Her Prada Cowboy: McCulloch County Series #1 (10 page)

‘Does that mean your life is in
danger, Jarrod?”  Shannon wanted to know, looking at Jarrod with concern.

“Hopefully not, but just in case, we
have sharpened the security around the firm and the ranch.”

He refrained from telling her he had a
security detail put on her.  He did not want to spook her.

“Hey guys, look at this.  I distinctly
remember Alicia workin’ on the shared computer addin’ the changes we discussed
on the teasers on Wednesday.  The change to the project plan and design was
done directly after.”

He got up and walked to the door,
still mumbling and paging through the notes.

“I’m going to examine this further. 
I’ll let you know if I find anythin’.  Maybe get Reed to look into her
background so lon’.”

Suddenly she was alone with Jarrod
again and became tongue tied.  She cleared her throat and made for the door.

“Where are you goin’?”

“I have a meeting with the Operations
team in ten minutes.”

“That can wait.  Come and sit down.  I
want to discuss movin’ the launch forward.”

“Forward?  How much forward?  The time
frame is already very tight.”

“The quicker we launch, the quicker
this threat goes away … if it is associated with that at all.  We need to
brainstorm the inputs and see what we can change or cutout.  I want to launch
in six weeks at the most.”

“But that is shortening the Marketing
campaign by six weeks!  It is impossible, Jarrod.”

“Nothin’ is impossible, Shannon.  Make
it happen.  Now, you can go to your meetin’.”

Shannon was irritated, having come
across his arrogance in the office for the first time.  She huffed out the
office.  Jarrod smiled, watching her swaying hips that made his dick jerk with
need.

Damn! 
He has gone without sex for months at a time, even close to a year. Now, after
just one week he was so desperate to have her, he would beg her on his knees!  He
refused to acknowledge that there were numerous options to explore to take care
of his sexual frustration.  Even more so, that he had no desire or interest to
approach any of the many beauties in Houston that would spread their legs for
him willingly.

Shannon
did some research to find the best Obstetrician in the city and managed to make
an appointment for late afternoon on Friday.  She arrived a few minutes early
and sat watching the front door of the private practice with trepidation.  She
sighed and alighted from the car.  Procrastinating was not going to change
anything!

Bennett Lewis was probably around
thirty five, but had a friendly, open face that comforted Shannon immediately.

“So, Miss Davis.  What can I do for
you today?”

“I believe I am pregnant.  I did a
home pregnancy test and it was positive.”

“Last period?”

“Around 10
^th
February.”

“Well, let’s take a look.  I am going
to do a quick body stat examination. We’ll do a scan that will give us a
relatively accurate due date. Draw some blood and we’ll do a urine test.  Okay
with you?”

Shannon nodded and followed him to the
examination room.  He indicated a flowery robe that she quickly changed into. 
He spoke to her the whole time he was examining her.  Asking questions about
her health and her habits.  He frowned when he listened to the heartbeat of the
baby, and did it again.

“Is something wrong?”

“Nooo, but let us verify it with the
sonar scan.”

He rubbed a gel type solution on her
tummy and ran the scanner over her belly.  He pointed to the embryo and
frowningly turned the scanner back and forth over her belly.

“Yes … there!  I thought so!  Any
twins in your family, Shannon?”

“I am one.  Are you saying … am I
having twins?”

“Yes … look, see there … and there? 
Those are the two embryos.”

“I … it never even crossed my mind
that … oh lord!”

“We need to make sure you and the
father are compatible.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your blood types.  Just for
verification and surety.”

“I … er …”

“He doesn’t know about the pregnancy?”

“Not yet.”

“But you do intend telling him?

“Yes, I have to.  He is not the type
of man you keep something like this from.  It’s just … I just can’t yet.”

“Don’t wait too long, Shannon.  With
twins … trust me, you want someone around to help you, especially when they’re
babies.”

He finished with the examination and
she got dressed again.  Once seated in his office again, he smiled at her
broadly.

“Okay, Shannon.  Everything seems
fine.  You are healthy so I do not foresee any problems with your pregnancy. 
Have you been nauseous?”

“Only for a few days, but not since
Friday.”

“Hmm … I will give you tablets for
that as well as some vitamins I want you to start taking.  According to the
sonar you are just over six weeks pregnant.  The babies are therefore due round
about … 6th November.” 

Shannon sat in her car, gripping the
steering wheel, staring into nothingness.

Oh my!  I am going to be a mother!

Took you long enough to realize it
doll face!

Stop calling me that!

Doesn’t seem to bother you when he
does.

Oh, butt out!

Shannon
drove to Austin early on Saturday morning. She thought about Jarrod’s annoyance
with her, when she left early the day before and declined his invitation to spend
the weekend on the ranch.  Ideally, she should go there to tell him about the
pregnancy.  It was not something she could do over the phone or in the office. 
He was in the middle of the breeding program, therefore his time in Houston would
be limited for the next few months.

She just did not have the strength to
do so as yet.  She knew enough about him to know he would demand she marry him.
His passionate declaration that any child of his would be born legitimate was
proof of that.  Her nausea seemed to have dissipated and she was overjoyed. She
hated throwing up.  She had a few months’ grace anyway before she started to
show, which would give them more than enough time to get to know each other
better.

She arrived at Sheila’s just after ten
and found them lazily having a late breakfast.  Baby Beatrice smiled and waved
excitedly when she saw Shannon.  She took her from Sheila and sat down.

“How is the job going, William?”

“Terrific. The people are so helpful
and supportive, it is amazing.  I have been included in their latest project to
design the new Head Office for the Bank of America.  They specifically want
something modern and green.”

“Oh no!  We forgot to buy juice for
Beatrice!”  Sheila tended to become agitated very quickly when it comes to her
little girl and Shannon smiled, wondering if she would be the same with hers.

“I’ll go and get some quickly.  I want
to get her a stuffed toy as well.  I just haven’t had the time this week.”

Sheila told her what to get and she
quickly drove to the store a few blocks away.  When she returned Jarrod’s
luxurious SUV was parked in the driveway and she groaned.  She could not even
say he was stalking her because she did not tell him she was visiting them this
weekend.

He was sitting with Beatrice on his
lap when she walked in.  She had her hands wrapped in his long hair and giggled
excitedly. He looked at ease and totally enamored with the little baby on his
lap.

“Oh, no!  I’m so sorry!” 

Sheila shrieked, but Jarrod just
smiled.  Shannon watched with amazement how he gently pried the little hands
open with his big ones to release his hair.

He noticed Shannon in the door and was
clearly surprised to see her.

“Hi doll face.  This is a pleasant
surprise.”

“Morning Jarrod.” 

She handed the packet with the juice
to Sheila.  She went to sit down next to Jarrod and   gave the stuffed rabbit
to Beatrice.  She shrieked when she shook it and it rattled loudly.

“You must stop spoiling her.  You
never arrive without some toy or clothes.”

“It’s my godchild.  Of course I must
spoil her.”

Beatrice fell onto Shannon’s lap and
she rose to fetch some juice for her in the kitchen.  Voices coming closer from
the outside made her hesitate as she looked towards the door.  She paled so
suddenly both Jarrod and Sheila reached for her.  Sheila grabbed Beatrice who
started to slide from her arms.

Shannon took two steps back and
searched behind her desperately.  Jarrod’s hands closed around hers and he
pulled her against his side, frowning when he felt her tremble.

His Dad, Dylan and his wife, Melody
came walking through the door.  Her happy laughter echoed into the room.  She
looked towards Jarrod and stopped so abruptly that Dylan walked into her.

Now, Darlin’!  What are … Melody,
what’s wron’?”

His Dad’s wife turned as white as a
sheet and took a few halting steps towards Shannon.

Jarrod felt her pull back the closer
she got and pulled her against his side and folded his arm protectively around
her.

“How … Shannon!  How did you … what
are you doing here?”

She rushed forward and Shannon stepped
back further trying to avoid her reaching arms, her face pale, her trembling
increasing.  Jarrod pushed her slightly behind him and looked at her worriedly. 
She seemed terrified.

Melody Parker stopped and stared at
the stunning young woman protected under the arm of her stepson.  Her heart
contracted.  She held out her hand beseechingly.

“Shannon … darling.”

“Darling?  You must be confusing me
with Sheila.  You have never, not once in my whole life, called me darling …
Mother.”

The silence in the den was deafening. 
Melody dropped her hand and her eyes were sad.  She couldn’t remember what
happened to chase her daughter away.  She was so spaced out after Thorn’s death
… and the drinking … the pills … oh lord, the look in Shannon’s eyes just now. 
She was terrified of her!  She swallowed and there were tears in her eyes.

“Shannon it has been so long … can’t
we just forget …”

Shannon’s eyes narrowed and her
trembling   increased.

“You don’t remember, do you?  That is
why it is so easy for you to want to forget!  Well, Mother … I am afraid it is
not so easy for me.”

Her voice thickened and she turned to
Jarrod and Sheila, her eyes shuttered. 

“Please excuse me.  I need to get out
of here.”

He took her hand, but she laid it on
his chest and shook her head.  Her eyes filled with tears and her voice shook
when she whispered against his chest.

“No, please.  I need to be alone. 
Please make sure … I don’t want her near me.  Please Jarrod.”

He nodded and allowed her to turn away
reluctantly.  His eyes followed her until she disappeared through the door.  He
looked at his Dad and they both frowned.

Jarrod turned to his stepmother and
she wiped the tears from her cheek with a trembling hand.  She shook her head
and walked into Dylan’s arms.

“Oh good Lord!  She hates me!”

“I don’t understand, Mel. You only
told me about Sheila.”

“Mom!  How could you not have told
Uncle Dylan about Shannon?” 

Sheila only realized now how wide the
canyon was that separated her twin from their mother.

Melody startled and turned around to
sit down in one of the couches, wringing her hands.

“Shannon and Sheila … are twins.  Not
identical, but they have always been so very close. Shannon took more after
Thorn and Sheila after me.  I don’t know why and I have always regretted my
actions, especially when they were little.  I took more to Sheila.  She was
born second and was sickly. The doctor’s said she had a lack of oxygen,
especially during birth.  Shannon took forever to be born … I guess I blamed
her.  Then Thorn died … she was his little princess, although he treated both
of them equal, she was his tail. Wherever he went, she went. I guess she’s
always felt my … rejection.”

Melody cried silently.

“He died when they were eighteen.  A
motor vehicle accident.  She was supposed to go and pick him up from work. 
Instead she stopped at the local bar to meet up with some friends.  By the time
she remembered she had to pick him up, he had accepted a lift from one of his
colleagues.  I … blamed her.  I could not accept his death … the role she
played in it as I saw it.  I started drinking and taking tranquilizers. 
Shannon took over the household.  She got Sheila through her final school
year.  Sheila had been having problems and she tutored her.

One night we had a major fallout.  She
… she challenged me about my drinking and pill popping as she called it.  I
said some horrible things … and that is all I can remember.  I don’t know what
happened thereafter.  I … this is the first time I have seen her, since that …
horrible night!”

Melody cried softly.  She shook her
head.

“Sheila and her … they came together again
a few years later, but she never wanted to see me.  Every time Sheila tried to
bring us together, she disappeared.  Oh Lord, she is such a beautiful woman! 
What did I do?  If only I knew what I did!”

“You dragged me by my hair and threw
me out of your house, Mother.  That is what you did.”

Melody shook her head, horror in her
eyes.

“No … Oh God No!  Please, I would
never …”

“No … how would you even know? You
were so spaced out ninety percent of the time you did not know if it was night
or day.  Shall I show you my scars, Mother?”

Shannon lifted her hair and turned
around.  A thumb length and a smaller pinkish raised scar ran just below her hairline
at the back of her head.  Jarrod drew a slow breath, the anger for what she had
to endure hard to control.

Everyone was shocked and Sheila ran to
her and hugged her so tight she could not breathe.  Now that Shannon was over
the initial shock, she was angry.  Angry at the hurt and loneliness she had to
endure.  Angry that her mother could not even remember how badly she hurt her
that day.

“Non, I am so sorry!  I wish I knew! 
Why did you never tell me?”

“It’s not true, it can’t be true!  I
would never have done that to you, not even when …”

“No?  Shall I give you the graphical
description of what happened, Mother, because it is ingrained in my memory?  It
was a Saturday night.  I got paid the day before and when I looked for my
money, it was gone.  All of it!  I found you so drunk you just laughed when I
asked you where my money was.  What do you think, you useless bitch, was your
answer.”

“No …no!”

“Oh, don’t worry, Sheila, by that time
I was used to be called that.  You told me it was your due, that it was because
of me that you were alone … that your husband was dead and you were penniless.”

“You were supposed to pick him up! 
You went to the pub with your friends instead!”

Sheila spun to her mother and for the
first time spat at her angrily.

“NO!  I was supposed to pick him up,
not Shannon!  I am the one that went with Paul to the pub, Shannon was already there
working.  She could not have picked Dad up that day, Mom, she was working
double shifts to pay for her car.”

Melody paled even more.  She covered
her face with her hands.  Jarrod could not take his eyes off Shannon.  She was
white and so stiff it looked as if she would break in two.  He only wanted to
wrap his arms around her and never let her go.

“I got angry and shouted at you that
we were penniless because of your boozing and pill popping.  You slapped me
then … started hitting me over and over, even when I fell on the broken booze
bottle on the stairs, and cut my neck, you just … kept hitting me.  Then
shouted at me that you did not know me anymore, that I was no daughter of yours
and threw me out.  Literally dragged me out by my hair.  You screamed at me to
leave.  You left me out on the pavement, Mother.  With no clothes, no money … a
bloody neck, face and two broken ribs.”

Melody was crying brokenly, her body
shaking with sobs.

“Now I understand why you always ran
off when you knew Mom would come to visit us.  You … were scared of her!”

Shannon’s wince confirmed Sheila’s
observation and Jarrod realized it was real fear she felt when she saw Melody
for the first time.

“I’m sorry … I am so, so sorry! 
Shannon I was … oh Lord, I can’t even make excuses!  I don’t even remember any
of this!  Please forgive me, my beautiful daughter … oh Lord, please forgive
me!”

Shannon stared at her mother, who was
still beautiful at fifty two … and she felt nothing, except a shiver of fear,
remembering her face when she kept hitting and screaming at her.

“Maybe the Good Lord will forgive you,
Mother.  I’m afraid, I don’t have it in me.”

She picked up her bags she carried
back with her and turned to Sheila.

“I’m sorry, but I think it will be
better if I go home.”

Jarrod pulled his car keys from his
pocket and handed it to his Dad before he followed Shannon outside.

“Take my car, Dad.  I’m takin’ her to
the ranch.”

He reached Shannon just as she opened
the back of her small SUV and he lifted her duffel bag and dropped it inside,
slamming it shut again.  He drew her into his arms and just held her. 

“I’m takin’ you to the ranch.  You are
not goin’ to be alone the rest of the weekend.  Give me your keys, doll face.”

Shannon did not even argue.  She
handed him the keys and he walked her around the car and opened the passenger
door for her.  She sat staring out the window all the way to the ranch, neither
of them saying a word.

Jarrod drove directly to the secluded
creek a few miles behind the ranch house and brought the car to a halt.  He got
out and walked around the back to help her out too.  They walked to the edge of
the creek under the shades of the lush trees growing on the banks.  He pulled
her in his arms and held her tight.  The tears came then.  Big salty ones,
followed by hard and deep sobs that shook her small frame.

Jarrod just held her, caressing her
back and let her cry.  He had a suspicion that this was the first time she
allowed her emotions loose since it happened ten years ago.