It was true; we didn’t need Jenner. But damn it, I wanted him.
“I just wish I knew what I had done to make him hate me so much that he made this plan, years ago, to hurt me. To hurt our family.”
Lydia took off her green gardening gloves and stood. “He said he planned for you to have Jenni. How is that even possible?”
I shrugged. “See? I’m not crazy. What he said made little sense to me.”
“What if he comes around and apologizes? Explains everything and begs for you to take him back. Will you take him back?” She placed her hand on my shoulder.
It was an unusually warm early March day. Since I was now in charge of the Hudson Estate, I took over fixing it up. I had to put in my notice at Hard Grind but told them I would accept their bid for providing the coffee at the estate. Marika and Susannah were sad to see me go, but Marika was happy about the coffee contract.
While the shock of what happened with Jenner and Jocelyn was still whirling in my head after they walked out, Eric reminded me of the plans to sign over the estate to him.
I guess when his world was ripped apart, he focused on money. When I asked why he wanted the estate so badly, he confessed everything. He had either gambled, paid for drugs, or invested poorly over the past few years and had lost almost everything. All the properties, businesses, and jewelry were sold off to pay for his ineptitude. The only thing left was my inheritance, which he couldn’t touch, and the Hudson Estate.
When I refused to sign over the property, he nodded calmly and left. And I hadn’t seen him since.
I was still packing up my place to move things into the estate. I was a little nervous because it was the first time I left Jenni with a babysitter. Lydia had always babysat Jenni, but I had hired her to help landscape the estate, and I needed her here with me.
Lydia assured me Jenni would be safe. I had thought about melting chocolate a lot today.
“I don’t think I will take Jenner back.” I sighed.
I had thought about it for the past two days. There was something there, deep inside, that hurt him. He needed to deal with it or let it go.
And since it involved me, I didn’t want the hurt in his heart to be taken out on Jenni.
Jenni deserved a father who loved her unconditionally. Someone who would go to the ends of the Earth to stop any harm from ever reaching her.
My brother did that for me with my father. At this point, I’d trust my brother with Jenni over Jenner. At least he proved in the past that he could protect the people he loved.
My brother might have been terrible with money, but he loved deeply.
“I don’t know if Jenner is capable of understanding what true love is. And I don’t mean true love with me; I mean with his daughter. There’s nothing I won’t do for Jenni, yet Jenner easily walked away from her.”
Lydia nodded and sighed. “You know, my grandma always told me that love must grow like a flower. At first, it’s tender and needs a lot of protection, or it will die. But once it blooms, there’s nothing that can stop its beauty. She loved gardens, and anytime she could rely on a saying that involved plants, she would.” She chuckled, but then sighed. “Damn, I miss that woman.”
Leaning in, I gave her a side hug. “I miss her too. I may not have known her long, but she was the nicest person I ever met.”
Suddenly, one of the French doors flew open and out stepped Jocelyn.
“Prepare yourself...” I warned Lydia.
Lydia didn’t have time to respond because Jocelyn yelled, “Where is he?”
“Who?”
Her long, dark hair fell in waves down her back. She looked strikingly different from when I first met her. A long wool camel coat hugged her, and a few golden rings on her fingers glinted against the sun. She seemed more like a fashion model who had just finished a shoot than Jenner’s wilderness-living sister.
“Where is my brother?”
My gaze slid to Lydia, who was shaking her head.
“How should I know? He broke up with me, remember? You wanted the ring back, and you got it. So, please, just leave me in peace.”
She wasn’t moving. Jocelyn stood there tapping her boot-covered foot as if expecting me to continue.
I had been nice my whole life to everyone. To my father, who wanted nothing to do with me unless it involved violence. To my brother, who only wanted to use me for money. Then to Jenner, who apparently was only trying to hurt me.