River's End (River's End Series, #1)(75)

Jack didn’t like hearing it. Not any of it. A young, vulnerable, girl like Erin left so young and alone, abandoned. She was lucky something worse didn’t happen to her. Having sons of his own, Jack couldn’t imagine not doing what was best for his kids. How could her mother ignore and then abandon her? Or not want what was best for her?

“How did Chance fit into all this?”

“He was around when I was little. But from the time I was a teen on, Chance was usually gone. He came back once in a while; but he’d always screw up and take off again.”

Jack felt a fierce stabbing in his heart that nearly doubled him over. No more. No more would Erin be left alone and vulnerable, unwanted, and unable to read, and essentially helpless. He would see to it no harm ever came to her again. No matter what.

“Allison seemed to think you could actually be dyslexic and not realize it. There all kinds of different ways it shows itself. She said…”

She nodded and dropped her head. “I don’t know. But what if I can’t learn?”

He stepped forward, putting his hand to her chin as he raised her eyes to his. “Even if you can’t, to start you’re smart, Erin. Everything you’ve done here was new to you, and you’ve learned it all. No, you’ve mastered it all. You’re a survivor. That’s why I know you can do it. But if you can’t, so what? What will it cost? Nothing. Who will it hurt? No one. I won’t ridicule you. No one here would ever do that to you. I will never let anyone again hurt you over this. Do you understand me? No one will ever hurt you again.”

Her gaze wavered before she shut her eyelids. Sighing, she said, “That’s hard to imagine.”

“Imagine it. Believe it. Believe in me.”

She nodded as her eyes filled with tears. “I do, Jack. I believe in you. Okay, I’ll think about it.”

He let her go. “That’s all I’m asking of you. Just try. I don’t like how vulnerable it makes you.”

“I’ve never had anyone care about me before, and especially not for that reason.”

He sighed. “Erin, you really need to find new people to hang out with.”

A laugh escaped her lips. “You know, I think you might be right.”

He finally smiled. How could he not smile at her? He relished seeing her rare smiles when the worry vanished, and her eyes lit up.





Chapter Twenty-One


The two weeks leading up to Joey’s departure were busy, fast and inevitable. Jack watched his little brother, the man he raised, leave the ranch on a beautiful morning, pulling away in his truck to begin his new life. The morning Joey left, Jack’s stomach had him nearly buckled over in pain. Eventually, it faded when he realized Joey was finally and truly gone. The odd quiet that fell over the ranch seemed as thick as it was when Lily died.

Jack kept busy primarily to avoid the pain. The boys were out of school for the summer, so the ranch became busier than ever with their constant chatter and friends over. They hung out more with Jack, and spent more time in the barns. Erin, too, was out more whenever they were around and they continued to insist upon her riding around the arena. He tried to ignore how he felt whenever he saw them together, and how happy Charlie appeared with her. How different Erin was with the boys than the way she was with him or his brothers. She had concerns that neither he nor his brothers ever even considered. She was softer, kinder, and more attentive towards the children than any of the men thought to be.

He hired a new foreman and a ranch hand, and each occupied the two trailers near Erin’s. He didn’t like their close proximity, and decided it was time to move Erin’s trailer to a better spot. The parking lot was no place for a girl to live. The rough-necked ranch hands he expected to live in the trailers didn’t mind the parking lot vistas of where they were parked. But Erin deserved better. She deserved to live in a house. But he couldn’t do that and he knew it. The only empty room there belonged to Joey, so there was no way he could move Erin in. He settled by disconnecting her trailer from the water, electricity and dump station, and hooking it up to his truck. He moved it to a new spot, across the front yard and closer towards the river. He’d already run new power, water and a dump line out there; and doubted she had a clue about what he spent those several days doing. He also leveled out the site and built a deck for her. Once the trailer was set up, she could look out over the river on one side, and into the horse pastures and the main house on the other side. Her deck gave her more privacy, and offered beatific views whenever she left or entered the trailer. He did it all while she was at work just to surprise her.

When she pulled in, he jogged over to her truck and indicated for her to roll down her window. When he pointed to her new home, her jaw dropped and she eyed him curiously.

“What did you do, Jack?”

“Not much. You need a better spot if you’re staying here permanently. The place where you were was only temporary. We pull the trailers out of the storage shop each spring for the ranch hands to use. We never intended for anyone to live there permanently, however. We’ll have to get it covered before winter too, since the snow loads around here would cave the roof in. If you’re staying, that is.”

She finally smiled. “I’m staying as long as I’m welcome.”

“Well, this way it’ll be more pleasant for you.”