Jolt

  Jackson shook his head, muttering something unintelligible.

  She looked down at him. "I don't expect you to understand. I just can't… I may be leaving soon. She's better off with Papa and Lita."

  "Leaving?" Lita had appeared in the doorway, her long black hair in a simple braid down her back. "Where would you go?"

  Nellie swallowed. "I don't know. Somewhere with less memories. I could go back to school—get my entomology degree… or someplace completely different."

  Tate put a hand to her shoulder. "Honey, we would support you in a degree, but I don't think you could handle the studies right now." Nellie closed her eyes, looking as if she could come apart, and Tate wondered if he should place a call to his old friend and psychologist, Dr. Jeremiah Fischer.

  "I just want to know," Nellie began slowly without opening her eyes, "if you will always take care of Sadie if I can't." She blinked her eyes open, looking between him and Lita. "Please, tell me you'll raise her as your own."

  "Oh good grief," Jackson spouted behind them.

  Tate sent him a quelling look designed to remind him of his earlier woodshed threat, and the boy clamped his mouth shut.

  Lita put a hand to Nellie's cheek. "She's our granddaughter, Nellie. Of course we'll take care of her." She pulled her into a hug. "But you're going to get better. You'll see. This will get easier. You just need time to heal. We all do."

  The crying started upstairs, and Tate gave a sigh as he pulled both women to his chest.

  Buy Jump today on Amazon.com or, for a signed copy, JodiBowersox.com.

  Also by Jodi Bowersox

  Interiors By Design

  Horses, Adrenaline, and Love

  Cinnamon Girl Explains It All

  Rocky Mountain Angels

  Rocky Mountain Sunrise

  Rocky Mountain Redemption

  Ephesians: The Plan, The Purpose, and The Power

  And under the name J.B. Stockings

  A Tale of Two Kitties

  The Stubborn Princess

  Main Modified: 2017-08-06T21:29:10