Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
The gravel crunched beneath her truck's tires, each rotation feeling like a countdown to something uncertain. The envelope sat on the seat beside her, its crisp edges drawing her eye like an accusation. White knuckles gripped the steering wheel, her breath shallow and quick.
Chase sat motionless on the wide wooden porch, the old rocking chair creaking a rhythmic protest against his weight as she got out of her truck. His silhouette was stark against the weathered farmhouse, unchanging as she approached.
The October wind swept across the ranch, carrying the sharp scent of dying grass and impending rain. Jewel's legs felt heavy, each step up the wooden steps a deliberate effort. Her body was betraying her again—the familiar tremors of a Lyme attack gathering like storm clouds at her edges.
She'd called both brothers earlier, her voice tight and controlled. Now, facing Chase, the weight of the unspoken hung between them like a physical barrier. The letter—that damn letter—felt radioactive in her sweaty grip.
On the one hand, she was glad she'd convinced Destini to take it earlier. When she'd visited Houston weeks ago, Destini had been withdrawn and sullen. There'd been no drawing her out of her attitude. It had scared Jewel, and she knew it was time to put her foot down and insist Destini move to Crimson Creek.
She just didn't know how to make it happen without losing her daughter, emotionally, forever. The stress of it was getting to her, the stress of worrying about her in Houston without her mama when they'd been each other's rocks for fifteen years.
Her muscles ached from weeks of overworking, of avoiding, of pushing through. The silence from Chase was more punishing than any words he could have spoken. The weeks since they'd slept together had been a minefield of avoidance. Chase had texted and called that first week, but nothing since then.
Another gust of wind made the porch boards creak. Chase remained motionless, a sentinel waiting, watching. She ached to crawl onto his lap and relax into the rocking. Her dad had done that with her when she'd been a kid, right before her mom had died.
Chase's body language didn't welcome her though, so she remained standing and leaned against the porch railing in front of him.
His eyes bore into hers, cold and unyielding. Not a muscle moved in his face as he seemed to search warily in her soul.
"Is Hunter here?" Jewel asked, her voice sounding thin and brittle even to her own ears.
Chase's lips curled slightly, a hint of sardonic humor. "Do you see his Jeep?" he drawled, gesturing with a subtle head tilt to the empty driveway. "No, he's not here."
The dry, cutting tone made her wince. His words were loaded—not just about Hunter's absence, but about everything unspoken between them.
Just then, the distant rumble of an engine cut through the silence. Hunter's familiar Jeep appeared on the horizon, and simultaneously, fat raindrops began splashing against the wooden porch steps. The first drops were heavy, almost aggressive, punctuating the tension.
A tension that she couldn't seem to move past. What should she say about their one night of passion weeks ago? Today wasn't about that. It was about the damn letter in her shaking hands.
Hunter parked, jogging up to the porch with that athletic grace that always characterized him. His eyes darted between Jewel and Chase, sensing the electrical charge of unresolved conflict.
"Let's go inside," he said quietly, holding the screen door open.
They moved into the kitchen as the rain began to pour, each taking a seat at the well-worn table, the letter sitting between them like an unexploded bomb.
Jewel's fingers traced the edge of the envelope. She'd been at the Williams' ranch more frequently since their mother's accident, but her visits had become a carefully choreographed dance of avoidance.
Chase. Always avoiding Chase. Maybe it was avoiding destiny. She snorted and shook her head. Destiny or Destini, who knew?
Since that night—that moment of weakness, of passion, of complete surrender—she'd been calculating her movements. A strategic retreat. Showing up when Hunter was around but knowing when Chase was riding Gladys into town or coming to the clinic.
She'd learned in the past few months of living back in Crimson Creek that proximity to Chase was a dangerous thing. Each time she saw him, memories bloomed like bruises, vivid and painful in the ache for more. The way Chase's hands had moved across her skin. The desperate, urgent way they'd come together. The mistake they could never take back.
Being with him felt too good, too natural, too right to be anything but a mistake.
"So," Hunter said, his voice cutting through her spiraling thoughts. "Are we going to talk about this letter or just stare at it?"
Jewel blinked back into the moment, feeling alone despite the three of them being in this situation together, each of them sitting on a different side of the table.
Chase remained silent, his jaw set, eyes fixed on a point just beyond the letter. Waiting.
Jewel's left hand began to tremble—a telltale sign of the Lyme disease brewing beneath her skin. Stress always triggered it. And right now, stress was the only thing filling this kitchen.
Jewel bit her lip and then sighed, her stomach roiling with nerves as she reached for the envelope and ripped the edge before pulling out the letter.
Her eyes flew across the paper, and her jaw dropped open. Her fingers shook. She looked at Hunter with shock on her face, and he reached for the letter as she turned to stare at Chase.
Chase was Destini's father, not her ex-boyfriend Hunter. How did she feel about this? Shocked, secretly happy, but overwhelming dread to know that this was going to get out in town. What would her dad say? What would the kids at school say when they met Destini and found out her dad was a convict?
Worry and fear swarmed her as a gasp rang out in the room. "What? No!"
Jewel's head swung toward Hunter to see Ava standing, one hand on her walker and the other reaching over his shoulder to grab the letter. Ava's jaw dropped, and Jewel winced.
"What's the meaning of this?"
Jewel looked to the left at Chase with horror filling her, and Chase just sat, stoic with arms crossed, his face giving nothing away.
Hunter cleared his throat and sighed, turning in his seat. "That is a paternity test, Ma, to see who Destini's real dad is. I didn't finish reading it, but I'm guessing from these reactions that it's not me?"
"What?" Ava screeched, the paper shaking.
Jewel's face flushed as she twisted her hands. She looked at Ava quickly, then Hunter before going back to Chase. "I—I made a mistake that summer after I graduated."
Chase jerked at the words, snapping back in his seat and his eyes flashing. "A mistake?" His voice was deadly quiet. "The first time, maybe, but you can't keep denying me, Jewel."
She winced, her body heating at the memory of their night together weeks ago. She'd rationalized it as being a grief response. They'd both been reeling from the accident and Clio's death. But that excuse was getting old, even to her own mind.
"What?" Ava screeched again, wavering on her feet. Hunter jumped up, taking her by the elbow.
"Ma, let's get you back to the den. You can't stay on your feet this long, remember?"
She scowled at him. "I've been doing physical therapy with Cindy. I'm supposed to walk around the house three times a day. I'm fine. Besides, this is more important. Now about Destini."
They turned to face Jewel and Chase. Jewel's shoulders hunched over at their scrutiny, and she felt tears threaten. Alone, she wiped her cheek furiously.
Hunter reached for her hand and squeezed. "Hey, it's going to be alright. Everything happens for a reason, right? Dreams come and go, but family is forever. No matter who her dad is, you're both still family."
She didn't miss the way Chase tensed in the chair and could almost hear his teeth grinding as he stared at her hand in his brother's in the middle of the table. She wanted to throw his hand away and reach for Chase, but that way led to madness.
She gripped Hunter's hand, squeezing like a drowning victim. "Everyone in town is going to talk, and that's going to hurt Destini when she decides to finally move here."
Ava snorted and sat slowly on a chair beside Hunter. "The town will talk, yeah. There's no way of getting out of that. You two made your bed, and now you have to lie in it."
Jewel winced at the reminder of her dad's words from that first weekend she'd moved here.
Hunter tried to lighten the mood with a chuckle. "I guess this means your dad will lighten up about me not paying child support, huh?"
Jewel groaned and let go of his hand to bury her face in hers. "Oh God, what's Dad going to say?"
Chase grumbled, and she could feel the heat of his stare. "I'll pay child support. That's not a problem, and we'll deal with him when the time comes. Let's take a day or two to talk about what this means first."
"What this means?" Jewel asked, spreading her hands wide and her head popping up from the table. "It means I'm going to be the town whore. Destini isn't going to fit in with anyone because her dad went to prison. And my dad's going to freak out. As if I'm not already a disappointment."
Chase snorted under his breath, "You and me both."
"Don't talk like that in my house, missy," Ava said sternly, clearly not hearing Chase.
Jewel sighed and felt Chase's knee nudge hers. She froze, eyes wide as she replied to Ava. "Sorry, but you know it's true. This complicates everything."
Chase stiffened, his knee moving away from hers and leaving her bereft. "I'm sorry to be a complication, sweetheart, but we're not going to keep pretending like she's Hunter's. The fact is, she's my daughter, and I want to get to know her. I want to be involved, Jewel. I won't be an absentee father. Not anymore."
Ava shook her head, the letter fluttering to the table. "Chase, you—how did this happen?"
The tone was the same disappointed tone she'd used when they were kids, the same one she'd used when Chase had gone into the pen to calm Clio, and he'd been thrown to the dirt.
Chase looked up at Ava and glared. "I know, Ma, I'm an enormous failure. The black sheep of the family. I knocked up my brother's girlfriend before going to prison for vehicular manslaughter. I'll be the talk of the town again. Surprise, surprise."
The sarcasm dripped in his tone, but it didn't mask his hurt and pain. She wanted to reach out to him, hold him and comfort him the way he'd always comforted her.
"You're not a failure, Chase," Hunter said gruffly. She waited and hoped that Ava would say something, but she just stared at the paper on the table, her hands still shaking with shock. Something slid through Jewel's stomach as she realized Chase's relationship with his mom was just as broken as hers with her dad, maybe more so.
Chase's fist slammed into the table, making her jump. "Tell that to all the old busybodies at church. Tell that to everyone I see at the grocery store. Tell that to anyone in town, actually. The only place I'm even semi-accepted is on this ranch, by everyone except Mom and Dad."
Chase's bitter tone left a heavy pall over the room, and Jewel was at a loss on how to help. She nudged his knee with hers, and he froze, his eyes going to hers and searching. She stared, he stared, both trying to communicate something deep and hidden.
Hunter went to the liquor cabinet and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and glasses. Ava tossed hers back with a wince, and Jewel played with her glass, but Chase just stared at her. Goosebumps broke out across her skin, and she wished—not for the first time—that she'd opened the letter as soon as it'd come in the mail.
"When does Destini come to town? When will we get to meet her?" Hunter asked before taking a drink.
Jewel sighed. "Still Thanksgiving." She threw the shot back and swallowed, the burn in her throat a welcome distraction from the chaos of the moment.
Hunter nodded as his phone vibrated. He glanced at it, then turned to Ava. "Come on, Ma. Let me get you settled in the den. I need to help Trent with some foals who don't want to come in out of the rain."
Ava waved her hand. "You go on. I have a few things to say to these two."
Hunter frowned. "No, Ma. This isn't about you. It's about them. They have things to discuss, not you."
Ava's jaw dropped, and her finger pointed at him. "Don't talk to me like that, young man. I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
Jewel winced, but Hunter chuckled. "I know, and you go right ahead. But you'll leave Chase and Jewel to figure out how they want to parent and be a family."
Family. With Chase. The room spun, and she felt like she was going to tip sideways until Chase's knee nudged her own. Her spine straightened.
Hunter turned to his brother. "Why don't you two go to the cabin and have a nice, long talk, away from prying eyes and ears. Figure out the logistics of parenting, maybe FaceTime Destini and let her know before anyone else finds out."
Jewel groaned, her hands on her cheeks once more. "Oh God, Destini's going to flip."
Chase stood and nodded. "That's a good plan. I'm open to a discussion if you are."
He offered Jewel his hand, and she looked up at him with her big doe eyes. She bit her lip, then took it, letting him help her up.
She pushed in her chair, her feet wobbly. She shook her head and turned away, shoulders slumping in defeat. Together they went out the front door, Chase's hand on her lower back a welcome comfort.