Chapter Eighteen #3
‘I’d heard his name here and there but never met him.
There was a tradition in his family that the boys attend boarding school on the East Coast starting when they were ten.
He didn’t come back to live in Harvest Moon until he was eighteen.
’ She shook her head. ‘He was a gorgeous man but such a clumsy oaf. One day he asked to carry my books, but once he had them in his hands he tripped over his own feet, and they went flying. Never seen a man go that shade of red before. Not even when he saw me naked for the first time.’
‘Clo!’ I yelped. ‘Now I’m going to need to bleach that thought right out of my brain.’
She giggled. Clasped my hands. ‘Sweetheart, I know you’ve had a complicated life. That you had to grow up much too fast, but you can’t be afraid of love. Not like…’ She pressed her lips together.
‘Belladonna?’ I finished.
‘Your mother has always been her own person. From the time she was young, she was independent. Like Lia, she’d wander off into the woods.
Make bouquets out of wildflowers that would make Aster proud.
’ She bumped her hip against mine. ‘She loved animals too back then.’ A brittle huff left her lips.
‘But she was never interested in outward signs of affection. Never wanted anyone to touch her.’
The pain of regret in her eyes was palpable. I couldn’t imagine accepting that you could never have a child, and then, when one finally arrived, they weren’t interested in being close to you. I hoped that Lia, Aster and I had given her what she’d missed all those years with Belladonna.
‘As your mother grew older, she began to see men as a means to an end. The first time she left Harvest Moon it was on the back of a motorcycle with some guy she’d met near the pharmacy.
She was barely eighteen. A few months later, she landed in Denver, living with another man.
In every situation, she’d worked things to her advantage.
Once she got what she needed, she’d escape.
Find someone new.’ She held my hands tighter.
‘You’re different, my sweet Dandelion. Kindness radiates out of you.
You love with your entire heart. Have such a gentle way with people.
It’s why you’re such a good veterinarian.
Why animals seek you out for comfort and care.
A being like you is meant to be loved. To share your life with someone who will cherish every single part of who you are. ’
‘But that can’t be Bryce, no matter what Aster says.’
‘When you have enough life experience, you tend to see situations a lot clearer. Sense people’s intentions.
Aster may say Bryce’s color matches yours, but I can’t say if that’s true or not.
Only you can decide if he is your soulmate, but that also comes with complications.
’ Her eyes twinkled. ‘My instincts say you’re already beginning to understand that fact. ’
I couldn’t deny that from the moment I met Bryce on the trail, a part of me sensed a connection with him.
That tether only grew stronger when he kissed me later that night.
And when he touched me in the truck yesterday, eased that ache, it was like all the atoms in my body sparked to life.
But tonight, we were back to doing that same cagey dance.
Not trusting one another. Not letting our guards down.
And that was the issue. We both had clear missions, which were diametrically opposed.
‘Nothing can happen between us. He’s here to write something so sensational that he can revive his career, and I’m pretty sure that sensational thing he needs is going to be us.
’ I couldn’t help but deflate at my admission.
‘Once he’s gotten what he needs, he’ll head back to Los Angeles and not give Harvest Moon another thought. ’
‘Perhaps,’ she said. ‘But people can surprise us too.’
She gave me a hopeful smile before heading into the kitchen.
I waited a minute, taking another look at the inverted reflection of the moon on the lake.
When we were kids, I’d often find Lia sitting in the dark on the night of a full moon.
How she was mesmerized by the way the light glinted off the water.
It was a reminder of how this house, this land, was a part of her.
How she’d fight for it with her entire soul.
It made sense why she was so angry tonight.
She considered Bryce’s presence a threat to what she held dear.
But there was something else there. Something that had been eating at her since before Bryce showed up.
If I called her on it, she’d deny it, but I wasn’t going to allow it to simmer too long.
Clo rattled around in the kitchen and I turned to watch her.
What she’d said about not being afraid of love shook me.
Aster may have claimed that Bryce was meant to be something special in my life, but that didn’t matter.
My job was to protect this family in spite of whatever I felt for him, and, after tonight, I was convinced I needed to do everything in my power to ensure he never got a shot at hurting a single one of us.