Copyright 2013 misscowgirlup22
Chapter 19
“Hey, sleepy head.” Cassie said when Anna walked into the kitchen a little after noon clutching something in her hand. Cassie was sitting at the island holding a cup of decaf coffee, and while she read a book.
“Hey. Did Brent really leave?” Anna asked as she grabbed a mug from the cabinet above the coffee maker.
“Yeah, it was sometime around six or seven I think.” Cassie set her book off to the side, and motioned towards the coffee maker. “There’s regular coffee in there, and decaf on the stove in the percolator.”
“Thanks.” Anna yawned, covering her mouth with the hand that was not holding the mug. “I had the sweetest dream last night.”
Cassie smiled to herself; she had a pretty good idea of what they were about. “That can happen to a person when they’re drunk. What were they about?”
There was a small smile on Anna’s face as she filled her mug with the steaming hot coffee. “You brother held me all night long while we slept, it was really sweet.”
“I hate to burst your bubble, but that wasn’t a dream.” Anna was so shocked by Cassie’s revelation that she almost dropped her mug.
“What do you mean it wasn’t a dream?” She was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable.
“Last night when I came upstairs to go to bed, I decided that I’d check on you and Jess to make sure you were both alright. When I opened your door I found you Brent holding you, and you were both completely contempt, and sound asleep. Jess is still zonked out upstairs, just in case you were wondering.”
The kitchen was silent for a minute. “Oh… I guess that explains why I got the best night of sleep I’ve ever had. I must have been really comfortable.”
“Yeah, you two sure looked cozy.” She changed the subject. “Did Brent leave you a note?”
“He did,” Anna quickly set down her mug on the island, and opened the piece of paper she’d had in her hand, and then handed it Cassie.
“Have you thought any more about your guys’ relationship?” Cassie questioned her as she handed the note back.
“A little,” Anna said, as she opened the fridge and grabbed the bacon, eggs, and bread. “Do you want some breakfast, or should I say brunch since it’s almost noon?”
“Sure, do you want some help?” Cassie got up from her chair, and went and grabbed a couple of pans for the bacon and eggs to cook in.
“That would be great,” Anna said, as she set all the food down next to the stove.
Together they cooked the meal in silence. It took about fifteen minutes for everything to cook, and by then Jess was finally awake and sitting at the island.
“Good afternoon, sleepy head.” Cassie told her as she set a plate of food in front of Jess, and then sat next to Jess with her own plate. Next, Anna followed suit, and sat on the other side of Jess.
“How much wine did I have last night,” Jess asked as she put her head in her hands and sighed. The brightness of the light was killing her. The aspirin, and glass of water helped, but not enough.
“I’d say a little over a bottle,” Anna told her, as she ate a bite of her eggs. “I think you had about three glasses of wine, I know that I only had two.”
“That would explain it. I’ve never been able to stand my own when it comes to wine.”
“Wine makes me sleepy.” Anna said as she yawned.
“Could you two stop bragging about drinking?” Cassie pouted. “I can’t have any for another two, or three years.”
Jess and Anna both just laughed. “Stop winning, you’re the one who did the horizontal tango,” Jess spoke up.
“Okay, ha, ha. You guys can have the last laugh,” She laughed at them. “I’m going to go and take a shower.” Cassie snatched her bacon up and left the table.
*****
Middle Fork was always stunning in the winter time. Brent wished Anna was there to see it with him. Maybe this time next year they’d be married, and could come up for a short vacation. Although, with the way he was feeling about her, they probably wouldn’t make it farther than the bed in their hotel room, or tent if they decided to stay in one.
There he went again, getting ahead of himself. He didn’t even know if Anna would still be there when he got home or if she was going to end things when he got back. He hoped, and prayed not, but their fate wasn’t in his hands anymore.
“What’s got you so distracted, Brent?” One of the guys, James asked.
“Nothin’ that some good huntin’ can’t fix.” All the guys erupted in laughter.
“Here, here to that!” They all cheered as they took sips of their beers. They were at the bar in town having a little kick-off to their trip. Tomorrow they’d kill some deer and elk, but tonight they were going to get a little rowdy, drink a little too much.
Two beers later Brent, was tired of the bar scene. He paid his tab, and walk out into the crisp winter night. It was a little before seven thirty, so he knew that most of the shops in town were still open.
At the end of the street there was a sign that said, “Jane’s Jewels”. Brent had nothing else to do so he walked over to the shop. In the window there was an engagement ring, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of it. It had a horseshoe smack dab in the middle, shaped with multiple different diamonds, and there were small diamonds going around the band.
It was Anna in a ring. The horseshoe represented her love for horse, nature, along with ranch life. And the diamonds were the brightness that she brought into everyone that knew hers life.
He had to buy that ring for her. It was the perfect thing to show her that he knew her, and that he loved her.
The sign in the window said that they closed at eight, so he had to go inside right then, and get that ring. No other one would do.
The bell on the door chimed and he waked inside. There was a woman in her early forties standing at the counter reading a country living magazine, and she looked up when she heard the bell chime. “May I help you?” She asked him as she looked him over.
“Um, yes. There’s a ring in the window that I’m interested in.” he told her, and she guided him over to the window.
“Which one is it?” Brent pointed at the horseshoe ring. “Great choice. That ring is one of a kind. I’m guessing very much so like the one it’s intended for.”
Brent nodded his head in agreement. “It is. I wanted to look at it… and possibly buy it.”
The saleswoman laughed at him. “Nervous are we? Okay.” She grabbed the ring from its pedestal, and took it over to the counter. “This ring is about three carats, the diamonds are princess cut, and the medal is white gold.”
“How much is it?” Brent asked her as her studied the ring in her hand.
“Are you sure you want to know?” She asked him curiously. “Never mind of course you do. With its cut, design, and size of diamonds it’s about twelve thousand dollars.”
Brent gasped. Twelve thousand dollars! He had enough money to buy it and then be able to pay for a one hundred thousand dollar wedding, but still, twelve thousand dollars for a ring?!
But it was the perfect ring, the only ring he could imagine to be place on Anna’s finger, his ring, the ring that he chose for her. Nothing else would do.
“I’ll take it. Could your ring it up while I approve the purchase with my credit card company?” the lady nodded, and Brent slipped outside quickly.
A few short minutes later he entered the store again, and handed the woman his credit card. She typed a couple things on her register, and then hand the card back to him.
“This ring has a lifetime warranty,” she told him. “You’ll need to call the number on the back of your receipt if you ever need to have anything fixed or replaced on it.” She put the ring in a nice little bag that had the name of the store printed onto it. “Also, since this ring is one of a kind it’s a size ten so that if it’s too big you can have it resized.”
“Thank you.”
“You are very welcome. I hope you have a happy life with your lady.”
Brent full out grinned. “Thank you! I plan to.” He exited the shop, and walked to his hotel thinking about the future he would have with Anna.
*****
It’d been three days since Brent had left, and no one had heard a word from him. And during those days Anna had felt an ache so strong in her chest that she could barely breathe without the pain of missing Brent.
She felt guilty about not talking to him after she yelled at him in her room. The last time she’d seen him while she was awake was when his walked into the house, and found her a little tipsy in the living room with Cassie and Jess.
She knew he’d held her during the night, and honestly she couldn’t imagine going to bed without him anymore, even though she’d been alone the past couple of nights.
Anna was coming to realize that love was hard, and made you feel like you wanted to crawl into a ball and die when you were without the one you loved.
Over the past couple days Anna had come to forgive Brent. They’d all been played by Leslie. He couldn’t help that Leslie had wanted to destroy everything. All Anna could do was to try and apologize for ever doubting him.
The storm that had been coming seemed like it had been getting worse since Brent’s departure, and Anna just hoped he was staying safe and away from the blizzard as much as he possibly could.
Although, they weren’t talking, yet she didn’t—and would never—wish him any harm. She loved the stubborn crazy man more than anyone else in the whole world. The only problem with that was when would she tell him, and how would she do it. She had her reservations about if he loved her yet, or if he was still in the liking a lot phase of the relationship.
If he was then Anna knew she’d be a little bummed. She wanted him to love her as much as she loved him.
Love was a crazy thing, Anna though. It could make you fill giddy inside. Break your heart into a million pieces. And when you were lucky you could fine the, real never ending true love.
The kind that Anna knew she had found with Brent. The kind where it hurt to be away from the one you loved for even a minute. The kind of love that could tear you apart inside if it ever ended. The kind where one kiss or touch could set your blood ablaze, and make you weak at your knees.
“What are you thinking about?” Cassie asked when she saw Anna standing in front of the bay window in the living room.
Anna slowly turned around. “Your brother…” she let the thought trail off.
“Okay, what about him?”
Anna fidgeted with her hands. “I’m worried about him, Cassie, you and I know that when he has a lot on his mind he can do stupid things. I just hope he doesn’t do anything stupid while he’s out hunting in this storm.” Her eyes filled with a few tears, and her faced looked tired and a bit worried.
“Hey, it’s okay. He’ll be fine.” Cassie hugged her, trying to soothe Anna’s worries.
The tears Anna had been trying to hold in betrayed her as they flowed down her face. “But we don’t know that. Cassie this storm is making it frigid, along all the snow we’re getting. I just don’t want anything to happen without him knowing that I love him, and that I’ve forgiven him.” Sobs slowly racked Anna’s body.
Cassie quickly realized that Anna was just about as inconsolable as anyone could get. And if Cassie was be true to herself, she too was worried about Brent. This storm had the possibility of dropping the temp to below zero, and they had the possibility of get multiple feet of thick, heavy snow.
Cassie rubbed soothing circles along Anna’s back. “Shhh, everything will be fine.”
“How-how can y-you know that,” Anna whimpered.
“I don’t, but I’m hopeful that everything will be fine. That’s what we have to do. Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. Brent’s smart he’ll be fine.”
Anna tried to calm herself, freaking out would do nothing, but make her scared about Brent’s safety. Why could he just have gone later when there was no storming lurching over them?
If he hadn’t then he wouldn’t be the crazy, stubborn man Anna had fallen for.
Oh, God. It was her fault that he was gone. If they hadn’t have fought then he would never have left on that if damn trip.
“It’s all my fault. If we hadn’t of fought he wouldn’t have felt the need to leave, so that we could cool off.” Anna felt awful, she thought she might be sick.
She was a monster. She should have listened to him instead of being so God damn stubborn. Curse her stubborn soul.
“It’s not your fault Anna. He would have gone anyways. It’s hunting season. No man can resist—or should I say real man—can resist shooting things, and letting their testosterone run wild.” Cassie laughed at her joke, and Anna let a small smile grace her lips.
Anna wasn’t so sure about it not being her fault, but she could try and give herself the benefit of the doubt.
“Come on, I have fresh chocolate chip cookies, and hot chocolate on the stove. Let’s go eat and drink it all so we don’t feel awful about anything.” Cassie sais as she led the way to the kitchen.
“I kind of like your cravings Cassie, but I have a feeling I’m going to get fat from them.” Anna tried to be carefree—even though she was nowhere close to that—and joke a little with Cassie.
“You?! What about me?! I’m going to be the size of a whale from all these cravings!” Cassie squealed.
*****
My trip to the University of Wyoming went so well. I talked to the Army ROTC people, and it looks like I will be joining the Wyoming National Guard some time this year, or next year. That way I'll get in state tuition, and they basically pay for everything, but about three-fourths of my room and board. I also was told that I'm practically admitted, and that I have been accepted into the pre-nursing program, so no worries there. I guess we all know where I'm going to college next year after I graduate from high school.
Thank you all for being so patient! I've been so busy this past week with my trip, and starting to get my fitness levels to where they need to be.
Anyways, a big storm is coming. I wonder what's going to happen...? Aren't you so happy that Anna has finally stopped being so pigheaded, but I feel kind of bad for her. She thinks the whole thing is her fault. Poor Anna.
The song on the side is absolutely perfect for Anna and Brent. It's You Make It Look So Easy by Eric Church. I love Eric Church... Then again who doesn't?
Thanks for reading!!! Please comment and vote!