Under the Open Sky (Montana Heritage Series) (41 page)

             
“Where’s Cade?” she demanded.

             
“Cade is no longer employed on this ranch,” her father announced evenly.

             
“Where did he go?” she demanded.

             
“I wouldn’t know,” her father returned.

             
“You had no right to send him away without even letting him talk to me,” Amanda accused.

             
“I had every right! I made it clear from the day I hired him that you were off limits!” her father bellowed in return.

             
“That was fine when I was fifteen but in case you haven’t notice I am not a child anymore!” Amanda balled her fists in fury.

             
“I am still the owner of this ranch and I still make the decisions; I made the decision to fire him.”

             
“I love him, Daddy,” Amanda admitted, tears in her eyes. “I love him and we want to be together.”

             
“I’m sorry, Amanda but I want better for you.”

             
“You don’t even know him,” Amanda accused her father.

             
“I do,” her brother glared at her.

             
“Do you?” Amanda turned on her brother.

             
“Yes!”

             
“How did get the scar by his eye?”

             
“In a fight.”

             
“With who?”

             
“I don’t know,” her brother snapped.

             
“He tried defending his mother when his dad was beating her, the ring his dad was wearing tore his skin open,” Amanda supplied. “How did his mother die?”

             
“He says his dad killed her with his abuse and then leaving,” Trent snapped.

             
“She committed suicide; she couldn’t deal with it,” Amanda shared.

             
“What is he most scared of, more than anything else in this world?”

             
“Mandy, what is the point of this?” Trent snapped impatiently.

             
“My point is I know him, Trent. We wrote each other two and three times a week for four years. We talked on the phone every night for the past year. We told each other things that nobody else knows; I know him. I know that he wants to be a rancher and be like you two,” she said around tears, “though at the moment I can’t imagine why.”

             
Amanda watched her father flinch and felt her heart break; she had never spoken to her father that way.             

             
“Amanda, you are my only daughter and it’s my job to protect you,” Sterling informed her.

             
“Ask your son how many women he has slept with, Dad; or do those men’s daughters not matter?” Amanda turned and entered the house and grabbed her spare key from the entry table. She found Naomi watching her wide eyed from the kitchen doorway.

             
Amanda stepped outside and around her father and brother to climb into her Jeep. Over two hours later she was in tears again and her heart ached so bad she could hardly breathe. She couldn’t find Cade anywhere. It was nearly four in the morning when Amanda knocked on Jenny’s new apartment door.

             
“Mandy; what’s wrong?” her friend grabbed her arm and dragged her inside.

             
“I can’t find Cade; he’s gone,” Amanda shared.

             
“Gone? Gone where? Why?”

             
“Dad fired him.”

             
“What?” Jenny sank to the couch, her hazel eyes dark with worry. Amanda related the events of the evening to her friend.

             
“I hurt so bad I can’t breathe, Jenny. I want to find him and make sure he’s okay,” Amanda gasped, as she leaned forward.

             
“Take a deep breath, Mandy; take a deep breath,” Jenny rubbed her back. A moment later, Amanda leaned against her friend, sobs wracking her body. Jenny wrapped her arms around Amanda and let her cry; Jenny’s own tears wet the back of Amanda’s shirt.

             
_________________________________________

              Amanda returned to the ranch the next day to find Naomi the only one home.

             
“Hi, Naomi,” she greeted softly as she entered.

             
“Are you okay?” Naomi rushed to hug her.

             
“No,” Amanda shook her head.

             
“Oh, Mandy; I’m sorry,” Naomi’s hands fluttered helplessly.

             
“I came to get some clothes. I’m going to stay with Jenny; I need time to cool down and decide what I’m doing next.”

             
She watched her aunt nod as her chin came up. “I’ll help you pack some things,” Naomi volunteered.

             
“Thanks,” Amanda offered. It didn’t take her long to gather her things and place them in her vehicle. After a moment of hesitation, Amanda walked over to the cabin and let herself in and up the stairs. She entered Cade’s room, her gaze taking in the empty closet and absence of his things. A few odds and ends remained but it was mostly empty. Amanda noticed that he had left his pillow and claimed it to sit on the edge of the bed and hug it close. Last night had started off so wonderful and had ended so wrong. Amanda stood and on an impulse opened the nearest drawer. It wasn’t empty. Inside laid the jean jacket Cade had bought when he gave her his old one. Amanda smiled around tears. It hadn’t been in here the night before. This drawer had contained his underclothes; she knew because she had searched it for a pair of sleep pants she could wear.

             
Amanda lifted the jacket out, something grazing her leg and settling onto the floor with a thunk. Amanda frowned and leaned over to see what had fallen. Sunlight glinted off his mother’s ring where it was still on the chain. Amanda felt her heart break a little further even as hope bloomed. Cade had not left the item on accident; he never let it get far from him. It was a promise. Amanda placed the chain around her neck and placed her hand over the ring. She shrugged into the jacket and grabbed Cade’s pillow before walking back to the main house and her Jeep.

             
“I’ll be praying for you, Mandy,” Naomi spoke from the porch.

             
“Even if I am wanton and headed for hell?” Amanda queried.

             
She watched her aunt purse her lips, trying not to smile, only to fail.

             
“You always were irreverent,” her aunt accused. “Yes, I’ll be praying for your irreverent, wanton soul. I love you, Mandy.”

             
“I love you too, Naomi.”

             
Amanda climbed into her Jeep and drove into town.

             
Jenny was waiting, her expression angry.

             
“You okay?”

             
“Your brother came here looking for you; I slammed the door right in his arrogant face,” Jenny shared.

             
Amanda smiled, feeling the tension inside her uncoil ever so slightly.

             
“Thanks for looking out for me, Jenny.”

             
“Any time,” Jenny assured her. “I have to go to work but make yourself at home.”

             
“Thanks, again.”

             
“You’re welcome.”

             
_________________________________________________

             
Amanda tried every avenue she could think of to find Cade. She drove down to the college, looking up some of his classmates who still lived in that area. She called others he had mentioned and no one had seen him. Over a month later she was exhausted, depressed, and couldn’t eat. She went to her doctor in desperation.

             
“What’s the problem, Mandy?” Dr. Conners asked as he entered.

             
“I need something for depression,” Amanda announced.

             
“Depression?” Dr. Conners leaned on the counter and crossed his arms. “I’ve never known you to be anything but upbeat.”

             
“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep enough and I can’t stop crying so write me a prescription for a happy pill so I can get to work without snotting all over my paperwork,” Amanda said around tears.

             
“Okay, well, first we need to make sure there is nothing more serious going on; then we’ll talk about happy pills and a visit to the head doc; okay?” Dr. Conners was making notes on her chart. Dr. Conners had known her family for years; she could tell he thought she had lost it.

             
Amanda nodded and waited for the nurse to come in and take her blood. Amanda lay back on the table while she waited for the doctor and laid her arm over her eyes.

             
“Well, Mandy, I can assure you that you are going to be just fine. I can’t give you any happy pills, dear.”

             
“Why not?” Amanda demanded.

             
“You’re pregnant.”

             
Amanda stared at him, his words finally sinking in a moment later.

             
“Pregnant?”

             
“Yes,” he nodded. “We’ll get you started on some prenatal vitamins and see if we can’t find something to help with the nausea.”

             
Amanda, feeling numb, nodded.

             
“I’ll also need to see you back for your first prenatal checkup. You told the nurse that your last period was two weeks ago?” Dr. Conners was frowning at her chart.

             
“Yes, wait…what’s today?” Amanda asked. When Dr. Conners answered, her eyes widened. “I’m late.”

             
“Ah, I see,” Dr. Conners looked rather amused. “Well, Mandy, let’s see what due date we get with the date of your last period. That gives you an estimate of when you conceived,” Dr. Conners dug a wheel out of his pocket.

             
“I conceived six weeks ago yesterday,” Amanda supplied.

             
“You know this?” he surveyed in surprise. Amanda felt heat climb into her cheeks as she nodded. Dr. Conners smiled slightly and looked down at the wheel. “March 15,” Dr. Conners noted it on her chart.

             
Several minutes later Amanda was seated in her car, still in a state of shock. She was going to have a baby. Amanda let that sink in; Cade’s baby. Amanda placed her hand over her belly and closed her eyes. A part of her leapt with excitement; another nearly panicked. A baby! Amanda slowly started the car and drove to the pharmacy to have her prescriptions filled.

             
“Hey, Mandy,” the pharmacist’s assistant greeted her. Her name was Molly; she had graduated with Trent and Cade.

             
“Hi, Molly,” Amanda returned her greeting.

             
“How are you?”

             
“Fine,” Amanda assured her; she so was not fine.

             
“Good, glad to hear it. What have you been up to?”

             
“Getting pregnant,”
Amanda stopped herself from saying it. “Just working,” she finally responded.

             
“Here we go,” Molly took a bag from another of the employees. “Okay, any questions on your meds?” Molly glanced down at the bags in her hands. “The first one you want to take before eating, this one…” Molly stumbled to a stop, her wide eyes coming up to glance at Amanda sharply. “This second one should be taken with food,” she finally finished.

             
“Thanks,” Amanda took the bags.

             
“Congratulations,” Molly offered.

             
“Thanks,” Amanda repeated and turned to move to the register. After paying she walked down to the book store and bought a couple of books before returning to Jenny’s. She was reading one of them when Jenny entered, carrying a bag of take out.

             
“Okay, so I thought maybe I could tempt you to eat some of your favorite Mexican,” Jenny held the bag up.

             
“The doctor gave me some meds for nausea today.”

             
“Good; now you can eat. What did he say? Is it depression?”

             
“No,” Amanda answered, “it’s not depression.”