His words hit her like a warm shock.Jenna nodded and tried to smile back.But it felt wobbly.
Axel inhaled deeply, then spoke.
“Okay, if you're not where I can see you outside in ten minutes, I'm coming looking.And make sure you keep within sight of us.”
He did not wait for an answer and left.
Wow, demanding wasn’t he?Well, she didn’t have the energy to chase after him and set him straight.
That lawyer had just dropped a bombshell on her and she sure felt like her thoughts were scattered all over the place.This news was a big blow.Why had Sam not told her about his heart surgery?
She felt betrayed.
Jenna shook her head as another round of emotions threatened to make her cry.No, she would wait until she was with her horses and cry then.She always felt soothed being around them.They would help her.
Hurriedly, she washed her face and then brushed her teeth.
Moments later, she stepped out the back door into the bright sunshine and gasped as the hot, humid air wrapped around her like a heavy blanket, pressing against her skin, matching the weight in her chest.
“We’re okay.We’ve got this,” she whispered to her unborn baby.This tiny life was her anchor now, the one thing she couldn’t lose.
She waved to the guys who were hovering around the supplies in the parking lot.They were watching her and both waved back.
A few minutes later, as Jenna entered the pasture with a halter and lead rope she’d retrieved from the barn, the gentle black mare called Midnight, a recent acquisition to be a therapy horse, trotted over to greet her.The mare’s soft nudges cracked something open inside her.It was a small, fragile comfort in a day full of loss.
The awful feeling about Sam disappeared for a moment and Jenna knew what Midnight wanted.The mare wanted to ride on the trails in the shade of the nearby forest.
And Jenna would oblige her.
She didn't care at the moment that there was a nasty intruder around, maybe watching them.She just needed some privacy, so she go cry her heart out over Sam.She needed space.Somewhere the grief could spill out without witnesses, without judgment, without Axel’s steady eyes on her.
With Tim and Sam gone, she was very glad Axel and Nick were here.
Cyn was a lifesaver bringing these two men here at the right time.
Unlike Tim.He was no lifesaver.He’d just brought her grief.A momentary anger raged through her at her late husband.He said he would do the roof right when they’d signed the mortgage.
He didn't.He’d always found an excuse.
Then her anger disintegrated.She should have hired someone to do it.
It was her fault for not doing so.She had allowed herself to become too dependent on Tim’s excuses.
She wouldn't let herself become dependent on a man like that again.
She was the boss.She needed to remember that.
Axel and Nick were here to help her and she would make cowboys out of them.Just as long as she kept her cool around them.
Once she got the halter with lead rope on the horse, Jenna led her back to the barn to get her outfitted for a trail ride.She’d go out the back way so the guys wouldn’t see her.
* * * * *
“Where the hell is Jenna?”
The sharpness in Axel’s voice sliced through the morning air, jolting Nick’s nerves like an electric current.
Startled, Nick let the bundle of shingles he’d been carrying drop from his hands, the heavy stack landing dangerously close to Axel’s feet.Thankfully, Axel didn’t seem to notice the near miss.His eyes were narrowed as he scanned the open field where the horses peacefully grazed.
