Page 33 of Rescued by the Alien Bull Rider (Cowboy Colony Mail-Order Brides #6)

JOLENE

D espite my excitement about Zohro’s proposition, I didn’t jump into a shuldu saddle right away.

I wanted to recover more of my core and pelvic floor strength first, so Zohro spent some time researching before coming back to me with a list of exercises I was supposed to do.

I worked on them, progressively challenging myself more and more.

I relished the feeling of regaining control over my own body.

Of having something to focus on, to work towards, that wasn’t baby-related.

Zohro supervised me closely to make sure I didn’t get injured.

For some reason, he seemed very concerned about the hip thrust-type exercises, or anything that had my butt up in the air.

He always watched me really closely when I did those sorts of moves, his eyes white and his expression intense with scrutiny.

I hoped he didn’t find my form too crappy, but he never seemed to have much constructive criticism for me, so I supposed it was alright.

I worked on my exercises for more than a month, eventually adding Autumn in as some extra weight for the squats.

Zohro had created a perfect little baby-wearing carrier for her, so I strapped her on and bounced her.

It was so much easier to work through the burning in my ass and thighs when she smiled in delight at being lifted up and down by the motion.

Because, yeah. She was smiling now. And that shit was like fucking drugs. A shot of pure joy that lit up my brain like fireworks. That made me feel like I could do anything.

The first time she ever smiled, it was at Zohro, and I’d thought that my heart would literally explode.

When I wasn’t working out, Zohro made sure to get me out of the house more as well. He would strap Autumn onto his own chest for walks around the property, leaving me free to walk as fast as I wanted and swing my arms around.

And ogle him. Because, Jesus fucking Christ, he really did have magnificent daddy vibes.

Zohro wore Autumn into the stables, allowing me to get used to the shuldu all over again.

I brushed them, inspected their hooves, refilled their water.

Zohro didn’t let me touch the hay, even with gloves on, but after a while I was doing basically everything else shuldu-related completely on my own. And it made me feel amazing.

It made me feel like me.

When Autumn was two and a half months old, I got onto a shuldu by myself for the first time.

“I am right here,” Zohro said, holding the reins on the ground beside me. Sunlight drenched the paddock. Autumn was safe in her cradle, which Zohro had carried all the way out here and placed in the shade of a tree.

I nodded, suddenly unable to speak past the lump in my throat. Zohro had been such an enduring support. Not just with Autumn, but from the moment I’d arrived on this planet. He’d done so much for me – for both of us.

I didn’t know how I would have made it without him.

I fucking loved him so much.

I tore my eyes away from his face before I started sobbing. Taking a steadying breath, I urged Wyn into a gentle walk.

She moved, and I immediately felt at ease, settling into muscle memory carved out from years and years of riding.

I’d nursed a secret fear that even with all my riding experience, and all the work I’d put into my exercises, that this wouldn’t work.

That I would somehow be broken off from the rider I’d once been.

But I was still her. Or she was still me, or…

Whatever. I was fucking riding!

After a few laps of the paddock, I moved up into a trot, grinning like an idiot. This was better than a roller coaster, better than the fastest shuttle ride. I spied Zohro from across the paddock. He was holding Autumn now. Holding her so that she could see me.

And he was smiling.

Not at the baby. But at me.

He looked so damn happy.

He looked so fucking proud .

When I slowed Wyn to a walk once more and approached them, Zohro still wore that triumphant smile. Beaming, he said, “Look at your mother, Autumn!” And then, fiercely, “Look at my wife! ”

And then, I did cry. Because he was so perfect. And I wasn’t. But he’d married me anyway. Zohro’s smile faded. As he placed Autumn back in her cradle, I tearily dismounted, pleased enough at how easy the movement was that I was able to gain control of the tears.

“Are you injured?” Zohro asked, his hands rising to cup my jaw.

“No. Not at all. I feel incredible!” I sniffed, then laughed. Zohro’s white gaze dropped to my mouth. And stayed there.

Was he…

No .

Maybe?

Was my husband about to kiss me?

My heartrate, already elevated from the exhilaration of riding Wyn, moved to a rapid gallop. Zohro’s fingers slid back along my jaw, burying themselves in my hair. He lowered his head and, oh, God, there was no mistaking it now, he really was going to kiss-

A sudden vibration in the vicinity of Zohro’s butt drew him up short. He pulled back, swearing softly and reaching for his back pocket.

Nooooooo!

Dejection splashed me. Like icy water.

Or like… like liquid poop. That’s how shitty it felt.

“Is that your tablet?” I asked, trying not to cry all over again.

“It is yours.” He had both our devices in his pockets so I could ride without worrying about dropping mine. He pulled it out and handed it to me.

“Huh. It’s the warden.”

Zohro let out an impatient huff of a breath.

“He would be the one to call right now,” he grumbled. “You’d better answer it.”

I accepted the call, and Warden Tenn’s handsome, purple face filled my screen.

“Hello, Jolene. I hope you’re well. I’ve got an incoming call for you that I need to know if you’ll accept. If you do, I’ll boost the signal from my tower here and link it to you through our current call.”

“A call?”

The only people who called me were the other girls in the group chat. None of them needed the warden’s tower to boost their signal.

“It’s an off-world communication,” Warden Tenn explained. “A human man named Pete Macdonald would like to contact you.”

“Pa?!”

Zohro tensed beside me. “Don’t answer it,” he seethed, eyes burning. “He does not deserve to speak with you.”

Torn, I hesitated. Maybe Zohro was right. Maybe he didn’t deserve it.

But…

“If I don’t answer him, I’ll spend the rest of my life wondering what he wanted to say.”

Zohro didn’t look happy about it. In fact, he looked positively mutinous. His tail thrashed against the grass, like it was prepared to yank the tablet from my hand and hurl it across the paddock at a moment’s notice.

“Please put it through, Warden.”

“Understood.”

Warden Tenn disappeared. A second later, his image was replaced with another man’s.

It was Pa, but he looked older. Bags were heavy beneath his eyes.

“Jolene,” he said in that rough, familiar voice of his. The voice I’d waited years to hear say something like, “I love you.” But never did.

“Hi, Pa.” My voice sounded shredded. I swallowed and glanced at Zohro, wondering if he was going to butt in. But for now, he seemed content – or maybe not so content – to stand beside me and stare daggers at the screen.

“You look well,” Pa said.

“I am.”

Silence stretched until I finally asked, “What is it? Why are you calling me?”

“Sal told me about Magnolia Jones, and where she ended up,” Pa said. “Told me that you left that very night to run off after her.”

“So?” I asked, my tone rising with anger. “It’s not like I had much choice.”

“I never thought…”

“Never thought what?”

“Never thought that I’d never see you again.”

“You kicked me out!” I cried. “And you waited months to contact me!”

My heart slamming, my back sweating, I stomped over to Autumn’s cradle and picked her up so that he could see her. “This is my daughter, Autumn. She’s nearly three months old already!”

Autumn smiled, reaching excitedly for the screen, which I held out of her pudgy reach.

“Christ,” Pa croaked, his face grey, like he’d just seen a ghost. “She looks just like you did at that age.” He ripped off his hat – a hat just like the ones Zohro and I were wearing now – and scrubbed a hand through his hair.

“I’m no good at this shit, Jolene. But I’ve had a lot of time to think and…

” He met my eyes through the screen. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry.

And that I want you to come back. You and the baby both. ”

As surely as if he’d slapped me, I reeled.

They were the words I’d longed to hear for so long. I’d always wanted him to choose me. To tell me my home was with him. That I was his family. That I was welcome.

“No,” said a furious voice.

My husband’s voice.

Zohro snatched the tablet from my hand. “‘No,” he said again. He raised the screen so that he was in the frame now.

“Who the hell are you?” Pa asked.

“I am Jolene’s husband .” Zohro emphasized that last word, a terrible, possessive growl that made the hairs on my neck and arms stand on end.

“Zohro, it’s alright. I-”

“It is not alright!” He barely restrained the words from coming out as a bellow. He turned his enraged attention to the screen once more. “How dare you? How dare you abandon my wife, whom you should have raised as dearly as a daughter, and then come calling for her now?”

“Now, hold on-” Pa sputtered.

“I will not hold on!” Zohro jerked his tail towards me.

“Largely due to you, the perfect woman I have married fails to see her own worth, and therefore she will not defend herself, will not say what you must hear. But I do know her worth. And I am bound by no such compunction to be kind to you.” He bared his fangs.

“You have no honour. You have failed her. You have no right to lay claim upon my wife’s love now. Nor that of my daughter.”

My wife.

My daughter.

My breath caught. I reached a trembling hand for him. He caught it without even looking at it, interlacing the fingers of his left hand with mine while his right hand squeezed my tablet so hard I was surprised it didn’t snap in two.