“So you can see why all I want to do is get the hell away from here.”
“Sure can,” Cody agreed.
Luke was startled by the unexpected agreement. He studied Cody suspiciously.
“Of course, Jessie also told me a story. She said you’d remembered how Daddy taught us to be strong, how he made us fight for the things we wanted in life. She told me some cockamamy theory that he deliberately puts roadblocks in our paths just so we have to scramble over them. It’s his way of finding out how badly we want something.”
Luke closed his eyes. He recalled the exact conversation all too vividly.
“Isn’t Jessie worth fighting for?” Cody asked softly. “Seems to me like she is.”
His brother’s words reached him as nothing else had. Cody was right. He was running away from the most important fight of his life. Luke sighed and cut the pickup’s engine.
“When did you grow up and get so damned smart?” he asked as he climbed from the truck and snagged his brother in a hug.
“Not me,” Cody denied. “It was Jessie. She gave me all the arguments I’d need.”
“She could have tried them on me herself.”
Cody grinned. “She said you were too mad at her to listen. She figured since I was neutral, I might have a shot at getting through that thick skull of yours.”
“Daddy’s never going to approve of me being with Jessie,” Luke said. “Mother’s going to go ballistic.”
“Ought to make life around here downright interesting,” Cody said. “Maybe I’ll move back to the main house just to watch the fireworks. Jordan will probably want to come home, too.”
“Only if you both intend to stand beside me on this,” Luke warned.
A crooked grin on his face, Cody held up his hand for a high-five. “That’s what brothers are for.”
Luke realized that was something he was finally beginning to understand, thanks to Jessie. It killed him to admit it, but it just might be that she was a hell of a lot smarter than he was when it came to matters of family and the heart.
16
Her hands clutched tightly together, Jessie stood at the window of her room and watched Luke and Cody’s sometimes heated exchange below. When Luke finally shut off the truck’s engine and emerged, a sigh of relief washed through her. She had been so afraid that the desperate call she’d made to Cody had been too late. She’d also known he might be her only chance to make Luke see reason.
She knew from her own conversation with Cody on Christmas that he had given her relationship with Luke his blessing. It had been her first hint that not every member of the Adams clan would be opposed to the feelings she and Luke shared.
This morning she had sensed that even more than Cody’s ability to stand up to Luke, what was needed was someone who wouldn’t be passing judgment on the original cause of the disagreement between father and son.
As she watched Cody and Luke enter the house, she prayed that all of Cody’s skills at persuasion wouldn’t be wasted the instant Luke ran into his father.
Drawing in a deep breath, she decided that this was not a battle Luke should have to take on alone. It was their fight. Plucking Angela from her crib, Jessie emerged from her suite and started downstairs.
Halfway down she realized Luke was waiting at the bottom of the steps, his gaze fixed on her. Her pulse skittered wildly as she tried to anticipate what he would say to her. Beside him, Cody shot her a wink and an irrepressible grin.
“I think I’ll join Daddy for some coffee,” Cody said. “I want a front row seat for the next act.”
Jessie smiled at him. “Thanks for coming so quickly.”
“No problem. Nothing like tangling with big brother here to get my adrenaline jump started in the morning. Can’t wait to get to Daddy now. I might even try to persuade him to let me buy that new tractor I’ve been wanting.”
After he’d gone, Luke finally spoke. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have run out and left you to deal with Daddy.” The apology seemed to have been formed at some cost. He was watching her uneasily.
Jessie reached out and touched his cheek. “You thought I’d chosen them over you, when nothing could be further from the truth. I chose us, Lucas. We can’t have a future if we don’t settle this with everyone now. It will eat away at us, until we’re destroyed. Hiding away on your ranch is no solution, and in your heart, I think you know that.”
His lips curved in what might have been the beginning of a smile. “You play dirty, though, Jessica. Threw my own words back in my face.”
“No, I didn’t.” She grinned unrepentantly. “I had Cody do it. If I could have gotten him here fast enough, I would have had Jordan add his two cents.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “You are worth fighting for, Jessie. Never doubt that. The way I felt when I climbed into that truck, the empty space inside me where my heart had been, I hope to God I never feel that way again.”
“You won’t,” she whispered. “I promise.”
Angela stirred in her arms just then. Luke glanced at the baby and his expression softened. “Come here, sweet pea,” he said and claimed her.
A look of resolve came over his face as he clasped Jessie’s hand. “Shall we go face the enemy on his own turf?”
She halted in her tracks, forcing him to a stop. “We won’t get anywhere, if you keep thinking of your father as the enemy.”
“How else should I be thinking of him? He’s standing square between me and the woman I love.”
The declaration made her
