by Ciana Stone
"Yes."
"Okay. Good night, JD."
"Good night, Cody."
He watched her walk to her truck, get in, and drive away before he closed the door. The silence of the house was too loud. Dawson and Briggs were sleeping over at Jayce's with Carson, playing video games and he had nothing to distract his mind.
JD went back into the den and sat down, staring at the black screen of the television. Cody's words kept running through his mind. He knew she wasn't lying to him about Krissie. Krissie had never been an angel. And she'd never loved him. He was simply a means to an end.
But knowing her shortcomings didn't erase his own. With a growl of frustration, he got up and headed for the bedroom. Sitting and stewing would not bring Jo back and until the police got a lead there was nothing he could do but wait. He didn't know that he could stand much more of that. Might as well go to bed and pray that morning would bring word she'd been found. If she hadn’t… he had a hard time finishing that thought. She’d been missing for twenty-four hours and every hour that passed made the chances of her being okay slimmer.
Two hours later, JD threw back the sheet and rose. There was little point in being in bed. He wasn't going to sleep. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning and he'd done nothing but lie there think about what Cody had said and worry.
He called the police station and got Deputy Tom Greene. There was still no sign of Jolene. Chief Wallace had put out a bulletin with the county and state police but so far there was no word. He raked his hands back through his hair and pulled on a pair of jeans.
The night was cool but not so much he couldn't take a seat on the front porch step and stare at the sky. Where are you? JD wracked his brain, trying to figure out what to do or where to look.
Chief Wallace had spoken with everyone who knew Jo. JD was the last one to see her. At present, the speculation was that she'd been taken by the man who'd threatened her at Billy's. JD thought about that. The man wasn't a local which meant he was more than likely one of the men hired to help with the renovations or the upcoming rodeo.
Jayce and Bryson had checked with the other builders in town and no one knew anything about a man matching that description, which left the Pursells to question. Wes Pursell said he knew no one matching the description JD had given. His father, Herbert said that could describe a dozen temporary men he'd hired for the rodeo. Wes had all the trailers belonging to the help checked, along with the bunkhouse and there was no sign of Jolene.
JD thought about it. If the man was a temporary worker hired on for the rodeo and wasn't familiar with the area, then chances were he'd know little more than his way back and forth from town to the Pursell ranch, and the way from the ranch to the highway.
Which meant he'd look for a place on one of those routes. A place he could hide and… JD couldn't let that thought complete. What he could do, however, was think about what was available. How many abandoned buildings, farms, or ranches that had gone bust were there along those routes?
JD had lived in Cotton Creek his entire life and knew almost everyone. Ranchers and farmers did business with one another. He got up and went inside to fix a pot of coffee. As he waited for it, he leaned against the counter.
Suddenly it came to him. The Pursels had bought out at least four farms or ranches bordering their own place. Two of them had access from the main road leading to the Pursell ranch. He forgot about the coffee and ran to the bedroom.
It took him two minutes to dress and another minute to return to the kitchen and pour what coffee there was into a big mug. His last stop was the gun cabinet. It was rare for him to carry a weapon, but tonight he loaded his 45, grabbed his shotgun and a box of shells.
As he drove he thought about Jolene, about their ride from Billy's to Mrs. Bakers. He remembered what she said. "For what it's worth, I never forgot about you, JD. I don't think I ever will."
For the first time in three years, tears welled up in his eyes. He swiped at them but they kept coming. No matter how much he tried to fool himself, Krissie's suicide wasn’t Jo's fault. He couldn't fault her for hooking up with him that weekend, either. He'd not worn a wedding ring. He hadn't even told her his full name.
She had, for whatever reason, found him interesting or appealing. He knew she was falling for him. Hell, he'd already fallen for her. But he'd left her. Left her sleeping because he didn't have the courage to leave her any other way.
He'd never forgotten her, but he had used her to create a villain in his sordid play. He hated himself for that and didn’t blame her if she did as well.
But she didn't. He's seen that in her eyes
For what it's worth, I never forgot about you, JD. I don't think I ever will.
He hadn't forgotten her either and when he found her he would tell her that. Determined to have that chance, he headed for the first location.
*****
The sound of an engine woke her and she almost rolled down the roof at the fear. Jolene scrambled to the crest of the roof to look out over the road leading to the old house, praying that her attacker was not returning.
A white pickup moved slowly toward the house. From the sound of the engine, it was a diesel and certainly not the truck that had been there earlier. She remained still, waiting. The door opened and the moment the man climbed out of the truck, relief brought tears to her eyes.
"JD!" She stood and saw him look up.
"Jo!" He broke into a run, headed for the house and she hurried to work her way down the roof. A cracking sound under her feet had her moving faster than was safe and before she knew it, she was on a skid, headed for the edge.
"Oh shit. Oh shiiiit." The skid took her off the roof.
One second she was falling and the next she was colliding with a big hard body. They both went down with her on top.
"Jo. God almighty, are you okay?" JD pushed her back so she was sitting on him.
"I am now. Sorry about that. Foot slipped. Are you --?"
Before Jo could finish the question, he'd pulled her back down on him, wrapping his arms around her. "I thought I'd lost you."
She didn't care about the tears that streamed from her eyes, or the sob that erupted at the sound of those words. "JD."
They lay there for a long time, him holding her as she tried to stem the flood of emotion and quell the trembling of her body. Finally, he rolled her over on the ground, propping on one elbow beside her.
"Are you okay?" His free hand stroked the side of her face.
"Yes. I think so."
"The whole county is looking for you. What happened?"
She didn't really care what the county was doing. What mattered was him, that he was there, touching her, and she felt safe. "You came for me."
His hand moved to her shoulder and tightened. For a few seconds she feared she would see the anger return to his face and blaze in his eyes. That didn't happen and the emotion she saw surprised her. Almost much as the words that flowed from him.
"I should never have left you standing there alone. I'm sorry, Jo. For that and for everything. You're not to blame for what happened to my wife. And Pop told me the truth. Krissie had tried twice before to kill herself."
"I wouldn't lie to you."
"I know that. I do. I've just been blaming you so I didn't have to blame myself. I wasn't a good husband, Jo. Hell, I didn't even want to marry her. But she was pregnant and I couldn't turn away my own unborn children."
"You don't owe me any explanations, JD. You're a good father to your boys and the only person to blame for what she did is her. You don't have to feel guilty."
"But I do. I knew she wasn't happy. Hell, I wasn’t either. But I wasn't about to let her take my boys and I didn't have the money she demanded to walk away without them. So, I ignored her drinking and carrying on. And I cheated. With you."
"Yes."
"Do you hate me for that?"
"JD, I could never hate you. I might hate something you do, but never you."
"I never forgot you,
Jo. Those three days were some of the happiest of my life. And I didn't leave because I didn't care. I left because if I'd stayed one day more I'd never have been able to leave at all. You… you saw through all the anger and resentment that had built up inside me. The way you looked at me…"
He shook his head and paused as if searching for the right words. Jolene waited, needing to hear all he had to say.
"I'd never felt anything like what you made me feel and I wanted it. I wanted it so bad I thought about not going home – about leaving my home and my boys. But I couldn't. I couldn’t leave them. They're my children and – and I couldn't do that to them.
"I got the call about Krissie after I left your room. And the guilt of not being there, of not being able to stop her ate at me. I lied to my boys about her death. Told them she had a heart attack. And the guilt grew and it competed with the ache I had for you. I wanted you. So bad it was like a taste in my mouth that wouldn't go away. It was there when I woke and still there when I fell asleep.
"And that wanting made the guilt worse. How could I be wanting you so much and not caring that the mother of my children had been so fucking miserable with me she killed herself? I couldn't face it so I let it turn. I let the guilt become anger and I directed it at you. If it weren't for you, I'd have been there. If it weren't for you I wouldn't be lying to my boys. If it weren't for you I wouldn't be in misery because I wouldn't know what I was missing.
"I let that happen rather than face my own shortcomings and I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"
There was so much she wanted to say to him, but she couldn't form the words. Since he left her three years ago, she'd carried him in her heart. The man she'd fallen for who had walked away without a goodbye. Seeing him here in Cotton Creek had brought back those feelings and that pain and she wasn't sure she could take much more of it.
Now, she'd heard from him what she had never dared to dream. She wanted to tell him what the words meant but how could something so enormous be expressed by a combination of syllables. It was just too big.
It came to her, and she swiped at her eyes. "Walk the wind with me, JD."
"What?"
She stood and offered her hand. When he took it and stood to face her, she took his other hand. "I don't know if I can make it happen, but if I can I want you with me. Please. Let me give you this."
He hesitated a moment then nodded. Jolene turned her face to the sky. The light from the moon was like a lover's kiss on her skin. The longer she stared, the more she felt it, the more she heard the wind, and the songs hidden within it.
She felt the wind's embrace, holding her close as a mother holds a child to her breast, safe and warm. Then the wind took her. One moment she was on the ground and the next, she was part of the sky.
Jolene could feel JD with her. She could feel his wonder and knew when that moment of oneness touched his soul. For that space of time, they were together, one with the sky and the earth, walking the wind and feeling its song inside them. It bestowed knowledge and with knowledge came compassion and understanding.
Then it was over.
JD looked down at her with amazement clear in his eyes. "That was… was that real?"
"I don't know. It felt real."
"Yeah, it did. Jo, can – do you think we can start over?"
"I think we already have."
He smiled and she thought she'd never seen anything more beautiful in her life. "Do you have any idea how drop dead gorgeous you are when you smile, JD? You really need to do that more often."
"Maybe now I have more of a reason to." His smile disappeared. "Jo, what happened –that man. Do you know who he is? What happened?"
As much as she hated to leave the beauty of their moment behind, she knew it was necessary. "I guess he clonked me over the head and knocked me out. I woke up in that shed back there." She pointed across the back yard and then told him what happened.
"So do you know him?"
"No, but I think I know a way to find out. What he said about his brother. I remember the article. It was a freelance piece I wrote for a newspaper. But I don't remember much about the family of the guy. I think I still have the information backed up on cloud storage. I can get online and search for it."
"You need to do that. We need to tell the police."
"Okay. But I lost my phone."
"I have mine. And we need to tell Cody you're okay or she'll have my head."
Jolene grinned. "God, I love that girl."
JD laughed. "Yeah, me too. Come on. Let's head back. It'll be light soon and there are a lot of people worried. You’ve been missing over twenty-four hours and— “
“No. It was just— “
“A day ago?”
Jolene shook her head. That would mean she’d been unconscious for nearly a day. “But I just woke up tonight.”
“Then we better get you checked out at the hospital before we go to the police station. And like I said, we need to let people know you’re okay.”
Jolene needed to make light of it, she couldn’t let herself go back to the fear. "Thanks. I bet Mrs. Nellie Mae has me being taken by the Indians – no wait, I am the Indian. Oh wait, I know, I ran off with the rodeo clown to Vegas. Or—"
JD wrapped his arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the truck. She was safe now with JD, but she didn't think the man would give up on his revenge. Which meant she had to figure out who he was before he could make another move.
*****
By the time Jolene was cleared at the hospital and she and JD finished at the police station her energy was running out. They left the police station and climbed in his truck. "You want me to take you Nellie Mae's?"
Jolene grimaced. If she was honest, Nellie Mae Baker's house was the last place she wanted to go. She mentally kicked herself. Mrs. Baker might be a nosy busybody, but she was a kind woman and Jolene was sure that if Mrs. Baker hadn't sounded the alarm no one would have known Jolene was missing until the first of the week.
Still, she didn't relish the idea of Mrs. Baker's questions, of which Jolene was sure there would be in great supply. She looked over at JD. "Well, I am paid up and that's where my stuff is, so I guess the answer is yes."
He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. "Don’t worry, I'm not gonna drop you off on the sidewalk."
"No?"
"Nope. I'll see you safely to the door."
"Which one?"
"Pardon?"
"The front door or the door to my room? It's a long way from that front door to the back of the house."
He chuckled. "With Nellie Mae on your heels, I can imagine, so yes, the door to your room."
"My hero." She gave him a smile then leaned back and closed her eyes as he started the truck.
Jolene didn't realize she'd fallen asleep until she felt JD's hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently and his voice calling her name. "Jo? We're here."
She opened her eyes and blinked a few times. "Sorry."
"Don't be." He got out and walked around the truck to open her door. When she got out he put his arm around her and she gratefully leaned in on him. He walked her to the door and stopped. "You have the key?"
"Oh crap. No."
JD tried the door. It was unlocked. "Thank god for small towns." Jolene led the way through the house to her room. Once inside she closed the door and leaned back against it.
"Are we okay now, JD?"
"I think I'm the one that should be asking that question."
"Yes. I am, anyway."
"Just forgive and forget? Is it that easy?"
"If you want it to be. Do you?"
They stood there in silence for a minute, just looking at each other. Finally, he answered. "Yes. I do."
Jolene pushed away from the door and walked over to him, putting her hands on his chest. She pushed him back until his legs were against the bed and then gave him another push.
JD grabbed her as he fell back, taking her with him. Jolene sat on him, looking down at his face.
"I'm not naïve or stupid. I know there's water under the bridge and maybe I still carry some hurt because you walked out on me. On the other hand, if I'm fair, there were never any promises made, so I can deal with my damaged pride. What I can't handle is anything other than truth between us now. If you want something with me, say so and I'll meet you more than halfway, but if there's no chance then please walk away now because I don't think I can take having my heart broken by you."
"I'm right here, Jo. And I'll never hurt you again."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because of how I felt when you disappeared. I walked away from you once and regretted it every day since. I won't make that mistake again."
"Then is it too soon for this?" She leaned down and kissed him softly.
His arms went around her, pulling her down firmly on him. At almost the same moment, Jolene heard a noise. A creak in the floor. She jumped up, put her finger to her lips to keep JD quiet, and snuck over to the door. In one motion, she turned the knob and yanked the door open.
Mrs. Nellie Mae fell face forward into the room. JD sat up on the bed as Nellie Mae worked to get to her feet. Jolene didn't offer to help. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited until Nellie Mae was standing. "Would you like to explain?"
"Explain?" Nellie Mae huffed, still a little out of breath. Her hands fluttered to her hair, patting it and then the front of her blouse. "Well, missy, I'm thinking you're the one who has some explaining to do."
She gestured toward JD. "Just look at this. Half the town worried about you and you drag up like a stray after a night tom-cattin' and take this man straight to your bed. You should be—"
"You're gonna want to stop right now, Mrs. Nellie Mae." JD was eye-level with her, even sitting on the bed.
"Don't you be telling me to hush in my own home, JD Weathers. Do you have any idea how many folks been worried about that girl? Here we thought she'd been abducted and god knows what done to her and you drive up like nothing ever happened."
"So you saw us drive up?"
"Well, yes. I was next door."
"And it never occurred to you that Jo might want some privacy, which, by the way, includes not having someone standing outside her door, eavesdropping."