Page 90 of The Lucky Heart (Jamison Valley 3)
“Oh, lordy,” I muttered while Silas swung up on Courage. “Lulu, please be nice to me.”
She answered by swishing her tail over her butt. Was that a good sign or bad? Good. Stay positive. She started following Courage automatically and my hands tightened on the saddle’s horn like a vise.
“Relax,” Silas said. “Just enjoy the nice morning. We’ll take it very slow.”
It took a while but I was eventually able to relax. Lulu’s calm and steady nature rubbed off on me, and when I stopped staring at the ground, I saw that Silas was taking me up a gentle ridge that overlooked the ranch.
“Wow. I didn’t realize how big those meadows were,” I said when we reached the top.
The valley below us was green and lush. Small pools left over from the flooded creek were glistening in the morning sun. There wasn’t a breath of wind in the air, and the cloudless sky was a clear blue. “This is amazing, Silas.”
“It sure is.” But he was smiling at me and not the view.
I smiled back, then returned to the beauty down below. “Thanks for bringing me up here.”
“Anytime. We can go for rides more often so you start to feel more comfortable on a horse. I’ve gotta turn you into a ranch girl.”
“City girl, be gone,” I teased but Elliot’s words echoed in my ears.
I didn’t belong here, Elliot had that right. I didn’t know what it took to run a ranch but I was willing to learn. I’d bend over backward to know all about the Lucky Heart as long as that meant I could stay by Silas’s side.
“I need to apologize for my dad. I should have warned you that something like that might happen.”
“What?” I gaped at him. He knew Elliot didn’t like me? And he hadn’t thought to mention that in the last month when I’d been practically living on the man’s property? My shock turned to anger and my mouth snapped closed with a loud bite.
“Like I said, I should have warned you.”
I huffed. “You think?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You have to tell me things, Silas. I’m not some little woman that you need to shelter and protect.”
He nodded. “You’re right and I should have told you. I was just hoping that he’d get over his issues and be more respectful.”
“Well, he wasn’t. He was a jerk and I was totally unprepared. You’re just lucky that, by some miracle, I managed not to let go of my attitude and piss him off even more.”
“Babe, if Dad’s a dick, I couldn’t give two shits if you told him off. I’ve told you this a million times: don’t stifle your spirit. I love that you call me on my shit when I fuck up. Call him on his.”
My anger fizzled out. “I want your parents to like me.”
He chuckled and nudged Courage to step closer to me and Lulu. “Mom does. Dad will too. This is just a change. He’ll get over his issues.”
“What did I even do?” I asked even though I was pretty sure the answer was hurt his son all those years ago.
“Dad needed a place to point his finger. He picked you. He’s blaming you for me going into the army because he thinks that if you had stayed, I would have too. But I was gone and they had a rough couple of years. They nearly lost the ranch when the cattle market took a nosedive. It’s part of the reason why Dad’s so resistant to try new things. He finally got things back in the black and doesn’t want to take any risks.”
I deflated in the saddle as guilt settled on my shoulders like a hundred-pound weight. Elliot had a right to point fingers. Silas’s ten-year absence was my fault. I had no doubt that if I hadn’t run away, Silas would have stayed in Prescott. When were my mistakes going to stop haunting me? Would we ever be able to move past this?
I closed my eyes and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“Hey.” He grabbed my hand. “Look at me. It’s not your fault. You know, just like Dad does, that I was considering the military even before all that shit happened with us. Dad is just being stubborn but he’ll get over it.”
“And if he doesn’t?” If Elliot had been holding a grudge against me for sixteen years, it wasn’t going to be easy for him to forget.
“He will.”
“He might not.”
