Wild Fire (The Fairy Tale Match Series) (19 page)

“I don’t like Dan, I won’t ever like
him, but I would never just turn my back on you. I might have blown up at
first, tried to talk you out of your stupidity, but if I couldn’t have stopped
you, I would still have been there for you. I don’t like it that you’re seeing
him. I don’t trust him at all. But you know you can count on me if you need
me.”

Kerry hugged him tightly for a moment
before stepping back again. “I’m sorry Jake. I should have talked to you. It
was wrong of me. Please let me make things up to you. I’ll help you with
Laura.”

“I don’t know there is anything I can
do.” He sighed, running his hands through his hair. “She is so mad at me right
now.”

“Tell me what happened,” Kerry asked.
They walked back to the house as Jake filled her in.

“You can fix this, I’m sure. She
loves you, I know she does. She needs you to show her that she means something
to you. That you’re not going to hold what happened with Victoria against her
all the time. You made her feel you don’t trust her, that she’s not important
to you. Jake, you have to keep at it until she gives you a chance to talk
things through. Take her somewhere you can really talk, just the two of you.”

“What if she won’t come?” he almost
whispered, dread filling him.

“You’ve been brought up by Bill all
this time and you haven’t worked out how to not take no for an answer? Wow,
will he be hurt!” She laughed heartily.

Jake couldn’t help but laugh too.
“Okay, I’ll try it. Thanks Kerry.” He moved to walk away.

“Jake?” she called. He turned back.
“Are we okay?”

“We’re okay. But don’t expect me to
welcome Dan with open arms any time soon.”

Kerry guessed that was as good as she
could expect right now. At least he hadn’t cut her off.

*****

Laura was relieved when the end of
lunchtime came. She gathered her things and stepped out into the warm afternoon
sunshine. She’d barely spoken a word to anyone and was grateful that both
Martha and Alfie had respected her need for quiet. She wished they had
refrained from the worried glances however. She’d constantly caught them from
the corner of her vision, which she’d found somewhat wearing.

She walked along the street, lost in
thought. She should have asked Martha about places she could stay, but somehow
she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She hadn’t wanted the questions that would
go with it. Silence had seemed her best option today. She’d have to stick it
out at the ranch a bit longer and hope Jake would respect her space.

Laura drove back to the ranch, her
mind filled with cluttered thoughts and no real answers. She wished she had a
switch she could flip to the off position to still all her fears and doubts.
Parking up, she got out and headed for the front door. Jake stood beside it,
leaning against the porch, his arms folded. He stared at her, taking in her
dishevelled appearance. Walking slowly towards her, he stopped so close she
could smell his clean skin, making her heart leap in her chest.

“What do you want Jake?” she asked
him, too tired to care anymore.

“I want you to come with me, please.
Somewhere we can be alone and talk. Just hear me out. Then if you still feel
the same, I won’t bother you again.”

Laura stood staring at him for
several moments, trying to make up her mind what the best thing to do was. On
one hand she didn’t really feel like getting into any arguments with him again,
but then again she didn’t want to just cut him out without hearing what he had
to say. Her foolish heart still very much wanted there to be a chance for them.

“Alright. I’ll come with you and hear
you out,” she said simply. He looked relieved.

“Thank you.” He stepped forward to
take her arm, but Laura moved out of his reach, she wasn’t quite ready to let
him near her again. He looked at her a moment, then sighed and raised his arm
to indicate his truck. She followed him and allowed him to open the door for
her. He got in the driver’s side then drove them out onto the road.

They made the journey in silence.
Laura had no idea where Jake was taking her. She barely saw the beautiful
scenery out of her window. Her mind wondered over the previous evening, playing
out the events and the words spoken. His harsh treatment of her still caused
her heart to twist in pain. She wondered what he wanted to say and if she
really wanted to hear it. Still, she knew she couldn’t have just walked away
without hearing him out. She’d have always been left wondering if she’d made
the right choice. This way she could make an informed decision with no regrets.
More than anything, she didn’t want to end up like her mother, having lost the
love of her life and never able to get over it.

Jake pulled the truck to the side of
the road and parked. They got out and she followed him along a narrow path
through a thick cluster of trees. The air was sweet and clean. Laura took deep
breaths, trying to clear her stuffy head. They came out into a clearing where a
small waterfall cascaded down a sheer rock face into a pool of water. The sound
soothed Laura’s frazzled nerves.

“This is so beautiful,” she breathed,
the natural beauty of the place filling her soul with a peaceful contentment
that she badly needed.

“I’m glad you like it. It was mine
and Kerry’s favourite place when we were growing up. Dad used to take us out
here with mum when we were small and we’d have picnics, play games and
generally spend time as a family. They are treasured memories.” He gazed round
at the place, seeming lost in his childhood. Then he turned and smiled at her,
holding out his hand to her.

“They sound like wonderful memories”
She walked around him, still not willing to take his hand just yet. He let his
arm drop and followed her. They settled themselves on a grassy patch under a
large tree near the water’s edge. Laura gazed out at the tumbling water,
feeling the sound soothing and relaxing her, letting it drain out the strain of
the past day.

“You are lucky to have such fond
memories of your father,” she said at last. “I haven’t had my father in my life
since I was a baby. I can’t remember him at all. My mother never liked to talk
about him either. She found it too painful.”

“You must have been curious about
him,” Jake commented, grateful she seemed willing to open up about her past.

“I was,” she admitted. “I talked to
my grandmother once, before she passed away. She told me that he was a warm,
charismatic man who knew how to charm anyone into anything he wanted. My mother
met him while she was working for a short while here in the States. He and my
mother had seemed so very much in love. When she got pregnant with me, my
grandmother had wanted them to marry. My father somehow managed to keep
delaying it.” She looked at him, hurt deep in her eyes. “It turned out that he
had already got a family. A wife and two other kids. He didn’t want her and he
didn’t want me.” She broke off. Jake felt his heart breaking for her.

“I’m so sorry Laura. How could any
father not want to know his own child?” It was beyond his comprehension. If he
was blessed enough to become a father, he wanted to be there every day of their
lives. To allow a child of his to grow up not knowing him was too painful to
comprehend.

She shrugged. “My mother never got
over his rejection. I am not sure I did either.” She took a deep breath.
“You’re not supposed to miss what you’ve never had. That’s what they say. But
they are wrong. I did miss knowing him. It felt like something was missing. I
often wondered if parts of my character were inherited from him. I tried to
write, but all my letters came back unopened. He couldn’t have made it more
obvious that he didn’t want to know. So there you have it. My sorry sad tale.
I’m not sure why I shared it with you. It really has nothing to do with this
does it?”

“I think it does,” Jake said quietly.
“I let you down. Your father let you down. And on both occasions you’d done
nothing to deserve it and was given no chance to change it. He didn’t listen to
your words in your letter and I didn’t listen to your words last night. You
have every right to be angry.”

Laura took in a shuddering breath,
closing her eyes momentarily. The pain welled up, but she didn’t feel strong
enough to deal with it yet. “What about you?” she asked instead. “It must have
been hard for you when you lost your father.”

“It was hard,” Jake replied, sensing
she needed the spotlight off her. “My mother was inconsolable when it happened.
I don’t know what we’d have done without Bill at the time. He took over the
running of the ranch and helped keep both me and Kerry in line. We were both
acting out. I don’t think my poor mother knew what to do with us. Bill had no
such problem. He’s been like a second father to us.” He looked at Laura, trying
to gage if she understood what he was trying to say.

“So you trust Bill’s opinion beyond
measure. I’m guessing that’s your way of explaining why you listened to him and
not to me last night?” she asked, raising her brow in question.

“That about sums it up. I should have
listened to what you were saying, but my anger got in the way. Bill has known
me my whole life. As I said, he’s been like a second father. I couldn’t so
easily push him away, though I did try.” He gave her a sheepish grin. “Bill,
however, knows how to get round my idiotic behaviour and make me listen.”

Laura nodded. She didn’t want to
understand that, but she did. It went a small way to soothing her upset. “And
the accusations you made against me? Are you saying you believe me now that I
wasn’t seeing Dan?”

He sighed, looking out over the pool.
“I know about Kerry and her feelings for Dan,” he said in a low voice, so that
she had to strain to hear him over the noise of the water. Her heart thundered
in her chest. What did this mean?

“How did you find out?” she asked
hesitantly.

“Bill more or less spelled it out to
me,” he admitted.

“Oh! How do you feel about it?” she
asked softly, wondering if Kerry was in for a really hard time.

“I’m not happy about it. I wish you
had told me or she had.”

Laura threw up her hand to stop him.
“It was not my place to tell you Jake,” she pointed out, worried he was going
to start on her again.

He grabbed her hand in his, holding
on tight when she would have pulled it free.  “I know, I didn’t mean to imply
that you’d done anything wrong. I can understand that you wanted to help Kerry.
I just don’t think her getting involved with Dan is a smart thing. He’s going
to end up letting her down. You just see if he doesn’t!”

“I don’t think he will. I’ve seen him
when he looks at her. He loves her.”

“He was meant to care about me, but
it didn’t stop him did it?” She could see the anger beginning to rise in his
eyes.

“Please Jake, don’t. If you start
flying off the handle again, you can just take me back.” She forcefully pulled
her hand from his, nearly smacking it against the tree when he didn’t resist
her as she’d expected.

“I’m sorry,” Jake quickly assured
her.

“Is this how it’s always going to
be?” Laura asked sadly. “Are you always going to drag up the past; be stuck
living with its shadows? Will you ever trust me or will you always be looking
at me to let you down? I can’t live that way Jake. If you can’t give me your
trust, a commitment, something of yourself other than your anger, I can’t see
any point in pursuing a relationship. I would rather know and stop trying to
make this work if it won’t.”

“I do trust you Laura.” Jake grabbed
her hand back and clasped it in both of his. “I thought I would never be able
to give my heart to another woman after what happened. I thought I could be
content living as I have the past two years. Then you came along and shook my
whole world up. You got under my defences and it scared the hell out of me. I
have been terrified that if I let you close and then lost you, I wouldn’t
survive it. Stupidly, I’ve been trying to hold you at arms-length to protect
myself, but it’s already too late.”

Laura’s heart thundered in her chest
at his words. “What do you mean?” she asked him, fearful of his reply.

“I mean that despite all my efforts,
I love you Laura. I don’t want to lose you and if you’ll give me another
chance, I would dearly love to make things up to you.” Laura felt tears
slipping down her cheeks as she gazed into his warm blue eyes. He gripped her
hands tightly. “Please say you’ll give me another chance?”

She wept openly, allowing his words
to flow into her wounded heart and like a ray of sunshine, it melted away the
pain in the warmth of its glow.

“Yes, Jake. I will give you another
chance,” she sobbed out through her tight throat. “I love you too.”

He gave a shout of happiness as he
pulled her into his arms, kissing her deeply. His hands plunged into her hair,
his fingers trailing through its silky mass as her bun fell out, letting her
hair flow down her back. Her arms snaked round his neck and she held him
closely to her, savouring the feel of his lips on hers. He pulled back, gazing
into her eyes.

“I don’t deserve you!” he whispered.
They stared at each other, time seeming to stand still. Their hearts beat in
perfect union with each other. Each took in the other’s face, committing every
detail of this moment to memory. Then he lowered his head again, kissing her
with tender care. Her eyes fluttered shut, her heart beat thundered in her
ears. His scent filled her senses, desire igniting in her body at his nearness.
Gently she pulled back.