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Chapter Ten
Emma had spoken true when she’d told Ted that she had nowhere to go. She’d called Fran while sitting in her car on the side of the freeway. Missy had been at school. There hadn’t been any problems. No one hanging around the house. No mysterious phone calls. Nothing unusual at all.
They’d decided to take a trip to see her parents anyway, just to get out of Texas for a few days. Emma had apologized at least a dozen times, and Fran kept telling her it wasn’t necessary. They’d known what they were getting into a decade ago.
Emma had not gone to their house. She had not seen her daughter. She’d texted as usual to make plans for this weekend, and Missy had responded with the news that she was on an airplane bound for Florida.
Fun!Emma had texted. And then she’d had nowhere to go. Since she didn’t have a lot of money, she’d decided to simply go back to the ranch. She’d have to face this music sooner or later, and she decided that if she could hold Ted’s hand while she did, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
They strolled in the dusky twilight, hand in hand, away from the homestead when they should be returning to it. He said nothing, and Emma knew he was waiting for her to explain. She didn’t know how. She’d spent so long keeping everything to herself. That was her natural inclination now, and she wondered if he’d let her stay silent.
At the same time, Emma didn’t want him to let her. Things had changed within her, and she’d almost decided that all of this was happening for a reason.
“Sorry I ran out on you yesterday,” she said.
“I’ve been worried about you.”
“I know,” Emma said. Ginger had grabbed onto her an hour ago and hugged her tightly for a very long time. The other women in the West Wing had too, and Emma had never felt so loved. “I’m sorry.”
“You have things you don’t want anyone to know,” he said.
“Yes.”
“I get that.” His boots crunched over the gravel, and Emma looked out over the marshlands that marked this side of the ranch. “I guess the good news is I got your phone number.”
Emma looked up at him, sure she’d heard him wrong. He started to chuckle, the sound growing into a full-blown laugh. “Oh, come on,” he said. “That was funny.”
Emma finally cracked a smile. “You wanted my phone number?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Why?”
He looked at her, something hooded in his eyes. “You want to know why I wanted your phone number?”
Emma shook her head, some of her senses returning. She really needed to get back on top of her game if she was going to keep her secret. The problem was, she wasn’t sure if she was going to do that. She went back and forth every other minute, and right now, everything was up in the air.
“No,” she said. “I know why you wanted it.”
“Yeah, so I could get you alone and hold your hand,” he said with a grin. He squeezed her fingers lightly.
“You want to know the things I don’t want to tell you,” she said.
“Yes,” he said.
“I get that,” she said, reconstructing the conversation they’d just had. “I’m—I don’t know how much I’ll be able to tell you.”
He took a deep breath and exhaled. “One thing I learned from everything that happened to me is this: No matter what, everything comes out in the end.”
Emma’s internal organs trembled, and she adjusted her hand in his. She cleared her throat. “I don’t know how to tell you.”
Ted let more silence go by as he continued to walk. “You will when you’re ready,” he said. “I learned that too. Everything comes out when it’s the right time. When it’s ready.”
She nodded, her throat so tight. “Thank you, Ted.”
He squeezed her hand in response, and said, “I’ve got to get back. These old bones are still trying to adjust to all this work.” He sighed as he reached back with his free hand and pressed against his back. “And here’s a confession for you. I haven’t ridden a horse in many long years. And it lasted six seconds.”
Emma tried to hold back her laugh, but it came out anyway, a sort of pop of her breath. She laughed fully then, and Ted joined her.
