Chapter Eleven

“No! Jay! Wait!” Ebony leaped to her feet, still clutching the letter that had caused such a swift rift between her and Jay. “You don’t understand, Kevin, he’s not what you think.”

“What I think? How the hell would you know what I think, Ebony?” Jay turned around, his dark eyes reflecting deep pain.

“Kevin and I…” Ebony trailed off, closing her eyes for a minute trying to collect her thoughts. She had been slightly obsessed with Kevin for months before she moved to the ranch, but now suddenly whenever she thought of him she could only cringe. Kevin was good looking in an average sort of way, very popular and a bit of a jock. All of Ebony’s friends had been pressuring her to get together with him, and she would have, if she hadn’t moved to the ranch when she did.

“He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?” It sounded more like a statement than a question.

“No.” Ebony shook her head violently, causing her braids to whip about her face, stinging her bare skin. “He’s not, and he never was. We sort of liked each other before I moved her, but nothing ever came of it and nothing ever will. I never loved him like I love you, Jay.”

Jay opened his mouth about to say something, but Ebony swiftly cut him off. “I was a different person before I moved here, Jay. I was rebellious, selfish, bratty, a constant pain to my family, conceited, self-centered… You name, that was me.” She said softly. “But since I moved here I’ve changed. You, Grandmum, and Granddad have all showed me a different way to live life.

“I could never go back to the way I used to be. I don’t want to.” Ebony looked down at the unopened letter in her hands, decorated rather conspicuously with hearts and hugs & kisses. “And to prove that to you…” Ebony trailed off as she began to rip the letter into as small of pieces as she could manage.

“Ebony.” Jay murmured, his voice soft and husky. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.” Jay took several steps back into Ebony’s room, vacating the hall and closing the door behind him.

Ebony slowly sprinkled the shredded letter to her bedroom floor, her eyes locking with Jay’s. “I love you Jay.”

“And I love you too.”

The distance between Ebony Jay quickly diminished as they made their way towards one another, arms open and extended. They melted together in a passionate kiss, Ebony standing on her tip toes and Jay bent ever so slightly.

“I hope we’re this happy forever.” Ebony murmured softly, her face mere centimeters from Jay’s.

“We will be, Ebony.” Jay swallowed hard. “I promise.”

~*~*~

The days passed blissfully slowly from that point on. Ebony spent as much time with Jay as possible, getting to know him more and more with each passing hour that they spent in one another’s company. Neither of them had mentioned their relationship to her grandparents, but Ebony could tell that they knew – and that they approved.

Ved was a different story. Though he and Ebony had never exactly been friends, they had always been cordial around one another. But after it was obvious that she and Jay were involved, Ved became a completely different person. He didn’t even use her bedroom window to sneak out any longer, rather, creeping down the stairs in the dead of night and going out the front door.

One warm and dusty lazy afternoon, Ebony found herself doing her studies up in the loft of the barn. Several bales of nice clean hay had been spread about the hardwood floor, making it quite a comfortable perch for anyone wanting to spend some time in solitude. Ebony was using that quite time to work on her maths homework, though not very hard.

She stifled a yawn and shifted her gaze from her open textbook and into the fields off in the distance. If she squinted really hard she could see the distant form of Jay in the south field repairing the fence that had somehow gotten damaged during the night.

It didn’t take much for Ebony to figure out exactly how the fence was damage – Ved. She had seen his face, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter at the breakfast table that morning when Jared had told Jay about the fence. Jay of course had volunteered to fix it, being the ever-dutiful ward that he was.

Ebony let out a long heavy sigh, and glanced up at the sun in the blue sky above. It was nearing three o’clock already and she had a strong feeling that Jay would not be finishing with the fence any time soon. They were supposed to go on a date that night – their first ever real and official date. Jay had made reservations at the nicest restaurant in town. But now it looked as if they may have to cancel those plans.

“Hey Ebony.” Ved’s voice rudely jerked Ebony from her dismal thoughts. “Whatcha doing up here?”

Ebony turned to see Ved slowly pulling himself into the loft from the ladder that she had positioned down below. “What are you doing here?” Ebony narrowed her eyes, feeling great annoyance towards the younger Peterson brother.

“I always come here.” Ved replied with a snide grin curling up his lips. “And I asked you first.”

“I’m doing my coursework.” Ebony told him coldly, turning her attention back to her maths sitting on her lap. “Leave me alone.”

“Now why would I go and do a thing like that?” Ved chuckled, shaking his head. “Especially when I came up here specifically to find you.”

“Yeah right.” Ebony rolled her eyes. Ved had been going out of his way to avoid Ebony for weeks.

“No, it’s true.” Ved grinned. “You got a letter in the mail today. I told Elaine that I would personally hand deliver it to you.”

“Fine. Deliver it to me.” Ebony snapped.

“So who’s Kevin Whitman?” Ved snickered tossing the slender envelope towards Ebony. “Is it the same Kevin who called for you last night?”

“Kevin called for me?” Ebony’s eyes flew wide open.

Ved nodded. “I answered. I told him that you were out – making out with my brother probably. So is he, Ebony? A boyfriend?”

“That’s none of your business, Ved.” Ebony glared at him, feeling her palms grow sweaty.

“Oh, but I think it is.” Ved chuckled. “See, your little boyfriend and I had a nice long chat and he seemed quite upset that you were off with some other guy.”

“Shut up, Ved.”

“Aw, you don’t really want me to shut up, do you?” Ved advanced towards her, his light brown eyes dancing with an evil maniacal laughter.

“Yes I do. Get out of my sight, Ved.” Ebony spat, crumpling the letter up into a tiny ball.

Ved chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. “As you wish, Ebony, but trust me on this one. You’ll wish you hadn’t done that.”

Ved quickly disappeared through the small opening in the floor leaving Ebony staring down at the crumpled letter, silent tears tracking down her face.

“Oh Jay.” She whispered softly. “I need you. Where are you?”