Cerise shifted and the saddle creaked. As if sensing her annoyance, Saffron did a little skip, and she clenched her knees against the horse’s flank. Leaning forward she patted the mare’s neck. “Sorry, sweetie.”
“You okay there, Sparkles?” Brodie asked and, when she looked at him, she could see the concern shining in his sapphire-blue eyes. A shimmer of warmth splintered through her, and she had to make sure she didn’t shift again in case Brodie saw the movement or Saffron decided to do another little side skip. Fixing her gaze firmly ahead she willed her body to settle down.
How long had it been since a man had pulled instantaneous reactions from her like Brodie was able to do? Too long to remember. If one ever had at all. It would be so easy to lose herself in his eyes, but she had to be strong. Finn needed her focus at the moment. Stability was what the boy needed and after his experience with his aunt, if Cerise allowed her interest in Brodie to manifest, then the boy would be scared that he would be kicked to the curb—again.
She would never do that. Her heart was big enough to love Finn—and someone special—when the time was right.
Someone like Brodie.
Her inner voice teased her, but she couldn’t allow thoughts like that to take root in her mind at the moment.
“Cerise? Are you okay?” Brodie’s question penetrated her thoughts, and she realized she’d flaked on him and hadn’t answered his question.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” Looking around she couldn’t deny the property Mitch’s parents owned was beautiful. Growing up in a girls’ home, she hadn’t had the opportunity to see much more than the four walls of her bedroom, the dining hall, and her classrooms at school.
She never had enough money to go on school trips and, the one time she did, it had been a horrid experience with the other girls luring her into a room with mummified heads. Even now she still had no idea how they’d done it, but they’d locked her in there for hours. A shudder rippled through her at the memory of all those garish faces looking at her. She’d had nightmares for weeks, but she’d gone to school the day after the excursion and held her head high. How she managed that she didn’t know, because all she’d wanted were a couple of girls she could be friends with.
Cerise had one friend, Louise, in the whole time she’d been in the home, but Louise had gotten adopted. They’d written to each other for a few months, but when her letters went unanswered, Cerise knew her friend had moved on and forgotten all about her.
“I can understand why you like working here,” she said after the silence had stretched on again.
“Why is that?”
Cerise waved her hand encompassing the view of the gentle sway of the trees as the soft breeze caressed their branches. “It’s beautiful and peaceful. You can lose yourself in nature but know that civilization is only a few miles away.”
Brodie adjusted his hat. “You’re right. Working the land is humbling. There’s so much that can go wrong and so much that is beautiful.”
“How much further do we have to go? My butt is getting sore.” Finn called out from his position in front of them.
Cerise looked at Brodie and they laughed at the same time. “That right there’s another humbling thing about working on the land and riding horses—a sore butt,” Brodie commented, sending her a wink before digging his heels into the side of his horse and riding up to get close to Finn.
“Not much further, Bud. We’re going to ride just over this little rise, then we’ll stop and you can rest your weary backside.”
Cerise sighed at the sight of Brodie leaning toward Finn. She could almost let herself believe that the three of them could be a little family.
What the heck?
Hadn’t she already told herself that now wasn’t the time to get involved with someone, even a good guy like Brodie?
Yet the thought refused to be squashed. Especially since she’d always wanted a family she could call her own.
CHAPTER SIX
Cerise lay on the blanket,her eyes closed, enjoying the spring sun as it warmed her face. In the background she could hear Brodie and Finn talking about the merits of a certain video game. It seemed talking about the games had been the trigger to get Finn to shake off the remainder of the closed-off cloak he’d been wearing since she picked him up and start chatting like he’d done the first time he’d spent with her.
“One of Poppy’s boyfriends let me use his game console. We had tons of fun, but then ... we stopped.”
Cerise sat up, scooting over the blanket to where the boys sat. Why had he stopped talking? It sounded like a good memory. One of a handful he must have had with Poppy. “What happened, Finn?”
“Umm, I guess it was just after Mom and Dad died. I’d been living with Aunt Poppy for a few weeks. Garrett was really nice. He’d take me and Aunt Poppy out for meals and movies. It was almost like I had my mom and dad back. And then,” he ducked his head so she couldn’t see him, but she didn’t miss the little shudder that rippled through his thin frame. “I woke up one morning and Aunt Poppy had my bags packed and said I neededto go to a home because she couldn’t look after me. I never got to say goodbye to Garett.”
The boy swallowed hard and she clutched her hands tight in front of her, waiting for what he was going to say next, knowing it had the potential to rip her heart out.
“I wish I knew what I kept doing wrong for Aunt Poppy to always send me away.” His voice was practically a whisper when he finished.
Cerise gathered him close in her arms, resting his head on her shoulder, her heart breaking at hearing the way his voice quivered, and how he was trying hard not to cry. She could feel the way he was breathing in an attempt to control his emotions.
She lifted her head and found Brodie watching them, his lips set in a thin line and his eyes flashing blue anger at a woman he didn’t even know.
