Emmerson's Heart (2 page)

Mom was
a rancher’s wife that was more scared of horses than anyone I had ever seen. It wasn’t that she didn’t like them; she’d just rather stayed in the house to take care of us. Ben was even more intimidating to her because he was the biggest horse we ever had on the ranch. It was just amazing that he could fit through the door, and he did…barely. He did just to get to Emmer and Mom hated that. You would think that after a while, Mom would get used to Ben, but each time Ben came after her, it was like she became more scared.

“You better go save him before
Dad catches him in the house again.”

“He just wanted to talk to me, to congratulate me. God! Doesn’t anyone care what he wants? No, he has to just sit here while we are all at that stupid graduation! He’s a person
, too!” Emmer stomped her foot as the tears thickened in her eyes again. Something was up with that, those tears of hers. She wasn’t a crier, but when she did, there was always something deep behind them, to cause those tears to come to those vibrant eyes. “It would help if we just stayed here and not went at all!”

“Emmer, you are going to your graduation. Don’t think you are getting out of it at all.” Mom’s shoulders began to ease as Ben shifted his attention back to Emmer, his ears perked, and the happiness spreading through him as
his large body relaxed.

Ben was great at knowing when Emmer needed him the most. It was as if he had a sense about her. On her worst nightmare nights, he tried like hell to get to her so he could be there to comfort her. Just in the past week, he had been on more alert than usual. Today wasn’t the first time he barged himself into the house. Just yesterday, he took out Will and Rob both when they had come back
from town. Normally, those two together could hold him back, but Ben was more aggressive for some reason and that reason had to do with my golden goddess.

The room became silent as the hairs on my neck stood on end. He was there. My dad. He had to be. Rob stopped filming, Will stopped laughing, and the color faded from Marc’s paler face. Mom cupped her forehead as the breath came out.

“Emmer, please take him out of my house.” Carefully, she reached out for the boots when Ben snorted and made her jump right back to her corner.

Swallowing hard, I glanced over my shoulder to see the dark eyes looking right back at me.
I should have seen anger in those eyes, yet there wasn’t a speck in them. It was almost….almost as if they were red and puffy, wet, and wiped a thousand times. Had he been crying?

Jackson Huck never cried. Jackson Huck was a man that everyone in town bowed down to. Seeing this was….scary. I wasn’t sure if I should grab Emmer and take off running or drop to my knees and beg for forgiveness over….something. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I should move. Maybe this was a ploy. Maybe he was waiting for one of
Emmer’s smart remarks that always riled him up. Something…..

My stomach knotted as those eyes stayed on me. Tho
se eyes of the man I looked exactly like, only twenty-five years younger. His dark chocolate hair received those grays that washed through since Emmer was brought into our home. It wasn’t that she was a handful, but my dad had such an overprotectiveness over her that no one dared to even look at Emmer wrong. Even with us, his own children. If one of us argued with her and said something about her scars, he would go after us and not her. 

But…Um…..My dad was crying?

Six-foot-three built with rancher’s muscles, the man everyone backed down to, had been crying. He had to have been. For as many times as Ben was in the house or even tried to come into the house, my dad never backed down from that. That was what got Emmer in trouble all the time. Ben.

Now, Ben was in the house, the kitchen was a disaster, and he just stood there without an ounce of anger inside of him. Those glassy eyes shifted around the room at the bowls, papers, mail, and everything on the counter that was scattered across the floor, Mom backing into the corner, Rob and Will just standing there, and Marc rubbing his forehead while standing at the kitchen door. Nothing. Not a word, no anger, and no red face from trying to hold back because it was Emmer’s day.

“Surprise!” Emmer’s voice blasted through the silent room and her hands were raised as high as she could. The tears rained down her face as she belted out the song Happy Birthday at the top of her lungs.

My heart caught in my throat and the air in my lungs escaped, leaving me gaping at her and unable to say anything. Really? Oh, if Emmer was allowed to her own party tonight, I would be shocked. Having her screaming out surprise as if it was a secret party of his was a risk that none of us would have taken. But Emmer had to break the silence. It was how she was. She didn’t want anything to do with the eerie silence, and I didn’t blame her. An eerie silence meant bad things. And my dad’s eerie silence wasn’t something all of us experienced before. 

At the end of her little song, she shoved past me
to launch herself straight into my dad’s arms and burying her face into his broad chest. The cries wailed from her so loud and so heartbreaking, there wasn’t an elephant….or a horse….standing in the room. Not when Emmer was crying like that. Those cries were very rare, but when they were there, no one tended to anything other than Emmer.

Holding her tightly, the largest of the Huck men sobbed a little and mumbled something into her shoulder
, causing her to nod. When she backed away from him, she turned to Ben and the smile came back to her face. Not a word was spoken as she walked the horse out of the house. Mom finally relaxed enough to take the boots back as Rob slipped his phone back into the pockets of his new dark blue jeans. Will bent down and started picking up the mess that Hurricane Ben left behind, with Marc’s help.

Me. I just stood there unsure of what happened there. I was the one who Emmer came to when she needed comforting. I was. Always. Well, until Ben came in and stole her away from me. And when she went to my dad, that was something not one of us understood, nor did we question. When she needed him, she needed him for some reason. This was that reason.

“Are you crying?” The words came from my mom’s mouth, breaking the silence. All eyes shot up, looking at my dad wearing his best crisp, white dress shirt tucked into his best black jeans, his usual best dress clothes. No doubt his black cowboy hat would come out of the closet and on top of his head when he walked out for Emmer’s graduation.

Pressing his lips tight, his chin quivered a little as he tipped his head. Never in my life had I seen that man, my father, be the one to turn kitten over a girl. And he just stood there. Not a word. Nothing. The tears rolling down his cheeks. Silent. Finally, what seemed like hours later, he gave his nod, straightened his broad shoulders, and pulled everything back in
as if nothing happened.

“Woman, do not question me.” Those stern words poured over us
, bringing Marc and Will to their feet.

“Jackson, you’re crying.” She poked with that little twitch at the corner of her plump lips.
At my graduation, Mom cried and Dad sat proud in the chair next to her. At Marc’s graduation, same thing. Rob’s graduation, Mom cried and Dad was quiet, but that was because Rob’s friends were also Emmer’s friends and he gave them each a glaring warning to stay away from his little girl. And I am sure it would be the same at Will’s graduation next spring. But this….Emmerson Cogwell’s graduation brought something out of the man I never imagined was possible. Who knew the bear would turn into a cub at the drop of a little girl?

Well, I knew. I knew what that man was capable of because I seen it with my own eyes. I knew how far he would go because of Emmer. I was there to witness it. I was there to stop him before he brought death onto another man. Still, we never spoke about that night. Not one word, but I knew he
thought about it. I knew wherever he went, he was searching for the one man he would like to bring to an early grave. But that man, Emmerson’s father, was nowhere to be found. You don’t come back after Jackson Huck makes that kind of promise. Jackson Huck was a man that fulfilled his promises.

“Oh my God, you are crying.” Mom clutched the boots to her chest as she made her way through the mess to him. “No shame. We all watched the woman she became….”

“Connie….Enough.” His eyes tightened as he scanned over each of us, stopping at me with the heat in those dark eyes. “You make sure that horse stays here.”

“I have a lock for the….” My heart skipped a beat. I knew how Ben was and Ben was an animal that was hard to lock up. If Emmer went to the school, that damn horse would follow. I should know. I had to pick him up a lot from there.

“You’re staying back and keeping him here.” Puffing out his chest, he gave one last look at Marc and motioned to the door. “Get her back in here to go.”

My heart sank hard. How could I not go to Emmer’s graduation? This was Emmer. Missing this day would devastate her. Hell, it would devastate me. I wanted to see her walk across that stage. I wanted to see her take this step in life. Not because she was done with school where I can step up and finally have my chance with the one woman who held my heart, but to watch the freedom fill into her even more, her getting the step out into the world. To see her graduate was not just a special day to her, but to me
, too. It was what I had been waiting for this past year. In the fall, she would have to go to college, but we would make it work. We would and could.

A year at college
in Billings, staying in the dorms, was something my parents started with Marc, not me. Marc was the one who brought this whole college thing about. He wanted to go and the parents wanted him to see there was a life outside of the ranch. Marc was just the one who decided the world was where he wanted to be. Rob spent his year at college and came home right after to take the rest of his classes online. I could see my parents’ whole issue with the college and making sure we knew we weren’t tied down to the ranch, but forcing Emmer to go, that was hard. He didn’t want her to go. She definitely didn’t want to go. And I really didn’t want her to go. But a year was something we could get through. Easy enough.

And n
o matter what, I wasn’t going to miss this day. Not today. I wanted this time with her to let her know this wasn’t ending here. I would be here, there when she needed me to be there, and we would stay together. She would be mine and I would always be hers. Emmerson’s heart was mine and would always be mine. I missed being her first date, but that was all I was going to miss of her firsts. Graduation included, even if I had to chain Ben to the corral. I wasn’t missing this.

With twenty minutes to spare, the kitchen was cleaned and back in order, Emmer reeked of Ben, and my dad was still having water issues with his eyes. It was time. Taking Emmer out to the porch, my stomach sank hard. My dad told me I was to stay back to keep Ben on the ranch, but how could I tell her? She was upset earlier when I gave her the boots and I knew she was upset about today. Now, I would have to let her know I wasn’t going to be there. But when those tear filled aqua eyes shifted up to me, whatever part of me she didn’t have, she owned now. Everything inside of me was hers, melting, swirling, and completely lost into that one girl I brought home after finding her bloody and damn near frozen to death.

“Are you ready?” She wasn’t
, though. Emmer was the ranch. This was where she wanted to be, no matter what. Making her go was hard. Very hard, seeing as, even though she has been with us for a while, this was something that was hard for her to do. Having this day be about her was something that she absolutely hated. But she had to go and I had to make sure she followed through.

“You’re not going to be there, are you?” The tear trickled down her cheek
, kicking me square in the stomach; a drop kick unannounced taking my heart from my chest. She already knew. “Paul?”

What could I say to her? I might sneak over to watch, but for the most part, I had to keep her crazy horse here for her sake. “I will be there a little later.”

“I’m scared.” As she drew that bottom lip through her teeth, I almost choked. If that wasn’t the sexiest sight I ever saw. The heat pooled through my body even more, enough to melt the chocolate in my eyes.

“About what?” Cupping her cheek, I swallowed hard hoping I would be able to contain myself until tonight. I had to wait until tonight to kiss her. Tonight, it would come no matter what. I wasn’t her first date, but I w
ould be damned if I wasn’t her first kiss.

“This. Everything. I’m graduating high school and this is going to change everything.” In Emmer’s world, this every
thing that was something so small to others was a huge time for her life. If I didn’t know about her past, I would have just shoved it off, but this was my girl, my Emmerson. I could see she was scared, but she was a part of our family. That would never change and someday, I will make her a Huck through marriage. “I will have to go to that damn college and-”

“Don’t you
even worry about that. We have the summer to work on my Dad about that. We will show him that your place is right here….with me.” Taking the chance, I leaned in closer. As I did, I caught the horsey scent of my Emmer as it began intoxicating me completely. I just wanted to kiss her, but I knew if I took that chance, I would never stop. As I brushed my lips against her cheek, she let out a breath to take it in. Oh, yes. She lingered there, her eyes closed, capturing it all in her heart. “Today is yours, Emmer….but tonight is ours.”