Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2) (13 page)

Katie stared in disbelief at the little white stick sitting on the
bathroom counter, tears forming in her eyes as she tried to hold back the sobs
that threatened to rip from her chest.

A soft knock sounded on the door, followed by Sarah’s concerned voice.
“Katie? Let me in, okay?”

Without feeling herself move, Katie reached for the knob, flipped the
lock, and then stepped back to where she had been. Sarah came in, leaving the
door open. In the reflection of the mirror, Katie watched as Sarah leaned down
and looked at the little screen on the white stick.

“You’re pregnant, Katie.”

Katie nodded. She couldn’t do anything else.

“Oh, honey,” Sarah said soothingly, wrapping her arms around Katie and
pulling her close.

Katie rested her chin on Sarah’s shoulder and stared at the reflection
of herself in the mirror. She didn’t even recognize that woman anymore. Thankfully,
she didn’t have to look at herself for long, because the tears broke free,
clouding her vision, and she sobbed uncontrollably right there in her best
friend’s arms.

She had no idea how long they stood there like that, but the next thing
she knew, Sarah was helping her to sit on her bed.

“I want you to rest for a little while,” Sarah told her. “I’ll take
care of everything here.”

Katie nodded. She didn’t have the energy to argue.

When Sarah left the room, Katie crawled up into her bed, pulling the
covers over her and resting her palms on her stomach.

A baby.

Dalton’s baby.

What had she done?

Oh, God, what had she done?

The tears came again, and this time she didn’t try to stop them. She
cried for herself, for Dalton, and for their unborn child.

Just when she thought life couldn’t be any crueler than it already had…

Three
months later — April

“Thank y’all!” Dalton screamed into the microphone that was attached to
the earpiece in his left ear, his guitar now hanging in front of him, his head
soaked in sweat, and his heart pounding double time. It’d been one hell of a
night, and honestly, Dalton wasn’t quite ready for it to be over. “We love you,
Austin! Good night!”

Taking his hat off, he tossed it into the crowd, not able to see it
once it fell past the bright stage lights, but the noise that erupted from the
VIP section told him someone was delighted to have received it.

There was a chorus of “One more! One more! One more!” that resounded
throughout the enormous amphitheater where they were performing the last stop
of a hellacious thirty-concert tour.

God, he loved this shit!

With a smirk to the crowd being broadcast via several big screens
behind him, Dalton tilted his head as though considering their request. He
wasn’t actually thinking about it, because what the fans wanted, the fans got.
This had been one of the best tours he’d done in his career, and he fully
intended to go out with a bang.

He was pretty sure they were on goal, too. After all, he’d set it up so
that Brett Basson opened for him, and just as he had suspected, the crowd loved
him.

But that wasn’t all that he’d had in store for the Austin crowd.
Working with Cooper’s father, David, Dalton had managed to get Cooper to join
him up on stage. But the kicker was when he’d managed to secure Cheyenne
Montgomery as a guest appearance. Dalton didn’t know Cheyenne all that well,
but Cooper and Tessa had pulled a few strings, working with Tessa’s cousins to
have her call him. The rest was mere details. Cheyenne had agreed to join them
up on the Austin stage, and they’d blown the roof off the place in the first
few minutes.

And now they were gearing down, getting ready for the lights to go out.

But he had one more thing up his sleeve before that happened.

As he pretended to come up with an idea, Dalton’s strategic head nod
got the crowd going wild. Dalton then turned toward the left side of the stage,
locating his partners in crime before crooking his finger to signal them back
out. When Cooper Krenshaw and Cheyenne Montgomery made their way back in view
of the audience, the sound level went to astronomical levels.

“What do ya’ll think?” Dalton asked Coop and Cheyenne, speaking right
into the microphone. The noise dropped significantly, although his ears were
still ringing. “Think we should give ’em one more?”

Coop looked out at the crowd, then glanced over at Cheyenne. Another
round of that dramatic feigned consideration and then Coop was nodding and
grinning, getting the crowd riled up even more. “Why the hell not?”

“I don’t know,” Cheyenne said sweetly, causing hundreds of people to
start laughing and cheering. “What’ll they want us to sing?” she asked,
pretending to be worried.

“Good question,” Dalton replied, turning back to the crowd, who was
gearing up, chanting again.

Cooper moved over to Cheyenne and whispered into her ear, making the
crowd go wild. Cheyenne played along, her eyes opening wide as she looked back
at Cooper and then over to Dalton. “Is he serious?” she asked, her own
microphone amplifying her raspy voice through the overhead speakers, garnering
her a loud “I love you, Cheyenne! Marry me!” from one of the cowboys on the
floor.

“Of course I’m serious,” Cooper answered for Dalton before walking over
to stand beside him, leaning in close to his ear. Cooper whispered his
suggestion, making Dalton laugh.

“Bro, they ain’t gonna go for that,” Dalton said, smiling. The truth of
it was, Cooper hadn’t mentioned a song at all. He hadn’t mentioned anything,
because even a whisper would’ve been picked up by the microphones. They already
had a song in mind. That was all part of the plan.

“Sure they will. Ask ’em,” Cooper replied, nodding his head toward the
crowd.

Dalton glanced at Cheyenne, then to Cooper before giving a brief side
nod and a shrug that said
what the hell
.

“All right, y’all,” Dalton addressed the crowd. “Coop seems to think
y’all might not wanna hear ‘Angel in Blue Jeans.’”

Before the words were completely out of his mouth, the crowd was
screaming once again.

“I think that’s a yes,” Cheyenne stated, grinning.

“See, bro, I told you they’d wanna hear it,” Dalton added.

“I dunno,” Cooper pretended to be concerned. “They haven’t heard this
version yet.” That earned them some high-pitched screams, a few piercing
whistles, and a huge round of applause. “All right, fine. We’ll do it. But I’m
warnin’ y’all, this is a little different.”

Dalton shot a look over to Cooper along with an award-winning grin
before the three of them lined up to face the crowd. As planned, three
stagehands ran out, bringing stools for them to sit on, another hauling
Cooper’s guitar to him. The three of them got comfortable, taking a little
longer than necessary while the band got ready behind them.

As usual, Cooper started out his hit song in that low, crooning voice
that drove the women crazy. The song he’d written for his soon-to-be wife,
Tessa, had topped the charts for months, and Dalton even received requests to
play it from time to time. With Coop’s permission, he’d given it some attention
a time or two. But it had been one night several weeks ago when Dalton had
stopped in Devil’s Bend for a three-day break, meeting up with Cheyenne and
Cooper, that they’d messed around with it a little at The Rusty Nail.

From
the first time I saw her

Her
smile spoke to my soul

My
heart found a home

Right
there in the arms of my angel in blue jeans

Dalton eyed the crowd as Cheyenne came in, her voice soft and sweet.
The crowd hadn’t expected it. She sang her portion, which was a modification of
the original song, turning it into a duet. They’d perfected the lyrics after
that one night at the bar and had a good time messing around for their hometown
folks. This was the first time they’d actually performed it for an audience of
this size.

Cooper and Cheyenne continued, belting out the song, alternating as
planned. Then the music changed and Dalton smiled. With his voice lowered, he
kicked in his part, which was a modified country version of a rap, made popular
in recent country hits by others. The crowd exploded in screams, making it
difficult for anyone to hear. They got the gist of it, though, so with a grin,
Dalton continued his verse.

On and on they went until the song was complete and the crowd was on
their feet, cheering and clapping.

And as was generally the case, Dalton added another tick mark to his
list of best nights ever.

♥ ♥
♥ ♥ ♥

Katie elbowed her way through the crowd on her way to the bar, setting
her tray down on the scarred wood top as she smiled up at Eric.

“How’s it goin’?” he asked as he pulled the spigot, filling a mug of
beer.

“It’s nuts. I’m surprised we’re this busy on a Wednesday night,” she
admitted, adjusting her ponytail at the back of her head.

“Blame Tessa. She announced a celebration for the final concert of the
tour. Of course, she’s backstage at said concert, enjoying it while we’re here
covering her ass.” Eric’s huge grin belied his bellyaching about Tessa not
being there.

“Tonight’s the last concert? Really?” she asked, her stomach taking a
tumble from her nerves, or maybe that was the tiny flutter she’d felt in the
last couple of days. Either way, her sudden distress had nothing to do with
Tessa or Cooper, or the fact that she was now four months pregnant and no one
other than her best friend knew.

Granted, if it weren’t for the oversized sweaters she’d been wearing,
more than just Sarah might’ve figured it out. She was beginning to show quite a
bit. For the last month, she’d noticed her once-flat belly had begun to round
out. How they hadn’t noticed at Diamonds and Lace, she didn’t know, but
regardless, she was giving her notice this week, unable to keep up the charade
any longer.

But tonight, she wasn’t worried about the fact her cash flow was about
to come to a disturbing halt. No, her bout of anxiety came from hearing that
he’d be back home —
he
being Dalton. Katie wasn’t the least bit worried
about Cooper. She was worried about coming face-to-face with Dalton when he did
finally make it back for good.

For good.

Damn. Why didn’t that sit well with her? It’d been three months since
she had had any communication with Dalton, and even then, she’d only been
allowed to talk to his voice mail.

In recent months, she’d gotten an earful about the tour. Cooper had
agreed to join up with Dalton at a few stops, but for the most part, he’d spent
the last few months right there at home, keeping the equestrian center running.
Turned out, one of the Walkers had come down to help out during Dalton’s
lengthy absence. From what she heard, Cooper had asked for some help from
Tessa’s cousins, and one of them had taken him up on the offer. Braydon Walker
had been a brief resident of Devil’s Bend, thus a regular at The Rusty Nail
until just recently when he’d headed back home to Coyote Ridge.

Through the grapevine, Katie had learned that after this tour, Dalton
was going to come back to Devil’s Bend. There’d been some discussion about him
staying back in Nashville, but the final answer had confirmed her worst fear.
He was coming home permanently, no more tours or extended trips scheduled for
at least a year.

It had been after learning the last part that her stomach issues had
begun.

She would have to see him again.

Of course, Katie wished them all well, but she wasn’t particularly
excited about having to face Dalton again. Not on a daily basis, at least.
Things were so weird between them, as had been noticed on the few visits he’d
made back in the last three months. Although they rarely spoke, they were
trying to be civil because of so many eyes on them. They might’ve broken up,
but their friends didn’t seem to be privy as to why. Hard to feign even being
friends when Dalton hadn’t so much as said two words to her, aside from the
required pleasantries.

Along with not wanting half the town to know that she wasn’t the sweet,
innocent girl they thought her to be, Katie also didn’t want her boss to find
out that she moonlighted as a topless dancer at a strip club in order to make
ends meet. Again, that wasn’t going to be the case much longer, but still. She
didn’t want Tessa to find out. Knowing Tessa, she would insist on trying to
help her, and Katie would have to refuse, leaving an awkwardness between them
that would make Katie hesitant to keep working for Tessa. And Katie really
wanted her job at The Rusty Nail. Being there, interacting with customers,
talking to her friends … it really was the only time she felt normal.

But she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Dalton. Not about that and not
about the more important topic, the tiny life growing in her belly. She really
didn’t know how much Dalton might’ve told Cooper or Tessa about what he’d
learned, although she was inclined to believe he hadn’t said anything. As far
as she could tell, Tessa was none the wiser. The woman would’ve questioned her,
Katie was pretty sure of that.

“Here you go, kiddo,” Eric said, interrupting her thoughts. He handed
over two longnecks and the three shots she’d ordered before she had headed out
the last time.

Arranging them onto the tray so that she wouldn’t risk dropping them on
the floor, Katie made her way back into the throng of people.

After delivering the drinks and collecting the money, including a few
hefty tips, she worked her way through the room, tossing empty beer bottles and
checking on the customers. Every table they had was full tonight, and the dance
floor was packed as well. There wasn’t a live band on stage, but the music from
the fancy sound system that had been installed gave them the atmosphere they
were searching for.

When she worked her way back to the bar once again, Katie motioned for
Jack, who was assisting another customer. She waited patiently for him to head
her way, and when he did, she smiled, still feeling incredibly guilty, although
she seriously didn’t believe Tessa or her brothers were any wiser as to her
side job. One of these days, Katie feared she was going to blurt it out just to
get the twenty tons of guilt off her chest.

But not tonight.

“Mind if I take a break?”

“Go ahead. I think we’re windin’ down for a little while.”

“Thanks, I’ll be back in thirty if that’s okay.”

“Sure thing,” Jack said with a smile before turning back around and
laughing at something Eric was saying to one of the customers.

Katie headed upstairs to the office that rarely got any use. Tessa
generally spent her time outside if she took a break at all, Eric never left
the bar, and Jack, Tessa’s younger brother, refused to go up there because he
said he wasn’t interested in being stuck with the paperwork. The only other
person who’d ever used the office regularly was Adam, but he was up in Dallas
these days.