Shona Jackson- The Complete Trilogy

by Vicky Jones

  Chloe closed her eyes as she walked, just wanting to jump in her car to find Shona.

  Tom looked out of the kitchen window, alerted to the car thundering down his driveway by the headlights blaring against his kitchen blind. He strode over to the door just as the driver stepped out of the car and ran up the steps.

  "Miss Chloe? Everything OK?"

  "Hi Tom, sorry it's so late. Is Shona here?" Chloe turned her gloves over and over in her sweating palms.

  "She is…well, she was! Came back around twenny minutes ago. I ain't see her like this for a while, thought she was startin' to deal with losin' Cuban, but she came back with tears in her eyes, stomping around like a bear with a sore head…and to top it off now, she's gone out on that lunatic horse! That's like suicide, I tell ya. That horse feels every single emotion Shona feels, you know! Tenfold!"

  Chloe's face blanched.

  "Tom, where did she go?" she asked, panic rising by the second within her.

  "To the river, no doubt. It's her favorite place. But riding Storm, with how she’s feelin’ now? She'll end up breakin' her damn–"

  Chloe didn't wait for him to finish. She flew to her car and sped off towards the river, her heart beating wildly. It wasn't too long before she spotted a rider galloping at crazy speed along the bank parallel to the road in the fast-fading light. Chloe slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, trying to catch up with the manic horse, which seemed to be a near impossible task.

  Shona yanked hard on the reins and galloped towards the road. In her blind rage, she continued rapidly towards the one car that happened to be on the road at the same time. She didn't care—she would ride straight through it if she had to. As the car got closer, Shona's resolve got weaker. At the final second, she pulled the reins in and turned the horse, flying over the top of Storm's head and landing on the ground below.

  "My God, Shona!" Chloe skidded to a halt and jumped out, rushing towards her.

  The rider groaned, but she was moving. She punched the ground and sat up.

  "What the hell you doin' here? Pulling out in front of my horse like that? AGAIN!"

  "I'm so sorry…It's just, you left so suddenly, I wanted to make sure you were OK–" Chloe rambled, reaching down to help Shona to her feet.

  "I'm fine. You didn't need to come out here and run me over again to check I was OK!" She screwed her face up, shrugging Chloe's hands off her.

  "What you saw with Kyle wasn't–"

  "I didn't think you liked him," Shona interrupted, trudging over to settle Storm who was dragging her hoof through the dust and snorting.

  "You don't understand what it's like for someone like me–"

  "Why? Because I'm not smart? Or because I'm not rich?" She stroked the mare’s head, switching between whispering in her ear to reassure her everything was OK and turning to Chloe to scold her.

  At that moment, Chloe wanted, more than anything in the whole world, to swap places with Storm.

  "That's not what I mean. I have to behave in a certain way. I can't just do what I want."

  "WHY? Who's stoppin' you? You're free! You wanna drive to the coast with the roof down? Y'can do that. You wanna paint? Y'can do that too. Because THAT makes you happy! Those who don't wanna see y'do that stuff obviously don't give a rat's ass about your happiness, so why would you care what they want?" Shona's eyes were ablaze.

  "It's not as simple as that! Please…just try to trust me on this one." Chloe reached out to Shona, who again dropped her shoulder and rested her hot cheeks against Storm's mane. Shona clenched her teeth and sighed deeply, terrified of the answer to her next question.

  "Do you like him? You think you can…love him?"

  Her words hit Chloe like ice water.

  "I don't know…I don't know. It just has to be this way," she replied unconvincingly.

  "For who? Him? Your parents? Who you doin' it for?"

  Untangling the reins, Shona climbed back on Storm.

  "Let me ask you one thing, Chloe."

  She nodded, gazing up at Shona through her glassy eyes.

  "If he’s where your future’s gon’ be…" she paused, feeling a stab through her heart as she noticed the diamond necklace Chloe was now wearing, which matched so damn perfectly with her expensive green sequined dress. "Then why the hell are you all the way out here, tryin' so hard to justify it to ME?"

  She turned Storm to face the way she was heading and galloped off, leaving Chloe to mouth the answer to that question into the night air.

  An hour later, after redoing her smudged, tear-stained make-up in the car, Chloe walked back to the Copperpot from the parking lot, wanting to be anywhere else instead.

  It was all going wrong.

  Her mother beckoned her over as she traipsed through the door.

  "We have a driver taking me and your father home, darlin'. The night is still young; you two kids have fun," Eleanor said, winking at Kyle who did the same back.

  Chloe sighed heavily. This wasn't who she wanted to be alone with right now, but as the crowds staggered off home in their various states of drunkenness, Kyle placed his jacket around her bare shoulders and grasped her hand in his.

  "I'd be very grateful, ma'am, if you could drive me home," he slurred as they reached her car.

  Chloe didn't reply. She dumped him in the passenger seat and started the engine robotically as if she were a cab driver who'd just picked up a fare.

  "By the way, you look delicious in that dress. I know I've had too much to drink, but I'd say it anyway. Every man alive wants to be where I am right now," Kyle drawled, walking his fingers up Chloe's thigh.

  "You're drunk," she replied flatly. She stared at the road up ahead, trying to ignore his wandering hand as it stroked the soft skin of her inside leg for the next two miles.

  "Y'know I've wanted you for a long time now. I'm gon' make you real happy." His fingers drifted higher.

  "Alright, here we are," she announced as she pulled into his driveway.

  "You're takin' me in, aren't you? Can't expect me to look after myself tonight? I'll hold you responsible if anything bad happens to me," Kyle chuckled as he hit his head on the doorframe getting out of the car and fell onto the grass. Chloe couldn't remember him being this drunk. He’d seemed perfectly lucid in the bar when she'd returned. She rushed around the car to pick him up off the floor and hooked his arm over her shoulder, practically dragging him to the front door.

  "I promise not to bite–unless you want me too!" He looked at her, sniggering at his own joke.

  He handed Chloe his key and, after carrying him to the living room, she flung him like a sack of potatoes into the nearest chair. Hands on hips, she looked around the room in disgust. The place was a pigpen. All around, there were boxes of possessions and pictures that hadn't been hung. Reams of paperwork, receipts, letters and scrunched-up pieces of notepaper were strewn about, covering the old mahogany coffee table in front of the blue Palomino plastic couch. It was the stark opposite of the office he kept immaculate at work.

  As she began tidying up, Kyle heaved his inebriated body out of the chair and stumbled over to the well-stocked portable bar.

  "See, the most important things I have unpacked!" He grinned, poured a large whiskey and downed it in one. "Want one?" he asked, remembering his manners.

  "No, thank you. I’d better be getting home."

  Chloe turned to head towards the front door, not wanting to stay a moment longer. She had done the decent thing by getting Kyle home safely, but his company was grating on her.

  "Why? Your parents know where you are and have encouraged us to have fun, remember? Stay. We could have a lot of fun together!"

  He lunged over to plant a wet kiss on her powdered cheek, his stubble grazing against her soft skin. She pulled away, turning her head to the side.

  "No, Kyle, I don't want that. Look, I'll fix you some coffee before I go, OK?"

  She smiled sweetly and hurried away from him, trying to remain calm.

  Slowly, he follo
wed her into the kitchen, eyeing every movement she made in her tight dress, the thought of her gorgeous body underneath driving him wild with desire. As the kettle began to boil, he slunk up to her and draped his arms over her shoulders, running his hands down her body and over her tiny waist. Holding her hair back, he kissed her heavily on the neck, the odor of whiskey catching in Chloe's throat.

  "Kyle, I said NO!" She spun around and pushed him away from her with both hands. He sprawled backward on the kitchen counter, a look of surprise on his face.

  "Hey, I'm sorry. I thought…" He held his hands up, trying to apologize, but Chloe was in no mood to listen.

  "Look, go sleep it off, OK? I'll see you at work on Monday,"

  Chloe straightened her dress, picked up her purse and left. She sat in her car for ten minutes, holding a trembling hand to her knees as she fought to control her shaking legs until she felt calm enough to drive the three miles home, blinking continuously to clear the shocked, angry tears from her exhausted eyes.

  Chapter 64

  "Nice evening?"

  Eleanor Bruce smiled as she stared up the stairs at her daughter, who was standing in a daze at the top. It was 11:30 a.m.

  Chloe faked a smile, but inside her emotions were swirling.

  "So? You gon' see the dashing Mr. Chambers again?" Eleanor clasped her hands together.

  "Of course. I'll see him at work, won't I?" Chloe knew she was being flippant.

  "Oh, you know what I mean! They'll all be talking about your big date by now. I've told quite a few of the women in town this morning, and they were real jealous! There's a long list of women who'd jump to be in your position."

  "Mother, why would you tell everybody?"

  "Oh, I know, but I couldn't help myself. You know I like to gossip." She chuckled, thinking nothing of her indiscretion. "Anyway, you don't need to worry, dear. You got no competition! Apparently, Mr. Handsome has been telling everyone about how much he adores you! Says there's no other girl on his radar!"

  Chloe stared openmouthed at her mother. Was it possible I'd misread the situation last night? She thought. Maybe he was just so consumed with lust for her that he couldn't help himself. She had no experience at all with men; maybe this was just how it was? Did Kyle really love me after all? Her head was buzzing with confusion.

  "I'm gon' go to my den for a bit," she said.

  "Well, don't you spend too much time on those silly paintings, I mean, not now you're part of the hottest couple in town. You have events to go to and clothes to pick out, you ain't got time for all that," Eleanor said, wagging a finger at her. "Oh, by the way, Kyle is coming over for dinner tonight. We want to welcome him to the family properly."

  Chloe nodded impassively as she headed down the basement steps to her sanctuary.

  "Hey Elbie."

  Shona walked over to Elbie's farmhouse on the same Saturday morning. It was only a mile or so from the Birds’ farmhouse, south of the river. He looked up at her from underneath the hood of his beloved truck.

  "Shona, what a lovely surprise. Come in, and I'll make us a drink."

  Elbie poured her a glass of sweet tea and sat down with her at his kitchen table. After a few minutes of small talk and closed answers, his intuition told him that something was bothering her.

  "Come on, talk to me. Ain't no point keeping this all in, you hear?"

  He squeezed her hand gently.

  "I just really miss Cuban and I…um…miss Chloe too." Shona's eyes started to harden. "She's with that creep, and there's nothin' I can do about it. I don't expect you to understand, Elbie, but Cuban told me he'd confided in you about my feelings for her." She sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as she finished her sentence, staring nervously at the old man as she waited for his response. After a few moments, he cleared his throat and chose his next words wisely.

  "Listen. I might not understand what y'have going on with Miss Chloe, but I know it can’t be easy for you," he said, holding Shona's hand. "Yeah, Cuban did come see me, told me everything. He was worried that he wasn't able to help you, said that you'd saved him, given him a shot at life when everybody else shut their doors on him." Elbie's kind eyes sparkled as he cleared his throat again. "Look, I don't care who it is you have feelings for, I just care that you're happy. You're one o'the special ones, girl. One o'life's very rare gems."

  Shona couldn't hold in her emotions a single second longer. She hugged Elbie as if he were the only person left in the world she could anchor herself to.

  "What do I do now? It's all such a mess!"

  "You wait." He drained his glass and smacked his lips.

  "Wait?"

  "Yep. You'll win her by just bein' you. That's what made her come to you in the first place, wasn't it? You are what she's been searching for all these years. I see things others don't see; I can tell when there's a glint in somebody's eye for someone. I had it for my darlin' wife. You two both have it for each other."

  "Yeah? But she's with him! She doesn't know the half of what a monster he is," Shona said, fiddling with her glass.

  "She will soon enough. And when she does, you'll be there for her."

  Later that Saturday evening, the doorbell to the Bruces’ mansion chimed.

  "That's him!" Eleanor chirped as she skipped down the stairs, almost barging Antonia out the way.

  Chloe sat upstairs, frozen with confusion in her room. Downstairs, she could hear muffled voices of greetings and her mother doting on Kyle, hanging on his every word.

  "Chloe, honey. Come down here," Eleanor called up the stairs.

  Taking a deep breath, she turned the doorknob and sidled down the staircase.

  "Hello, my sweetness! Gosh, you look amazing!" Kyle grabbed her shoulders, pulling her in to kiss her lavishly on the cheek. She wrinkled her nose, smelling the fresh alcohol on his breath. This clearly hadn't been his first port of call that evening.

  "Kyle, m'boy!" Larry Bruce extended his huge hand.

  The two of them shared a moment of backslapping and complimenting each other on the latest deals they had pulled off, with Kyle bragging to Bruce about the two-hundred-dollar prize he had won at poker earlier that week at Red’s.

  "Men, eh? You'll get used to it, Chloe," Eleanor said, smiling wearily at her daughter.

  Just as the four of them were about to head to the dinner table, Kyle remembered something he'd left in his car. Moments later he returned, a wide grin spreading across his chiseled features.

  "For you, my angel," he purred, handing her a flat rectangular box with a black ribbon wrapped around it, held in place by a small bow.

  "What is it?"

  "Open it," he replied, his coal-black eyes fixed on her.

  She pulled at the ribbon and took off the lid, then peeled back the tissue paper. There inside was a lacy black sequined cocktail dress.

  "Um. Thank you," Chloe held up the garish, extremely low-cut dress by its thin straps.

  "Thought you might wanna wear it for dinner? Then I can see how gorgeous you look in it!" Kyle stared at her, as did her parents who seemed to delight in his expensive gift.

  "What? Now? But I'm wearing this." She smiled nervously, smoothing down her casual white pencil skirt and loose-fitting peach blouse.

  "Darling, Kyle has gone to the trouble to buy you a gift and it would be rude not to go try it on," Eleanor coaxed diplomatically, but her eyes flashed fire at her insubordinate daughter.

  Realizing she was outnumbered, Chloe trudged back upstairs with Kyle’s gift draped over her forearm. She pulled off her comfortable clothes and squeezed herself into the scratchy dress. It looked perfect on her, as all clothes did, but she felt sick to her stomach as the reflection of somebody she no longer recognized stared back at her in the full-length bedroom mirror. She stopped adjusting herself, hearing muffled voices from below and the mention of her name.

  "I don't know what's got into her, but y'have our blessing to sort that mixed-up head of hers out." Eleanor laughed as Kyle replied with h
is typical knight in shining armor repertoire, then excused himself to stand at the bottom of the stairs.

  "You OK, honey? Need me to come up and help?"

  "No. I'll be down in a minute." Chloe finished getting herself ready in front of the mirror and sighed deeply as she descended the staircase.

  "Wow!" he breathed.

  "It looks lovely on you, see? Now, I better get changed. I don't wanna spill anything on it." Chloe turned to head back up the stairs, but Kyle gripped her arm tightly.

  "Keep it on," he said, clenching his teeth.

  Leading her back into the dining room, he pulled out Chloe's seat and sat her down.

  "Aren't you lucky!" Eleanor gushed as she and her husband looked over the table at their daughter in unison and smiled.

  "Trust me, this is just the start," Kyle said, his menacing glare going unnoticed as he fixed it on Chloe, who sat silently staring at her soup.

  Chapter 65

  Resting her weary head in her hands and rubbing her throbbing temples, Chloe narrowed her eyes, trying to make sense of the paperwork in front of her late that Monday evening. Her agitated mind was already full to bursting. She knew she had to try harder with Kyle, for the sake of the business, but it wasn't his face she saw in her dreams, not his hot breath she wanted to feel all over her body. She sat in her dimly lit office, daydreaming about how different her life could be if only she were brave enough to say the words.

  As the day began to darken, she packed up her things and grabbed her keys. Kyle and her father had left an hour earlier to attend a business meeting at Red's, or so they called it, and Ron Black had been summoned to the Copperpot by Jeffrey Ellis. This left Chloe to lock the place up, which she didn't mind doing as it meant she got some peace to think, without Kyle swanning around.