Blackhill Ranch (16 page)

“Still, dammit. I wish I
would have known; I would have helped you.” Tina said as tears
spilled down her face.

Carol grabbed Tina's
hands, “Tina, I didn't want you to know. I knew how mad you were at
me and I was glad it was me and not you. So now you know why he
chose me, you would have killed him the first time he touched you.”
She said and they both let out a laugh when my dad shook his head
yes and said she definitely would have.

Rhet reached under the
table and placed his hand on my leg and squeezed it for
reassurance. I smiled at Rhet and then looked over at Carol,
“Carol, that is so awful. I can't believe you lived with that for
so long but I am so glad you got out and are here with us at the
ranch. You will be safe here.” I smiled and placed my hand over
hers. She smiled over and me and everyone else shook their head to
agree with me.

“Carol, come and walk with
me, I think we have a chat that is very over due,” Tina said, as
she pulled Carol and they headed out the barn.

My dad looked over at me,
“I can't believe a man would treat a women like that. It makes me
sick, and I swear to God if he tries to come out here on our
property he will find a gun pointed straight at his face. Then
we'll see how tough he is.”

“Dad, don't get your heart
rate up,” I said over at him, but I honestly had no doubt that he
would do exactly what he said. I almost hoped Chris would show up
out here, he would get his ass handed to him.

“I agree with your Dad,
Lex, he better not come out here if he knows what's good for him.”
Rhet said with a bite, and I smiled and looked up at Rhet. Yup, I
had a good one.

My dad said something else
and got up from the table. I felt so bad for Carol and hoped her
and Tina could now get over their differences and maybe Carol could
do some healing here. Rhet took my hands and smiled softly at me.
One dimple popped out and I laughed and kissed it quickly before
anyone could see me.

“Lexi, look at me. What
Carol just said... I want you to know you never have to worry about
anything like that. I would never hurt you, and I want to kill
every son-of-a-bitch that lays a hand on their women.”

“I know, I just thought
earlier that I found a keeper.”

He reached over and
embraced me in a hug and whispered, “I don't care who sees us...
You’re mine and I'm proud.”

Just then Toni, the
cousin, came over and slapped Rhet on the back. “Come on douche-bag
get up and have some fun!” He hollered and we let out a laugh at
his loudness. I was starting to get used to his vulgar vocabulary
and strong voice.

“Alright, alright.” Rhet
laughed and pulled me up with him. He looked over at me and bowed,
“Shall we?”

I nodded yes and we headed
out to the dance floor. We danced the rest of the night and had a
wonderful time. We ended up going to the game room with some of the
bachelors and Cole joined us. Cole left early and had a very
miserable look on his face, so I told Rhet I was going to run out
and see if he was okay.

“Cole, wait.” I said and
ran up to turn him around so he was facing me. “What's up are you
okay?”

Cole let out a small laugh
and gave me a hug, “Yes, no, I'm fine,” he said quietly.

“Are you thinking about
Sarah?” I asked and looked straight into his eyes. “It's okay to be
upset about her still, it has only been a little over a year. She
fucked you up.”

He laughed at that last
part, mainly because he knew I didn’t really care for the F word. I
mean, it was fun to say but it always made me blush when I said or
heard it.

“Look at you, using the F
bomb.” He laughed and we went to sit on a bench beside us. Cole ran
his hand through his hair, “She really did fuck me up
Lex.”

I better just get this
over with and fill you in on what exactly Sarah did to my brother,
and to us for that matter. As I said earlier, my brother was
smitten with Sarah when he was in middle school. I knew it when I
saw them ogling each other in my room one day.

He finally had the courage
to ask her out when he was a senior and we were freshmen. I guess I
never cared because I could truly see how much he loved her, and
they tried for years to stay away. When they finally got together I
had never seen my brother or Sarah so happy.

When Cole left for college
in Wyoming Sarah fell apart. She missed him so much, and she talked
nonstop about moving to Laramie when she graduated. When we
graduated she didn't even stay for the summer before school, she
moved the day after graduation and started college with Cole that
next fall. Those two were inseparable, and Cole proposed to her our
sophomore year of college. The wedding was set for that next fall
and I couldn’t have picked a better sister-in-law if I had the
chance.

The wedding was beautiful
and I just knew Cole had found his forever. We also found out a few
days before the wedding that Sarah was five months along, and we
were all overfilled with joy, of course I was upset she didn't tell
me but we got over it when she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy
who they named Wyatt James -my brother is obsessed with country
westerns- and we loved that baby more then anything.

Well, a few short months
later I guess Sarah started acting strange and cried a lot, finally
she broke down and told my brother she had cheated on him one night
when he was out of town. It was with a guy in one of her classes
that she had worked on a long project with. My brother was
heartbroken, and immediately had a paternity test done on Wyatt. We
prayed and prayed that Wyatt was his and just knew he had to be. I
had never truly seen heartbreak like I did until the day the test
results came back. Wyatt wasn't Coles, he belonged to a stranger
and Cole has never been the same.

Sarah left him because she
said she couldn't stand the way Cole looked at her. It has been a
year now and I know Cole thinks about her and Wyatt everyday. I
guess Sarah moved in with an aunt in Nebraska and hasn't been back
home since.

“Have you thought about
calling her?” I asked quietly and dared not to look over at
him.

“I pick up the phone
everyday. I just want to know if she is okay, that Wyatt is okay.
God I miss them, even though I know he isn't mine. I just, I don't
know,” he said and rubbed his eyes. I had only seen Cole cry once
and it was at my mom's funeral. He never showed any emotions
towards Sarah or Wyatt. “I think this is LONG over due,” I hugged
him and he buried his face into my shoulder. “I say call her, or I
will. I don't mind. I have been curious myself, and maybe it's time
Cole.”

“I couldn't imagine going
through that again, how do you ever forgive someone for that? She
ripped my heart out and broke it into a thousand pieces.” He pulled
back and looked up at me.

“I have no idea...but if
you really miss her that much, it may just be good for
closure.”

Cole and I just sat there
in silence for a few more minutes. “I guess I wouldn't mind if you
called her, just to see if she's okay,” he said quietly and turned
to head back to his cabin.

I went back into the lodge
and played a few rounds of pool before Chloe and I decided to call
it a night. I reminded Rhet that we were going into the city
tomorrow to have a girl’s day, but that I would come and have
breakfast with him. He kissed me goodnight and told me to have
sweet dreams about him.

Camden Walked Chloe to the
cabin and I gave them some privacy. Man, she was falling. I felt
bad because the one guy she felt differently about was someone that
would probably never work out. I hoped they proved me
wrong.

I hadn't see my dad, Tina,
or Carol for the rest of the evening, but I hoped that Tina and
Carol were mending their relationship. I had a feeling Carol was
going to become a great addition to our family out here at the
ranch. The only thing was, I didn't know was just how much she was
going to need us.

Chapter 15

“Lexi, get up!” Chloe
screeched and smacked me in the face with her pillow.

I rolled over and pulled
the sheets back over my head and grumbled, “Go away.”

“Come on, I've already
been on a run and taken a shower. I want to get breakfast. Get up,”
she jumped on me and started rustling my already messy bed hair,
and smashed it into my face.

“Okay, just get off me,” I
growled and sprang quickly, knocking her back onto the bed. I
licked my finger and wiggled my eyebrows at her.

“No, Lexi. No!”

I jumped at her and
attempted to give her my famous 'wet willy.' She was too fast
however, maybe because she had already gotten her pre-morning
grogginess out, and I missed her ear but hit the side of her face
with my saliva drench finger instead.

“You are so gross! This is
exactly why I'm glad I never had a brother.” She groaned and rolled
off the bed. I laughed for a good minute and then decided I did
need to get up.

“Did you run with Camden
again?”

“Yeah,” she said and
blushed a little. “Dammit, Lex. I like him. Like, like him, like
him.”

“Have you seen his stuff
yet?” I winked and grabbed a towel so I could jump in the
shower.

She sighed and
dramatically fell back onto the bed, “Lexi, he's perfect. He's my
ten.”

“No. You did not just say
your ten,” I gasped and placed my hand over my heart.

“Quit mocking me. I'm
serious. I'm sad I won't see him again.”

“You never know, Chloe.
Maybe he'll come out and visit you. He was that good huh?” I
smirked and she turned a little red.

“Well, here's proof he
feels more to me than just a fling. I haven’t slept with him.” She
said sadly and pulled a pillow over her face.

I jumped on the bed and
grabbed her pillow away from her. “Now I have no clue who you are
but look, if you really like him make a go of it, you know? Don't
let this be goodbye.”

She looked at me with
hopeful eyes, “Yeah, I mean, I guess you’re right. I have no idea
what the future holds, maybe we could make a long distance
relationship work.” She stood up and I smacked her butt which made
her yelp. “Ouch! Hooker, now I'm going to see what Tina is up to
and get some grub. I heard it's bacon waffles this morning.
Genius!”

I laughed as Chloe bounced
out of the cabin. I can't believe she said the 'R' word but it was
so much fun to watch someone you adored fall in love. Speaking of
love, well I guess on not love, or whatever. I needed to call
Sarah. I decided to take my shower first and think about what I
wanted to say to her. She had called me quite a few times and left
messages, but I never, not once, called her back, and I never
listened to any of her voicemails. I made a plan that I would just
say that her name had come up a few times and I just wanted to make
sure she was doing okay. Yeah, that sounded good.

**

After I was dressed and
braided my hair, I unplugged my cell and went to her contact. I
tried to delete her a few times but something in me just wasn't
ready to fully disconnect her from my life. I guess I always
thought Cole would forgive her and they would end up back together,
but you can't always guess correctly.

I pushed her number and it
immediately started ringing... I started to feel a little nervous
and almost hung up, but then I heard her voice.

“Lexi,” she said out of
breath and was quiet for a few long seconds, “Hi.”

“Sarah, hi.”

I heard a few soft sobs on
the other side of the line and I closed my eyes and tried to
contain the tears that were trying to spill out of my own eyes.
“Sarah, I just... I guess... Well, I just have been thinking about
you a lot, since I am back at the ranch, and I don't know. I guess
I just wanted to see how you were doing?”

She sounded like she was
trying to pull herself together and finally said, “Lexi, I have
waited for this for over a year. God, I miss you guys so much. I am
okay though and Wyatt is so cute and growing like a weed. He'll be
fifteen months in a few days. Can you believe that?” she said with
a little more excitement in her voice.

I closed my eyes and tried
to picture her little boy, the one I was so in love with, that my
brother completely adored, as a toddler, “ No, I can't. I bet he's
amazing.”

“He really is.”

“Are you still in
Nebraska?” I asked almost hoping she would say yes because that
means she didn't move in with what's his face.

“I am. I tried to make it
work with Josh but, I don't know. He never wanted to have anything
to do with Wyatt and he kind of despised me. He met some other girl
and they moved to South Carolina.”

“Wow, Sarah, I'm so
sorry.” I suddenly felt guilty about all the phone calls I ignored.
I bet she just needed someone to talk to. Her family was not
supportive of her after they heard about the affair, and pretty
much disowned her.