“Regina wants you to call them. They were going to call you, but they thought they might have trouble getting through and you would have a better chance. You can FaceTime them or you can just phone. Your choice. That’s straight from Regina. When you’re ready, I’ll tell you the number.”
She was amazed. When she could finally formulate the words, she said, “Jake, thank you. Go ahead. What’s her number?”
She listened and wrote down the number on the hotel pad. Her heart raced over getting to call Regina, over Regina wanting her to call and over Jake doing this for her.
“Jake, thank you,” she said again. She missed him, wished she had handled things a little differently, but she was still too deeply hurt that he hadn’t confided in her. “I’ll call Regina now.”
“Good luck. It’s good to hear your voice. I miss you.” His voice grew thick with emotion and then he cleared his throat. “Go on and give her a call.”
“I will right now. Thanks,” she said, reluctant to break the connection with him, yet knowing it was over between them. She just didn’t think she’d ever be able to get past his lack of trust in her. His deception. Besides, she told herself, they wouldn’t have had a future together anyway because of the old feud. There was no way she would lose her connections with her family.
Regina had lived all these years cut off from the family members she loved. Jake’s brother had lived cut off from his family and from Jake. She didn’t want that. Even if Jake got down on his knee and proposed and offered her a ring, she would have to say no.
She didn’t want to live cut off from the relatives she loved the way Regina had.
She ended the call with him and punched in the telephone number Jake had given her. In seconds, she couldn’t believe it—she was talking to her sister and looking at her. “Regina, I’ve missed you so much. I’m going to cry, and I can’t help it. You look wonderful, and you have a family. I want to see them.”
“Jake told us about the fire. I’ve missed you so, but it seemed best just to sever the ties. I didn’t want to take a chance on Dad or our brothers discovering you knew where we are. They would have ruined your life until you told them. I love you too much to allow that to happen.”
Her sister wiped at the tears in her eyes. Regina might look different, but the minute they started talking, Claire recognized the sister that she loved. “I’m sorry if that was wrong, Claire. Actually, part of it is still thinking of you as my little sis and so young, which is silly. You grew up just like I did. I’ll send you a ticket if you can fly out here and visit us before you start getting all involved in building a new ranch house. Can you come visit?”
“Oh yes,” she said, crying with joy and excitement. “I’d love to see all of you. I can come as soon as I can make flight arrangements. But you don’t need to get my ticket. I’ll get it.”
“I should have contacted you, but when I left, you were a little girl, and I didn’t think it would be a good idea to call you. If our dad had discovered we were talking, he might have used you to force me to come home. He would have wrung out of you how to get in touch with me if you had known. I was afraid you’d get hurt trying to protect me. Then as the years went by, I just let it go.” Regina ran a hand through her short hair. “I still love you, Claire, and I still miss you. Don’t think I ever stopped loving you or missing you.”
“Oh, Regina, I understand. You were probably right to protect me at that age.”
They talked for an hour, and after that Claire spoke to each of the children, getting to know them a little. She couldn’t believe the oldest was almost out of high school. When they finally said goodbye, Claire smiled and threw her arms in the air. She wanted to celebrate—with Jake. Then, her smile faded.
Jake wasn’t part of her life anymore. And she’d better get used to it.
But ironically, if it weren’t for Jake, she wouldn’t be back in touch with her sister, nor would she be going to see Regina. She had to at least call and thank him for that.
For right now she pushed aside thoughts about him. She had something more pressing to do: she needed to get her plane ticket and make arrangements to go visit Regina. After all these years, she couldn’t wait.
* * *
It had been so long since he saw her last. Jake knew Claire had gone to see her sister. She had called him before she left, sounding incredibly happy about the trip. He had called Sam and Regina and talked to Claire several times since she’d gone to visit them. Now she was coming home tomorrow and he ached to see her, to hear about her trip.
He had missed her more than he had ever missed any woman. He thought about her all through his waking hours, and he was making mistakes because his thoughts would drift to Claire and he would forget what he was doing.
He got up on the weekend and cooked breakfast for himself, putting strips of bacon in his big iron skillet. He turned the fire low on his gas range and then turned to get orange juice. He glanced out the window and saw his back gate was open. His big Lab knew how to open the gate and frequently did. Then the dog would go join the cowboys and spend the day around them. The dog had figured out how to open the gate, but he never tried to learn how to close it, despite the countless times Jake had tried to teach him. Jake went out to close it, because the dog could open it and get back in if he wanted to.
Jake gazed at the horizon and thought about the past month. He still missed Claire and wanted to see her as soon as she returned from visiting her sister. Maybe she was over being mad at him. She had sounded happy the last time they talked and actually she told him she missed him. Feeling hopeful for the first time in a long time, he turned to go back to the kitchen and glanced at the window.
Orange flames flickered, and he remembered his bacon in the big skillet. He ran back inside, grabbing a fire extinguisher as he ran through the back entryway.
When he raced into the kitchen, a fire burned in the skillet and had caught a curtain at the window. That’s what he had seen burning.
He turned off the gas burner and then raised the extinguisher, aiming it at the curtain, squirting it and putting out the fire in seconds. Next, he grabbed a lid for the iron skillet, covered it and smothered that fire. Taking a deep breath, he pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. That all had happened because he couldn’t keep from thinking about Claire.
There was no more denying it. He was in love with her. For the first time in his life, he was in love. He wanted her back in his life. He wanted her in his life all the time.
Would she ever get over her anger with him? She had said she missed him. How strong were her feelings for him? Could he ever get her back?
He thought about the feud and her feelings about that. She had repeatedly told him they could never have a permanent relationship even if they ever wanted one because of the feud. She had said she never wanted to marry and be cut off from her family the way Regina had been. That damned old feud! It was time to end it. He stared into space, racking his brain for any way possible to bring it to a conclusion. Would anyone be willing to join him and let the feud die?
Then he thought about Claire again. When he saw her again, would he be able to persuade her to take a chance on marriage? Did he really want to marry at this point in his life? It was years sooner than he had ever expected to settle down.
