Chain of Title (16 page)

The intervening
weeks leading up to Jack’s family barbecue passed by quickly without an angry
phone call from him to Shayna chastising her for the contentious meeting with their
mother.  Shayna wasn’t sure what to make of that.  Maybe Abigail was really
going to come clean.  The woman certainly couldn’t have said anything negative
about their conversation to Jack or Shayna would’ve felt his fury by now.  It
left butterflies in her stomach—the not knowing.  She really didn’t want to see
her brother’s hurt, but felt certain that they would be, one way or another.

Pulling into Jack’s circular
driveway, Shayna couldn’t help the smile that slid across her face.  He and
Emily had certainly done well for themselves over the years and had just built
their beautiful home a few years ago.  It had a southern charm to it that
didn’t surprise Shayna.  Emily was from Georgia and determined not to leave her
roots far behind.

Seeing the cars parked ahead
of them, it appeared that they were the last to arrive.  She felt Sean squeeze
her hand and she glanced over at him.  He had reservations about today, Shayna
knew that, but he was doing his best to mask them.

“Ready?” he asked with an
easy smile.  “Everything will be fine, Shay, even if Abigail shows up.”

She nodded reluctantly,
wanting it to be true.

Shayna sighed.  “I just want
to apologize in advance if my family doesn’t give you a warm welcome.  They
don’t like change...and you’re kind of a big one,” she said softly.

“I can handle it.  Consider
me coated in Teflon.  No worries.  Okay?” he said, dipping his chin down and emphasizing
his words with his raised brows and determined eyes.

She sighed, bracing herself,
and nodded hesitantly.  “Let’s do this,” she said, opening her door and exiting
Sean’s Audi.

She could smell the delicious
aromas emanating from the deck at back of the house.  Jackson Montgomery loved
his family more than anything, but there was one thing that was a close second—cooking
out.  He looked for any excuse to be outdoors, grilling and barbecuing.  Shayna’s
mouth already watered at what she knew was awaiting them.

Taking the aromatic, lilac-lined
path that snaked around to the back of the house, Shayna caught a glimpse of
Jack at the smoker wearing his usual “Grill Sergeant” apron and Emily placing
side dishes and desserts on the table.  Her nieces and nephews, all five of
them, were further out in the deep, lush lot, playing a game of Frisbee.  Jack looked
up and caught sight of Shayna.  He hollered in his booming voice, “Hey,
squirt!”  Then his eyes landed on Sean and he quickly looked away, shaking his
head in dismay.

Shayna glanced up at Sean.  He
simply grinned, shook his head unperturbed, and mouthed,
it’s okay
.  They
made their way up the multi-level deck where Emily, Scott, and Danielle, who
had all just brought more food out from the kitchen, met them on the upper tier.

“Hey, Mom!” Danielle called
out as she placed a covered dish on the table.  She quickly strode to Shayna
and gave her a warm hug.  Stepping back, Danielle flashed a glimpse at Sean and
then back to her mother.  Looking back at Sean more assuredly, she said, “I
promise to make a better impression this time.  Sorry about before.”

“It’s all right.  No hard
feelings,” Sean answered kindly.  Danielle nodded appreciatively.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,”
Scott said exuberantly, offering his hand to Sean.  “I’m Scotty.  Shayna’s
favorite
brother,” he said intentionally loud, winking at his smiling sister.

Shayna couldn’t help but
notice Jack’s head pop up from the smoker.  He didn’t look pleased with Scott’s
humor.  Some things never change.

“You like beer?” Scott asked,
gripping Sean’s shoulder.

“Yeah, what do you have?”

“Hell, my brother’s got every
kind possible.  He’s a real ass kisser.  Oops.  I mean a real people pleaser,”
he said laughing at his own joke.  “Follow me, I’ll get you set up,” he said,
patting Sean’s shoulder and turning to lead the way.  Scott made cursory
introductions to Jack and Emily, never slowing down his mission to ply Sean
with beer.  Sean barely had a chance to hand off the two covered dishes to
Emily that he had carried from the car.

“Man, Uncle Scotty’s in a
good mood today,” Danielle said with a chuckle.

“He certainly is,” Shayna
agreed knowingly.  She suspected that Scotty was happy that there would be
someone else here tonight that would make everyone more uncomfortable than he
did.

“Can I talk to you, squirt?”
Jack asked, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel as he moved closer to Shayna.

“Yeah, sure.”

He gestured with his head to
follow him inside.

They made their way through
the massive gourmet kitchen, expansive two-story great room, and finally down a
hall to Jack’s home office.  Once inside, he closed the door behind them.

“I just want to give you a
heads up on a couple of things, sis.”  Shayna crossed her arms and nodded.  She
didn’t have a good feeling about this.  “First off, I invited Frank.”  He held
his beefy, callused hand up to silence his sister.  “It’s my house and he’s
been a good friend for a helluva long time.  Like it or not, Shay, I still
think of him as family.  I probably always will.  He’ll always be Uncle Frank
to my kids, no matter what.  You just need to deal with that.  Besides, I think
it’s good for Danielle.”

Shayna huffed.  “Not if it
ends in a fight.”

“You and Frank just need to
act like adults then.”

“I wasn’t talking about
me
and Frank,” she said coolly.

“Well, lover boy just needs
to cool his jets.  He’s the new kid on the block.  He’s going to have to earn
our support.”

“Earn it?  Really, Jack?”  He
nodded arrogantly.  “Tell me something.  What the hell does Frank have to do to
lose your support?  Because apparently, breaking your little sister’s heart
isn’t on the list,” she remarked snidely.

Jack waved his hand
dismissively.  “That’s not my business.”

“You’re making it your
business when you pull a stunt like this and you know it.  It’s on your
shoulders if this blows up in your face tonight, no one else’s.”

Jack, crossing his arms over
his barrel of a chest, leaned back against his heavy, over-sized desk and
assessed Shayna.

“I want you to be happy,
sis,” he said just above a whisper.

“Well, this doesn’t make me
happy, Jack.”  He seemed ready to say something, but she wanted to change the
subject.  “What else did you want to tell me?”

He paused, swallowed his
words, and sighed, averting his eyes down to the richly hued oriental area rug
they were standing on.  He suddenly seemed to be having trouble with the power
of speech.

“Mom won’t be here today,” he
said disappointedly, still not meeting Shayna’s eyes.

Oh, no, Abigail must’ve told
him about the meeting at the coffee shop.  Shayna felt her stomach start to
bubble with what she worried was coming next.  Jack reached behind him and
picked up a piece of paper.  He handed it to Shayna.

“Apparently, she feels like
she has
closure
now,” he said crisply, clearly trying to tamp down the
bitterness in his tone.

Shayna exhaled sharply and
absently took the letter from Jack’s hand.  She couldn’t believe what she was
reading.  When she finished, Shayna released the paper as if it had burned her,
letting it float and eventually drift down to the floor.  She turned and walked
despondently to the bank of windows in Jack’s office.  Abigail had simply
wanted to make sure that her children were happy and doing well.  That was the
gist of the letter.

Shayna spat hot air at her
reflection in the window.  Then her eyes scanned the lush green landscape and
the mountains serrating the horizon in the distance.  Her heart squeezed and
then she flushed with anger.  Anger that for even one second she had allowed
herself to dream that their mother might actually want to be a part of their
lives.  Anger that she had even hoped she might be wrong about Abigail.

Shayna startled when Jack’s
large hand came around her shoulder, hugging her into his big, warm body.  He
felt so much like their father.  She choked back a sob.  She refused to waste
one more tear on Abigail Montgomery.  The woman was so not worth it.

“Sorry, Shayna.  I guess you
were right all along.  You knew she wasn’t going to stick around.”  He exhaled
loudly, squeezing her closer.  “I feel like such a fool,” he confessed, barely
restraining his emotion.

Shayna reached up and tugged
Jack’s bearded face to hers.  “
She’s
the fool, Jack. 
Not you
.  Don’t
ever
think otherwise,” she said fiercely.  He smiled sadly and nodded. 
She hugged him tightly, cursing Abigail for hurting her brother again. 

A loud knock sounded at the
door followed by Scotty barging in with Sean in tow.  “Hey, what do we have to
do to get food around this place?” he joked loudly.

He stopped, his expression
quickly shifting to worry when he saw his siblings breaking apart from an
emotional hug and the grief stretched tight across their faces.  He glanced
down at the paper lying on the floor in front of Jack’s desk.  Scott’s features
darkened, his body stiffened, and he nodded in understanding.

“Showed her the letter, huh?”
he asked rhetorically.  Shayna noticed the look of concern on Sean’s face.  Scott
sighed loudly.  “Yeah, she’s a real nut job, isn’t she?  Apparently, abandoning
us once wasn’t enough.”  He took a long pull from his beer bottle and swiped
his hand across his mouth.  “Ah, fuck her.  It’s her loss anyway.”  Then he
snorted loudly.  “I always figured we never heard from her ‘cause she was
dead.”  A demented giggle escaped his lips.  “Now I just wish she was.”

Scott’s expression sobered as
he registered the concern on everyone’s faces.  He quickly changed the subject,
saying, “Listen, I’m hungry as hell and so is everybody else here.  Let’s get
this show on the road, damn it!”  He slapped Sean on the back as he made his
exit.  They all watched Scott leave, then turned back to one another.

“Yeah, I’d better get out
there before all that meat’s ruined,” Jack said, trying to sound like
everything was status quo.  He winked at Shayna and gently patted the side of
her face.  “Hungry, squirt?”  She nodded.  “Okay then, let’s get out there.”

Shayna took Sean’s hand as
they followed Jack out of the office, but Sean pulled her back inside the door,
looking searchingly into her eyes.  “You okay, Shay?” he asked softly, stroking
her cheek.

She shook her head.  “No, but
I will be.”  She forced a weak smile and he leaned down, brushing his lips
tenderly across hers.

She pulled him in for a
deeper kiss before breaking away and hugging him desperately, breathing his
scent down to her toes, as he held her in his arms and nuzzled against her
temple.

“Let’s go eat,” she finally whispered
against his firm chest.  Then she stopped him suddenly when she remembered.  “Oh,
by the way, Frank’s going to be here.”

Sean huffed and cocked one
thick brow.  “Yeah, I know.  Already saw him.”  He lowered his voice, leaning
closer to Shayna.  “Scott really doesn’t like him.  More than I think he ever let
on to you,” he remarked quietly.

Shayna’s brow furrowed. 
“Really?”

“Oh, yeah.  He’s been talking
my ear off.  He pissed your ex off as soon as he saw him come in the door.” 
Sean’s eyes narrowed.  “I think Scott’s tipped back a few too many today.”

Shayna’s heart clenched as
she glanced over at the discarded letter still lying on the floor.  Jack and
Scotty had really gotten their hopes up, only to be cruelly let down.  She felt
sick to her stomach.  She had always wondered if Scotty’s inability or lack of
desire to settle down had anything to do with their mother’s abandonment.  He
seemed determined to be the first one out of every relationship he had ever had—guaranteeing
he wasn’t left first.  Now, he would probably feel even more justified in
keeping people at arm’s length.  Oh, Scotty, she thought sorrowfully, I wish I
knew how to help you.

Shayna sighed in resignation. 
“I’m not surprised,” she muttered sadly.

****

Laughter
filled the deck under the pergola draped with glowing lanterns, as Jack and
Emily’s kids provided the entertainment after dinner with their dramatic flair
and funny stories.  They ranged in age from the oldest, a recent law school
graduate, to the youngest, twin sixth graders.  Shayna smiled nostalgically at
the warm, cozy family her brother and Emily had grown.  Jack was a wonderful
father and husband, so much like their own father with his big, brawny body,
bearded face and thunderous laughter.  After Ben Montgomery died, Jack had even
taken to calling Shayna squirt, her father’s term of endearment for her when
she was a girl.  Shayna was above average height for a woman, but next to the
Montgomery men, she had always looked like a wisp of a girl.

Shayna chuckled inwardly at
Natalie, one of the twins, sitting next to Frank on a lounger with her arms
wrapped lovingly around him, confiding all about some boy at school who had
been pestering her lately.  Frank was playfully advising her in matters of the
heart and sneaking in a tickle here and there.  Natalie and Frank had always
had a special affinity for one another, probably because she was so much like
Danielle.