Chapter 13
MADDISON
“ Y ou’re getting better.” Kyle attempts to compliment me as he continues to eat breakfast. I’ve not made anything fancy, just oatmeal, but I know it’s filling and everyone seems to be enjoying it.
“I’m heading into town once I’m all cleared up, I was thinking of meatloaf for dinner,” I announce.
“Marie used to make the best meatloaf,” Linc pipes up and I notice Jace smile sadly before dropping his head.
“Well, I doubt my attempt is going to be anywhere close to as good as that, but I’ll do my best to make it edible.”
I start clearing the bowls away when they all finish and start heading back out to the yard. A warm tingle spreads over my skin when Jace comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist.
“You know since you're ovulating we should probably–”
“We have, twice and that’s just this morning,” I point out, twisting in his arms so I can look up at him. “How do you expect me to get any work done around here if you're gonna keep dragging me to the bedroom?”
“It don’t have to be in the bedroom, I’d be happy to impregnate you right here, in fact, I kinda like the idea.” He kisses me, and despite the fact I’ve already lost track of the orgasms I’ve had since I woke up, I’m still happy to accept another.
“I really have to go to town. The cupboards are almost empty and I’ve promised the boys meatloaf,” I remind him.
“Fine, I’ll drive ya.” He looks a little disappointed, but he can’t argue with my logic. Since I came here, Jace has been spending far less time out on the yard. If he’s putting more pressure on his men, the least I can do is feed them properly.
“I can drive myself.” As much as I’d love to have Jace by my side wherever I go, it’s not conventional. I can already feel myself becoming too reliant on him.
“I know that, but I wanna drive ya. I got to pick a few things up from Eamonn at the hardware store anyway.” He picks up his keys and puts on his hat as he drags me out the door.
Jace tells me some of the town’s history on our way to the store while I take in all the beautiful scenery. Spread around us for miles are open plains with mountainous backdrops. I must have been too scared and confused to notice how pretty it all was when I first arrived here.
It’s hard to believe that that was just a few days ago, my life seems to have taken a whole new direction since then. Ever since Jace put the idea about us having a baby together in my head, I’ve found myself fantasizing about being a mom. Wondering who our child would look like and what their first word would be. I smile to myself when I imagine the magical Christmases. My parents were always too busy to celebrate holidays.
“Whatcha thinking about, pretty girl?” Jace’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.
“Do you like Christmas?” I ask curiously.
“Me and Mom kinda stopped celebrating after Dad died.” He clears his throat. “She even stopped putting up a tree. Me and Dad would usually go out to cut one down together, he’d wanna get the biggest one we could carry and we’d always argue about how we’d fit it in the house.” He laughs at the memory even though I can tell it makes him sad.
“Not having him around to celebrate with us didn’t feel right.” His smile fades as we pull up in the town square.
Everyone seems to be staring at us when Jace gets out of the driver's seat and rushes around the hood to open my door.
“I guess folk around here ain’t used to seeing me being a gentleman,” he smirks as he offers his hand to help me out. I get a filthy look from one of our younger spectators, which I’m assuming is due to jealousy, but I pay the girl no attention instead, I take my man’s hand and let him lead me across the street.
“I didn’t know you were stepping out with someone, Jace Sullivan.” An older woman whose hair is pinned up immaculately, pops her head out the hair salon door.
“Stepping out?” I whisper to myself in confusion.
“We’re far past that phase, Daphne,” Jace raises my hand to draw her attention to the ring on my finger.
“Isn’t she… I mean, aren’t you the bride who owns the Mercedes soft top that broke down just outside of town? ” The woman looks appalled.
“That’s me.” I shrug, glancing around and noticing a crowd starting to build around us. I see Sawyer in the distance, standing with his shoulder resting against one of the wooden pillars on his bar porch, wearing a huge grin on his face.
“Hold up, hold up…” I don’t recognize the guy in the blue overalls who pushes himself to the front of the crowd, but I assume from the oil streaks on them that he’s the person fixing my car, “...are you telling us that you and the runaway bride are engaged?” He stares at Jace as if he’s some kind of alien life-form.
“That’s what I’m tellin’ ya.” Jace smiles proudly and while the guy instantly holds out his oil-greased hand for Jace to shake, the whispers and gasps of shock pick up around us.
“So I take it you’ll be going to the dance together?” A girl I’d guess is the same age I am steps up beside me and holds a flyer in my face.
“A dance?” I look down at the brightly decorated flyer and Jace quickly snatches it away.
“Isabel, I told ya?—”
“Come on now, Sullivan, you can’t have a girl as pretty as this one wearing your ring and not take her to the dance. I’ll sure be taking my girl.” A tall, stocky man, whose belly almost bursts from his shirt, shoves my mechanic out of the way so he can wrap his arm around the girl's hip. She smiles awkwardly, as his swollen fingers grip the fabric of her dress, but she hides her distaste well. I only notice the way she inwardly squirms when he kisses her cheek because it’s the way I used to feel every time Adam touched me in public.
“Maddison, this is Eli, he’s our mayor.” Jace nods his head politely at him before he looks at the girl. “Isabel, perhaps you’d like to show Maddison across to the store while I have a word with your husband?” Jace suggests and I can’t help feeling sorry for the girl as she smiles warmly and takes my arm in hers.
“It’s right across here, ignore all the folk, you’ll soon be old news,” she whispers as she pulls me further from Jace along the sidewalk.
“This town may be small, but the next scandal is always just around the corner.” She raises her eyebrows as we get to the storefront.
“Do you have a list?” She places a basket in my hand and grabs one for herself as we step inside.
“Yeah, somewhere here.” I search around in my purse trying to locate it. “Sorry, all those people staring at us, kind of threw me off. Is it always so tense around here?” I glance over my shoulder when I see another person staring at me.
“Welcome to Clearwater Creek,” Isabel laughs, snatching the list out of my hand and leading me down one of the aisles. “Everyone knows everyone’s business, or at least they think they do,” she explains as she starts loading things from my list into my basket.
“I may still be new, but even I know that Jace committing himself to a woman is a big deal.” She studies the shelves before picking up a box of cornflour. “Did you know they held a meeting because they heard the new sheriff we’re getting is gonna be a woman?” She doesn’t give me a chance to ask why having a woman sheriff would be such a big deal. “A meeting chaired by women !” Her voice kicks up a few decibels and she shakes her head as she double-checks the list.
“Eggs? You live on a ranch.”
“The chickens lay but, apparently, not enough.” I shrug. “So is the sheriff what the town meeting was about?” It shocks me that a town could be so behind the times.
“No, you see, Clearwater Creek has its town meeting, and then it has its ‘Jean’ meeting. She’s, like, chairman to the busybodies.”
“Jean from the diner, right?” I narrow my eyes while trying to keep up.
“That’s right, she was married to Dennis who ran out on her, he left their only son running the garage. I don’t know Cade all too well, but I get the impression he’s pissed about it. I’ve heard whispers that he wanted to get out of town and move to the city, but there's no way he could leave his momma, now.”
“Wow…Okay.” I nod, trying my best to find space in my head for all this new information.
“Then you have Daphne who owns the salon and Eleanor from the florist, her husband, Hank, knows how to fix just about anything.” She continues to load me up as she talks and my shoulders start to ache from the weight she’s piling in the basket. “Their son, Hayden, is our deputy sheriff which is probably why they’re all so up in arms about this new woman being appointed as his boss.” Her voice drops into a whisper when a huge guy starts to march up our aisle, the sleeves of his checked shirt rolled up revealing thick, tree trunk-like forearms. Jace is tall, but I’d say this guy’s at least a foot taller. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man so big.
“That’s Beckett, he lives up on the mountain, and barely speaks to anyone, scary, huh?” She gets back to the list while I watch the man make no interaction with the cashier at all as he pays for his milk and marches out the door. It swings back shut so hard the ceiling rattles.
“So, who’s Daphne married to?” I get back to learning about the town’s busybodies.
“Daphne?” Isabel laughs. “That old crow isn’t married to anyone, I guess every town needs its spinster.” She shrugs.
“Gossiping isn’t very becoming, especially when it’s coming from the mayor's wife.” Isabel’s eyes double in size before she turns around and faces the tall, blonde woman who was standing behind her.
“Eleanor! I, ermmm, I didn’t see you there,” she laughs nervously.
“It appears not.” The woman overpronounces her words as she looks down her nose.
“Maddison, I assume?” She holds out her hand for me and when I take it, she twists my wrist so she can examine my hand.
“Marie’s ring.” She raises her eyebrows as if she’s impressed. “You must have made quite the impression.” She dismisses me from her hold.
“When you come to plan the wedding you must come and see me, it’s my specialty.” Her beady eyes move over to settle on Isabel.
“I’m sure your town guide will be glad to show you some examples from the happiest day of her life.” Her smile is as fake as her nails. “Me and my daughter ran the entire project. Photos of the church flowers even made it into the paper.”
“You did a wonderful job, Eleanor.” I’ve only just met Isabel but I can tell she’s forcing that smile.
“I look forward to seeing you.” She finally walks toward the cashier with her heels tapping against the floor and Isabel closes her eyes as if she wants the ground to open.
“I really suck at this whole mayor’s wife thing.” She looks down at the blouse she has tucked into her pencil skirt and we both laugh. “Do you want to grab a coffee? Usually, Eli and Jace have a lot to talk about, they could be a while.”
“I’d love that.” I get back to loading the basket with my superfoods so we can see what coffee selection the Clearwater Diner has to offer. I’m not holding on to much hope of anything fancy, but I do want to learn about this town that's become my new home.
“They’re an odd match aren’t they, Isabel and the mayor?” I question Jace as we head back to the ranch. I’ve really enjoyed this morning talking to her, it’s nice to know I now have a friend here. I have no idea what my friends back in Denver will be thinking of me. I haven’t even spoken to Kendra yet.
“Some might say that about us,” he points out.
“Why?” I laugh at him.
“Because you’re a nice girl, and I’m… well, I’m me.” The laugh he makes sounds a little sad, and when he reaches across the console and grips his hand around my thigh, I touch my hand over his so he keeps it there.
“Why do you make out that you're such a bad person? I don’t see that at all.” I look across at him, while he keeps his eyes on the road.
“Hell, I don’t know how he met her but Eli’s sure punching. She’s gotta be young enough to be his daughter,” he chuckles, trying his best to divert our conversation away from my question.
“I get the impression she’s not happy. That could easily have been me.” I sigh with relief when I think about how miserable my life would be right now if I’d given in to pressure and married Adam.
“Yeah, well, thankfully it ain’t. You’re exactly where you should be now,” he tells me with a grin.
“She didn’t talk much about her husband, but she did talk about the dance.” I start twisting my fingers around my hem when I bring up a subject we need to discuss.
“You wanna go, don’t ya?” He shakes his head and lets out a long drawn-out huff.
“I kind of have to, really.” My attention remains on him as I bite my lip.
“What do you mean?” He takes his eyes off the road again.
“I kind of got roped into being on the decorating committee,” I explain, hunching my shoulders and gritting my teeth.
“Are you being serious?” Jace chokes out a laugh.
“Isabel wants to keep the town’s traditions, but make them a little more…contemporary. She thinks I would be a real asset,” I repeat her words back to him.“We don’t have to go to the dance but I will have to be there to help decorate the barn.”
“What barn?” He narrows his eyes suspiciously.
“Your barn.” My words come out weak and so does my smile.
“ My barn!” he yells out in shock.
“You don’t get more authentic than a barn dance in a barn, as a member of the decorating committee I had to think of the aesthetics.”
“Aesthetic? What does that even mean?”
“It means that it will look pretty, and match the theme. It was my idea. You're not mad, are you?” I like the way things have been between us, the last thing I want to do is piss him off.
“You really wanna go to that stupid dance, don’t you?” He pulls the truck over so he can give me his full attention.
“I think it’ll be fun.” I shrug and watch him look up at the roof and take another long, deep breath.
“Fine, you can use the barn and I will, of course, escort you. But I ain’t dancing!” He points his finger at me.
“We’ll see about that.” I lean over the console so I can place a kiss on his cheek and with an even harder squeeze of the hand he has rested on my thigh, he sets off again.