Unbroken Promises (30 page)

Annette came to the house also, but she didn’t stay long. She stayed until they cut the wedding cake and drank each other’s punch. She then kissed Beth on the cheek.

“I’m so happy all of your dreams came true.”

“Thank you, Annette. Is there anyone in your life yet?”

“No, not yet, but keep me in mind if you see another good lookin’ hunk like Jesse running around.”

“I sure will,” Beth said with a laugh.

Beth couldn’t help but hope Annette and Cody would have hit it off. Cody had turned out to be such a good-looking man, but he didn’t seem to have any interest in girls. Beth guessed it was because he spent so much time with his studies. He wanted to be a veterinarian like Jesse.

Cody had always hoped that one day he and Jesse would become partners. Beth didn’t believe Jesse had any desire to open his own practice. He seemed content to work here on the ranch.

Whatever made him happy was what she wanted.

Beth decided to take some time off from college to devote to her marriage. She had every intention of going back, but, right now, it was more important to her to spend all her time with Jesse. She wouldn’t be able to concentrate on what was going on at college anyway.

It was getting late and people were beginning to leave. Beth had gone to her old room and changed out of her wedding dress. Jesse’s parents were the first to go to their bedroom. Susan left next. She had always been one of the first one’s to go to bed; but now, since her pregnancy, she went to bed even earlier. The only ones left awake were Beth, Jordon, Cody, and Jesse. The men were all having a drink while Beth decided to clean up the last few dishes so Susan wouldn’t have to do them in the morning.

Beth was drying the last glass. “What’s daddy and Cody doing, Jesse?” Jesse spoke close to her ear, “Well, Ms. Eyes-In-The-Back Of-Your-Head, Jordon and Cody are still sitting in the living room drinking and celebrating our wedding.”

“They are, are they? I can’t believe daddy is drinking with Cody. That seems so odd to me.

And, for your information, I do not,” Beth said as the turned to face him.

“Now you’ve lost me. Do not what?”

“I do not have eyes in the back of my head.”

“Is that right? Then, how did you know it was me behind you and not Cody or Jordon?” Jesse said as he pulled Beth into his arms and kissed her.

Beth backed away from him slightly so she could look up at him. She stopped smiling and stared at him. She looked straight into his eyes when she spoke.

“Jesse…I would never mistake you for another man,” She said softy but firmly.

Jesse didn’t blink, didn’t move, and didn’t breathe. “Beth, don’t play with me. Tell me what you are trying to say.”

“I am saying that I know your scent better than I know my own. I have slept in your Tshirts for 12 years. I know how you smell when you are sweaty and dirty. I know how you smell of leather and horses when you’ve been riding all day. I know how you smell when you’ve been out carousing, and I know how you smell when you’re fresh and clean as you are now.” Beth paused only for a second before continuing. “Jesse, I would never mistake you for another man, not even if it was pitch black, not even if I was sleepy, and not even if I were drunk or drugged would I mistake you for someone else.”

“Beth, say it,” Jesse pleaded. His eyes never left her face as he placed his fingers on her shoulders, unintentionally gripping and relaxing.

“Jesse, I know it was you who came into the tent and took my virginity. I knew it as soon as you were close enough for me to breathe in your scent.” Beth took his hand and placed it on her stomach. “I know it is your baby I carry in my womb.” When Beth finished talking, she reached in her pocket and pulled out a tissue. She unfolded it and showed it to Jesse. Then, for the first time since she started talking, she smiled. “And I know these are your chest hairs I pulled out that night when you so roughly took me.”

“Oh, God, Beth, You have put me through a living hell. Why did you do that to me? Why did you let me believe you thought it was Clay who was making love to you?” Jesse said as he pulled Beth back into his embrace.

“Honestly…because I thought you deserved it, Jesse. I thought you should know what it felt like to know the person you loved was making love to someone else. I was still angry at you and I wanted to hurt you like you hurt me.”

“Well, you succeeded in doing that. And you are absolutely right; I did deserve it although I must say it almost killed me in more ways than one. I was dying inside knowing you allowed someone else to make love to you. It made me physically and emotionally sick to know you let someone else take your virginity that I had waited a lifetime to take.”

“Beth, I’ve loved you for so long. I was only biding my time until you matured. I have never loved another woman. The women I have been with have only been for a physical release. Beth, you have to remember, you were only a child. I was a grown man with a grown man’s needs.

I’m now 27 years old, but I waited for you. I never once allowed myself to get emotionally involved with another woman. The other women meant nothing to me. All my life I chose women that I would have no emotional connection with. The only decent one I ever dated was Donna, and she is only a good friend,” Jesse held her more tightly.

“Oh, Beth, to love you and to have waited for you to grow from a child to a woman just to lose you to someone else was almost more than I could take.”

“Jesse, I was furious with you and, yes, I wanted to hurt you somehow; but you should have known me well enough to know it was anger talking that night. No matter how mad I was at you I would never degrade myself by sleeping with someone just to spite you.”

“I don’t know…you were pretty convincing that night. You definitely had me worried. I was worried enough that I had you tailed day and night. I sat there all day at the beach and watched Clay hold and comfort you. I wanted to rip his head off.” Jesse looked away for a few seconds then back into Beth’s eyes.

“Beth, after I ask this question that’s bothering me, I don’t ever want his name mentioned in front of me again. The night of your birthday when you told me you thought you were pregnant, you said ‘I guess, I need to tell the baby’s father,’ was I the dad you were talking about? Please tell me you would never consider allowing Clay to think this baby was his?”

“Absolutely not! I was talking about you the whole time when I said ‘I guess I need tell the baby’s father’ to see if he would want to have something to do with the baby. I was trying to get you to fess-up. I believe I also said, ‘He had mentioned once that he wanted to marry me but I don’t know if he still does.’ Clay has never mentioned marriage to me,” Beth said then continued, wanting to get it all out.

“Now, I have a puzzling question of my own. How did Clay end up with blood on him? He had no idea how it got there, but he believes he had sex with me.”

“I put it there because I thought he was the man you wanted and thought you were making love to. I regret it now. It enrages me to know he believes he had you,” Jesse exhaled slowly. “I have done some unwise things in my life but that was the second stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

The first idiotic thing was having sex with someone after leaving you, especially with it being Becky. I did not know who she was, but somehow I do believe she knew who I was.”

“Jesse, how did it happen so fast? You couldn’t have been gone five minutes before I walked outside to throw my trash away. Can you imagine how I felt? I had just offered you my whole being and you turned me down then went outside and screwed my old high school friend.”

“Beth, when I walked outside I was still worked up from seeing you nude and holding you.

All I wanted to do when I left you was to go home and take a cold shower. Before I even made it to my truck, this girl walked up to me and asked if I would help her. She said her car wouldn’t start and she asked if I could jump it off for her. As soon as she climbed in my truck, she started coming on to me.

“Beth, honey, the reason I didn’t make love to you that night was not because I didn’t want to. I wanted to make love to you so bad I was throbbing. I have never wanted to make love with any woman as bad as I wanted to make love to you. The reason I didn’t make love to you then was because I had wanted it to be perfect between us. When you and I made love for the first time, I wanted it to be on our wedding night. I wanted to be your husband. I didn’t want our relationship to be cheap. I wanted it to be pure.”

Beth didn’t interrupt. She wanted to hear all he had to say so she just listened while he spoke.

“Beth, I knew that night in your apartment the relationship between the two of us had changed. It made a forward move with no return. The uncle-niece relation we had had disappeared and the beginning of our adult relationship had been set in motion. If we had progressed further with more than a peck for a kiss or even gone out on our first real date as a couple, I would not have been with Becky. When I gave into Becky’s advances, I’d promised myself she was going to be my last toss before I committed myself only to you.”

“Not, ‘ Was going to be my last toss,’ she was your last toss, Bucko,” Beth said as she poked him in the ribs. “I forgive you, Jesse; and you were right, Becky did know who you were. I had shown you to all of my friends a couple of times when we were out riding around. Becky always wanted to meet you but we were drinking so I could not make the introduction. She went on and on about how good-looking she thought you were. She probably saw you go into my apartment and waited for you to come out. You were right about them all along. They were not my friends.”

“Beth, I am so sorry,” Jesse said as he held her close.

“I am, too, Jesse. I am glad we got this all out in the open though, but I don’t want to talk about it again. It’s in the past and I want to leave it in the past. We have our whole future ahead of us and that’s what I want to focus on. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, Elizabeth Bately. Now let’s go to bed. The first time was a little rough and very fast. I want tonight to be long and slow. I want to show and teach you many things before the sun comes up.”

“Well, at least I will get some benefit from all the practice you’ve had.”

“Ah ah aah, you just said you wanted to leave the past in the past.”

“I’m sorry. You’re right.”

Jesse scooped Beth up and carried her through the door of their apartment. He let her slowly slide down his body when he set her down. Beth turned around because she caught the sight of something out of the corner of her eye. She gasped; the whole room was filled with flowers of every kind. The fragrance flowing from them caused Beth to close her eyes and inhale deeply, slowly, savoring the flowers’ blended aroma. Soft music played in the background. On the table beside the bed was a tray with cheese and fruit. Several candles were lit around the room; their flickering lights enhanced the room with a soft magical glow. Beth also noticed a bottle of champagne chilling in ice on the floor beside the bed.

“Oh Jess, it’s beautiful. Will you fix us a glass while I go change?” Beth said as tears gathered in her eyes.

“Change? You mean you have something else to wear in the bedroom beside my Tshirts?”

“Don’t get your hopes up. Only for tonight, then I will go back to stealing your shirts again.

Old habits are hard to break, you know.”

As Beth left for the bathroom, Jesse opened the bottle of champagne. After he cleaned up the frothy spew, he took off his shoes, socks, and shirt. The rest, he left for Beth to do. He propped his back against the soft feather pillows and stretched out his long legs. And waited.

Beth hid the teddy she and Susan, of all people, had picked out. When Susan first showed it to her, Beth was shocked at the style Susan found to be so perfect for the occasion. Beth thought that her sister was not as naïve as she had always thought her to be because she then led her over to all the lotions and oils and asked Beth which one she liked.

Susan picked up one and told her to smell it; Susan smiled as if she were remembering something explicit as told Beth it was Jordon’s favorite. Beth then understood the embarrassing feeling that Jesse felt everytime Jordon caught them kissing. Beth pick up a different bottle that she liked. She sure didn’t want to wear the same lotion, perfume, or oil that turned her daddy on.

She didn’t care if Jordon and Jesse did have a lot of the same taste, however, she did love the little teddy and matching heels.

The teddy was a soft black silk. Although it was skimpy, it wasn’t cheap looking. The way it was made was beautiful. It was so high cut that there was only a half-inch separating it from the low dip of the sides. The front was very low also. Most of her breasts were showing. Her legs seemed extra long when she stepped into the heels. She took her hair down. It still had a lot of curl from being twisted up. It was now long enough that it flowed almost to her waist. It looked as black as the garment she was wearing. She knew Jesse didn’t like her to wear a lot of make-up, but she couldn’t resist putting a little color on her lips.

Beth took one more look at herself in the mirror and stepped out. When she opened the door, Jesse was propped up against the headboard of the bed drinking the champagne. When he saw her, he sucked in a quick audible breath and immediately placed the glass on the table. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds; he just stared. His unblinking eyes started at her heels and slowly, methodically, made their way up. “Mmm-mmm-mmhh, O-oh baby, You. Are.

Gorgeous. Come here.”

Beth slightly pulled her shoulders back, which caused her full enticing breasts to thrust forward, and her already hard nipples to push tight against the soft black fabric; and, with an undulating roll of her hips, she made her way slowly to the bed.

At first sight of Jesse her breath caught, and her heart raced so quickly she could actually feel the rapid beating within her chest. She mentally tried to steady her nerves but with Jesse looking so-o sexy lying there with his bare chest and bare feet it was near impossible. But she mastered her emotions enough to where she was able to walk over to him in way she hoped appeared sensual. The way Jesse’s heavy hooded eyes meticulously scanned her body from her feet to her head, gave her the impression and encouragement that he liked what he was seeing. She just wanted to climb on top of him and eat him up. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on him.