The Healing Ranch

Chapter 23

The next few days passed quickly for both of them. They spent more time doing small things together, and weren't far apart most of the time. Tate got in one evening from doing chores to find Megan sitting with her laptop on her lap.

"Your phone rang while you were out. I didn't answer it." She looked up at him and smiled a little, and Tate felt a rush of affection towards her. Her blonde hair hung down her back and her bright green eyes smiled at him from under her long eyelashes. She looked just like an angel and he stooped to give her a kiss before going to grab his phone.

"What're you doin on that laptop anyway darlin?" He asked and she looked over it at him with laughing eyes.

"Oh, just starting to look at flights for the two of us. Unless you would rather drive?" A rush of excitement flooded through him at the thought of going back to Texas and he smiled.

"It's a long ways from here darlin. Flyin would probably be best." She nodded and bent her head back to what she was doing on her laptop. Tate picked his phone up off the counter and went and sat beside Megan. He noticed he had a new voicemail, but he didn't recognize the number that it had came from. It was a Texas number though, and that fact had his heart racing.

"What is it Tate?" Megan asked, laying a hand on his arm. He swallowed hard.

"I don't know." He took a deep breath and then pressed his voicemail and followed the instructions the lady gave him. Putting his phone on speaker phone he bit his lip as he waited for the message to start.

"Hey Tate." A familiar voice came along the line and Tate's stomach dropped. His heart started pounding quickly and he fought the urge to shut off the voicemail. Megan gripped his arm harder and looked at him with a question in her eyes.

"Adele." He choked out and her face melted into a mask of concern. The voice continued over the speaker.

"I must say that I'm a little bit glad you didn't answer your phone. I don't know if I would have had the courage to do this otherwise." There was a long pause and Tate squeezed his eyes shut waiting for the cussing out that was sure to follow.

"I know it's been a long, long time since I've last spoken to you. Five years to be exact. I think the last time I spoke to you was at Jake's funeral and I remember I said some pretty nasty things. I'm callin to say.... Well I'm callin to say that I'm sorry." A sniff came over the line as her voice cracked and Tate bowed his head, tears trickling slowly down his cheeks.

"I hated you for so long Tate. I knew it was irrational to hate you but I did. I couldn't forgive you for takin away the love of my life. But I've finally thought about it enough and tortured myself enough over it to realize that Jake wouldn't have wanted it this way. He would've told me to forgive you and to believe that it was an accident. I know now that it was an accident Tate. I don't blame you anymore. I'd love to see you in person. I know it must be hard for you to hear from me, and I know it is hard for you to come home but I thought I'd reach out to you this holiday season and tell you I forgive you Tate. I believe the judge. I believe you. I know you could never hurt your brother like that. I hope this call brings you a little bit of peace, maybe enough to come back home. We miss you Tate. I'm not just talkin about your mom and dad. I'm talkin about Colt and I too. Colt has never stopped asking about his Uncle Tate. Anyway, I just called to say if you are runnin away from here because of me, it's time to stop runnin and come home. I really, really hope you do, if for nothing else your mama's sake. She misses you somethin awful. If you need me to leave before you come home, if it will hurt too bad to see me, I get that Tate. I've made your life miserable for the past five years and I want to change that. Hopefully we can talk face to face someday soon. Anyway have a great holiday season and I hope you can finally find peace." The sound of crying came over the line before it went dead.