From This Moment (Jackson Hole)

by Alison Chaffin Higson

  I open my mouth to speak but Jake continues, “I’m a guy and it’s kind of obvious when two people have been making out.... although I could be wrong, I’ve been wrong before.”

  He looks at me; my blush is obviously showing, “No, I didn’t think so.”

  Not touching the ‘making out’ comment, “Yes, I’m attracted to your father. I’m more than attracted to him. But having this attraction between us doesn’t change the fact that I’m only a year younger than you. This makes your father very uncomfortable.” On a sigh, “I’m sorry if this upsets you, but I can’t help how I feel.”

  “I’m not even sure upset is how I feel right now. He’s been alone for a very long time, he deserves some happiness.” He turns away from me and starts to head over to the stairs, then he turns back, “Please don’t break his heart, I know what that feels like.”

  “I won’t,” I whisper.

  After Jake disappears upstairs, I take two coffees into the lounge and place them on the coffee table. Taking a seat opposite Cade, I see him watching me.

  “How long have you been awake?”

  “Long enough, I was about to come to your rescue when Jake left.”

  “How would you feel about ‘us’ if Jake, Anna and Beth accepted me?”

  “How I feel about you will never change and will probably only get stronger the longer we’re together. But my family isn’t the only problem.” He looks away, “I have twenty-one years on you, so when you’re forty I’ll be sixty one. I don’t want to leave you a widow when you’re so young.”

  Looking back at me he notices the tears running down my face. Moving over, he crouches down in front of me, at the same time I move forward. He wraps his arms around my waist. I wrap my arms around his shoulders. The embrace ends quickly as we hear Jake moving around upstairs.

  “Will you be okay?” he asks me as he moves away. I just nod my head, not really believing I will be.

  “We’ve been invited to Anna’s for dinner this evening. I hope you don’t mind?”

  I wipe my face, “No, that’s fine.” Taking a deep breath, “I love you Cade and I’d rather use what time we both have left together than apart. No one knows what the future holds or how long or short it will be. I just know I want my future to include you.” I head up to my bedroom to shower and change for dinner.

  ~~ Cade ~~

  Arriving at Anna’s house, I glance over to Rona who seems to be nervous. Jake isn’t doing much better. Helping Rona out of the car, I whisper, “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine, just a bit nervous.”

  Moving away from her, we follow Jake to the front door which has just been opened by Gabby, who doesn’t take her eyes from Rona.

  “Are you Uncle Jake’s girlfriend?” This brings both me and Jake up short.

  “No, they were kind enough to invite me to stay with them for awhile. Are you Gabby?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you Gabby. I met ‘Honey Bee’ yesterday and I love that name, I also love the cereal.”

  On a giggle she takes hold of Rona’s hand and pulls her inside the house leaving me and Jake standing at the door.

  “I guess Rona passed inspection,” Jake grins.

  Entering the house I can see Rona in the kitchen with Gabby who’s introducing her to her mother and father as well as Beth’s husband Mack. I’m not sure where Beth is though.

  “If you’re looking for Beth, she’s feeding Edith in the bedroom,” says Mack, coming over to shake hands with me while passing Nathan their two year old son to Jake.

  “Make yourselves comfortable. Dinner won’t be long, unless they don’t stop yakking in there, then it might be midnight!” says Justin, Gabby’s father, as he hands me a beer.

  Not long after, Beth appears and walks straight over to me putting Edith into my arms, my youngest grandchild. I wasn’t sure how Beth managed to have an angel for a daughter as she was more like the Devil when she was born.

  ~~ Rona ~~

  My nerves having disappeared, I find myself in the kitchen helping out Cade’s two daughters. They’re both slim built with light brown hair and it’s like being in the middle of a whirlwind, they’re so organized and dashing here and there doing a million different things at once.

  Glancing into the front room to try and catch a glimpse of Cade, I spot him on the sofa with Edith. He looks gorgeous and I really wish we were home, just the two of us, with our own sleeping baby, so I’d have the right to go and cuddle up to them.

  Seeing me looking over, Beth obviously thinks I’m looking at her daughter.

  “Come on, you haven’t met the newest addition to the family.” Beth leads me by the arm into the front room.

  Looking up Cade takes my breath away. I don’t think there’s anything sexier than seeing the guy you’re in love with holding a baby.

  Conscious that Jake is watching, I sit down next to Cade on Beth’s urging. Cade passes Edith to me.

  “She’s a gorgeous little thing.” I tell Beth, while I make silly cooing noises to Edith.

  “She is that. You stay put and relax while I go and help Anna with the food.”

  Edith is wide awake in my arms and making small gurgling noises while holding my little finger. All the time I’m conscious of Cade sitting so close. We are touching thigh to thigh; Cade’s arm is resting along the back of the chair behind me. I’m so tempted to snuggle more into his arms.

  Jake across the room keeps glancing at us while having the fight of his life with his nephews Gabe and Nathan. I think he’s supposed to be Darth Vader while Gabe and Nathan are Luke Skywalker and Han Solo!

  “Dinner’s ready folks.” After Anna’s announcement, Beth comes over to take Edith from me. My arms feel empty.

  Cade offers me a hand to help me up from the sofa. Seemingly reluctant to let me go, he strokes my hand as we part.

  At the table, Cade is on my right with Gabby on my left.

  “Did Uncle Jake take you riding on Honey Bee?” Gabby asks me with a mouth full of food.

  Holding back a laugh, “No your grandpa did. It was my first time on a horse and Honey Bee was amazing, she made me feel like her friend.” After a minute, “It was okay for me to ride her wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, she needs lots of exercise. Where did grandpa take you?”

  “We went to a river and saw some deer. This was totally cool; I’ve never seen deer out in the open before.”

  Looking up I notice everyone has gone quiet and I’m not sure why. Meeting Jake’s eyes across the table, he starts telling everyone about our trip on ‘Big Red’, which seems to break the silence. I’m still unsure why everyone had gone quiet though.

  After the conversation with Gabby, I feel like Anna and Beth are looking at me differently. They didn’t treat me differently, just kept glancing at me in an odd sort of way.

  ~~ Cade ~~

  When we arrive back home Jake excuses himself and disappears to his room.

  “Would you like a hot chocolate?” I ask.

  “That would be great, do you mind if I go and get changed first?”

  “No that’s fine. I think I’ll do the same and meet you back here.”

  Changing into sweats and a t-shirt, I go downstairs to make some hot chocolate. Rona appears not long after.

  Settling down in the lounge with our drinks, I start to wonder whether Rona will ask me about the silence at the meal.

  “Why did everyone go quiet when I was talking to Gabby? I had the feeling it was something I said, but I’m not sure what.”

  Guess I didn’t have long to wait!

  “It was the fact that I took you to the river. They all know that it’s the one place that’s sacred to me. In all the years I’ve lived here, I’ve only ever allowed them to accompany me there once. That was to point out to them, that it was the one place in the world which was mine and mine alone. So it was pretty significant to them that I took you there.”

  “I don’t know what to say to that. I didn
’t know, I never would have said something in front of your family if I’d known.”

  “Don’t worry.”

  Lifting her eyes to look at me, she looks haunted.

  Yawning, “I think I need to go to bed.” Standing, Rona starts to walk to the stairs, she turns back towards me, “Cade, I want you to know that in the short time I’ve known you, you’ve come to mean more to me than Nick ever did.”

  Turning back she carries on up the stairs.

  Chapter 5

  ~~ Rona ~~

  Its morning and being in the kitchen with Cade is wonderful. He’s making breakfast while I get the coffee started. Eggs, pancakes and syrup....yum!

  “What would you like to do today?” Cade asks, while pouring the batter for the pancakes into the pan.

  “I’m not sure, but I was considering renting a car, so that I don’t have to rely on you or Jake all the time.”

  Cade quickly glances over to me, “You don’t need to do that, driving you around and showing you where I live is certainly no hardship.” He flips a pancake, “I like spending time with you, unless you really would like a bit more independence, in which case, I’ll take you to sort out a car.”

  “If you really don’t mind, then I’ll leave it for now.” I smile, “I like spending time with you too.”

  “Now that’s settled, breakfast is ready. Let’s eat and we can talk about what to do later.” Cade carries the platter of food over to the table, “I need to reply to some emails and make a couple of calls, after that we can head out someplace, if you like?”

  “I’d like that.”

  Having eaten some of my pancakes which are delicious. I look at Cade, “You make the best pancakes, mine always end up thick and stodgy.”

  With laughter in his eyes, “It’s all in the wrist.”

  “Ha,” as intended I start to laugh, and then feeling wicked, licking my lips very slowly and in a seductive voice, “That’s what they all say.”

  Cade’s eyes darken while watching me lick my lips. Standing up, he walks over; picking me up from the chair he places me on the table and moves to stand between my thighs. Threading his fingers through my hair, he holds my head cradled in his hands. I put my arms around his waist, “Teasing has consequences,” he threatens, a breadth away from my lips.

  With a wicked grin, “I’m ready when you are.” Wiggling in his hold, I slowly move my hands down to his rear, bringing him even closer. I can feel his erection against my stomach as his lips reach for mine in one hell of a kiss. Our tongues start to dance. I squeeze his butt. Cade curses as he pulls away slightly, taking air into his lungs. “We better stop this; Jake will be here in a minute.”

  Helping me from the table, he leans towards me and places a chaste kiss on my lips.

  Going back to our breakfast, I decide I still have a bit of wickedness left in me this morning and can’t seem to stop myself, “One of these days there will be no interruptions, I hope you know what you’re going to do to me then?” I give him a saucy smile, “because I know exactly what I’m going to do to you, and it involves my mouth licking.... and sucking on....”

  Leaving the sentence hanging, I catch the shock on Cade’s face. I start laughing, changing the subject, “These eggs are good too.”

  With shaking hands, Cade manages to put his cup of coffee down without sloshing too much over the table, “Are you trying to kill me?” he asks, in a strangled voice.

  Still laughing, “At least you would die happy!”

  Picking his coffee back up, laughing himself now, “Minx!”

  Our laughter is broken by my phone.

  I only switched it back on when I woke early this morning and dealt with the emails that had come through, plus voice messages. They were all mainly from Nick and he was becoming a pain. Without reading his to me, I emailed him telling him to stop with the messages and to leave me alone.

  Excusing myself from Cade, I dash back to the kitchen to retrieve my phone from the breakfast bar, not recognizing the number, I send it to voicemail. Not two seconds later it starts to ring again, same number. Figuring I might as well answer, frowning, “Hello.”

  “Rona.... is that you?” Nick. I was speechless and at the same time I shouldn’t have been considering how many voicemails he’s left and emails.

  I look towards Cade, “Yes, it’s me. What do you want?”

  “Are you in Jackson? Can we meet?.... just to talk, I’ve been emailing you and left you voicemails, but you haven’t replied.” Talking to Nick I actually feel nothing.

  How can I feel nothing for someone I was supposed to have loved.

  “Rona please, you should have been my wife now, at least you can hear me out.”

  The cheek of him. As though it was me who called the wedding off. “I’m sorry, but did you just say I should have been your wife now? I think I’m hearing things. As I recall you walked out on me an hour before the wedding and you know what?” I was walking backwards and forwards in the kitchen now, waiting for him to answer.

  “What?”

  Cade is stood close to me, looking at me as I reply to Nick, “Cancelling the wedding was the best thing you ever did, so I guess I need to thank you for that.”

  After a long pause, “What do you mean, you where crying and screaming at me when I told you I didn’t want to get married.”

  The Pig!

  “What did you expect me to do an hour before the wedding, you arrogant ass?” I look at Cade who raises an eyebrow at this comment.

  Taking a deep breath, “You know what, this conversation is over. I‘ve nothing else to say to you.” Going to put the phone down I can hear him shouting ‘Rona’. “What now? I really am losing patience.”

  “I’m here in Jackson, staying at the cabin. Please meet me for lunch and then if you don’t like what I say, I promise not to ring or email you again.”

  I look through the window at the deer close to the back porch, “Not lunch, ring me back in five minutes and I’ll let you know whether or not I’ll meet you.” I hang up.

  Going over to where Cade is now sitting, he opens his arms to me. Not thinking twice, I sit in his lap, he wraps his arms around my waist and I put my arms around his shoulders. He always feels so good against me. He holds me tight, “Are you alright?”

  Not wanting the hug to end I just nod, and carry on holding onto him. “I am now.” I pull slightly away to talk to him.

  “Nick is in Jackson, at his friend’s cabin. He wants to meet me this afternoon to talk. He says if I do, he’ll stop inundating me with voicemail and emails.” I sigh as Cade places a tender kiss to my lips, “I think it would be worth it just to get the messages to stop.”

  “Where does he want to meet?” Cade asks.

  “He didn’t say. Can you recommend anywhere?”

  “Tell him to meet you in the Silver Dollar Grill inside the Wort Hotel.”

  “Do you think it’s a good idea to meet him? I have to admit I’m a bit nervous.”

  “He obviously feels like there’s unfinished business between you both, so maybe meeting with him this afternoon will finish that, and you both can move on. If it helps I’m going to come with you, but stay in the background so that he doesn’t know I’m there.”

  I kiss both of Cade’s eyes shut then place a hot kiss on his lips. “I have already moved on, I’m happier here with you than I ever have been.”

  “Good! Because you mean the world to me.” Holding my face between his hands, “I know this is fast, but I love you Rona. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but I can’t fight what you make me feel anymore.”

  “I love you too.” With a tearful laugh, “You make me so happy.”

  My phone ringing interrupts a perfect moment. Wiping the tears from my face, I answer, not bothering with politeness, “I’ll meet you at one, inside the Silver Dollar Grill. Do you know where that is?”

  “I’ll find it.” Hanging up on him again, I turn to Cade and I just start to move in for another kiss when
Jake appears.

  “Get a room,” Jake says, heading towards the kitchen, “Anyone want a refill?” he shouts waving a cup in his hand.

  “No thanks.” We reply back in tandem.

  I don’t quite believe how casual Jake seems to be about Cade and me. I was expecting, well I’m not sure what, but not this.

  Jake comes over, sitting opposite us looking slightly distracted, “Lucy the friend I mentioned who has the bed and breakfast in Jackson, said there was a guy in there asking for a Rona Jameson. She told me this when she was asking about the girl she saw me with the other day getting onto ‘Big Red’, I mentioned your name and she told me about this guy.”