Love Begins with Fate (29 page)

Kelsey nodded. “I am so anxious to get home to the ranch.” She murmured. “I love being around your family and mine but this isn’t home. Home is where the heart is and my heart is with you and my ranch.”

“I know love” Parker replied softly. Being away from the ranch was killing Kelsey and he knew that. Yet to fully discuss the situation he asked “do you want to leave today after school or tomorrow morning?” Kelsey whimpered as she looked up into Parker’s eyes.  He smiled “Got it. We’ll head out tonight, but if we get tired we’ll check into a hotel.” He told her.

“I have to say goodbye to my dad before we go.” Kelsey nodded before adding “thank you.” She was eager to get back.

Parker pushed the door of the car open and walked around opening Kelsey’s door for her. Once she stepped out she wrapped herself in Parker’s arms and kissed him sweetly before walking off. They had planned on spending the day with their friends, well what they had of the school day. They would both collect phone numbers and offer invites to the ranch to those they cared about.

“Bye love.”
Parker called as Kelsey waved her goodbye. She loved the nickname. It was such a Parker thing.

Kelsey’s day went by in a blur. She had given her number out to her friends and offered the invitations to the ranch
, her and Parker had talked about. They didn’t have a set date for their wedding but they were going to have a massive bonfire and year end school party. Though it was a few states away, they already had many people planning on packing together in their cars and heading out. Kelsey and Parker had talked about how they would have the bonfire the weekend after they arrived back and settled in, they were asking for a catering service to come in and help Annie, Nick had made sure the wagon was all cleaned up and serviced, while Marcus had secured wood for the bonfire and stacked it up out by a small lake a few miles from the house.

They would stay out in tents and beneath the stars or sleep among the three houses. Kelsey had also asked for Marcus to invite her friends from her old school
, which would be amazingly fun.

“Hey,” Hannah cooed “Kelsey!” She said waving her hand back and forth in front of Kelsey’s face.

“Huh?” Kelsey muttered looking up at her friend.

“Class is over. You phased out.” She huffed.

“Oh… sorry,” She apologized.

“I bet
Parker’s waiting for you…” Hannah muttered.

“OH!” Kelsey snapped jumping up and grabbing her backpack quickly. “Come on!” She squealed.

The two girls raced out of the classroom only stopping quickly to pull the remaining items from their lockers before heading out to the parking lot. Sure enough Parker was leaning back against his car talking with Ryder. When the girls burst through the school doors, he pushed himself forward and stared toward them questioningly.

“Hey love, where have you been?” He asked taking Kelsey’s backpack from her and pushing it into the back seat with his own.

“She zoned.” Hannah huffed. “Hey Ryry” She purred pulling Ryder into a kiss.

“Well are you two going to head up to the ranch today or tomorrow?” Ryder asked.

Kelsey turned to Parker then replied to her brother, “We’re heading up tonight. We’ll stop if we get tired but yeah… we’re headin’.” She told him. “And you two?”

Ryder and Hannah had planned on coming up for the remainder of the week and help everyone with the bonfire, before Ryder and Hannah started college. Ryder had accepted a football scholarship to the local university and
Hannah was following him. They planned on getting an apartment together.

“Well, we were going to head up tomorrow night. I have a meeting with the university’s c
oach and someone from admin, so…” Ryder shrugged.

“We’ll see you two when you get up there.”
Parker said as he pulled Kelsey into his side “You ready to meet your dad for lunch?”

“Yeah,” Kelsey yawned slightly. The day was making her tired. She was worrying so much about getting back that she was starting to drift into droopiness. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 47

Kelsey and Parker had a great short lunch with Kelsey’s dad before they headed back to Parker’s house and quickly packed up the car. “I’m going to miss you both!” Grace cried as she pulled the couple into her arms.

“Mom,
” Parker groaned. “You’re welcome to visit anytime and we’ll be back in a few weeks to pack up the rest of my things.”

“I k
now…” she whimpered again. “But…”

“Dear.” Carson shook his head pulling his wife from the young couple. “We’ll visit
once a month when we can, otherwise, I expect you two to come and visit here.” He said in a hopeful demand.

Parker
and Kelsey smiled and nodded. Sage had finally made her way to Kelsey pouting up at her. “Hi little one,” Kelsey said.

“You have to go? I will miss you and my brother.” She whined.

“Yeah baby doll. But you know I am thinking if your momma is okay with it maybe you can visit for a while during the summer…” Kelsey dragged looking up at Grace then back down at the girl.

“Really!”
Sage screeched making everyone flinch.

“We’ll see sweetie.” Grace told her with a nod. “We need to talk about it later with Kelsey and
Parker, see when they are not busy.”

“See
ya bro.” Collin said pushing past his family to stand in front of Parker. They pulled each other into a brotherly hug. Collin pulled away and grinned over at Kelsey, “And you… little vixen.” He smirked.

“Back off…”
Parker hissed.

Kelsey giggled “You’re welcome to visit for our bonfire if you would like. I’m sure there
are going to be some cute girls who you could…” she stopped herself.

“We’ll see.” Collin shrugged and walked away. He was so strange
, she thought.

The two were off. They had pilled everything they could, well the important things into
Parker’s car and now they were off.

Three hours in, Kelsey and
Parker were getting hungry. They had decided to stop for the night. The two had decided on dinner and then made their way up to a hotel room, which they could sleep for the night.

Chapter 48

On the road again and a long while later; Kelsey pulled into the very familiar long driveway of her ranch. Parker had long since fallen asleep listening to the light beat of music in the background along with his rumbling car.

“
Parker” Kelsey gently wiggled Parker’s shoulder trying to wake him before everyone had made their way out to the car, but it was too late. Annie, Nick, and Mark were now standing on the porch waiting with smiles on their faces to greet them.

He groaned but complied. “I’m up.”

Kelsey rolled her eyes and stepped from the car. There was a light drizzle which was soon to turn into a pouring rain with the sound of the thunder and crackles of the lightning. She left Parker in the car and walked up to the porch cheerily. “Hi” she beamed.

“Don’t hi
, me.” Annie pouted as she quickly pulled the girl into a hug. “I’ve missed my little miss.” Annie cried.

“Oh give it up Annie, the girl’s probably hungry and tired from the drive. Let her get inside before
it down pours.” Nick chuckled, “Hey Kels.”

Nick was right. They had stopped a few times at gas stations and quick stops for snacks and bathroom breaks but Parker and Kelsey had really only had breakfast and it was already past lunch.

“Hey.” Mark nodded.

Parker
had finally pushed himself from the car stepping out into the drizzle. “Man.” He groaned.

“Should have
woke when I told you. The rain just started.” Kelsey teased.

“
Sure it did.” He shook his head, “Hello everyone.”

“Mister MacKay.” Annie beamed. “Nice seeing you again.”

“Same.”

They pushed into the house, leaving the luggage inside the car for the night. Everyone sat down for dinner, reintroducing
Parker to everyone as the ‘man of the ranch’. Kelsey had told everyone of their engagement and how Parker would learn as he went how the ranch needed to be ran. They had discussed what was new on the ranch such as the twelve new calves, one litter of piglets, two litters of puppies and one set of kittens.

James had accidently added in how Dylan was going in front of the judge next week and how the sheriff assured them that he would be getting a restraining order if nothing else. “Wait a minute.”
Parker said quickly as he turned his head to Kelsey “What happened and why didn’t I know about it?”

“Uh…” Kelsey muttered. “When you were gone… I didn’t think it mattered.”

“It didn’t matter?!” Parker hissed. “That ass should have never been here in the first place… I never liked him and he was just looking to mess things up! I trusted you to be honest…” Parker howled.

“Can we talk about this later?” Kelsey said
quietly looking around at everyone in the dining room who fell silent and were now staring at their plates.

“NO!”
Parker yelled. He couldn’t fully explain why it had set him off so much but it down right pissed him off that he wasn’t here to protect her from that jerk. What had she done that had led her into that moment of weakness anyway?

Kelsey glared her eyes at
Parker as she angrily slammed her hands down on the table and pushed her chair back letting it clamber onto the floor. “I’m going to bed.” She snapped.

“Kelsey.”
Parker said but it was too late. She was up and out of the kitchen quickly. As soon as her feet hit the next room she bolted up the stairs.

For some reason
, Kelsey felt the need to busy herself with something. Kelsey stomped up into the master bedroom and grabbed hold of a box which was waiting to be loaded up. Angrily she shoved the unwanted items inside it. She wanted the room to be cleared out.

Parker
groaned. Everyone at the table had busied themselves and quickly moved out of the house into their own busy work. Annie and James remained. James had started the problem and he needed to explain everything to Parker, try and calm him down and rectify things. “Parker …” He said offering Parker a piece of pie as he sat down beside him.

Parker
looked up from the table. He was thinking with his head in his hands “What?” He asked.

“Listen. She wasn’t compromising anything… Dylan forced himself into her personal space when she was mopping around about you.
Dylan was drunk. Luckily, Annie was there with her gun and we had caught him before anything happened. Go on. We know you aren’t angry with Kelsey. She needs you to be the strong one in her life. She’s strong but such a sensitive girl with pain in her heart. She’s got so much on her shoulders…” James dragged on. “Go on, man up and go apologize.”

Parker
nodded. He shoved himself up from the table and made his way upstairs. When he pushed open the door to the bedroom it was silent and dark. Where was she, he thought. Parker didn’t know where to look but he tried anyway. He knew somewhat whose rooms were which so he began at the beginning of the hall knocking and pushing open doors.

It was about time
Kelsey packed the room up. She would move her and Parker’s things in here. Her grandfather would have wanted that. She thrust open the porch double doors and listened to the sound of the light rain as she boxed up the old clothing from the closet.

Kelsey had found herself yawning and curling up on the bed once she found an old diary. As she read
, she drifted off to sleep curled within her grandmother’s homemade lap blanket.

Each room
Parker went past was just as silent and dark as the one before it, until he finally came to the one at the end of the hall with a large wooden door. Light protruded from beneath the door. She had to be there. His hand knocked but received no reply. With a sigh Parker pushed the door open. Parker’s eyes fell upon the bed and the girl wrapped in a blanket upon it.

Strutting over
, Parker scooped Kelsey up and into his arms. “I’m sorry” He whispered as he carried her out into the bedroom.

Chapter 49

Kelsey woke up the next morning to the warmth and masculine scent of Parker beside her. She sighed, she had meant to actually get something done when she was cleaning, but it was obvious she had fallen asleep. The sun had yet to rise; Kelsey leaned down and kissed Parker’s cheek.

“Wonderfu
l way to wake up in the morning,” He murmured wrapping her in his arms, making Kelsey squeal.

“Are you going to go on the cattle drive with us today? We are leaving as soon as we get things packed up. It’ll be a few days before we get back, so we need to leave today in order to be back to welcome our guests for the bonfire later in the week.” Kelsey told him.