“It was a mistake.”
A mistake. Like knocking a glass off a table?
He should kill this man and deliver his sorry heart to Jessica’s door. It’d be the only thing to appease Caleb’s fury. B
ut that would be the selfish way, wouldn’t it? To leave her alone again for the sake of his pride? Not much different from the selfish decision he’d made to leave her here alone and make his fortune in California.
And if he killed Theodore Durst, his mother would need to know the reason. The whole town would.
Caleb lowered his arm. He let his grip loosen.
Theodore fell to the ground and bent over, coughing and sucking in air.
Caleb straightened his cuffs and shook out his aching hand. “Know this,” he said to his stepfather.
The man’s head jerked up, terror still bright in his eyes.
“If I can’t make her happy, if I can’t make this right, I’ll come back here and find you. Every night when you go to sleep, know that you might find me standing at the foot of your bed when you wake up. I will never, ever forget what you did. What you took from her, you fucking animal.”
He walked out, leaving his stepfather huddled on the floor. If the man was bruised or bloodied, he’d have to find a way to explain that to his wife. He’d tell a lie, certainly, but Caleb didn’t know if his mother should ever hear the truth.
His body felt stiff and strange as he mounted his horse and turned it back toward Jess’s. He urged his mare to a run, his blood churning, looking for some release for this new pain. He didn’t know what he planned to do or say. He just knew it needed to be now.
He tightened his aching hand on the pommel and leaned in. His horse stretched out and raced down the road. When his mind tried to show him pictures of Theodore violating Jess, Caleb growled and focused on the road ahead, the stand of trees that signaled he was halfway, then the slight curve in the road that was just before her house.
He rode into her yard in a cloud of dust and pulled his horse up too hard. Spotting Jess in the garden, he slid to the ground and started for her.
She stood, putting a hand to her back as if it was sore, and frowning at him. Caleb was ten feet from her when he caught movement from the barn. Bill stepping out to guard her.
Caleb ignored Bill and moved closer to Jess. “It was him,” he said, the words hoarse and dry.
“What?” she asked in confusion, but then her eyes widened and the color fell from her face.
He stopped two feet from her. “Theodore. He was the one.”
She dropped the spade she’d been holding and took a step back. “Oh,” she breathed. Then “oh” again as she sank to her knees in the dirt.
“Jess.” He reached for her as Bill said his name, a sharp crack of warning, but Caleb paid no attention. He knelt and grabbed Jessica’s shoulders to steady her. Both her hands rose to cover her open mouth.
“No,” she said past her hands.
Caleb gripped her tighter. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She stared at him, eyes swimming with tears as her hands fell slowly to her lap. “You shouldn’t have come back.”
“I had to. I love you.”
“How can you say that?” she cried.
“Because it’s true.” He tried to pull her into his arms, but she went stiff.
“Don’t touch me!”
“Miss Jessica,” Bill said from somewhere close. “You all right? You want me to leave or stay?”
Her blue eyes rose, searching the space behind Caleb as if she couldn’t quite place Bill or what he was doing there. “I’m fine,” she said. “He’s fine.”
But Caleb wasn’t fine. He was breaking inside as tears slipped from her eyes.