Chapter 16 #2
Chelsea frowned and considered telling him that not everything he did had to revolve around this custody case.
But it would fall on deaf ears because the reality was that Jagger was 100 percent about this case.
What if Jagger lost? What happened to a person who put every fiber of his being into a single goal only to lose it?
Talking about summer activities was distracting him from his foul mood, so she pushed her worry aside. “I promised you real honest-to-goodness Southern barbeque. If it wouldn’t rile Miss Z too much, we could go for dinner tonight.”
The tension in his features lessened, although it didn’t go away entirely. “I thought you made it.”
“It takes hours and hours to make authentic barbeque. But I happen to know a place.”
“I promised him ice cream.”
“So we’ll have dessert first.”
By the time they were ready to get Kaden, they’d decided on ice cream and barbeque for dinner, as well as made future plans to hike the Blue Ridge, go gem mining, visit the local caves, and participate in traditional summer activities, such as swimming and going to the park.
“So how was it?” Jagger kept his voice neutral as he drove them to the ice cream shop.
“It was okay.”
“What’d you do?”
“Built Legos.”
Chelsea glanced back at Kaden. He was staring out the window. Clearly she and Jagger were more interested in his two hours with Tanya than he was. The good news was he didn’t seem affected by the visit one way or another. He wasn’t begging to stay but he didn’t appear traumatized by it either.
“Did you talk?”
“Yeah. I told her about school and the horses and stuff.”
Jagger glanced at Chelsea. She shrugged.
“What kind of ice cream do you want?”
“Swirl.”
“Swirl dipped coming right up. Then Miss Chelsea is taking us to a real-life barbeque place.”
“Do I have to wear a bib?”
“Nah. We’ll live a little.” Jagger winked at Kaden through the rearview mirror.
Over the next few weeks, they fell into a routine.
Chelsea and Jagger played tennis most mornings, unless it was storming.
He went off to work at the stables and later in his office.
But he was never far away, occasionally joining in an activity she and Kaden were doing.
Chelsea couldn’t remember ever having so much idle time, so she filled it with things she could do with Kaden, such as vegetable gardening.
A couple of times a week, the three of them went out as a family, which was really the only chance Chelsea had to see her old friends.
She could see how easy it was to stay isolated at the house, when just about everything she wanted or needed was there.
The only difficult days were the mandatory visits with Tanya.
A few times, Kaden didn’t want to go, not because he didn’t want to see Tanya, but because they interrupted a fun activity.
After his visits, he indicated he’d had fun, but that was about it.
He never asked about living with her or her coming to live with them as Chelsea might have expected.
Not that everything was perfect in their fake world.
Jagger’s staff continued to give her the cold shoulder.
Grayson always talked to her like she was something he’d dragged in on the heel of his shoe.
Miss Z either ignored her or gave her the evil eye.
Only Mrs. Stanton appeared to make an effort, but there was still a coolness in her demeanor.
Mrs. Staunton had been Jagger and Kaden’s mother figure, and now here was Chelsea, filling the role of wife and mother.
For that reason, Chelsea worked to make sure Mrs. Stanton continued to feel needed.
On a few occasions, Chelsea had lunch with Lexie and Sydney or spent an afternoon helping Jagger at the stables so Mrs. Stanton had something to do by caring for Kaden.
When Kaden and the staff weren’t around and it was just her and Jagger, things were good.
They fell into an easy friendship. When she’d first ended the sex part of their relationship, things had gone back to being awkward for a week or so.
But after Kaden’s first visit with Tanya, when Chelsea convinced Jagger they needed to get out more, their relationship had improved.
She wondered if sleeping with him had helped in some ways.
He’d seen her naked and touched her in the most intimate ways possible.
A little handholding and a kiss in public wasn’t so strange after that.
Another part of her thought it was more than that.
Through this experience, she’d learned a lot about Jagger.
How he was so much more than a former playboy trying to do right by his uncle.
She respected and admired his honor and loyalty, especially where Kaden was concerned.
He was much deeper than people, including her at one time, had given him credit for.
He was overly generous, not just with his money, but in other ways as well.
He didn’t make excuses or act annoyed when she beat him at tennis.
Although, Chelsea determined it would take more than being beaten by a girl to make a dent in Jagger’s masculinity.
She was constantly fighting the desire to jump him.
In public, she often initiated contact with him, and it was growing harder to resist the urge in private.
Not just to comfort him when the custody issue weighed on him, but anytime, like when they watched TV or when he was in the shower after tennis.
He was like a magnet that was growing stronger, and her resolve was waning.
She suspected Jagger could tell. Although he still didn’t push her for more, there was a knowing gleam in his eyes, and he often spoke in innuendo.
In fact, she was pretty sure he was thinking it was only a matter of time before they ended up naked together again. Deep down, she suspected he was right.
As annoying as her hormones were, Chelsea hoped that her attraction to Jagger would be obvious to Meg Carter during her home visit and interviews. The only bump in the interview was when Meg Carter brought up their marriage and how close it was to Tanya’s arrival.
“Some might think it was your way of gaining points with the court.”
“That’s insulting to Chelsea and me.”
Meg Carter studied him as if that wasn’t the response she’d expected.
It wasn’t a denial, and yet it had been said in a way that made any further pursuit of the question a personal affront.
She must have not wanted to offend him, as she let it drop.
The rest of the interview covered Kaden’s daily routine and other aspects of his care.
They also learned Meg was talking to the staff, which gave Chelsea concern.
If they suspected the marriage was a sham, would they say so?
In a final part of the interview, Meg observed them as a family.
On that front, Chelsea thought they aced the test. There was no way to be with Jagger and Kaden and not see the love and happiness that radiated between them.
All that was left were the few weeks until the next court date.
Mrs. Monroe warned that a decision probably wouldn’t be made at that time, unless Tanya’s investigation came back with something glaring against her.
Jagger, for once, didn’t seem worried, which stumped Chelsea and made her wonder if he knew something he wasn’t telling her.
“Hey, Kaden, want to go riding?” Jagger sipped from his coffee cup on Thursday morning. Kaden was now into his fourth week of visits with Tanya and had a visit that afternoon.
“Yay! Can I ride Mable?”
“I don’t see why not. How about you, Chels? Want to go for a ride?” There was a twinkle in his eyes that made her wonder if he was thinking of the ride he’d given her on the dining table of their hotel in New York. As usual, her insides fluttered at the memory.
“I always like a good ride.”
He grinned. “Why don’t you come up around nine?” He set his cup in the sink, where Miss Z immediately scooped it up to put in the dishwasher.
“If we’re riding, we need to change.” Chelsea brought her coffee cup to the sink, rinsed it out, and put it in the dishwasher because Miss Z always fussed at her if she left dishes out.
“Okay.” Kaden jumped down from the table and ran out of the kitchen.
“I’ll take care of that,” Miss Z barked at Chelsea when she reached for Kaden’s breakfast dishes.
Lifting her hands in surrender, Chelsea left the kitchen.
Just before nine, she and Kaden showed up at the stables in jeans and sneakers.
“There’s Mable.” Kaden rushed over to where a horse stood, already saddled.
“She’s lovely.” Chelsea petted the horse’s neck.
“This is Chester.” Denny brought a bay-colored horse to her. “I’m told you’ve ridden before, but it’s probably been awhile.”
“Yes.” She took the reins from Denny and petted Chester.
“Will you help me up?” Kaden walked Mabel to Denny.
“Sure thing, big guy.” Denny got Kaden situated on the horse. “I can give you a leg up too, Mrs. Talbot.”
“Thank you.”
Denny walked Kaden’s horse out to the ring, with Chelsea following.
It had been a long time since she’d been on a horse.
In fact, the last time she’d ridden was to exercise the horses for the Talbots the summer of her sixteenth year.
Like with riding a bike, the memory yarn in her muscles kicked in and she settled into the ride.
Denny walked Kaden’s horse over some cavaletti.
Feeling confident, Chelsea took Chester to a trot and eventually did a loop of the ring at a canter.
“Wow, you go fast.” Kaden said as she brought her horse to stand with his.
“Someday you can go fast too.”
“Is it scary?”
“No. It’s exhilarating. But you have to practice first.”
“I’m gonna practice.”
When the ride was done, Jagger met them back at the stable. “You looked good out there, Red.”