Above Rubies (Rockland Ranch)

by Jaclyn Hawkes

  Nick showed them in, turned the sound system on low, and invited them all to come to the kitchen and find something to eat. He and Bryan hadn't eaten since they'd had a late lunch and they were both ravenous. They took king crab legs out of the freezer to steam and teamed it up with a loaf of French bread and several kinds of fresh fruit. Nick was inordinately pleased with himself when he went to his wine cooler and produced another bottle of sparkling cider. Kit and Joey shared some of their dinner and wandered around his beautiful condo.

  Kit ended up on the balcony overlooking the city lights below. She wondered what Rossen was doing right now, however many miles away. It felt like ten million. The music drifted from an outdoor speaker behind her and far in the distance she could see the dark, flat horizon of the ocean. The lights surrounded her on every side for almost as far as the eye could see and that many people made her feel smothered, almost as if she couldn't breathe.

  What she wished she were seeing was that snow covered mountain valley with its towering, pine clad, guardian peaks surrounding it. She knew she could breathe freely there. She was struggling to comprehend this much humanity in one place when Nick came out to stand beside her. She began to shiver in the coolness of the November evening and he set down his champagne flute of cider to come up behind her and wrap her in his arms.

  "Are you warm enough? Do you want my tux coat?"

  She shook her head. "No. I'm fine if you hug me again. I was just admiring your view. You have a beautiful home."

  His voice was close to her ear when he said, "It's beautiful with you here." He turned her in his arms and began to dance with her to the slow music.

  She was honestly trying. The setting was perfect, the city lights and the stars and the opulent home. A good looking, wealthy and famous man. The gala evening, her first performance and then slow dancing here in the dark, but it was all she could do to hide her thoughts so she didn't ruin his big evening.

  She pushed her dreams of the home on the bench from her mind as well as she could. She'd agreed to be Nick's date tonight and she felt like she needed to enjoy herself and help him have a good night just to be honorable. With this thought in mind, she came back to the present and concentrated on listening to the man whose arms she was in as he talked into her ear about the different things they'd seen that night. He was bright and funny and she wasn't miserable as she waited patiently for this night to come to an end, but if it were sooner than later she wouldn't mind at all. They went back inside after a couple of songs and when she knew that Joey was enjoying Bryan's company, she tried even harder to be a good sport. What was wrong with her?

  Finally, Joey suggested it was time to take them back to the hotel. Kit didn't say anything, but she was tired and wanted to go to bed. The ride back in the limo was still enjoyable, but the energy had begun to run out on this glamorous night, and when they reached the hotel she was glad. The two stars offered to walk the girls up to their rooms, but the hotel still seemed pretty lively even at this late hour and they all knew they'd just be mobbed.

  Saying goodnight was slightly awkward and finally Bryan opted to brave the gauntlet and walk Joey up to the room. Kit wasn't sure if being alone with Nick was more comfortable or not. She knew he wanted to kiss her goodnight, which wasn't that big of a deal, after all he was a very attractive man, but she hated to lead him on. If she wondered if he still had strong feelings for her, all she had to do was look into his eyes. He never even tried to hide his emotions anymore.

  He slid closer to her on the seat and wrapped an arm around her. As she looked up expectantly at him, he studied her face at length. His voice was a little husky when he said, "Thanks for not being totally ticked off at me. I wanted you to sing with me tonight, but I was afraid you'd tell me no if I asked you beforehand. I knew you'd be a good sport and you did an awesome job! I knew you would, but you still never cease to surprise me. You're a one in a million, Kit Star. Are you still sure you can't marry me?"

  She looked down, sad to disappoint him. "I'm sorry, Nick. I'm still not in love with you." She tried to inject a lighter note. "Maybe I will be tomorrow." She smiled up at him and then her face sobered. "I had a wonderful evening, one I'm sure I'll remember for the rest of my life." This time she was the one to raise her face to his. "Good night, Nick."

  He met her lips with the lightest of kisses and then increased the pressure for just the shortest second. "Good night, Just Kit. Thanks for being there for me tonight."

  Chapter 21

  From the second she left, Rossen stressed about this trip to California. This was the only time she’d left since she'd gone off to school and left Mimi with him, that she hadn't broken down as she got in the car and drove away. He tried to chalk it up to nerves, until that night when he turned on the TV just in time to see her being filmed stepping out of a long limousine next to that hyper-famous rock star. In her designer dress and jewels, with the professional do, she looked perfectly at home on the red carpet and when she took his hand and they posed for the camera, Rossen felt a hole somewhere in the center of his chest.

  He was watching the televised show when Sean came in and said, “Geez, Rossen. You're not just a bonehead to keep sending her away, you're a masochist too." He sat down to watch with him, and when Bryan Cole dedicated the song to Joey, they gave each other a high five. A few minutes later, when Kit was being brought on stage and Nick talked about asking her to marry him, Sean looked at him, but Rossen was too floored to even look up and meet his eye. This guy had only known her for two and a half months. What the heck did he think he was doing?

  Then Rossen thought about what an extraordinary young woman she was and he understood exactly. He'd only known her about ten days when he'd fallen in love with her himself. He wanted to reach through the TV and tell this stupid superstar to leave her alone and let her have time to grow up, but when he looked at her with her guitar on stage, singing in her gown and heels, he knew there was nothing ungrownup about her. She was all woman and the crowd knew it too, when they went nuts at the end of her song. Their applause felt like the death knell to his secret hopes. How could he expect her to walk away from all that to come back to a lonely ranch in the wilds of Wyoming?

  He watched the rest of the show and then the media highlights that felt like the Nick and Kit special. Every photographer had a fascination with who the new girl was with Nick Sartori that he so obviously adored. Nobody seemed to know much about her and that only made everyone more curious. There was shot after shot of them together in every situation that night and there were even a number of shots of them at other times.

  Rossen couldn't even count the photos that flew across the screen of the two of them together, usually trying to avoid the cameras as they got into or out of a car somewhere. Some of the time it was in a limousine and there were several that had Joey and even Bryan in them too, but there were others of just the two of them getting into luxury cars and one, a racy, black Maserati.

  There was even one taken from long range of the two of them on a lonely beach, walking together hand in hand, her in a lovely white sundress with the breeze blowing her hair. When that one flashed across the screen, Rossen groaned out loud, and Sean got up to give him a look of pity and go back out the door.

  Rossen took the now sleeping baby, and switching off the TV with a deep sigh, went down into the basement to take out his frustrations on the speed bag hanging in the game room. He put Mimi in her crib and was twenty minutes into a brutal attack on the bag when he slowed to a halt and dropped to his knees to pour out his frustration and loneliness to the only one he knew would understand.

  He had so many questions he just didn't get. Why had all this happened to him and Kit? Why did he feel he was being punished for trying to help a young woman who had desperately needed him nearly a year ago? Why had God allowed him to feel the way he did but then also know he needed to send her away? At length, he got to his feet, feeling like the poster boy for a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

 
; He tried to read, but gave that up and went to bed, only to admit defeat and give that up too, sometime in the wee hours of the morning. He went up and into Kit's room to stand in the dark, looking out the window into the snowy night, breathing in the subtle smell of her and almost wallowing in his trashed heart.

  He remembered the first time they'd heard her sing. She had been sitting just outside this very window on a night not unlike tonight. So much had transpired in the last year. Both of them had changed so much. She'd blossomed like an exotic rose, while he had become quieter and more inside himself. His mother had been right about the refiner's fire. The months of trying to put the natural man aside to give her her freedom had made him stronger. Stronger, and sadder. Sometimes he wondered if the happy, teasing side of him was gone forever.

  Knowing he'd never find the answers out in that beautiful, cold winter's night, he was about to take his exhausted, emotional self to bed again when his phone began to ring. He'd left it on an end table in the great room and the second he heard it go off, he knew who it was.

  ****

  The hotel sheets were cool and crisp and Kit's body was absolutely weary, but sleep would not come. She kept thinking of Rossen and wondering what was going on in his life as she'd been in LA. She wished he could have seen her. She didn't think Kit, the rocker was necessarily the real her, but she knew she was good at what she did and he would have been proud of her.

  She tossed and turned and finally got up to check her watch. It was after two thirty California time. That made it after three thirty in Wyoming and she wondered if he would be mad if she called. Frustrated with her feelings, she got up to take her phone into the bathroom and shut the door.

  He picked up on the second ring and she could tell by his voice that he hadn't been sleeping either. His deep, tired hello was exactly what she needed to hear.

  Now that she had him on the line, she wasn't sure what to say and settled for, "Hey, Rossen."

  She could hear the concern and the smile in his voice. "Hey yourself, Kit. What's going on? Is something wrong?"

  With a sigh, she replied, "Nothing's wrong and somehow everything is. I'm sorry to call so late. I just couldn't sleep. I'm incredibly homesick tonight. I wish I were there instead of here."

  It was a long moment before he replied, "We wish you were too." He paused. "You shouldn't be homesick. You've had quite a night. We saw you on TV here. You never mentioned you were performing at that shindig. I wish you would've told me. I'd have recorded it for you." He sounded slightly sad on his end of the line.

  "I would have told you if I'd known. Nick sprung that on me in front of all those people. He said he thought I would turn him down if he asked before hand. I probably would have. I'd have been a nervous wreck if I'd known I was going to be playing."

  He laughed at the tone of her voice and said, "No way! You didn't even know that was coming and you got up and performed like that? I thought you were great! You looked incredible and I had no idea the two of you sounded that good together. It made me want to come with you sometime when you're recording. You have an amazing stage presence and I was proud of you." That was so good to hear. She valued his opinion more than anyone's. She knew he would always be honest with her.

  There was a pause on the line before she said, "I don't know what I wanted to say. I just needed to hear your voice for some reason. How is Mimi Star?"

  "She's good. She laughed when she saw you on T.V. I'm not sure she was impressed, but she certainly thought you were entertaining."

  Kit wondered why he was up. "Did I wake you or were you already awake?"

  He hesitated before he answered her, "I was awake. Honestly, I was worrying about Nick's little comment about asking you to marry him. Why would he say that about you turning him down in front of ten million people?"

  Kit laughed somewhat stiffly. "Uh, because I have every other time."

  She wondered if she should have been that forthright when he didn't say anything for the longest time. Finally he said, "Oh, well I guess that makes more sense. How many times has he asked you to marry him?"

  She decided to be vague, "A few. Sometimes he just says things like ‘Come to LA to be with me forever.’ It's not really a proposal. But he's honestly asking."

  "Is that something you'd seriously consider?"

  "Would I be up, hopelessly homesick at three thirty in the morning after singing with him in front of half the country, if it was?"

  He laughed at her for a second. "Maybe, if it was a serious question you were wrestling with."

  "What I'm seriously wrestling with, is why I ever leave there at all."

  There was a long pause, and then he sighed as he replied, "Good, because we'd all miss you desperately if you were living that far away." There was something in his voice she couldn't exactly figure out. She wished she could've seen his face when he said that.

  She answered, "I'm afraid you're stuck with me. I'm not a twenty stories up, penthouse kind of a girl. This many people take up all the oxygen."

  She could hear the smile again when he said, "Well, come on home then. We've still got plenty of oxygen."

  "I'll be there on Wednesday for five whole days over Thanksgiving. It'll be heaven! Is there too much snow to go riding?"

  "There's never too much snow to go riding. We can even take Mimi. Grandma bought her a great new snowsuit that turns her into an Eskimo baby."

  Kit smiled. "I'll bet she loves it. She always loves to go outside."

  "Actually, she's a tad unsure of all the cold, white stuff. She loves to stand and look out the window, but she doesn't want to touch it."

  "Well, I'll come home and touch it for her, while I'm breathing the oxygen." There was another silence and then she said, "Thank you for not being mad at me for calling in the middle of the night. I think I can sleep now."

  His deep voice was husky and warm when he said, "You're welcome. Now that I'm not worrying about you moving to LA, I think I can too. Good night. Be careful coming home."

  "I will. Kiss Mimi Star for me. Good bye." Kit didn't want to hang up and she just sat with the phone to her ear for a minute before she finally pushed end. There were so many things she would've liked to say to him, but she couldn't because of the stupid rules. Maybe someday she'd be able to just tell him she loved him as she hung up, like she dearly wanted to.

  ****

  When he'd answered his phone to hear her troubled voice telling him how much she missed home, he finally felt some peace in his tortured heart. Maybe somehow this was all going to work out. When she spoke of needing oxygen, he knew just what she meant. Their conversation had been short, and neither one of them had been able to say what was honestly in each other's hearts, but his pain from wondering if he had lost her to the rock star, who was as opposite of himself as night and day, had been eased by that one short taste of her own loneliness in the middle of a dark California night. He hesitated to hang up the phone after they said goodbye, wishing he'd been able to tell her how much he loved her out loud. He took his exhausted body to bed to finally be able to rest.

  Chapter 22

  Nick woke up from a deep sleep, knowing instantly that someone was trying to break into his front door. He lived in a high security building and wondered how they'd gotten this far, even as he called that same security to have whoever it was apprehended. Hanging up his phone, he pulled his own pistol out of the drawer in the table beside his bed and threw a robe over his shoulders, prepared to defend himself if the intruder made it inside before help arrived. He heard the shouts and scuffle outside and when he heard the head of security call to him through the intercom, he opened the door to find out what was going on.

  He'd had trouble like this before. Usually it was the jealous boyfriend of an ardent fan or a lovesick female stalker, but this time it was a slovenly, middle aged, heavy set man. Nick had no idea what to think, until the man asked him where Kit was.

  It only took about ten more seconds until Nick understood this was the fost
er father who had been the cause of so much heartache and trouble for the sweet, innocent girl he loved and a deep, hot anger filled his heart instantly. He wasn't normally short tempered, but realizing that this foul, disgusting man, who had caused so much hurt already, was for some reason trying to find Kit again, made his blood boil. It was all he could do not to hit the guy as he stood on the elevator landing spewing vulgarity and profanity from his unkempt mouth.

  When the police showed up to take him away, Nick told them to find everything they could dream up to pin on this guy and he would press charges to the fullest extent possible. He hoped they could put him away for years. Knowing sweet, pure Kit had been in this man's custody made him want to be sick.

  Nick had calmed down somewhat by the time he made a phone call to Wyoming the next morning. He didn't want to call Kit directly and tell her what had happened, but he felt something had to be done to insure her safety, in case the guy got out on bail or wasn't working alone. Nick didn't know what this guy wanted, but there was no way he was going to let this scum get near her again, if he had anything to say about it.

  He knew Joey's mother had been trying to have him put away down in Arizona, so he called Joey's home to try and reach either her mom or dad there. They weren't available, so he talked to the man who answered the phone who was Joey's older brother Rossen. Nick told him what had happened and knew from this man's reaction on the phone, that Kit would indeed be protected from their end and that the possible threat would be taken seriously.

  After offering to pay for security, he was assured it would be handled and was told that when she was home, she was safe behind locked gates guarded twenty-four hours a day. Together the two of them talked about how to ensure her safety while at school, and by the time he ended the phone call, Nick trusted that Kit would be safe and had gained a respect for this brother of Joey's out in Wyoming. He was obviously sharp and his quiet, intelligent manner inspired Nick's confidence.