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Sheryl had dumped him and chosen Clint? He wasn’t enough and would never suit a smart, classy, and wealthy beauty like Jacey? Nah. That wasn’t right. He was all Jacey would ever need. Her touch and the warmth in her blue eyes told him that. She was more than he’d ever bargained for.
Before he could overthink it any further, like a cow chewing on its cud, he bowed his head. He prayed with gratitude for the food, the ranch, his family, and Jacey coming into his life. Then he asked for strength, light, and protection for Jacey, her brother, and all those helping Quaid.
After she uttered amen, he forced himself to release her hand and dig in. The calves were bleating loudly. He needed to go feed them, but feeding the lady sitting next to him was priority number one.
“The men who visited …” she said after she’d taken a bite, chewed and swallowed.
“Clint and Walker Coleville,” he supplied.
“They want to help me, and they know who the witch is?”
He nodded. How would she take the news that ‘the witch’ was her mother?
“Can you tell me who the witch is?”
He nodded. Doc had explained to Walker that Cade could answer her questions as she asked them. Just to be cautious not to give her any extra info to process that could overwhelm her and slow her recovery.
Setting his fork down, he took a drink of juice and studied her carefully as he admitted, “Jacey. The witch is your mother.”
Her eyes widened, and she banged her back against the hard chair. “My own mother … injured my brother?”
“Yes.”
Dang, this was hard. How shocking to find out your family didn’t just have normal family struggles. Her mother was a horrific person and a criminal. He could see in Jacey’s blue eyes that stung.
“Did those men reveal to you why my mother would behave in such a depraved manner?”
“From what I gather, she … controls a lot of people, and I believe she hurt your brother to control you.”
Okay, that was probably more information than she needed.
She only stared at him, seeming to stew about it, then she asked, “And I was racing away from her?” Her eyes grew panicked. “She is near?”
“No,” he reassured her. “You were out on a trail run, for exercise, and your brother Quaid called you and told you that your mother had escaped from prison. I believe she was incarcerated in Pennsylvania.”
“Despicable,” she pronounced.
His eyes widened.
“My mother injured her children and escaped from prison and … she is deplorable. I don’t want to utilize brain space on such a woman. It makes my head ache.”
“Do you want some Tylenol? Doc said you could take some of that.”
“No thank you, but that is very gracious.”
Her language was proper and educated. He loved the lilt and flow of her sentences and the large words she used naturally. Words nobody he knew would say. Deplorable, despicable, depraved. Did he sound like a hick to her? Of course he did.
She straightened and looked as regal as a queen. “Do you boast a kind, normal family, very dissimilar from my own?”
“Yes,” he admitted.
“Lovely. Share with me details about them, please.” She smiled as if all was well, but her blue eyes were stormy and confused. Had he given her too much information? “First, we should eat promptly, and feed your animals. They are complaining loudly, are they not?”
“They sure are. Bellyaching.”
She laughed at that, and he smiled at her. She’d been at the Coleville Ranch for a year apparently. Did she feed calves? It didn’t fit her dignified persona, but he was learning quickly Jacey was no stereotype. She was as real, warm, and intriguing as any woman he’d ever met.
Talking about his mom, dad, and two younger sisters as they ate wasn’t a hardship. Jacey asked questions and seemed drawn to his family and their situations.
