Titus: Book Two of the Cantrell Brothers Series

Chapter Thirty-One

A few hours later, when everybody was all awake and done packing, Anna said her goodbyes to the Cantrells and watched as their vehicle tires kicked up dust and then as they disappeared all together. Titus walked past her and out to the ranch, not even looking back. She didn't pay any mind to the cold shoulder, for she knew that it would warm up by the time she got to her parents' for Thanksgiving supper.

It took some time, but eventually, she got herself to shut the front door and walk back upstairs to Titus's room. She put all her things together into a garbage bag before dragging it downstairs into her own room and unpacking all of the items into their original positions. Her knick knacks, keepsakes, teaching projects were all somewhat organized on the desk just below the barren cork board.

Like she had done when first moving in, Anna put the class picture of her students and the gifts that they had given to her all on the cork board, securing them in place with colorful tacks. All done with the board, she replaced all her favorite pictures on the walls. Her family and school memories were quickly hung up, and then came her most favorite picture.

Two bright, young faces looked back at her, one being her own and the other of the man who was outside. With one arm wrapped around her and his slightly crooked smile grinning into the camera, twenty-three-year-old Titus was absolutely stunning. He was dressed in a vibrant pink button down shirt that he had worn after she had made an offhanded remark one day.

“So, what do you want me to wear?” he had asked one day so many years ago.

Having still been busy with her Advanced Biology worksheet, Anna had just said the first thing that had come to her mind. “Hot pink.”

And he had done it. Bringing a hand to her mouth, Anna stifled the giggles as she clearly remembered just how goofy Titus had looked on her graduation day. She closed her eyes, going back a few years in her mind and watching a younger version of today's Titus walking to his seat in the crowd with proud, sure steps in his black dress pants and hot pink shirt.

Like it always had been, he had looked great. His hair had been a little bit longer and his goatee a little thicker, partially covering a deeply tanned face. She could still feel the jealousy that had coursed through her as almost every pair of female eyes had fallen on mostly him and then had sidled over to some of his brothers.

She still felt that jealousy sometimes. Whenever Mary Ellis brought him up at school – which she was doing now more than ever – Anna almost burned with it. The woman would say something about how great of a couple that Jasmine girl and Hunter were and then be a little subtle in her demeaning remarks towards her.

Not wanting to think about it and have the wretched woman ruin her Thanksgiving, Anna set the picture of her and Titus back down on the night stand and then finished up. She took one last look at her room before heading into the kitchen, grabbing some sticks of celery, and plopping down on the couch.

As she scrolled through a few channels, Anna tried not to think about how empty the house seemed without the large family and failed miserably. This house needed a big family that was filled with at least six children. She honestly had no idea how Titus had lived here so long with just himself for company, and even with the kittens who were currently pawing at her, it felt cold.

The buckskin material of the couch against her back, the couch pillow beneath her head, and the air felt cold and empty. Distracting herself from the void, she allowed herself to fall into her movie watching daze, paying attention to the movies and nothing else as time passed.

She watched as Liam Neeson's daughter was taken and then, roughly ninety-five minutes plus a ton of commercial time later, as Liam Neeson and his wife got taken. What would usually be a good movie just because of the main actor wasn't really, and it was all because of one person's absence.