Page 29 of Wed to You-
Jagger smiled, and his pleasure at the gift made her grin back at him. “Thank you.” He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, sending all her nerve endings into a hot flurry. She resisted fanning herself.
“Look at this, Kaden. Real honest-to-goodness barbecue sauce. Do you think it would go with hot dogs?”
Chelsea scrunched her nose. “It’s made for shredded or ribbed pork.”
“Then we’ll save it.”
The meal was filled with small talk and the boys’ silliness. She’d had Matthew in her class too, and they were as silly at home as they’d been in her class. Chelsea really wanted to ask Jagger about the situation with Kaden’s mother. It was clear Kaden was a happy, well-adjusted child. As much as Chelsea thought mothers should have their children, she couldn’t help but feel sad that Jagger might lose custody and that Kaden’s life might be turned upside down.
While Jagger might have still felt distant from the Charlotte Tavern community, he had settled into the slower pace of life. The lunch lingered, and she even had a second helping. Jagger appeared relaxed as he asked her questions about growing up in a small Southern town and how she liked teaching. Sure, her heart rate spedup whenever he grinned at her, but the afternoon was pleasant and she determined she needed to do more to help both him and Kaden assimilate into the community more fully.
“Shall we show Miss Beemer the horses?” Jagger called out to the boys, who had left the table and were wrestling on the lawn.
“Yeah!” Kaden jumped up and ran to Chelsea. “Come see the horses.”
She smiled at Kaden, enjoying his exuberance. It was too bad that life lost that sort of joy as one got older.
Kaden and Matthew ran ahead up the path while Jagger walked beside her.
“Did you always plan to reopen the horse farm?” Chelsea took in the lush, rolling countryside, imagining that it probably hadn’t changed much since the estate was built in the nineteenth century.
“I wasn’t sure what I’d do. With Kaden in school, I had to do something to occupy my time, but I knew I didn’t want to deal with race horses, as my grandfather had.”
“You take in rescue horses, right?”
“Yes and retired race horses. Some are pretty old and feeble, but a few are still ride-worthy as long as you don’t push them too much.”
“I used to ride.”
Jagger slanted a look at her. “I know.”
She smiled. “Oh yeah, I exercised horses for your family the summer before they closed the farm.” She’d been only sixteen, but she was athletic and daring. That had been one of her favorite summers. She often told herself it was because getting paid to ride was the perfect summer job, but a little voice inside reminded her it had also allowed her to see Jagger nearly every day. “That was the last summer you came here, wasn’t it?”
He nodded. “Pretty much. I visited a few times after that but never stayed long.”
Chelsea watched as Kaden and Matthew climbed on the whiteclapboard fence and Kaden held out a carrot. A bay horse with a black mane trotted up to him and snatched the carrot from his hand. Chelsea winced, hoping Kaden knew how to offer food without getting bit. He grinned when he jumped down.
“He’s very happy.” She glanced at Jagger, who watched Kaden with a smile.
“I hope to keep him that way. I talked to a lawyer this morning in case Tanya files for custody.”
Chelsea’s heart sank. “Does your lawyer think she has a chance of winning?”
“If Tanya is able to prove she’s gotten her life together, yes.” He looked at her. “Apparently, the fact I’ve been the only constant in his life isn’t good enough.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Well, I’m not going down without a fight. She has an uphill battle and I don’t plan to make it easy for her.”
“Does Kaden know she’s back?”
“Not yet. He’s never talked about her, and I don’t think he remembers her, which should say something about her as a mother.”
“It does.”
Kaden and Matthew stopped and lined up to race. “Go!” They both shot up the hill.
“If there’s anything I can do to help...”
