------
Surprise, Surprise--Chapter 3
The Next Day...
Seth felt guilty. But she'd left the books on the table in plain sight. Three were spiral bound and four were title-less books. Seth picked up one of the spiral bound pads.
It was a sketch journal. He opened it and the first picture he came to took his breath away. It was a sketch of the sun setting over a hill. The simple beauty and tranquility of the evident pencil strokes was brilliant. The drawing looked 3d. He flipped a page. The next sketch was a colt. It was reddish and small, cradled in the corner of a barn in a mess of straw. In beautiful script in the upper right hand corner was scribbled,
Fire
The date the picture was drawn was under it. A sketch of Fire when he was a colt, nearly 6 years ago. Whitney had been 27 when she'd drawn it. Seth flipped back to the first sketch he'd looked at. The date on that one was only about a week prior the one of Fire.
Seth closed it back. So she was an artist. He placed it back on the table and picked up one of the books. He opened it in the middle.
It was a journal. Whitney's journal. He recognized her flowing handwriting.
He turned it back to the beginning. It was from when she was 21.
Seth had hit the jack-pot. In this diary and in the others on the table, he might be able to find out who was stalking her. And who this Aaron was. Who knew how many more journals there were?
He flipped through slowly yet hastily, realizing that if she came in to find him snooping... No. He was looking into possible information. And besides, she'd gone to prepare Fire and Rose Marie for a ride through the woods. She'd be a while.
He stopped when he saw the name. Aaron. It was dated early May.
Aaron hit me again. I didn't call him when I got home yesterday. He said he was worried to death about me. . .
The screen door opened. Seth dropped the book back on the table. The screen door opened into the den; whoever had come through it wouldn't have been able to see him as he had been on the far side.
Seth let his breath out when he saw Marcus and Shari standing there in the den.
"How many people are here, anyway?" Marcus asked.
"Not many. Did the guards give you a hard time? They shouldn't have; I told them you were coming."
"No." Marcus said.
"So..." Shari, who was hanging on Marcus's arm, said. "Where's Whitney?"
------------
Whitney didn't mean to be rude or anything. She watched Seth lead his brother and the brother's wife out of the house, through the front. She just wanted to be alone for the moment. Seth would find her in minutes. The guy who'd followed her all day had been discreet, but she'd known where he was at all times, she was that contentious. She slipped into the house through the back screen door while their backs were turned and headed down the hall.
Her door was open and she'd left it closed. Made sure it was closed, in fact.
She shoved it open the rest of the way and walked slowly around the bed, checking to see if anything was out of place.
Wind wouldn't go in her room. Neither would Yuri. They both respected her privacy. The thought that Seth could have been in her room snooping turned her stomach.
Whether it had been Seth or Wind or Yuri, or not, someone had been in her room.
She stopped at the dresser. A plain piece of folded up paper was there. She picked it up and gingerly unfolded it, aware of the fact that Seth would come through the door any minute.
Soon, sweetheart, we will hunt.
Whitney could have cried. Not again. No more
She could hear Seth approaching her room over her heavy breathing. She folded the note and shoved it into her pocket.
She turned to face the door just as he appeared in it.
"Whitney, are you alright?" He walked on into the room and stopped in front of her. Whitney could see the brother behind Seth.
"Whitney?" Seth repeated.
She ran her tongue over her lips since they'd gone dry. "Yeah, I'm fine." She mumbled. His eyes traveled down her arm, to her hand that was still in her pocket.
He reached down and pulled her hand out gently by the wrist. Since her hand was empty, he reached into her pocket.
Seth gingerly unfolded the paper. He read it slowly once, then twice over swiftly. He looked up and saw the tears in her eyes.
"What is this?" he asked in a whisper. "What does "we will hunt" mean? ...Whitney?"
Instead of answering she looked away from him.
"Seth," Seth turned. "Don't push her," Marcus said.
Seth's radio on his belt came on and a coded message came threw. Seth's face registered surprise as he unclipped it.
A door, the front, Whitney thought, slammed open. "Whitney?"
It was Wind. "The security guys won't let Jesse onto the ranch!" he said as he came to the door.
Seth started to walk out of the room when Whitney caught his arm. He turned and looked at her.
"There's an intruder; I have to go see to it."
"Jesse is my brother." Whitney said.
"You have a brother? Why wasn't I told this before?"
"I don't know." Whitney said. She started out ahead of him to the outside. Seth only followed her. She stepped out onto the porch and looked around, unsure of where they had him.
"The drive, near the mill," Seth said, stepping around her. The mill was on the other side of the ranch, and not in current use. Whitney caught up to Seth and together, in silence, they walked swiftly.
When Whitney could see the six figures surrounding her brother, she broke out into a run the rest of the way. They moved out of her way and she caught Jesse in a hug.
He was fifteen, strong, cute with the family's legendary careless streak. He had dull red hair that curled no matter how much gel he put on it, and the resemblance to Whitney was unmistakable.
Before even looking at the boy, Seth checked in whispered voices with his men and dismissed them back to what they'd been doing.
"...I came home early because I was getting bored."
"'Bored'? You, no way! I don't believe it!" Whitney said, ruffling his hair.
"Believe it. Max and Beth had already gone home; Max because he got sick and Beth because she wanted to keep Max company."
Seth cleared his throat. "Whitney,"
She turned. "Jesse, this is Seth," she said politely. "He's the head of the security. Seth, my baby brother, Jesse,"
Jesse offered his hand and Seth shook it. An odd silence stretched.
"I'm hungry."
"Well, let's go find something," Whitney said. "Then I guess we should give your siblings a tour, hmm?"
She nodded and fell into step with them back to the house.
"You visit your sister often, Jesse?"
"I live with Whitt."
Seth stopped. What? Oh, no... Now he had to refigure everything to include a teenager!
----------
I am so sorry it has taken me so long. The email alert that told me about reviews and such have stopped coming and I was under the impression had gone suddenly quite. I'm behind in a lot of things.
Tammi and Karmen Krowe, thank you so much for your reviews! In having Seth's siblings all jump on him to met Whitt, I was trying to demonstrate their closeness. It might have gone a bit fast, though, I do admit that. I think I might hate pretense, though, because I'm told I go to fast a lot. Thank you both!
I would also like to direct you to my O'Malley forum. It doesn't show up in the Book category and I can't figure out why. However, if you click my profile page, then 'my forums' you should find it. It's fairly self explanatory.