sultry September heat staring at each other.
She brushed back her hair and a telltale tear appeared on her cheek. “What is she? A model or something?”
“I don’t know.”
Dark eyes glistening with tears glared at him. “Oh, you know. You just won’t share with me anymore. And that’s okay. I understand.” She gulped a breath as if she’d run a mile and Quincy got a whiff of liquor.
“Have you been drinking?”
“Yeah. It took a couple of glasses of wine to get enough courage to come over here. Stupid, huh?”
The hurt on her face and in her voice cramped his gut, and all he wanted to do was hold her and let her know someone cared about her, but he couldn’t do that. That line between family loyalty and his love for Jenny was getting thinner and thinner.
She raked her hands through her hair. “Oh, crap, I don’t think I combed my hair.”
“You look beautiful” slipped out before he thought about it.
There was an awkward pause for a second. Then she said, “Since you’re usually nice to everyone, I won’t take that personally.”
There was nothing he could add to that. He really shouldn’t have said it in the first place.
“Now I’m going home to finish off that bottle of wine. Tomorrow is the start of the rest of my life. A life without Paxton and without the Rebel family. You don’t have to worry about me coming over here and causing trouble because this will be my last visit.”
“Jenny...”
“You were right. I spend too much time over here and, like I said, tomorrow I start over with a clean page and a bright smile for a new future. I’ll return White Dove first thing in the morning.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I can’t keep the horse.”
“Why? I gave her to you! And she’s pregnant.”
“I’m cutting all ties, Quincy.” A feather of a hiccup left her throat. “And that means I can’t accept the gift. I’ll just leave her in the pen at the barn.”
She loved the horse, and he knew this was hurting her and he didn’t know how to make it better. Even though her mind was set, he couldn’t accept it.
“The horse will always be yours.”
“Goodbye, Quincy. I’ll miss our talks.”
Me, too. More than you’ll ever know. More than I can ever tell you.
He wanted to tell her there was no need for her to stay away. Lisa and Paxton wouldn’t always be here. That was only asking for more trouble, though. There had to be a clean break, and his feelings didn’t matter. He would get over it and move on, just like she would.
As she walked into the darkness to her truck, Quincy, for the first time in his life, felt his heart break. When his dad had died, his heart had been shattered. This was a different kind of pain, something he could change, but he was bound by family loyalty and that was what was tearing him up. He was a Rebel, though, and he would survive.
Without Jenny Rose in his life.
Paxton met Quincy at the front door. “Did you talk to Jenny?”
“What do you care?” Quincy walked toward the kitchen, but Paxton followed. Falcon and their mother were in the kitchen.
“What did she say?” Paxton kept on.
Quincy got a beer out of the refrigerator and twisted off the top with more force than necessary. “You have a phone, don’t you, Paxton? Why don’t you try using it to call her, the way you should have days ago.”
“Come on, man, get off my back.”
Kate Rebel turned from the sink. “Paxton, your father and I raised you better than this. Not calling Jenny was the coward’s way out, and I didn’t raise cowards. Tomorrow you will go over to the Walker place and you’ll apologize with your hat in your hand. Jenny has been around this ranch since you were kids and I’m really upset at the way you’ve treated her.”
“Mom, I couldn’t call her. She’d cry and I couldn’t handle that. Besides, I told her when we broke up we weren’t getting back together. I wasn’t ever going to change and she had to accept it. That was it for me. Jenny and I were over and I didn’t feel I had to call and explain when I fell in love with someone else.”
Their mother wiped her hands on a dish towel. “That may be so, but you still owe her an apology.”
“I’m not apologizing!” Paxton shouted. “You treat me as if I’m in grade school. I’m a grown man and Jenny and I had a relationship and we broke it off. Do you want me to call every girl I’ve ever dated to let them know I’m engaged?”
Falcon was sitting at the kitchen table and he rose to his feet. Quincy was on alert because he knew Paxton wasn’t going to get away with talking to their mother like that. They respected their mother. Always.
“I expect you to be a man and care about other people and their feelings, especially Jenny’s, since you’ve dated her since you were in high school. I know it’s been on and off, but that was because of you.” Kate shook her head. “I’m not going to talk about this anymore. You will apologize. That is my bottom line.”
“I’m not apologizing,” Paxton said again with anger in his voice. “And another thing, why can’t I sleep in the house with Lisa? Your ideas are old-fashioned and outdated. You have to start living in the twenty-first century.”
Their mother’s lips tightened into a thin line. “This is my house, and you will live by my rules. If you want to sleep with Lisa, you can sleep with her in the bunkhouse, but not under my nose, in my home. That was a rule your father and I made years ago, hoping you boys would grow up with morals and integrity. If you don’t respect that, you’re free to leave.”
“Maybe I should. You care more about Jenny than you do about your own son.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve had enough of your attitude.” Falcon stepped closer to Paxton. “Apologize to Mom this instant or I’m going to lay a whole lot of hurt on you. We all worked our butts off today to give you a party and this is how you thank us, by disrespecting our mother? You know better than that.”
“Shut up, Falcon. You’re not my father.”
That was when Falcon’s fist connected with Paxton’s jaw. Paxton staggered backward, landed against the wall and slid to the floor. He was immediately on his feet, ready to take on his older brother, who was now head of the family.
“Falcon!” their mother cried.
Quincy got between his brothers.
