearly two hours, he considered riding one of the stallions out of there, but seeing as he was yet to ride either of them, he didn’t think that was a good idea. It was different riding an unknown horse with a saddle than bareback. At least with a saddle you had something to grip onto. Apart from the lead lines there was no other riding gear in the truck, so he’d have to go bareback. And with his luck at the moment he was likely to get bucked off, break his leg or neck, and it would take even longer for him to get home to Tia.

As the idea of riding out started to have more merit—damn the consequences—an elderly couple drove past. Being good country folk, they’d offered them a lift. He’d sent Luke with them as he waited with the horses, taking them out one at a time to give them a stretch.

He hadn’t spoken to Tia that day, which wasn’t helping his foul mood. God, he missed her! The next time he had to go away for any length of time, any time at all really, he was taking her with him. He checked the pocket of his jeans to make sure her present was still there.

It took Luke four hours to return with a tow truck. After being towed to the nearest town, they got the horses settled in the garage owner’s small pasture. While he was looking the truck over, Ax’s mood got progressively worse. When the mechanic told them that the alternator needed to be replaced, and he wouldn’t be able to get a new one until the morning, then he needed another four hours to change it over, Axton saw red.

He didn’t care that it was a rental and he’d be paying for something he didn’t own to be repaired. He wanted to get the fuck home. Axton made arrangements with the mechanic to take care of the truck and his horses—apparently his little girl loved the beasts and had to get rid of the one she’d had, so she was as pleased as punch to be looking after the two now in their pasture. Then they found a small B-and-B to check into.

He called Tia from the payphone in the entrance room. Ax needed to hear her voice and let her know they would be late getting home. The connection was shit. He tried to make sure she had understood him, but he still wasn’t sure about that. But before Ax could say anything further the line went dead.

It was now Saturday and they wouldn’t make it home tonight. It was Tia’s birthday tomorrow and all his plans had gone down the toilet. If things stayed the way they were going, they’d be lucky to make it home mid-morning tomorrow. When he mentioned to Luke that he wanted to drive through the night, Luke was all for it. Ax wanted to make sure the horses would be okay, and Luke told him if they stopped every couple of hours they should be fine.

Chapter 15

It was Tia’s birthday, and she woke up depressed. Why change things now? She’d been feeling this way for days, so what made her think that just because it was her birthday things would change? If anything, she felt worse than she had all week. Axton wasn’t home yet, and since Wednesday she’d spoken to him once. The connection had been terrible, and the only thing she could make out was something was broken on the truck and they would be home late.

So there she was sitting in her room not wanting to go downstairs. She’d have to pretend that she was excited over the presents they would surely give her. But the only thing she wanted was for Axton to be home and in her arms.

She would also have to witness Jack and Leonie being all lovey-dovey. Since they’d worked out their problems and told the boys on Thursday, whenever she now saw them together they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Normally, that would have been fine, but not when she didn’t have her man there to cuddle up against.

As she was getting ready to walk out of her room, trying to plaster a smile on her face, the phone rang. Tia didn’t think it was physically possible to fly, but she was pretty sure that’s what she did, landing face first on her bed and snatching her phone off the bedside table. It was Ax’s ringtone—he was finally calling her.

“Happy birthday, baby.” He sounded so tired.

“God, I miss you. When are you going to be home?” The demanding tone in her voice must have been what made him laugh.

“We’re at a diner about an hour outside of Mason, so we should be home in around four hours. I wish I was there with you. I’m never going away without you coming with me again. Ever.”

“I’m in total agreement. This has been the longest week of my life. The chick with a brain, who can normally do a million things at once, has spent the last week thinking about only one thing. You.”

“Same here, baby. Well, not that I can… Ah, you know what I mean. I haven’t stopped thinking about you either.”

Tia laughed her first real laugh of the week.

“When I get home and have unloaded the horses, I need a quick shower, then I want you to come up to my place so I can give you your birthday present. Okay?”

“That sounds great. Are you going to give me a clue about what you got me? Although you in a big bow... No, change that. You on your bed naked except for your boots and a hat. Yeah, that works for me.”

“Don’t say shit like that at the moment, Tia. I have to sit in a truck with Luke for another couple of hours. Crap! Now I’ve got a stiff cock. Come up to the house about one, and I’ll give you two presents. Don’t eat. We’ll cook something.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“Love you too, Tia. See you in a couple of hours.” He hung up the phone.

With a real smile on her face this time, she was ready to face the rest of the family and get presents. Yee-haw! You are never too old to get presents.

A big breakfast with Uncle Jack, Leonie, Rick, Tiny, and Ethan had her sitting back in her chair. She felt a little ill, but when Leonie handed over the first present she forgot about her tummy churning, and opened them with the exuberance of a ten year old.