EXONERATION (INTERFERENCE) (6 page)

Thankfully, Parker left for a business trip Monday morning and I was free of his renewed desires for three days. I breathed a sigh of relief as I dropped him off at the airport that morning.

“Don’t forget about me when I’m gone,” he grinned and leaned down to kiss me. I managed not to turn from him in disgust when he kissed me, as I was focusing on my three day reprieve.

Closure

Sam stopped by to pick up Shannon for the next couple of days. She was dating a really nice man who had a child a year younger than Shannon and they’d planned on going to Disneyland and the zoo over the next couple of days. This was going to give me time to catch up on all the accounts I’d been avoiding.

I was standing at the door hugging and kissing my daughter goodbye and thanking my sister and her boyfriend Mark, and when I looked up, Shane was standing
behind them.
Why did he have to look like that…so perfect!

My blush must have given me away because my sister turned her head to see what I was obviously so taken with. I saw her look at him and then back at me. She pulled Shannon to her, hiding her and whispered, “Oh my God…does he know?”

“Hello Sam. It’s been a long time,” Shane said, holding his hand out to my sister. She was stunned and stood there staring at him, unable to offer her hand.

“Shane! Shane! I’m going to Disneyland today and the zoo tomorrow! Aunt Sam’s taki
ng me and I have a new friend…?” she forgot Mark’s daughter’s name and looked up at him for that detail to her story.

“Stacy,” he smiled.

“Yeah, my new friend Stacy! We’re going to have so much fun. I’m going to get another snow globe for my collection!”

He knelt down and said, “Disneyland and the zoo!” he looked up at me as if he was missing out on more of his daughter’s life. But he quickly recovered and hugged Shannon and told her to have a great time.

He stood up and said, “I’m Shane Ramsay. You’re a lucky guy,” he said, glancing at Sam.

Mark shook his hand and said, “Nice to meet you. Are you a friend of the family?”

He glanced at me and said, “Something like that.”

My sister, unbelievingly, had yet to utter a
single word. She was so in shock by Shane’s return, that for once in her life, she was speechless.

“You’re looking well, Sam. Still acting?”

“What are you doing here?” she said, finally finding her voice.

She looked up at me, her eyes brimming with questions. I didn’t have any answers.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked, grabbing my arm to pull me inside.

I didn’t budge. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Mark, why don’t you get Shannon settled in the car? I’ll be there in a minute.”

He did as he was asked and I kissed Shannon goodbye one more time before she gave her father another hug and took Marks hand and headed to the car.

Sam turned toward Shane. “Why are you here?”

“For my daughter!”

She stared at him for a minute and said, “Why now, after all these years?” She was starting to get angry, I could see it. “You don’t have any right to be here now! Get out!” she shouted.

“She’s my daughter! I’m not leaving until I’ve worked a few things out with Rebecca.”

She pushed him, causing Mark to get back out of the car and stand by her side. “You’re not welcome here! Go back to…wherever it is you ran off to seven years ago! We don’t want you here!”

He looked at me and said, “Is that true?  Do you want me to leave?”

My head was saying
yes
while my heart was shouting
No No No!

When I didn’t answer, Sam glared at me. “How could you do this? How can you stand there after what he did to you? You cried non-stop for months! Don’t let him do this to you again,
Becca, Please! You’re married! Parker loves you!”

“I’m not doing anything. I didn’t ask him to come here.”

“But, he is here…and you’re alone.”

“Coincidence.
Besides, he’s not staying,” I said, looking up at him.

“Shannon’s mine, don’t make me get a court order for a blood test to prove something we both know is true. I don’t want to fight with you, Rebecca. I just want to be a part of my daughter’s life. I’m not leaving until we’ve come to an agreement.”

“You’re leaving now.”

“NO!”

Mark stepped up and said, “Yeah, you are going to leave…now.”

Shane towered over Mark and said, “I’m not a threat to her. I just want what’s mine.”

I started to shake. “You can’t have her!”

“Get out!” my sister yelled, pushing him away. He didn’t fight back
; he let her pummel him, only putting up his hands to block his face.

Mark pulled her off of him. 

“Meet me at the clinic in thirty minutes, Rebecca. We’ll walk to the diner across the street after I take care of a sick dog. I’m not going away. I just want to be able to see her, be a part of her life. Please, I don’t want to cause any trouble…but I will, if I have to.” He turned, nodded at Mark and walked away.

Sam stopped and watched him get into his car. “Oh my God,
he’s
the vet!” She turned and looked at me. “You’ve been seeing him…! How could you?” she roared at me.

“I haven’t been seeing him. He treated the damn cat! I didn’t know it was him when I took Snowball in. He was the vet on call…the cat was dying!” I said, offering up any excuse.

“You’ve known he’s been back for weeks now. If you’re not seeing him, then why didn’t you tell us that
he
was the vet?”

“Because I knew the reaction I’d get! I wasn’t wrong. He does have rights!”

“What rights? He left you! He made you believe he loved you. He was supposed to marry you, but instead, he left you alone…and pregnant!” she said, mimicking Parker’s words from the other night.

“He didn’t know I was pregnant.”

“Get rid of him now!”

“Don’t you think I’ve tried? He won’t leave.”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t encourage him, then,” she glared.

“I’m not!”

“Really? So, kissing him in the park in front of your six year old daughter isn’t encouraging him?” she accused.

“He kissed me.”

“I’m surprised Parker hasn’t done something about him.”

“He um, he doesn’t know…”

She looked up at me. “Good, then get rid of him before you lose your husband. Pay him off again…Daddy will help.”

“NO!”

“Rebecca, you can’t…”

“DON’T TELL ME WHAT I CAN’T DO! Everyone always tells me what to do! Shane only wants time with his daughter. If I fight him, he could get custody…” the thought almost brought me to my knees. I had known it was true, but until I actually said it out loud, I had managed to live in denial.

“Rebecca…”

“Go to Disneyland! I’ll handle him. Just, please don’t tell Mom, Dad…or Parker, okay?”

She softened a bit when she saw my tears. “Okay. If you need me…I have my cell.”

I nodded and waved as my shocked sister walked away with her very confused boyfriend. I knew they’d be having an interesting talk once the girl’s went to sleep that night.

I quickly showered and got dressed. I knew it was time to face the music, so I slipped into a sundress and after checking my reflection at least a dozen times, I drove over to the clinic.

The clinic was closed, so I knocked on the door. His car was out front, so I knew he was there. I tried the knob, it was unlocked and I walked in. I quietly made my way through to the back room and found him hunched over a dog, and he was talking softly to the animal and petting his fur while injecting something into him.

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked, trying to break the ice.

He didn’t turn toward me. “He’s been abused. He’s too far gone to save. I’m putting him down,” Shane said, continuing to pet the sad animal.

I stepped closer and saw that the dog had been horribly mistreated. “How can someone do this?” I said, my eyes welling up with tears at the suffering the poor animal must have endured.

“People can be cruel.”

“There was nothing you could do?”

“No. He’s was going to die anyway. I saved him the suffering of a painful death. At least now he’s at peace.”

“Why did you have me come here
and see this?” I asked, angry to have witnessed that.

“I didn’t know how bad he was going to be. The shelter told me he needed to be treated, but they didn’t know the extent of the damage. I’m sorry, if I’d have known, I wouldn’t have had you meet me here.”

The dog was gone and I watched Shane carefully, and gently, pick up the limp animal and carry him to the back room.

He came right back, washed his hands and said, “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “I didn’t know how good you were with animals, or that you cared so much for them.”

“I’ve always loved animals. I don’t like to see them suffer. I hated going hunting with my father.”

“Why did you go?”

“It wasn’t an option. I was forced to track them for him. I refused to shoot any, but I was always good at picking up trails, prints and scat. I never shot any living creature, but I led him right to them.”

“There’s nothing wrong with hunting.”

“No, it’s just not something I wanted any part of.”

“Is that why you became a vegetarian, because you felt guilty about leading your father to the animals?”

“No, I became a vegetarian because my dad was drunk one night and forced me to eat a deer heart. He said it would make a man out of me. I was twelve. I puked for three days.”

“Oh, God, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s water under the bridge. Do you um, want some coffee?” he asked.

I nodded and followed him. I assumed we were going to go to the coffee shop next door, but he took me to a room in the back instead.

“Do you live here?” I asked.

“Yeah. It’s easier that way. I don’t have a partner or anything, so someone needs to be here with the animals. Besides, it cuts down on expenses.”

“You’re a vet, so you should be making decent money.”

“Yeah, well, school was expensive.”

I couldn’t stop myself, “A hundred thousand should’ve helped!” I snapped.

“What?” he asked, pouring us each a cup of coffee.

“Nothing.
It doesn’t matter.”

“Have a seat,” he said, pointing to the couch behind me.

“This is pretty nice…back here. You’ve made it…warm and inviting. You’d never know it was an animal hospital.”

“Thanks. There’s another room in the back. I thought I’d turn it into a play room/bedroom for Shannon.”

I gasped and spilled the hot coffee down my hand.

“Here, let me get that.” He took the cup from my hand and walked me over to the sink and ran cold water over my hand.

“You can’t have her!” I said, finally coming out of my stupor.

“Rebecca, I’m not asking for full custody. I just want to be a part of her life. Have her here…you know, sometimes.
Some weekends and holidays…maybe after school sometimes. She can help me with the animals. She’d love it.”

“How do I explain…?” I was crying now.

He wrapped his arm around me and I pulled away, afraid to get too close.

“I don’t know. We have to talk about it. Come up with a plan. I know it would be easier for you…if I just left. But, I’m not going anywhere. I have a daughter and I AM going to be her father, whether you want me to or not.”

“She has a father.”

“I watched him with her at the play. He treats her like a client, keeping her at arms-length. He may provide for her, but he doesn’t love her. I’m sure he resents her because of me.” He looked into my eyes and added, “Unless…he thinks she’s his.”

I glared at him, “I didn’t sleep with Parker until we’d been married for three months…three and a half months
after
she was born. He knows she’s yours.”

“Good old Parker, always standing by!”

“He was there. He stood by me when I had her! He took me to the hospital and held my hand while I delivered
our
daughter…without you! Don’t belittle him, he was there! Where the hell were you?”

“You know where I was!”

I shook my head, angry that he wouldn’t tell me where he’d gone. “Look, let’s just figure out what to do! There has to be some way to explain…” but I didn’t know how to explain his presence to my daughter. There was no way Parker was going to stand by and allow Shane back in my…her life.

“Tell her the truth,” he offered.

“What? Are you crazy? I can’t do that!”

“Of course not.
You wouldn’t want to admit sleeping with a low-life thief, right?”