Jackson bit back his frustration. “People all over the world play my games.”
“Why here?”
Jackson had asked himself the same thing. Veronica might be willing to move. She might be eager to see the world he could show her. Ben would, for sure, he thought.
But a family needed roots, strong and deep.
They had that in Sweetgrass.
So, he finally admitted, did he.
“I’m still putting together the pieces, but I can operate from here a good part of the time. I wouldn’t move my employees.” He chuckled. “Most of them would experience severe culture shock. And it’s not like international travel from here is any kind of cakewalk.”
“So why do it?”
The old bastard wasn’t going to make it easy. “Because my family is here, Dad. You and Rissa and Mackey, Ian and Scarlett and Aunt Ruby. Veronica and the kids…”
“What makes you think you can be happy here?”
“It’s the damnedest thing, this hold Sweetgrass has. I resisted it for years. Tried to forget it. Told myself I had, but…” He scratched the side of his neck. “It’s not an easy place to forget, is it?”
For the first time, his father actually had a trace of a smile in his eyes. “No, it’s not.”
Another burgeoning silence.
Jackson drew a breath. “So…can we make peace, Dad? For Ben’s sake?”
“Only for Ben?”
“No,” Jackson admitted. “For you and me, too. I hate what happened between us. I wish we could put it behind us.”
Difficult as it was, he held his father’s gaze. Let him look his fill to see the truth Jackson was only now beginning to understand. “I want to go on with my life, but I don’t want the past to always be a boulder we have to negotiate around. I was…losing Mom was…I couldn’t breathe, Dad. And you…we lost you, too. You know that’s true.”
His father’s jaw clenched, just as his hand clenched into a fist.
The moment stung with misery and heartaches.
At last his dad spoke. “Mary wouldn’t have been proud of me. But she was…everything. I was so damned angry at losing her…” At last he looked up, and Jackson was astounded to see his father’s eyes bright with moisture.
James cleared his throat. “I didn’t do right by you, son. I just…I couldn’t figure what the point of living was. I’d lost the woman I loved, and my son wanted nothing to do with what I’d sweated blood to build…”
Compassion set Jackson into motion. He approached the side of the desk. “Hard heads are a Gallagher trait. Probably our worst one.”
A ghost of smile. “Yeah.”
“But there’s also pride and…honor. Never-say-die determination.”
His dad looked up, hope rising in his gaze.
“I respect what you’ve built here. I’d like to think a lot of that same character and guts went into my company. I wish I could show you what I’ve created, Dad. It’s not land, but I’ve built something, too.” He felt younger than Ben now, still longing for his father’s approval.
“I was the grown man, son. I should never have treated you the way I did. And I am proud of you. I don’t pretend to understand why folks want to sit in front of a screen all day playing when they could be outside in the air, but I know it’s something special you’ve accomplished there.”
Now it was Jackson who had to clear his throat. “Thank you.”
“Never been on a plane. Don’t like cities much, but…maybe I could come up there. Let you show me around.”
Jackson closed the distance between them. Pulled his father into a hug he’d waited most of his life to have. To give.
They kept it to a man hug, lots of back-slapping, but—
For the first time in too many years to count, Jackson felt his father’s love.
His father’s blessing.
And a missing piece of him settled into place. His eyes stung, and his father wiped at his eyes as they stepped apart.
But he had hope now, hope he’d given up on long ago.
“Thanks, Dad. I’d like that. Maybe I could take you and Ben together.”
His father actually smiled. “You got one fine boy there.”
“I know it.”
“Better marry his mama quick before she gets away.” He sobered. “She’s a good girl—woman. Never thought a Patton would turn out to be someone I’d admire, but that little girl …she deserves to have someone take care of her.”
“She’s taken impressive care of herself and her children, but I’d like to take over however much she’ll let me.”
“Then you’d best get going.” Never comfortable with displays of emotion, James Gallagher was ready to move on. “My Mary would have liked her.”
It was a supreme compliment from his dad—and one Veronica more than deserved.
“She’s my next stop. Wish me luck?”
His father nodded. “I do, son.” He swallowed. “Welcome home.”
Jackson returned the nod.
Then left with a lighter step.
Veronica transplanted the small plant into its new pot, the last one it would inhabit before it left her one day soon, headed to the home of someone else.
As her children would one day go. The girls would be here for a while, but Ben…
Even if Jackson didn’t try to get custody of him, he’d be leaving her at least part of the time to be with his father, she’d resolved. She hoped with all her heart that Jackson would be fair and only claim him part-time, but Ben would be in his element at Enigma, and she’d had him to herself for sixteen years.
She had to find it in herself to be fair. She’d been anything but, up to now.
But oh…Ben was still vulnerable. Still capable of being hurt. The thought of him far away in a big city like Seattle, with Jackson busy running the company, and Ben on his own—
She pressed the dirt-encrusted heel of her hand against her heart, which was thudding out of control. Please, Jackson. Please be careful with him.
“Vee?”
She almost thought she heard his voice, as if he’d known she called out to him, but…
“Vee, are you all right?”
She gasped and whirled.
He stood behind her, only a few feet away.
She blinked. “Jackson? What are you doing here?”
His gaze scanned her, and she was painfully aware of her threadbare jeans, her scuffed shoes, the faded plaid shirt, the dirt under her nails.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said.
“What?” She shook her head. “You’re insane.”
“And you’re exhausted. Why is it I keep finding you stretched to your limit? Are you ever going to let anyone else help you? Did I scar you that badly, that you can’t ever trust anyone else?”
“I trusted David.” She wished the words back the instant she said them, as his eyes went dark and shuttered.
“Yeah. He never abandoned you. Never let you down.”
“He did abandon me—” she shot back. Then clamped her mouth shut, shocked to realize that she was still angry over that. As if David could have prevented his death.
“The men in your life have done a real number on you, haven’t we, Vee? I’m so sorry.”
She shrugged. “I do fine by myself.”
“Yeah.” He glanced around, and she was sure he was seeing every last bit of neglect. Chagrin filled his face. “You do, actually. You accomplish the important things—you just wear yourself out in the process of never disappointing anyone else. Never leaning on anyone else.”
She couldn’t figure out his odd mood. “Why are you here, Jackson? If you want to see Ben, he isn’t home from school yet.”
“I know. I didn’t come to see Ben—that is, I want to see all the kids, but not…yet.” He approached her. “I talked to my dad.”
“Really? How was that?”
“Not great at first, but…surprisingly all right.” He grinned. “He’s crazy about Ben. Busting his buttons over t
he thought that he has a grandson, especially that one.”
“He…knows?”
“Ben didn’t tell you? He went to the ranch. Decided to take everyone’s measure, Mackey said.” He chuckled. “That boy is something. He’s…amazing, Vee. You did such a good job of raising him. You and David,” he said generously.
“I’m sorry. You should have known him before.”
“I should have,” he agreed. “But the past has had all of us in its clutches too long, don’t you think? Even my dad agrees.” She couldn’t hide her shock. “Yeah, I know…who would have thought?”
“Not me.”
He took another step closer, and he was just so big, so…there. Larger than life, as always.
“I came for you, Vee. Everything circles back to you.”
Her gaze flew to his. “What?”
“I want Ben in my life, yes, but…I want the whole package. These kids are terrific, but they’ll grow up. They may leave Sweetgrass, too.” He reached out, traced her face. “But we could have each other for always, if you’d let me in, let me love you again.”
Her lips parted but no words emerged.
“You said you loved me that night. A lot happened after that, but…” He hesitated. “I’m not going to ask you yet if you still might. I want it badly, but…I can wait. You’ve been disappointed by too many people, and I need to show you that I’m not going to be one of them, not ever again.”
He took her hand, and she let him. He lifted it to his heart. Covered it with his own hand. “You were always inside me, even when I thought it would kill me if I couldn’t forget you. I could never get my heart involved with a woman because there was no room. They weren’t you.”
Those staggering blue eyes held hers, so open. So earnest. “I’ve never wanted anything in my life the way I want you to love me again. I swear I’ll spend the rest of my days making it up to you—I can never express properly how sorry I am for letting you down. I hope someday you can forgive me.”
He paused. Studied her. “Is it too late, Vee?”
You came back, her heart said, in her mind the memory of The Lady watching the man she loved walk away with his new family.
“How can you afford to stay?” she murmured. “Your life is back there. Do you—are you asking us to…what are you saying, Jackson? It’s not only me. I have a family I’m responsible for. I can’t just make snap decisions, whatever my heart wants.”
“What does your heart want, though, would you tell me?”
You, she wanted to say. She wanted not to have to care about anything else. Wished it could be that simple.
But it wasn’t. “How can anything possibly work, with you there and me here?”
“I will make it work—I just need to know what’s right for you. Would you rather move? I’ve gotten to see the world, but you haven’t. Or we could live here and I could take you places, so many places, Vee. I could show you the world, but we could live here as our home base…if you want that. Or we could just settle here, and I’ll travel as little as I can manage.”
“Love strong enough to stay,” she murmured.
“What did you say?”
“The Lady, she said that to me.” She smiled at him. “It was your ancestor Josiah, the soldier she loved. The one she waited for.”
“How do you know that?
“I had a dream…a really odd dream.”
“No kidding? She talked to me, too,” he admitted. “At the spring.”
“Really? She appeared to Scarlett and Ian, to Rissa and Mackey, too.”
His eyes widened. “When?”
“When they first began to realize they were in love.”
“I’ve always known that I was in love with you.” He grew somber. “But I left, just like…the soldier.” He stared into the distance. “Imagine…my ancestor…the soldier in the legend. Could it really be that we, that you and I…”
“Her soldier came back with a new family. He broke her heart.”
Jackson’s gaze swung to hers. “I won’t break yours, not ever again.”
“You seriously would live here?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes. Even build my own phenomenally expensive cell tower…which actually might have to happen.”
“Your company would move, too?”
“I’m thinking telecommute. My geeks would never survive the transplant. No Starbucks for miles, you know.” He smiled. “Though they’re welcome to try. Can’t you just see them at Ruby’s, asking for tofu and free range chicken?” He chuckled, and she laughed, too, as hope rose in her heart.
“I’d have to travel some, but I’d love for you to go with me. Would you consider it? I have this amazing apartment in Singapore and a hotel suite in London, plus a house in Provence and an island in the Pacific Northwest.”
“An island? Good grief.” She glanced down at herself. Her dirt-encrusted hands. “I’d never fit in any of those places.”
He drew her to him. “You would. You could fit anywhere—especially in my arms and inside my heart. The rest is just…details.” Sinful blue eyes captured hers. “Will you let me love you, Vee? Will you try to love me again?”
“Oh, Jackson…I never stopped.” Her eyes filled. “I came to love David, but…he was never you.”
“The time we’ve missed together…” He rested his forehead against hers. “I can’t stand to think of it.”
“I’d rather think of the future.” She slid her arms around his neck.
He gripped her so hard she could barely breathe. “Oh, love…I’ve been without you so long.” He buried his face in her hair. “Would you please marry me, Veronica, love of my life, mother of my son, light of my world?” He leaned back and cradled her head in his hand, staring into her eyes with all the love she could imagine. “Would you let me love you forever? Let me come home?”
“There’s nothing I want more,” she answered.
Jackson bent to kiss her, holding her as close as breath, as the beat of their two hearts. The kiss drew them deeper into the magic that sparked between them, the bliss they had found together—
“Prince! Look, Beebee, it’s Prince! He’s here! He’s home!”
They’d lost themselves so deeply in each other that they hadn’t heard the school bus pull to a stop.
But who on earth could miss the sound of Miss Abby squealing with joy?
Jackson was laughing as he planted one more kiss on her mouth, then turned toward the two girls racing their way. His eyes sparkled, his smile shone warm and genuine, and she couldn’t help marveling at the difference in the solitary, haunted stranger who’d arrived in Sweetgrass Springs only weeks ago.
Then the man who would help her raise and protect and love her children crouched to gather up two excited little girls who ran straight into strong arms open wide to embrace them. To embrace this new life they would build as a family.
Her forever love…
Home at last.
And miles away at the spring that was the heart of Sweetgrass, a shape drifted past the water’s edge.
Love strong enough to stay.
A man’s form stood in the distance, his hand open, arm extended.
Waiting for her.
The Lady smiled. Took her soldier’s hand.
Together they strolled through the trees, disappearing into the horizon.
No more loneliness. No more grief.
Only endlessly bright blue mornings.
And sun-warmed skies.
Sweetgrass Springs…where hope never fades…and love never dies.
~THE END~
Thank you for letting me share my stories with you!
The books in the Texas Heroes: The Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs series include:
TEXAS ROOTS (Ian and Scarlett book 1)
TEXAS WILD (Mackey and Rissa book 2)
TEXAS DREAMS (a reunion of all the Texas Heroes families)
TEXAS REBEL (Jackson and Veronica – book 4)
There are two more Texas Heroes
series, The Marshalls and The Gallaghers of Morning Star, listed below.
If you enjoyed TEXAS REBEL, I would be very grateful if you would help others find this book by recommending it to your friends on Goodreads or by writing a review on Amazon. If you would like to be informed when my next release is available, please sign up for my newsletter here.
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Thanks!
Jean
Get the entire TEXAS HEROES series:
The Gallaghers of Morning Star
TEXAS SECRETS
TEXAS LONELY
TEXAS BAD BOY
The Marshalls
TEXAS REFUGE
TEXAS STAR
TEXAS DANGER
The Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs
TEXAS ROOTS
TEXAS WILD
TEXAS DREAMS
TEXAS REBEL
Please enjoy the following excerpts…
THE GALLAGHERS OF MORNING STAR:
Dalton Wheeler vanished from Morning Star, Texas nearly forty years ago under suspicion of murder, leaving behind him a trail of secrets, scandal and lives torn apart in the wake of his reported death. The woman he loved married another, and life went on. Now the main characters in this tragedy are all gone, and in the wake of the final man’s last will and testament, the past has roared back with a vengeance. Secrets will be revealed and the lives of four people will be shattered as they learn that who they are and where they come from is not at all what they always believed.
TEXAS SECRETS
(Boone and Maddie, The Gallaghers of Morning Star #1)
Up-and-coming chef Maddie Collins finds out that her father’s life was a lie when she is bequeathed a family homeplace she never knew existed—by the husband of the only woman her father ever loved. A former SEAL, sexy cowboy Boone Gallagher arrives back in Texas to discover that the father who drove him away has struck one last blow. The only place he’s ever thought of as home now belongs to a woman who doesn’t want it, and he must keep her there for thirty days—or it will be lost to them both.
Texas Rebel Page 22