West of Forever (Heartstone Ranch #1)(86)

I could lie. I probably should, but I’m too broken to do it. I walk to my mother, letting her pull me into her warm embrace. It’s as though I’m six years old and scraped my knee, needing my mom to make it all better.

The sob that tears from my chest as I hold on to her causes her to gasp. She rubs my back in slow circles as I let it out.

After a few moments she pulls back, taking my face in her hands. “What has you so sad, my darling girl?”

There is no resolve left in me to hold back, and, honestly, I don’t want to. I love that stupid man, and lying is getting us nowhere. As much as I want him to love me in the open, I have to be willing to do the same.

I’ve been so worried about my family and what they’ll think that he’s twisted it into a reason we can’t be together. Well, enough of that.

“I’m in love,” I tell her.

“And that has you in tears?” she asks, wiping them away, along with the hair that’s stuck to my face from the tears.

I nod. “He loves me, too, even if he thinks he can’t.”

My mother’s green eyes, which mirror mine, brighten. “Why can’t he love you?”

“Because he’s a Stone.”

The warmth that was there falls away, and it’s replaced with shock. “What?”

“I love Tristan, Momma. I don’t know when or how or why, because he’s really such a man and doesn’t listen to me, but I love him.”

Her hand drops. “Oh, dear.”

In terms of reactions, I guess this isn’t all that bad. I take her hand in mine. “I know that I shouldn’t. I know you and Daddy won’t understand, but he makes me so happy. While he’s a little dense when it comes to some things, he’s really great about others.”

“Lark, he’s been terrorizing this farm. You can’t love him,” she says quickly.

“He’s not.”

“We saw him on video.”

“That wasn’t him doing anything wrong. He knew I was upset about something, and he didn’t want me to ride my horse home alone. So he came here with me, helped me put Olympia away, and then he went home. He didn’t do any of those things.”

She shakes her head in denial. “He went to jail for it, Lark. Men don’t just do that.”

“He did it for me.”

Her inhale sounds like a gunshot in the silent room. “What? How does that make sense?”

I sigh, pulling out my phone. I logged in to the cloud, got the video, saved it to my phone, and deleted it from the drive. That way my brothers could never tamper with it or watch it.

Yeah, this is the part I was saying about being misguided and stupid. “He knew what the video could show if they went further. He knew they’d see us together, and it would cause issues for me…”

“I don’t believe that.”

I knew she wouldn’t. No one would. I cue up the video and press play.

I leave first, as though nothing out of the ordinary is happening. I’m sure they just assumed I went out to check on the horses, since we entered on the other end of the barn, so you don’t see us together.

Then, a few minutes later, you see Tristan leaving the barn, closing it up.

“That’s him leaving,” I explain.

“And that is proof he didn’t do it?” she asks with a laugh, clearly unimpressed.

“Keep watching.”

The video keeps playing, and Tristan can be seen leaving on his horse. Then, about ten minutes later, the door slides open and out comes someone else, hunched over and shielding their face from the camera.

Momma gasps. “Oh my God. Someone else was in the barn.”

I nod. “Yes, but I can’t see who or…anything really. Tristan…didn’t know what was on the recording. He assumed there might have been something with the two of us.”

Momma catches on, finishing for me. “So he took the fall to protect you.”

It’s my turn to nod. “I tried to make it right, to tell the truth, but he wouldn’t let me.”

She clasps her hands in front of her. “This is…a mess. Your daddy is never going to be okay with it. I can’t even think about either of your brothers’ reactions.”

It really doesn’t matter in some ways. It’s over between us. He’s decided that loving me is not worth the risk. He does this with anything that scares him.

“I don’t even know if telling them is worth it, since he’s decided he can’t be with me.”

My mother bristles. “And why can’t he?”

“Because he’s afraid.”

A look of almost understanding flashes across her face. “He doesn’t want to go through what he did with Emmy Jo.”

“So he’s decided to close himself off,” I say, hating the words.

My mother pats my hand. “Maybe this is for the best, Lark. Being with Tristan Stone is a complication that would hurt many people.”

“He’d be worth it.”

Her lips purse. “Then make him prove it. He’s going to need to do it to have a chance at winning the Gatlins over.”

I wish I knew how to do that.





“Lark! You’re here!” Sadie calls. She’s standing over by my barn with her horse on a lead. What in the heck is she doing?