Jesse's Brother

by Wendy Ely

  “What’s that mean?”

  “A few years ago, I convinced my father to let me take a case because I knew my brother wouldn’t stand for it. I couldn’t tolerate his self-righteous ways anymore and I wanted him away from us. When my parents took my side, he disowned the whole family, as I had known he would.”

  “Good for you, Jess.” Joe formed a big smile. He looked away in disgust.

  “Now I’m going to take his girlfriend.” Jesse picked up a pen and scribbled a note to himself, present for Joe: a new set of teeth.

  “Lovin’ it, Jess, but how you doin’ that?”

  “Money overrides love, Joe. Samantha’s no different than the others. In the end she’ll pick the good life.”

  “Let’s drink to that.” The two men clinked their glasses and downed the alcohol.

  CHAPTER 22

  “Where is Samantha? She had plans with someone else last night, won’t answer her phone today, missed our lunch date and now she isn’t home,” Noah said to no one in particular as he lowered himself down on the small sofa and twisted the hoop earring. “Have I done something to upset her?”

  He glanced at the cellphone on the table next to the TV and fought the temptation to call her again. He’d already called four times. She’d think he was crazy.

  “Leave her alone,” he said out loud.

  Blue squawked in response.

  “She’ll call me when she gets home. Right?” he asked the bird.

  A knock on the door startled him. He wasn’t expecting anyone. Was it her? He smiled. It had to be. Nobody else came to his trailer. He pulled the door open.

  “We need to talk.”

  * * * *

  Samantha noticed an odd car in the driveway as soon as she turned the corner. Apprehension filled her at the sight as she pulled into her regular spot. Who could it be? Maybe one of her mother’s church friends?

  If she had any luck at all, her mom would be entertaining somewhere out of sight, but she didn’t hold her hopes high. It seemed that her luck had run out a long time ago. All she wanted was a shower to wash off the remaining stale beer and get into some clean clothes before anyone could see her.

  As soon as she clicked the front door shut behind her, she knew there was trouble. Trouble floated through the tension-filled air all around the house. Mom hustled from the living room. She must’ve been watching for her to arrive home.

  “Come into the kitchen, Samantha,” she called over her shoulder. “Now!”

  “Nope. I need a shower, then I’ll be down to talk to you.” She started up the stairs.

  “I said now, Samantha!”

  Once she heard her mother’s tone, she froze with her foot on the first step and her hand on the banister. She knew the tone. Mom meant business. Whatever was going on, it was big, bad and she was part of it. She walked into the kitchen and her heart dropped. She instantly knew what was taking place…the reason her mother was so riled up.

  They were all gathered around the kitchen table. Noah had come in looking like he’d been relaxing at home in some shorts and a tank top. Samantha, Mom and Dad were there, plus Cousin Lucas. Everyone looked serious. Lucas had brought a newspaper with him and fiddled with it, indicating that whatever the family wanted to say, it wasn’t important to him.

  Samantha crossed her arms over her chest and fought the urge to plug her nose. Could they smell her? If they could, it would make matters a whole lot worse. Her mother would blame Noah for it as well.

  “Martin, why are we here? Doing this? I have more important things to do.” Mom folded her hands on the table.

  “I’m getting old and tired. I can’t take care of the ranch any longer.”

  “That’s great,” replied Lucas.

  She shot him a dirty look as if to say “shut up”. Taking the look into consideration, Lucas leaned back and opened the paper to pretend to read.

  “Thanks,” said Daddy with a sting of sarcasm. “But I’m going to let Noah buy half of the ranch.”

  Lucas threw down the newspaper. His face was crimson and his eyes looked as if they were going to bulge out of their sockets.

  Dad stared him straight in the eye but Mom looked down at the table. Both Noah and Samantha took turns glancing around the table at all of the emotional faces.

  Lucas shot a glare over to Dad. “The farm should be mine!”

  “But it isn’t, Lucas. You haven’t had any business with this ranch since you became of age to do it. Noah has been here. You haven’t.”

  Lucas shook his head. “The only other person who should be entitled to it would be Samantha. However, she’s a woman and women have no business running a farm. I’m the only male in the family so therefore it’s mine. You’re my uncle.”

  “I don’t care if I’m your uncle. Noah has been there more for me than you ever thought of. Family is more than an occasional discount at your hardware store.”

  Mom stood up from the table. She put her hands on her ample hips and turned to Dad.

  “The land should be Lucas’s. It would only be right.” Mom smiled at Lucas and then pointed her stubby finger an inch from Noah’s face. “He’s nobody to us.”

  “Noah and I already signed the papers to be partners with this farm. None of you can change that now.”

  “What! The only reason you’re doing this is because he’s fornicating with our daughter!”

  “This deal between Daddy and Noah has nothing to do with me,” Samantha said, shaking her head.

  “She’s right. I decided this before Sammy even got here,” Dad insisted.

  “This family is going stark raving mad.” Mom paced across the kitchen floor. “First she leaves for college, Noah is here, now she’s coming home with the stench of alcohol all over her and now partners?” She almost spit last word out at the group of people at the table.

  “Yes,” said Noah holding up the legal document. “Partners until he passes away, then I become sole owner of the farm.”

  “Reverse it now!” screamed Mom. She tried to snatch the legal agreement away from Noah. He pulled it out of her reach in time.

  “No!” Dad shouted back at her.

  “Reverse it now, Martin, or I’m leaving you. I don’t want that hooligan being part of the family and around our daughter.”

  “Then leave me, Frances. Our daughter loves him, so it’s a little bit too late for threats.”

  Mom looked as if she had bitten into a lemon. She spun on her heel and stomped out of the kitchen. No one said a word over the stomping as she angrily mounted the stairs, and slammed the bedroom door with such force, the house echoed.

  “This is bullshit.” Lucas broke the silence around the table.

  She looked at her cousin, her childhood friend. They never talked anymore but had been playmates most of their life. She’d always admired his seriousness and thought it would be Lucas who went off to college. His glasses and dark brown hair were so different then hers.

  “I think it’s time for you to leave, Lucas,” Dad said forcefully.

  “You’re really willing to give up your marriage so this guy can have the farm? I don’t think it’s right,” Lucas said.

  Dad stood, towering over Lucas. “What happens with my marriage or my farm is none of your business. Leave my home right now.”

  Everyone in the kitchen flinched at the boom of Dad’s voice. Lucas jumped up from the kitchen chair as if it had ignited. He almost ran to the back door.

  “I’m sorry for all the trouble this is causing your family,” Noah said softly once Lucas was gone.

  Mom was still stomping around on the second level.

  “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing is right, so there’s nothing to be sorry about.”

  She wanted to go upstairs to get a shower, but she sat there. How did her father feel about her mother leaving? Did he even care? He didn’t look like it. She slid her hand into Noah’s and entwined her fingers with his. It felt so natural, so right.

  “Daddy?”

&nbs
p; “Yeah?”

  “Do you think Mom will really leave you?”

  “Yes. I think she will,” he said with a sigh while glancing up at the ceiling that vibrated with her stomping.

  “Are you upset about it?”

  “A little in shock that the time has finally come. To tell you the truth, Samantha, our marriage has been over for a long time.”

  Noah glanced down at her clothes and turned away. She giggled in spite of the situation. I stink, she thought as her dad got up from the table.

  “I really need a shower,” she mumbled.

  “Go up and get one. We can talk later,” replied Dad. Noah stood up from the table as well.

  “Nope. I can’t go up there until she’s done.”

  “This is your house too, Sammy.”

  “I know, but I don’t want her to push me to choose sides. I already have one.” She followed Noah to the back door.

  She imagined he was going to go back to cleaning the horse corral and thought that it would be fun to spend the day out with the horses and her sheep. Someday maybe she’d learn to ride, she thought, then shook her head as if to erase that idea from her mind. It wouldn’t happen.

  Noah bent down to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and all doubt vanished. He was so right. How could she ever have questioned her feelings for him? How could she think about leaving him for Jesse? Tonya had been right. Her heart told her who she needed. Noah.

  “You’re right,” whispered Noah.

  “Umm, about what?” Could he read her thoughts now?

  “You need a shower.” His hearty laugh brought a smile to her face.

  “Thanks a lot.” She pretended to punch him in the arm.

  “You can take one at my place if you want,” he said winking at her.

  “Really?”

  “Yup, only under one condition though.”

  “Oh, no.”

  “It isn’t anything bad.”

  “What then?” She walked over to the dryer, hoping there were some clean clothes of hers in it. To her luck and surprise, her mother hadn’t taken out the load of laundry she had started yesterday. She grabbed some jeans and a tank top from the drawer and shut the door. She’d fold the rest later, she thought as she followed Noah across the yard to the barn. He jumped the tall fence and she watched him in awe as he started his work.

  “That I get to be there with you next time.”

  “Okay,” she said shyly.

  “Go on over. The door’s unlocked.”

  He was giving her permission to be in his home alone. Her heart raced and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Such a small act had touched her in such a big way.

  “Can we talk later?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she answered and blew him a kiss.

  CHAPTER 23

  Once she was clean and out of the shower, she went into Noah’s bedroom. Her clothes were thrown on his bed, since it would be easier to dress in there than the bathroom that was so small she could barely turn around.

  How did he manage a shower in there? She slipped her panties on, then pulled her jeans up over her thighs. Her tank top went over the lacy bra. She threw her curly hair up into a ponytail, knowing it would be trying to bust out of the hair-band within an hour. She put her cowboy boots back on and tossed her dirty clothes in an empty grocery sack she found discarded on the kitchen counter. The truth was, she didn’t want to go back home until her mother left.

  She strolled down the trail through the thin patch of evergreen trees that divided the farm from the meadow.

  What would she do now? Go back to school? She could always stay here. Being with Noah wouldn’t be so bad. Build a house like Dad wanted? Start a family with Noah?

  “Wait a minute,” she said to herself as she reached the yard, “don’t get ahead of the game.”

  She could see him in the pen working the horses. He had discarded his black t-shirt and wore his faded blue jeans and work boots. Sweat glistened down his back and she couldn’t think of a time that he’d looked sexier. He held the reins of Brownie and ran around the ring. Every time he turned the corner, the muscles in his back tightened.

  She untied the rope holding the gate closed and slipped inside the ring with Noah and the horses going right over to where Culata stood. Noah walked to her and put some carrots into the palm of her outstretched hand. He grabbed the rein again as she turned to her mare.

  I failed her in every way, she thought as she heard the engine roar, then the grinding of the shift, and the gravel hit the side of the house as Frances sped down the driveway. She sighed and motioned for Noah to join her.

  A car door opened and then shut toward the front of the house. It didn’t seem like it would be her mom.

  “Yeah, babe?” asked Noah as he wrapped his arms around her waist and swung her in a circle.

  She giggled as she tried to push his arms from her waist. “My mom left, but someone else is here. Come with me to check it out.”

  “Isn’t your dad up at the house?”

  “Yes he is, but I don’t want him to have to deal with more than he has to.” She undid the gate for them to walk out of the ring. He slipped his hand into hers as they walked across the yard. The back door shut behind them and he slid his t-shirt over his sweaty head.

  They walked down the hall in the direction of

  the voices coming from the living room. Apparently, her father had answered the door before they had a chance to even get to the house.

  “Samantha, you have company,” called her father.

  She walked into the entryway. Her mouth dropped open and she froze, her hand still in Noah’s.

  “Noah.”

  “Jesse.”

  “Shit. What are you doing here?” she asked.

  Her hand dropped from Noah’s but he grabbed it again. The two men glared at one another without a word. Anger at herself flared inside her chest. She should’ve taken care of this long before today, and now, she wouldn’t be able to spare Jesse from the hurt of knowing she’d chosen his brother over him. Once again, she tried to drop his hand. She wanted to break it easy to Jesse.

  She needed to tell him she was deeply in love with his brother. When she was able to leave Noah’s grip, she took a step toward Jesse.

  Jesse was the first to break the silence. “What’s going on here, Samantha?” He took a step backward as soon as she put her hand on his arm.

  “Please, Jesse, let’s go outside to discuss this.” She motioned for him to come with her, but he wouldn’t budge. Jesse’s arms were folded tightly across his chest, face stern and eyes glued on Noah.

  “No,” Noah intervened. “You need to talk to me.” His voice escalated. “I want to know what the hell he’s doing at this house. Is this who you’ve been out with?”

  “We’ve been doing more than going out, little brother.”

  Noah grabbed Jesse by the shirt. His fist formed into a tight fist as he stared into his brother’s scared eyes. “You’re no brother of mine.” Noah’s voice trembled with anger.

  Samantha shifted her gaze from Noah’s clenched fist to Jesse’s face, and worried Noah would hit his brother. Was the problem between them worse than she’d thought? He unclenched one fist long enough to run his fingers through his hair.

  “Listen. Noah works here for my dad…”

  “I did work for him but now I’m a partner. I own half this farm,” Noah cut in.

  “Right,” she said as she tried to move toward Jesse again. “But then I met Jesse in town. We kept running into each other and I started dating him too. I had no idea you were brothers.”

  “Honey, I came here to discuss something with you.”

  “What is it, Jesse? Make it fast because it would be best if you leave.”

  “You’re brothers?” asked Dad, still sitting in his recliner, half amused by the show.

  “I don’t have a brother anymore,” snapped Noah through clenched teeth.

  Jesse’s eyes remained focused on Noah�
��s large fist. “Noah, please don’t hit him.”

  He dropped his fist but still held Jesse by the shirt.

  “I swear,” she pleaded. “I didn’t know you were brothers until the other night at Jesse’s house. I waited too long to decide who I wanted a relationship with. I won’t lie to you, but I’ve developed feelings for both of you in the process, but I…”