Faded Cotton (Erotic Romance) (24 page)

Before getting some much-needed sleep, the
group met in the dining room for a debriefing of sorts. “We are on
our own, folks. You all knew that going in. Here are the details.”
Jake proceeded to explain what he could.

Beginning with the reason that Jake took
Laurel and Jen into protective custody, he held everyone’s
attention, as the explanation proceeded. He was almost done with
the outline, when Morrison piped up.

“Tell them,” Robert Morrison insisted. He
wasn’t one to beat people over the head with it, but he felt the
detail was important. It was time the whole group knew.

Jake raised his eyebrows at Morrison. Robert
nodded and motioned him to continue. “The person Steve Laughlin was
with was Lieutenant Morrison, who was here as well at the
time.”

Jen took over at that point. “This explains
why you are also on the hit list, Robert. You are one of the few
who can substantiate Steve’s sexual preference, and that’s bad news
for Senator Arnie Laughlin. It’s an important factor in Senator
Laughlin’s campaign for the presidency; his backers don’t like
people that don’t fit their mold.” She looked back at Jake.

Jake was firm. “Lieutenant Morrison is a good
Navy man. He’s devoted to his country and treats his oath like any
man here. He’s been instrumental in the success of many of the
missions at my command. He’s a brilliant intelligence officer and
an outstanding pilot. End of story.” Jake was sick of the whole
thing, believing it shouldn’t have been an issue in the first
place. He didn’t understand it, but he figured people’s personal
business was just that—personal. Morrison had never made it an
issue.

“This is all tangled up somehow, and we have
yet to uncover the common thread. When we do, they can make the
arrests and Laurel, Jen, and Robert should be out of danger.”

Jen nodded her head in acknowledgement, “I
was debriefed, to a point, by Captain LeGrande sometime after
arriving at the island. I’m sorry I couldn’t share that until we
came back. It was the best way for me to investigate and see what
other connections I could come up with. Unfortunately, I haven’t
picked up anything else yet.”

Laurel looked a little miffed, but nodded in
quiet understanding. It wasn’t much more than what she already
knew.

“If it was in the best interests of everyone,
then so be it.” Laurel sighed. She’d had a lot of time to think on
the plane and had decided she just couldn’t control everything the
way she wanted to. She was used to taking care of herself—but
now?

There was a silence as everyone
considered.

“Our stumbling block is that we don’t have
the evidence we need to tie the good Senator to the death of the
Jen’s parents. I think if we find that link, we will find the rest
of the story quickly. There has to be something we are all missing.
Tomorrow, I want the farm to be business as usual. There are armed
guards everywhere. Every one of us will be armed, but we can’t go
firing off indiscriminately. Be cautious, I don’t want anyone
getting hurt because we’re jumpy. Ben and Ellia will be going to
the cabin. Jess, Shannon, Adam, and Brian, you will be here. Jess
and Adam will take care of our firepower, Brian—logistics,
Shannon—bee stings.” He winked at Shannon.

Jake showed everyone a map of the farm layout
and placement of equipment and arms.

“Seth and Rachel have agreed to take care of
the logistics of keeping the entire outfit fed, clothed, and the
house going. Morrison—intel, and keeping watch on Jen and Laurel.
Above all, we have to keep it looking like nothing more than a
family gathering. That’s all, you’re dismissed.”

Laurel chuckled, “Aye, aye sir.” Jake rolled
his eyes at her. He didn’t appreciate the humor.

“Shannon, you want to ride with me this
afternoon? I’m going to check stock outback before I go to the
cabin with supplies. I cleared it with the Captain.” Brian always
had enjoyed talking to Shannon when he’d been at the farm.

“Sure Bri’! That sounds great. We have some
catching up to do, anyway.” She grinned big. She’d always liked
Brian Tanner. He was a good friend and easy to be with. She’d
always been struck by his teddy bear looks. He was full-faced,
rugged, fit but not overly hard, deep brown hair with brown eyes
and huge; 6’10”-style huge. She’d seen a lot of people walk a big
circle around him, but he never scared her. She loved his big smile
and hearty laugh.

They saddled two of the farm’s big ranch
geldings easily, tossing up the heavy roping saddles. The two
horses seemed happy to receive the human attention with each itch
scratched by a good brushing.

The pair stepped up and headed off toward the
rec area. The “back-forty”, as it was known, was really just a
small chunk that had been a piece of Grandpa Siddy’s original
inheritance. It had a cabin on it with electricity and a road from
the main to the house. Another road had been cleared to the river
dock that had been built several years ago by Jahn. The acreage had
been set aside for four-wheeling, hunting, and miscellaneous human
use. It included the farm junk yard.

Every farm had one, Shannon thought. There
were dead tractors, cars the teenagers had wrecked, empty barrels,
miscellaneous farm equipment that no one wanted to part with for
one silly reason or another, a dead combine, twisted barn tin from
storms, beat-up water tanks, gates destroyed by bulls trying to get
to cows, and anything else that someone thought they might need a
part from down the line, and stuff that wouldn’t burn easily.

Shannon eyed things first as they approached
on horseback. “Hey, we both have boots on, you wanna cruise the
junk yard?” Shannon was excited. It was fun for her to get a
glimpse of the farm’s past, all lined up in rusting rows.

“Sure. What about the horses though?” Brian
knew there might be quite a bit they could be injured on.

“There are a couple of trees down there to
the right and I’ve got leads in my saddle bags. We can tie them up
while we look.”

Tying off the two geldings once they arrived,
the two set off to peruse the contents of the junk yard. They
laughed together as Shannon crawled up into an old combine, just to
have to bail because of a swarm of incensed yellow jackets. She was
lucky to escape without being stung. When they got to the row of
rusting vehicles, Brian quizzed her on the history of each one.

“Well, that one was mom’s car when she was a
teenager,” she pointed to a faded green Charger. “It was almost a
classic by the time she got it. The smashed up brown 80’s Chevy 4x4
was Adam’s first truck; ditched it an ice storm. The little Escort
over there Dad bought for us to sit in and wait for the bus when we
were little, so Adam and I didn’t freeze to death. We lived at the
old house down the road until I was in the fourth grade, then Mom
and Dad built the new house up on the hill. I wrecked the car right
before we moved, trying to learn to drive without any help!” The
recollection had both of them laughing heartily and Brian pulled
her into a side hug.

“That’s you Shannon. Try first, ask questions
later, silly girl.” He grinned at her and for a moment their eyes
met and neither knew why, but they stopped laughing. It unsettled
Shannon. She moved down the row, something had caught her eye.

She high-stepped her way through the tall
grass and studied something, under a large river maple, at the end
of the row. “I don’t remember that being here, but I guess it has
always been here. Brian do you have gloves? I want to see what’s
under that cover.”

__________________________

“Where’s Shannon?” Jess asked his father and
Laurel, who were in the barn checking on the horses.

“I think she and Brian took the two big
chestnuts out for a ride to the cabin.” Laurel answered, smiling at
Jake as she moved to the next stall.

“Why?” Jess’s look was wrought with
confusion.

“They are checking the cabin so they can
return with supplies. Figured they’d enjoy a ride and some company.
Checking cattle too.”

She smiled as she passed another stall,
“Looks like Jake’s crew has been doing a fine job. Everything is in
order here.” Laurel was happy to return to see that each of the
horses was doing well, including the babies. Each foal was fat and
sassy. The cattle had faired no worse for her being gone
either.

Jess had no reply. His stomach was in knots
and he turned to walk back out of the barn. He still didn’t know
what was going on with Shannon or why she was confusing him acting
so girly. Was she flirting with Brian, too?

Jake shot Laurel a winced grin and trotted
down the aisle to stop Jess at the doorway. Jess heard the boots
coming toward him and turned, narrowing his eyes at his father with
a questioning look.

“Jess, hang on—son—hey,” Jake put his hand on
Jess’s shoulder.

“You know, I’ve watched you two the whole
time you were growing up. Every time I was home, it was Shannon
this
and Shannon
that
. Best buds. Everything you did,
you did together. Then, you became a SEAL and she went to college,
but I don’t think things have changed so much. Son, tell her how
you feel. Talk to her. I made a huge mistake not following my heart
once, and I don’t want you to make the same mistake. You’ll never
know how she really feels if you don’t talk to her about it.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Jess shook his head and tried to walk off.
Jake grasped his arm in earnest, “Talk to her son, talk to her.”
Jake knew that his son was a man of few words, just like him.
Sometimes, he knew too, that wasn’t such a good thing.

Jess shrugged him off and went on. Nobody
knew Shannon like he did and it tormented him that she wasn’t
interested in his type. She could be a huge tease sometimes, but he
knew she wasn’t interested, or at least—
oh hell
, he didn’t
know anymore. Why was she sending him mixed signals lately? Why did
she want to dance so close to him? That, he thought, was the
question he really wanted answered.

He knew she was going to slice his heart into
shreds, but he needed it over. He needed to be sure he could never
have her love. Time to pull on his big boy britches and face the
music, he supposed. Why was it so easy to put on face black and
carry an assault rifle into a den of terrorists, but so damn hard
to face the woman he loved? Jess didn’t understand women. Even if
she really was interested in him, he didn’t know if she’d change
her mind later and run off like his mother had. That, he decided,
he couldn’t take. Maybe he was better off without her.

__________________________

Laurel looked into every stall, the tack
room, the office, the washroom, the collection area, everywhere.
Everything was in place, every horse was accounted for. She noticed
how the foals had grown in the two weeks she’d been gone and she
couldn’t have been more pleased at how everything was taken care of
at the farm.

“Jake,” she started softly, “thanks.” He
nodded. “I know you are putting everything on the line for me and I
appreciate it. I am just lousy at dealing with hurt. I don’t think
I ever dealt with the pain of being left when we were young. I
think things just happened so quickly, I buried it and moved on.
Sorry about the crystal—and the knife thing.”

He chuckled.

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” He smiled
gingerly stepping closer. “You’re forgiven.”

“I’m not sure where to go from here,” she
sighed.

She found him right in front of her as she
chose those last words.

He tipped her chin with his fingertips to
look into her emerald eyes, the eyes he’d missed for so long. “Kiss
me.”

She stared at him, not moving, her heart
pounding. He cocked his head gently and lowered it closer,
tentatively. Looking at her again, he closed the gap and captured
her lips in a lingering sweet kiss.

Laurel and Jahn had always agreed, that if
one of them passed on early, that the other would accept the idea
of falling in love again. She just wasn’t sure Jahn would forgive
her for it being Jake. She decided, at that moment, that she might
have to find out for sure when she got to Heaven.

Jake pulled the group together again that
evening to discuss the day’s activities and any intel findings. A
couple of ice-cold longnecks sat on the table in front of people
who would get to sleep that evening. Fresh strawberries and
pineapple were savored, ice cream spoons licked carefully.

“Nothing new, folks. We’ll do this every
evening. Anybody else have anything?” Jake perused the tired, quiet
crowd.

Shannon bubbled, “Well, nothing that pertains
to what’s going on, but we did find something cool.” All eyes were
fixed on her as she told of what she and Brian had uncovered. “I
don’t know why I had never noticed it. Toward the end of the junk
yard where the trees started, there was a covered car. Brian and I
love cars, so we couldn’t help but go look at everything down
there. Anyway, there is a red ‘sixty-nine Camaro down there under a
tarp! Brian and I think we can fix it. Where’d it come from,
Mom?”

Laurel hadn’t been paying close attention;
she already knew what was in the junk yard. “Well, I’m not sure.
There is so much stuff down there, hard telling.”

“Well anyway, we uncovered it and it’s been
wrecked. Bri’ says if the frame’s not bent we should be able to fix
it up to really be something.” Shannon was giggly and Brian smiled
at her giddy laughter.

“The damage is to the driver’s side front.
Whatever it hit had to have been black. There’s black paint smeared
down the side....” Brian didn’t get finished before Jen started
choking hard.