Once Upon a Misty Bluegrass Hill (22 page)

Patrick
closed his eyes.  "Get into the truck, we are leaving."

He opened his eyes stern and unrelenting.
 
"This is exactly why I must send yer  away.  T'is for the best to be sure."

She shook her head in denial. 
She was not sure what she was going to say but
when
she opened her mouth to speak h
e held his hand up to stop
her words
. 
"
I have
to
let you go now and find yerself.  Being here with me, nearly all grown up…well…I canno
t
let it happen like that.
  You need to learn about things you can and cannot say.
"

"If this is about the nasty-girl thing
Patrick
..."

His eyes flashed blue lightning.  "Stop this instant Jolene....don't say those words again, not to me, nor to anyone!"
 

Jolene was numb with sensations that shot through her with slow drugging ferocity
battling with the panic of leaving. 
She trembled
want
ing
more than anything for him to kiss her again.

And here she thought kissing would not be any fun at all!

It had se
n
t her soul through the stars like a blazing comet.  Actually.

"I liked your kissing me too."

"You see Jolene, that is just what I am talking about.  That is why you must go to school and learn about the world and find yerself."

"
I don
'
t see anything at all
Patrick
except that I think
you kissing me
means you will miss me too.
"

Patrick
closed his eyes and moved his hands from her as if it was the most difficult thing
he had ever done
.  He
turned
like the tin man in
the
Wizard of Oz
and picked up her bags, breaking the spell that had nearly taken them on a
voyage
that Jolene suspected would not end with them in the SUV
going to school
.
 
"
You
will understand someday Jolene,
"
he said in an equally tin voice. 
"
For now, it is time to get into that truck
and I
'
ll not hear another word.  N
ot another word
, mind you!
"

He rolled her bag out
the way he wanted her to do it…perfectly with her back straight…
and carried the other
by the handle
and stowed them in the SUV.

The urge to run away from him
nearly
overwhelmed Jolene in that instant…ideas of hiding out secretly in the barn flitted across her mind…

She would hide from him by day and come to sleep there by night.

Patrick
put his hands on his hips and looked at her
iron-handed
through the open front door. 
"
Get into the SUV
,
Jolene, this instant.
"

"
What if I don
'
t?
"

"
Where you going to go?
"

"
I don
'
t know.
"

"
It won
'
t be here.  I canno
t
stop you if you run away…but you had a promise you made to me…you don
'
t keep your promises Jolene?
"

Jolene stamped her foot. 

Au
nt Paula always lied. 

She lied
so much
. 

M
ade promises she never kept. 

Jolene might be many things, but she was no liar.

And she would never let herself be like Aunt Paula.

"
I hate you so much
Patrick
.
"

He drove her
to submission
with his
icy
blue
glare
.  She grabbed her purse from the floor and stomped out to the SUV.  After buckling herself in she
sat stiffly staring out of the window while
Patrick
locked the door.

Panic, heartbreak, disbelief, but mostly anger
battered her spinning head.
  She had never fainted in her life but felt so lightheaded she was sure she might faint. 
Nausea
caused her to roll the window down and let in the
fall
air as they drove down the long driveway. 

"
I know you don
'
t und
erstand Jolene, but I promise yer
this is for yer own good.
"

Jolene clapped her hands over her ears. 
"
I can
'
t hear you
Patrick
.
"

"
Yer don
'
t need to hear me
Little
Red
because I already said it to you enough times.
"

"
I don
'
t hear you
Patrick
. Hum, hum, hum.
"

Chapter
12

Bourbon County was formed on October 17, 1785 from sections of Fayette County, Virginia, and named after the French House of Bourbon, in gratitude for Louis XVI of France's assistance during the American Revolutionary War. Bourbon became part of the new state of Kentucky when it was created in 1792.

Bourbon whiskey derives its name from the original Bourbon County, which in 1786 covered most of what is now northeastern Kentucky but was still part of Virginia. The area later became known as Old Bourbon in reference to its historical expanse. Whiskey was an early product of the area, and whiskey barrels from the area were marked Old Bourbon when they were shipped downriver from the local port on the Ohio River.
As it was made mostly from corn (maize), it had a distinctive flavor, and the name bourbon came to be used to distinguish it from other regional whiskey styles, such as Monongahela, a product of western Pennsylvania, which may have generally been a rye whiskey. The use of the term Old in the phrase Old Bourbon, was likely misconstrued as a reference to the aging of the whiskey rather than part of the
name of the geographic area.
The port, originally known as Limestone, now Maysville, was in Bourbon County until the borders were redrawn in 1789 when it became part of the Mason County of Virginia, and it is now in Mason County, Kentucky.
Thirty-four modern Kentucky counties were once part of the original Bourbon County, including the
current county of that name.

"
Hello.  What is your name and w
here are you from?
"
  The young woman with
a British accent and
thick blonde
locks cut into a cute
fluffy
bob stepped in front of Jolene as she entered her assigned dorm room.  Her laughing golden eyes swept
over Jolene with a curious inventory. 

"
I am Jolene.
"
Jolene stepped around
the blonde
dragging her rolling bag
and ran into a second young woman, shorter with light brown shoulder length hair and blue eyes peering intently from behind fashionable glasses that reminded Jolene of
an
eye glass advertisement. 
"
Well Jolene, I am Helen
and the girl gaping
and blocking
the doorway is Natasha.
"

"
We have been here a week and wondering who the third neighbor was going to be.
"
  Natasha offered the information
coming back into the room to sit on what
presumably was her
bed
. 

Jolene turned
back to Natasha
and smiled slightly. 
"
I didn
'
t want to come here and talked
Patrick
into delaying it for another week until my classes officially start.
"

She looked around the room.  It was a comfortable room, painted in powder blue with a few mountain scene prints
gracing
the
walls. Two of the beds had personal items lingering around the shelves and lockers tucked
under the
beds and
the
end tables.

Patrick
laughed from the doorway. 
"
Y
es you did
and a fine job
so yer did
, I knew you were scheming
to stay home longer
.
"
 

Jolene spun around
,
her aching heart thudding
.

Maybe
Patrick
had changed his mind and wasn
'
t going to leave her here
after all
.
 
"
I thought you had left already.
"
 

Patrick
stepped into the room smiling at Jolene
'
s new roommates. 
"
Yes, I know.  Yer
ran off
while I was checking yer in
and didn
'
t even wait for me to roll yer bag. 
I wanted to make sure you were settled in nice and tight
before I left
.
"

Natasha and Helen stared at
Patrick
the way most women did, with gaping mouths and pink cheeks.
  It was too much to tolerate.
  Jolene felt
her heat rising
. 
Why didn
'
t he just go away now that he had officially sentenced her? 

Helen pointed to the bed in the corner
. 
"
That is your bed…sorry, we did pick the two best ones when we got here.
"

The bed in the corner was neatly made with white crisp cotton sheets under a down blanket.  No cheap boarding school was this. 
Vance
Catholic
was nestled deep in the countryside of Ohio just
three hours drive from Lexington.

Jolene rolled
her
case
to her bed that had a set of shelves and a wooden locker with four drawers at the foot and storage drawers underneath. 
"
I understand. I don
'
t need a window
'
cause
there
ain
'
t
nothing I want to
look at here.
"

Patrick
cleared his throat and came over to put her suitcase on the small end table next to her bed. 
"
This looks like a nice room
Jolene
and you have two new fine friends
.
"

Jolene
glared
at
Patrick
who smiled as if the world was right and he wasn
'
t forcing her nearly into prison…just on a
promise!  She was 19
but Storm was his,
thus, his winnings and any other profits that came from studding him or anything else would all belong
to
Patrick
.  In short, he need not
have struck a bargain with her so she would have been forced to live here or go back with Aunt Paula.
 
"
Okay, you can see where I am so now you can leave.
"

Natasha gasped.  Helen tucked her hair behind her ear
and gaped with huge blue eyes
. 
"
Well, we
'
ll be back after you say goodbye to your….your….
"

Patrick
smiled even while anger simmered in his eyes. 
"
I am her guardian
-friend
…
of sorts.
"