Page 32 of Forbidden Cowboy
I shake my head. I know I’ll listen to anything he says. “I need a minute to get my head on straight.”
Levi holds open the door. His thick arms lean above the door frame. “Will I see you tonight?”
“In our secret rendezvous spot?” Sarcasm drips off my words.
“I’ll wait all night.” He shuts the door. His fingers wrap over the metal of the open window. “Come away with me.”
“What does it accomplish? We’ll only come back to what we’ve left behind.”
I take the fast way home, and my mama waves when I pull in. “You’re home early. Where are your sisters?”
All my pent-up anger rages out. “You know what, Mama? This feud is stupid. I’m done with it. It will destroy whatever chance I have with Levi, or it will put a wedge between me and my family. I don’t win. I won’t win!”
“I agree.”
“With which part? The part where you tell me to obey Papa? That Levi and I won’t ever be together. That I’m risking losing my family for some guy?”
“The feud is stupid.”
I think I’ve heard her wrong. “That’s the part you agree with?”
“Yes.” She takes my hand and guides me to a couple of unoccupied chairs under a moss-ridden oak tree. “Did you know Mrs. Wilde and I were friends before I started dating your father?”
I stare at her, stunned. “I had no idea.”
“It’s true. And we shared a mutual friend, Naomi.”
“Aunt Naomi?”
My mama nods, and I see sadness wash over her face. I never met my papa’s sister. She died long before I was born. There’d been an accident during a hike on the ridge. No one talks about it, and the details have always been minimal.
“After her death, your father and I grew close. Inseparable. We missed her so much. We’d spend hours sharing stories abouther. She was a free spirit, much like you. She didn’t listen to the rules, just like Josie, and she loved the great outdoors like Natalie. I see so much of her in all my girls” She tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “While I was seeing your father, Lillian started dating Mr. Wilde. Our new found loves left no room for our friendship.”
“Mama, I’m sorry.”
“We all have decisions to make. I chose your father over my best friend, and she chose her husband over me. And at the time, we were both fine with our decisions.”
I wring my hands together. “Do you regret your decision to marry papa?”
“Never. I love your stubborn ass of a father. But I do regret not fighting harder. Not setting down rules or boundaries before I said yes to his hand in marriage. Lillian was my friend, and I’d already lost Naomi.”
“Levi has been my best friend for as long as I can remember.”
“I know, and you should fight to keep him like I should’ve fought for Lillian. I should’ve made sure there was room for her. Then maybe you and Levi wouldn’t have been forced to sneak around.”
“He invited me out for the weekend. Just me and him.”
“I hope you said yes.”
“Jade hates him. Papa hates him.”
“Papa doesn’t know Levi. His own issues blind him.”
“He loathes Mr. Wilde. He punched him in the face at the station. Punched him. Papa. I was shocked. I’ve never seen him hurt a soul.”
“Sweetheart.” My mama grasps my hands and pulls me so close our faces almost touch. “Stop worrying about everyone else. First, go figure out if Levi is your man. Go away with him for the weekend. And the next weekend. And the next if you have too. Discover who you both are now. And if he’s the one, youfight for him. You don’t give up because Papa isn’t talking to you. That’s not how we raised you.”
She’s right. I’m not a quitter. And neither is Levi.