Big Sky Eyes (24 page)

Chapter 38

The benefit of having no job, no school and no
responsibilities was that it allowed the newlyweds to sleep until well past
noon. Brent was the first to stir, and he did so with the smell of Mackenna’s
hair falling over his face. He reached up and took a handful of the silky
strands, pressing them closer to his nose to breathe her in fully. His body
responded by springing to life and he eased himself out of bed to avoid the
temptation.

He went to the window which offered an untainted view of all
that her parents’ possessed. Horses grazed, chickens and peacocks scuttled
about. The ground was speckled with yellow leaves that had abandoned the tree
limbs overhead. Mackenna’s mother was already up and leading a limping horse
around as she scratched beneath his chin and whispered to him.
Would that he could provide his own children with such an
upbringing.

His eyes strayed back to Mackenna. What if she were already
carrying his child? They’d used no protection from the get-go, so they really
were tempting fate. He imagined the day she would tell him that she was
pregnant, followed by the day she’d give birth. Would it be a boy like him or a
girl like her? Would he be a good father?

He dressed and kissed her lightly on the lips before making
his way outside to watch her mother work her magic. Less than an hour later
Mackenna joined them, and they helped out in any way they were instructed. As
night fell, so did the temperature and they
retreated
indoors. They grabbed a light snack and then went to prepare themselves for the
night’s festivities.

Mackenna stripped down and put on a long fleece robe before
heading into the bathroom. She turned the shower on and stared at the water. A
determined smirk stretched across her face as an idea came into her head. She
leaned out of the bathroom door and called down the hallway for Brent. He poked
his head out of her bedroom in response.

“Can you come here and help me out with the shower?” she
asked. “I think the hot water’s not working or something.”

“Sure,” he called and headed her way.

He brushed passed her in the doorway and went to the shower.
Mackenna silently shut the door behind him and locked it. He leaned in and felt
the water, jerking his hand back with a yelp.

“This water is burning hot, Mackenna. What are you talking
about?”

He spun around and stopped in mid-turn. She was staring
right at him as she slowly pulled her robe free of its belt and let it slide to
the floor. He shook his head in admonishment, but he knew that he was going to
lose this one, to her and to his own body. He tried to dissuade her anyway, but
all he could say was her name in a hoarse whisper. She stepped toward him and
he forgot whatever he had been planning to say as he gave in to what they both
wanted. When they broke free so he could strip down, she looked at him in mock
curiosity.

“You were saying?”

“Oh, hush!” he scolded before pressing her up against the
wall.

 
The tiny gathering
had been pleasant and mostly uneventful until the eleven o’clock hour. Drinks had
been flowing, food savored and devoured, music played and conversations grew
louder and louder. The ring of the doorbell was almost unheard in the midst of
everything. David went to the door. From where Mackenna sat on the floor in
front of the fireplace, she saw him as soon as the door opened.

Rick was there, looking worn and haggard. His face had
earned a few more grooves and patches of thin stubble. His eyes drooped at the
outside edges. His hair was unkempt and his clothes wrinkled as if they’d been
slept in. Her throat tightened as he scanned the room and found her. Brent
noticed the look on her face and followed the path of her eyes to find Rick in
the doorway.

Brent appraised the man. He was taller, but thinner. He was
obviously under emotional strain. It was written across his face. His eyes were
cold and hard, and something about the way they pinned to Mackenna put Brent on
his guard right away.

“Can I talk to you Mackenna?” he asked as a plea across the
suddenly silent room.

Mackenna cringed inside. She knew she had to do this, but
she was dreading it just the same. She nodded slowly and began to rise. Brent
reached out and grabbed her hand, looking up at her from his perch beside the
fire.

“Do you want me to come with you?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze.

She crossed the room and grabbed a small jacket from the
rack.

“Let’s go outside so we don’t disturb the party,” she told
him and he followed without a word.

Once the door shut behind them, she led him down the porch
steps and into the driveway light. Clouds of breath drifted between them and
she hugged the small coat closer to her. She hoped this wouldn’t take too long.
She was already beginning to freeze. Rick just stared at her, his eyes unblinking
and pouring into hers like bottomless holes. It made tiny ribbons of fear curl
around her pulse and quicken it. She shifted nervously from one foot to the
other.

“I miss you,” he finally said and her shoulders drooped.

“Don’t do this to
yourself
, Rick,”
she urged gently.

“What am I doing to myself?” he asked softly. “I love you.
Nothing has happened in the last seven days to change that.”

“Rick, you and I were never going to work out,” she said
sympathetically. “It’s my fault for letting it get as far as it did, and for
that I’m sorry but trust me, I was never going to marry you. I’m so sorry,
Rick. I know what a broken heart feels like and I hate that I did it to you.”

He bowed his head to stare at the ground. Mackenna watched
as tiny wet drops fell from his eyes.

“Maybe,” he rasped, “we could just slow things down a little
bit, call off the engagement.”

“No, Rick,” she whispered.

“Just date for a while,” he continued as if she’d never
spoken. “I can hold off on school. We’ve always been too busy studying to be
with each other. Maybe if we just slow it down and spend some quality time
together…”

“Rick, you’re not hearing me,” her voice losing some of its
softness. “You and I are done.
For good.”

“I can’t believe that,” he said, raising his head again to
look at her. “There has to be a way for us to…”

“I’m married, Rick.”

He stood motionless and all of a sudden emotionless. After a
long pause, during which his eyes darted to the sapphire ring she wore on her
left hand, he snorted disbelievingly.

“You can’t be married,” he said. “We were engaged only a
week ago.”

“I am married.”

His face drew down in thought, shock and confusion soon
giving way to a knowing anger.

“Brent?” he nearly growled and Mackenna took a small step
back.

“Yes.”

He shook his head at himself. “I knew I should have never
let you go to Montana.”

Mackenna’s spine straightened and a little boldness surged
through the fear. “You couldn’t have stopped me,” she said.

“Oh, yes I could have, and I should have.
And
to think that you actually had the nerve to break up with me for basically
being right.
I knew something like this would happen.” The weepy,
forlorn Rick was gone.
In his place stood a soulless host of
jealous rage.

“Do you even hear yourself?” she asked impatiently. “If you
knew something like this was going to happen why would you want to be with
someone who wants to marry someone else?”

“Because I believed that you loved me more.”

Mackenna shook her head in wonder. “Rick, I never loved you
at all! Not once did I ever tell you that I loved you. Didn’t that send up a
red flag to you?”

“I thought you were being shy and reserve.”

“No! I was being honest.”

“Don’t you dare!” he threatened as he thrust a pointed
finger at her. “Don’t you dare stand there and tell me that you were being
honest with me when you’ve spent the last year lying to me, making me believe
that you wanted a future with me, playing me for a fool. You knew that I
thought you loved me.” He stalked toward her until he was an arm’s length away.
“And you knew all along that you were going to trash my heart.”

Mackenna scrambled for words, all courage gone in the face
of his rage and the truth of his words.

“I
lied
to myself, too, Rick,” she
said soothingly. “I really did try to love you, to believe in a future for us,
but in the end I just couldn’t. Even if I had never seen Brent again, I
wouldn’t have married you. We were heading for a breakup long before now. I
just didn’t have the guts to do it to you.”

“That’s a cop out,” he spat. “No woman would go along with
an engagement and a year-long relationship if she didn’t love the guy. So, tell
me why you stopped loving me.”

His eyes were bright with fury, his fists balled at his
sides. His breath was so hot that Mackenna turned from it as he leaned closer
to her with his demand. She wanted nothing more than to be far from him.

“Rick,” she said nervously, calling forth whatever false
bravery her voice could muster. “It’s time for you to leave. We have nothing
more to discuss. It’s over.”

He reached out and gripped her upper arms in between his steely
fingers, squeezing until she cried out. As he spoke his next words, he jerked
her body toward his.

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me why!” he shouted
down into her face. Mackenna felt her body bending backward beneath the painful
tightness of his grip.

“Take your hands off my wife,” Brent said, emerging from the
shadows of the front door. His voice was calm and cool, but carried the heavy
weight of a promised threat. He slowly walked down the porch steps toward them.
Rick’s eyes narrowed as he studied his adversary.

“So, this is Brent,” he sneered. “I don’t recall inviting
you into this conversation.”

“I’m not going to tell you again,” Brent growled and
Mackenna felt her entire body flood with relief. Rick hesitated for a moment
before finally releasing her. She stepped back and instantly rubbed her arms.
They were already tender and she knew they would bruise.

“Now, you can go,” Brent said as he came to stand beside her.

Rick looked from one face to the other before finally
snorting in heavy disdain.

“Screw you both,” he hissed.
“Fine.
You can have her, but always know that I had her first.” After his taunt he
turned his sharp eyes on Mackenna. “As for you…” There was no way that he could
form all of his thoughts into words and so on impulse, he did the one thing
that he knew would convey what he thought of her at the moment.

His arm shot out and whipped her hard across the face with
the back of his hand. Her head spun halfway around from the force and she
gasped, bringing her hands up to cup the side of her cheek as she stumbled away.
Before Rick could enjoy a moment of satisfaction Brent was on him, one fist
sinking into the center of his face, the other into his midsection.

As Rick doubled over Brent’s arm, Brent threw him to the
ground, following him there with fists flying. Soon, David was wrapping his
arms around Brent, yanking him back and away. Mackenna felt the protective arms
of her mother as she struggled to regain her balance. Brent was pushing his way
out of David’s hold until another few pairs of hands came to his aid, subduing
him completely.

Rick laughed and moaned as he rolled over to his side to
spit out a mouthful of blood.

“I told you you’d regret it, Mackenna,” he spat.

“If you ever touch her again, I’ll kill you!” Brent shouted,
still fighting against the restraining arms around him. “Do you hear me?
Dead!”

Rick carried on laughing up at the sky. David stepped
forward and leaned over him.

“That goes for me, too,” he said. “Now, get your ass off my
property before I have you arrested for trespassing and assault.”

Rick rolled over onto all fours then slowly made his way
unsteadily to his feet. His laughter continued, growing deeper and more
sinister. He looked at Mackenna shuddering in her mother’s arms, and Brent
steaming nearby and laughed in genuine entertainment. He limped off toward his
car and climbed inside. It wasn’t until his taillights were out of sight that
Brent ripped his arms free of the men behind him.

He went instantly to Mackenna, whose mother handed her over
without complaint. Her entire body quaked in his arms as she buried her face in
his chest. The people in the driveway were chattering in disbelief at what
they’d witnessed until Helen ushered everyone inside and out of the cold. As
Brent led Mackenna toward the door, David stepped in his path.

Both men had hellfire in their eyes. No words were spoken,
but David reached out a hand and Brent took it in his grip. Restrained anger
flowed between them toward the same cause and as they nodded at one another,
they shook hands.

Chapter 39

Mackenna winced as Brent pressed a towel full of bundled ice
to her cheekbone. The cold compress made the bruising beneath tingle with a
searing heat. She let out a calming breath and stared at the floor. She and
Brent had not spoken since it happened. He had just led her straight up to
their room with her mother hot on their heels with the ice. She soon left them
alone and Mackenna sank onto the foot of the bed in a daze. She felt Brent’s
fingers gently cup the bottom of her chin and pull her face up to look at his.

Her eyes were wide with shock and confusion. Her face was
pale except for the dark shading of what would become a wide bruise across the
upper part of her left cheek. Her mouth fell in unspoken words and she shook
her head slowly.

“He’s never done anything like that before,” she said, her
voice almost desperate. “I don’t understand.”

“He would have done it eventually,” Brent said softly to
her. “Men don’t just become that way.”

She shook her head again in disbelief before focusing once
again on the floor.

“Mackenna,” Brent began, “I don’t believe in telling a
person what to do, especially a spouse, but I don’t want you to see him again, and
definitely not on your own. Now that he’s shown what kind of man he is, he’s
not to be trusted.”

She looked back up at him, her eyes flooding with fear. “Do
you think I have to worry about him?”

His gut told him that she did, but he didn’t see the point
in heightening her fear.

“Nah,” he lied with a small smile. “He knows you have a husband
who will make good on his threat.”

She knew he was trying to cheer her up, but she felt
incredibly low. She’d never been struck before, not by anyone. She was never
confrontational, and she was naturally comfortable and confident in the
chivalry of men. Rick had more than wounded her face. He had made her
vulnerability painfully clear. She pushed the ice away softly and rose to stand
before the window, her arms crossed over her chest.

Brent watched her retreat from him. He knew she was shaken
and he couldn’t blame her. She’d been hit pretty hard. He was glad that he’d
followed her onto the porch despite her reassurances. He didn’t like the man
from the second he saw him. Something inside him warned that he was dangerous.
How could Mackenna have gotten mixed up with someone like that? Part of him
wanted to scold her for not being more discerning, but he knew that wasn’t what
she needed right now. He moved to stand behind her and wrapped his arms around
her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

“What are you thinking?” he asked quietly.

“I’ve never been hit before,” she said wearily. “It was so
easy for him, even with you standing right there.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t see it coming before it happened,” he
said with hurt in his voice.

“That’s not what I mean,” she soothed. “I mean he wasn’t
afraid to do it, even knowing that you would beat him for it. He didn’t care
about the consequences.” She took a deep breath. “That’s what scares me.”

He turned her in his arms so that she faced him.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said
looking down at her.

“You can’t promise that,” she returned sadly. “You can’t be
with me all the time, and even if you are, he proved tonight that he can still
hurt me when you’re there.” She walked away, covering the tender part of her
face with a hand. “I just don’t understand how I could have misjudged him so
badly. I swear he never showed any tendencies toward violence.”

“How long have you known him?” Brent asked.

“A year and a half,” she answered. “I met him just after
Ty’s wedding.”

“God, Mackenna, how could you be with a guy like that for a
year and a half and not know he was like that?”

She shot him an angry look. “I just told you that he never
showed any signs of violence.”

“He must have said or done something that would have raised
an eyebrow. What could have possibly drawn you to someone like him?”

“I don’t know,” she quipped sarcastically. “What could have
possibly drawn you to Princess Yoga? Oh wait, I remember.”

Brent sighed. “What’s going on, Mackenna? Why are we
fighting over this?”

“Because you’re blaming me for Rick hitting me, and I don’t
like it! It’s not my fault!”

Brent studied her and read the message behind her words. “Sounds
like you’re blaming you, Mackenna.”

Her eyelids fluttered nervously and she turned away from him,
retracing her steps to the window. Her breaths fogged up the panes until she
could no longer see outside. Brent stayed where he stood, waiting for her to
respond, just as Ty always did with him. To his surprise, it worked and she began
talking. He couldn’t see them, but warm tears slid down her cheeks.

“Maybe it is my fault,” she said. “Rick was right. I knew
all along that I was going to trash his heart. I knew that I was never going to
marry him. So, why did I string him along for a year? The more he loved, the
worse I felt about crushing his love, but I still knew that in the end I would
do it. I knew I could never marry him, but I let him believe I would.”

“Why?” Brent asked softly, struggling to understand it
himself.

Her voice was choked with tears, so it took her a few
swallows before she could answer.

“I just…wanted someone to love me,” she covered her mouth
with a hand as she sobbed quietly, remembering the depth of her loneliness. “I
know it’s selfish, but I wanted to be wanted. I wanted someone to wake up with
dreams of me fresh in their mind, to picture me when they thought of complete
happiness, to never leave my side. I wanted someone to look at me the way Rick
used to before I broke his heart. I wanted someone to love me…the way that I
was loving
you.

“Rick offered all of that from the beginning, and I thought
that his feelings for me would make me stop loving you, make me forget you. I
knew that I didn’t love him when he said it to me, but I just kept talking
myself into giving it more time. I tried to force my mind to stop comparing him
to you. I tried to make myself love him. I just kept thinking a little bit more
time. More time, more time! Before I knew it, we’d been together for six months
and he was asking to marry me.”

She wiped angrily at the tears wetting her cheeks.

“I should have ended it right there,” she said. “I should
have walked away and admitted to him, to myself and to everyone around me that
you were the only man I would ever love.” She spun around to look at him, a
flushed look of regret on her face. “But I felt so damn guilty! He was offering
me everything I thought I wanted. How could I tell him that it wasn’t good
enough? How could I tell him that it would never be good enough because he wasn’t
you?”

Brent looked on with sympathy and regret of his own. None of
this would have happened if he hadn’t been such a stubborn jackass. If only he
could go back and erase so many of his choices.

“So, you’re right,” she said, defeated. “I am blaming
myself. I played with his emotions and I deserved to get slapped.”

A righteous anger roared in Brent.

“Stop it!” he commanded then crossed the room to cradle her
face in his hands. “You’ve made mistakes. God knows I’ve made more. This is
killing me, what I did to you, but there is nothing that you’ve done that gives
him the right to put his hands on you like that.
Nothing!
I don’t ever want to hear you say that you deserve to be
beaten. This man is sick. Any man who raises his hand to a woman has got
something wrong with his head.

“I’m not blaming you,” he reassured her. “I’m just trying to
figure this out. Stop feeling guilty over him. He doesn’t love you. A man
doesn’t hurt the woman he loves, even if she hurts him. That’s not love. What
he has is some twisted obsession. I need to know how sick he is so I know how
to protect you. Has he ever done anything that’s made you feel uncomfortable
before? Has he ever said anything that’s made you
pause
?”

“Don’t you think you’re overthinking this a bit?” she asked,
growing fearful by the worry in his eyes.

“It’s possible,” he admitted, “but I’d rather overthink it
than underthink it. I don’t want to take any chances when it comes to your
safety. Now, think.”

Mackenna slowly pulled free of his grasp and paced quietly
back and forth, scanning the memories of their relationship. One stood out
first.

“On Christmas Eve, after I got your email, he and I got into
a fight. I’d never told him about you during our relationship but he all of a
sudden knew all about you and my feelings for you. He finally admitted to
reading my journals, but he had to have done it when I was still in my
apartment because they are packed right now. The weird thing was that he never
had any time to read my journals because I was always there any time he was. He
didn’t have a key.”

She paused, yet another memory springing to mind.

“Now that I think about it, I never did know how he always
knew where I’d be and where I lived.”

“What do you mean?”

“We met in class, and always spent our time together on the
campus for the first few months. Once the fall semester started, he’d just show
up wherever I was, like he knew I was going to be there. Then, one day he
showed up on my doorstep with flowers, asking me out.”

“And you didn’t think that a little strange?”

“I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly that day, Brent. I’d been
crying, once again, over you. I was so livid at how upset I still was that when
he knocked and asked me out, I just agreed, hoping it would get my mind off of
you. It was only later that it dawned on me that I’d never told him where I
lived, but by then we
were
dating and he was acting
completely normal so I never brought it up.”

She recounted more stories to him as they came to her. She
told him how emotional Rick always got, how the engagement came about, how he’d
refused to take her to his place, how his jealousy and possessiveness had raged
after they’d had sex, how he’d begun checking her text messages. The more she
remembered and revealed, the more idiotic she felt. She could see it clearly
now. How had she missed the signs back then? How could she have let their
relationship keep growing, feeding his obsession? She sat back down on the bed
and shook her head at herself.

“Okay,” Brent said, thinking aloud. “So, the first thing we
do is file a restraining order and a police report about what happened tonight.
That way, they have his behavior on record and he’s off to jail if he comes
anywhere near you. Second, we get some guns. Mine are stored up in Montana with
the bike. I didn’t think we’d need them before spring, but we should get
something now.”

She sucked in a deep breath at the implications behind what
Brent was suggesting.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” she said, clutching at her
midsection. She could feel the bile working its way up her throat and she
rushed to the bathroom. Brent followed but she shut the door before he could
enter behind her. Once she emptied her stomach she unleashed a torrent of
tears. This couldn’t be happening. Rick was just an upset ex. He would get over
her and move on. He had to. She sat on the floor beside the toilet and hugged
her knees to her. Her entire body shivered. She had never been so afraid. Well,
not since the night of the grizzly.

Brent had been waiting on the other side of the door to give
her privacy, but when she hadn’t come out in ten minutes, he checked the
doorknob. It was unlocked so he opened it. She was on the floor and shaking. He
immediately dropped to her side and gathered her in his arms. She held onto him
as though she were afraid he would leave.

“Make it go away, Brent,” she croaked in an emotional
whisper. “Make it go away like you did before.”

“I will,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head. “I
promise. I will.”