The Boss Lady's Man

{Chapter} 17

{Chapter 17}

Toni stood over the man lying in a puddle of blood wielding the bloody pitchfork in her hands and gripping it so hard her knuckles were white. Her breathing was shallow as she became fully aware of what she had done. The realization hit her like a blow to the gut. She backed farther and farther away until she hit the wall of the barn and sunk to the floor…

“Stop it!” Toni jerked awake from reliving that horrible day all those years ago and found Erik sitting cross-legged on the bed in front of her, gripping her shoulders.

“Toni wake up” he was saying as he gently shook her.

Toni found herself in a sitting position with sweat pouring from her forehead and drenching her nightgown that she had finally found the courage to wear. Her hair stuck to the side of her face and her chest heaved.

She looked into Erik’s eyes to see an overwhelming concern and passion flooding their dark green depths.

“Are you okay? Say something to me, hon,” he said.

Toni opened her mouth but no words came out. Only a heart-broken sob.

“What have I done?” she asked herself aloud.

She covered her face with her hands and felt her shoulders heave as the sobs from all the years before broke loose. Erik pulled her into his arms and cradled her, gently rocking her back and forth. Toni didn’t even try to stop the tears this time. Over the past eight years, she had endured a few nightmares from that day, but never one as vivid as this one.

Erik had never seen Toni in such an emotional state. Her moans and muttered words had waked him, but then she jerked up in a cold sweat, and he hadn’t known what to think. Now she was crying her eyes out on his shirt, the very last thing he had expected from her. It was obvious that she had a past that she was trying to hide from, but now it appeared like it was coming back to haunt her. He closed his eyes and prayed for her, for what was bothering her, and kissed her hair.

“Liberty” she sobbed the name repeatedly, only adding to Erik’s confusion.

He wanted to ask her so many questions so that he might know of a way to comfort her, but she was obviously in no state to answer them.

So he sat there and held her for two or three hours until she finally settled down and went to sleep.

**********

Toni woke up the next morning to the sun shining brightly through her eastern-faced window. She jerked awake and sat up. She had overslept! The cow needed milking and the eggs gathering and the boys were probably starving and making a mess of the kitchen. Her feet hit the floor and brought her mind back to the present. She wasn’t on her ranch in Texas. She was in Georgia with her “husband’s” family.

Suddenly, all the thoughts from last night came back to her and she groaned. Erik had stayed up no telling how late petting on her, and she was sorely ashamed. Looking over to where he slept on the floor across from the bed, she noticed that he was already up. Jumping up, she found that her dress from yesterday was gone, then remembered that Erik had told her about the maid that came around early in the morning collecting laundry.

Now all she had were her old jeans and shirt to wear. She rummaged through her suitcase for her good jeans and red plaid shirt, then shook most of the wrinkles out and changed into them. After combing her hair out and letting it fall freely down her back, she eyed her dusty boots in the corner with disgust. Sighing, she went and pulled them on, prepared to face Erik’s family’s scrutiny when she went downstairs.