by R. J. Groves
‘Who the fuck are you?’ Salvatore said, glancing over his shoulder.
‘Someone you don’t want to mess with, Salvador.’
‘It’s Salvatore!’
His tactic seemed to work. Yelling, the madman turned towards him, releasing Jannette enough that she slumped to the floor. Shannon tried not to let the relief show on his face as he heard her cough, her body bent over. Salvatore looked surprised to see a shotgun pointed at his face and made a reach for the vegetable knife on the dishrack.
‘You touch that, you die,’ Shannon growled, cocking the gun.
Salvatore paused, looking around at his options, which he was almost out of. Shannon just had to get him away from Jannette. He moved towards the intruder, but as if reading his mind, Salvatore took a step closer to Jannette.
‘You don’t want her to get hurt, do you?’ Salvatore said, his look so sinister it made Shannon want to strangle him himself.
‘You wouldn’t get a chance.’
‘What, you’ll shoot me?’ Salvatore said. Shannon swallowed as Salvatore’s wicked smile widened. ‘What if you miss?’
‘I’m known to be a pretty crack shot,’ Shannon said, stepping closer again. He just had to get within arms’ reach, then he’d have his height to his advantage. He could save Jannette. He could protect her. ‘I don’t miss.’
Salvatore faltered, just enough that Jannette had time to pull herself to her feet behind him and whack him over the head with a frypan. Shannon watched as Salvatore’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he slumped to the ground. The breath rushed into his body as Jannette leaned back against the fridge, the support seemingly a welcome relief compared to it being a hinderance moments before. He rushed over to the other side of the bench, pressed his fingertips to Salvatore’s neck to make sure he still felt a pulse—he did—then gathered his wife in his arms, burying his face in her neck, breathing her in as much as he could.
She was safe.
He couldn’t have been more relieved than he was in that moment.
His Jenny was safe.
Chapter 18
Jannette spent the night in Shannon’s arms, her mind still reeling from the evening’s proceedings until she’d fallen into a fitful sleep. By the time she awoke in a pool of sweat, her heart racing, Shannon was gone, and the sun was shining in through the window. Her body ached and her wrist was bruised from where Salvatore had gripped her hard. She touched her tender neck and winced. No doubt she was bruised there, too.
She pulled herself upright, leaning back against the bedframe, breathing in Shannon’s scent that remained in his room. He’d left her sleeping early to get a start on the day’s work. There really was no rest for the weary with farming. Jannette felt bad that he’d told her to get some rest, but she had no doubt he had it all under control. Shannon could run the farm by himself with his eyes closed. He really was a natural. She supposed that’s what it was like if you were doing something you were so passionate about.
Jannette had once been like that with her own work. But somewhere along the line, she’d lost that passion. And she still had no idea what would replace it. Her hand drifted to her stomach and her heart fluttered in her chest, sending a strange feeling through her that brought a smile to her face. And just as quickly, that feeling came crashing down as she realised what she had to do next. What she’d been planning to do before Salvatore had shown up.
Her mind replayed the events of the previous evening, bringing a tear to her eye. She’d felt like Salvatore was going to kill her. She’d been determined to get through it, but a part of her couldn’t help but wonder if that was it. And in that moment, the thought that had run through her head was that she hadn’t told Shannon she loved him. And that she never knew if he could ever love her back.
But as she’d fallen apart in Shannon’s arms on the kitchen floor and the room filled with people, the police restraining and arresting Salvatore when he woke and paramedics checking her over, she recalled their conversation before she’d got out of the car. He didn’t want kids of his own. And she knew she couldn’t tell him she loved him for that very reason.
Leaving him would break her heart as it was. How could she survive him rejecting her and their baby if she laid it all on the line?
There was still no doubt about it. She had to leave. And the sooner, the better. She would have to find a reliable source of income. But who would hire a pregnant woman, knowing she’d be leaving once the baby was born? She wondered if Andie’s new husband, Tay, might be able to link her up with something just as he’d done for Joey after he’d been discharged from the navy. But could she ask? She would be forever grateful if he could, but she’d also feel indebted. She let out a sigh. She could live off the sale of the house for a while. And maybe, given time, Robbie might be able to help in some ways. But again, she didn’t want to have to rely on anyone for help.
She would be okay, she knew she would. She might not be okay as soon as she left. She might be a total mess. But she was capable. And by the time this baby would be coming into the world, she’d have it sorted. She’d have a plan.
She just wished it didn’t have to be so hard.
***
Shannon hadn’t wanted to leave Jannette in bed alone that morning. If he had his way, he wouldn’t let her out of his sight for a second. But Jannette was a strong woman. And he had a lot of work to do. And while Kenny had offered to send one of his workers down to help for the day, Shannon felt like he needed to do it himself. He needed the distraction. The fact that Sparky was spending the day at the vet’s to make sure he was okay from the sedative Salvatore had given him the day before only added to the reasons why Shannon needed a distraction.
He’d barely slept the night before. He’d been too busy holding Jannette against him, stroking her hair while she slept soundly, and pulling her tighter against him when her sleep became restless. He’d wanted to tell her everything. He’d wanted to pour his heart out to her, promise that nothing like that would ever happen to her again—he’d make sure of it. He wanted to tell her he loved her, that he’d do anything for her. Including bringing an unloaded gun to a room with a madman threatening to kill her. He’d been so afraid of losing her.
For a moment there, he’d wished he’d grabbed some ammunition from the safe next to the gun locker and made sure Salvatore could never do anything like that again. But what good to Jannette would it have been if Shannon were in jail? He’d known there was enough adrenaline and fury running through his veins that he could take down Jannette’s stalker if he’d been able to get close enough. The gun was just a distraction. Shannon’s last hope to get him far enough away from Jannette so she’d be safe.
And it had worked, thank God.
And then Jannette whacked Salvatore over the head with the frypan. God, he’d never been so relieved that they hadn’t put the dishes away that morning.
But he hadn’t said anything that he wanted to say. He’d barely been able to form words at all. He’d even tried whispering it to her as she slept—I love you, Jenny—but when he’d opened his mouth, no words had come out. She would need time to process what she’d just been through. He couldn’t complicate it for her by admitting he’d broken her final rule.
He supposed part of him wondered what would become of their arrangement now that her stalker had been found and detained. While they’d slept together, they hadn’t been together long enough to go deep in their feelings. To form something she wouldn’t be able to walk away from. And how could he wear his heart on his sleeve by telling her everything he felt for her, knowing she had no intention of feeling anything back?
Don’t fall in love.
She’d made it clear from the start what her intentions were. And he’d known he either had to get on board with it or convince her otherwise. He’d figured, with time, she might have feelings for him too. She might be willing to give their marriage a real shot. But time was something they didn’t have. Salvatore had taken that from them.
/> So when he’d come back up to the house for lunch and to check on her and found her loading her bags into the back of her car instead, he hadn’t been as surprised as he might have been any other day. Still, the thought of her leaving had his heart tearing apart.
‘Jenny,’ he said quietly.
She jumped at his voice—not surprisingly—and swiped her hands over her face before turning towards him. Her eyes were puffy and red, and he kicked himself for not being there to comfort her. If he had, she might not be leaving now. Why hadn’t he thought that she’d still be upset about what happened the day before? It was enough to traumatise anyone.
‘You’re leaving?’ he said when she didn’t say anything.
‘I have to.’
‘No.’ He took a step forward, and paused when she took one back, putting a hand up between them. ‘Jenny, you don’t have to go just because—’ He broke off, not wanting to be insensitive. ‘Salvatore’s in custody. You don’t have to worry about him anymore, but you don’t have to go. Stay.’
Her eyes glistened and he swallowed the unspoken words that he’d wanted to say. Don’t leave me. Don’t push me away. Say you’ll be mine. She shook her head slowly, squeezing her eyes shut, and he tried to breathe through the stranglehold her silence had on him.
‘I can’t stay,’ she whispered, her lip quivering. He fought the urge to cup her cheek, his blood draining from his body as she climbed into the car and turned it on, winding the window down. ‘I can’t bear it.’
The breath whooshed out of his body. She couldn’t bear to spend another eleven months with him. That was it, then. It was all just a big mistake. He tried urging himself to push past it. Kiss her. Anything that would convince her to stay. But there would be no changing her mind.
She swallowed, staring at her hands that were gripping the steering wheel. ‘We can wait until you receive the rest of your inheritance before we announce our separation. Just say I’m visiting Robbie or something.’
He shook his head, not wanting to hear it. His inheritance? Hell, he’d give up every cent he had if she’d just stay with him. He didn’t care about money. He cared about her. And maybe he’d been a fool to think they had all the time in the world. Maybe he should have confessed his feelings well before now. But it would have only broken him more. She was always going to leave. Just like she had so many years before.
‘Where will you go?’ His voice was choked, but he tried his best to hold it together.
She swallowed, closing her eyes again. ‘I don’t know. I might stay with Andie or Harley until I can find a place.’
‘And what do you plan to do when you get there?’
She swallowed again, her mouth working before the words finally escaped on a sigh. ‘I don’t know.’
He forced through the lump in his throat, his breathing becoming more difficult, his heart feeling like it was being ripped out of his chest. He tried to hold it all together. For her. He couldn’t have her thinking she’d broken him.
‘You’ll figure it out,’ he managed. ‘I know you will.’
And he did. Even if he was left behind, he knew she would always land on her feet. She’d probably find another job she loved and a house she could call home again. She’d have her baby. A weight in his stomach added to his misery as the thought of any of her kids looking like him disappeared.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered, bringing her baby blues to meet his gaze. He couldn’t even explain how he was still standing. His eyes prickled, and the lump lodged in his throat grew larger. ‘For everything,’ she continued. ‘For—for being prepared to—to shoot him.’
He looked away, drawing in a deep breath. ‘The gun was the least of his worries,’ he said, trying to rebuild the wall around his heart that was falling apart quicker than he could blink.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean it was unloaded.’ Her mouth dropped open, and it looked as though she was about to say something, but he spoke first. ‘What if I want you to stay?’
She dropped her gaze, a single tear rolling down her cheek. It took everything in his power to not lean in through the open window and kiss it away. To kiss her until she agreed to stay. To show her how much he wanted her to stay.
‘I’m sorry, Shan,’ she said finally.
He tried to show he understood. He tried to wish her luck. He tried to tell her he loved her. But nothing would come out. And long after she’d driven down the driveway and disappeared out of sight, he was still standing in the same spot she’d left him, staring at where her car had just been, his heart gone with her.
Chapter 19
‘Try this.’
Jannette took the cool glass of ginger beer from Andie’s outstretched hand and sipped it. Almost a month had passed since she’d left the farm—left Shannon—and the morning sickness had swung into full force. She’d spent a week staying on Harley’s couch before telling her and Andie the full story—including her arrangement with Shannon and the surprise pregnancy—and Andie insisted that she stay in her spare room.
She’d intended on staying no longer than a week or two at Andie and Tay’s, hoping by then she might have a job and a house to move into. But then the nausea had started and she’d found herself unable to move most of the day without her stomach threatening to empty—if there was anything left to empty. She’d lost most of her appetite after leaving Shannon, and what was left of it disappeared once the nausea had started. She was practically living off dried biscuits and whatever liquid she could keep down.
Time had done nothing for healing her heart.
Nor had it stopped her missing him like crazy.
Who was she kidding, thinking she could walk away now and still be okay? That she would be able to think about him without her heart breaking more, and to think he wouldn’t invade every one of her dreams? To think that she could fall out of love just as easily as she’d fallen for him? She placed a hand to her softened belly. It looked more like she was slightly bloated than pregnant, and the persistent nausea was just a constant reminder that she’d never be able to get over him. She’d been so glad that she’d always have a part of him, and now she realised that she’d always have that reminder of how much she loved him.
But leaving him was the right choice, wasn’t it?
‘You have to tell him.’
Jannette blinked up at her friend, her vision blurry from tears. ‘I can’t. What if he doesn’t love me back?’
Andie’s brow furrowed, her mouth dropping open. ‘Okay, um, I was talking about the baby, but—’ Andie shuffled closer to her on the couch and held her hand. ‘Do you really love him?’ Her voice was soft, caring, understanding, and it only made Jannette lose control, the tears flowing freely now. She wasn’t sure if it was just the pregnancy hormones or her broken heart, but she’d become a veritable waterworks since leaving Shannon.
‘Of course I do,’ she managed through sobs. ‘That’s why I had to leave. I—I couldn’t bear the thought of him not loving me back.’
Andie smiled solemnly. ‘He married you, didn’t he?’
Jannette sniffed. ‘That was a mutually beneficial agreement, nothing more.’
‘Okay,’ Andie said slowly. Jannette could tell she still didn’t believe her. ‘But he took an unloaded gun with him to save you from that creep. And I’d bet he didn’t think twice about doing it. He would have had no idea what he was up against. Or if he was going up against a loaded gun.’
Jannette stared into her ginger beer, the small bubbles fizzing slowly from the bottom of the glass to the top. Her stomach turned, but not in the way she’d grown used to the past couple of weeks. Andie was right. Shannon hadn’t known what he was going up against. He’d risked his own life to save hers. Why would he do that if he didn’t feel at least something for her? An earlier conversation drifted to her mind.
‘He felt like he owed my family. Maybe that was why he did it.’
‘Uh-uh,’ Andie said, shaking her head. ‘Hon, he stopped that train of
thought the second he got in your pants, if not before then. Giving back to a family for what they’ve given him is one thing. Marrying and sleeping with a member of that family and risking his life to save her is entirely different.’
Jannette bit into her lip. Was Andie on the right track? She wished she was, but she knew in her heart it couldn’t be true. Shannon couldn’t love her. And even if he did, it didn’t detract from the fact that she was having his baby. Even if they did have ridiculous amounts of chemistry between them.
‘But he doesn’t want kids,’ Jannette whispered, swiping another tear away.
Andie squeezed her hand. ‘How do you know? Did he say it exactly?’
‘No, but he didn’t need to.’
Andie sighed. ‘Jannette, I’ve seen how he acts with his nephews. You can’t tell me he doesn’t want kids.’
Jannette swallowed, the thought that she’d made a grave mistake occurring to her. ‘But that was at our wedding. We’d gone to his nephews’ party since then,’ she protested, ‘and he was glad to return without any kids.’
Andie laughed. ‘Seriously? Hon, anyone is going to feel like that about anyone else’s kids. But I’ll bet that if you told him you’re having his kid, he couldn’t be happier.’
Jannette looked into her friend’s eyes, knowing that she was right. The least she could do was tell Shannon she was having his baby. And if he was happy about it, maybe then she’d find it within her to tell him her feelings. She could move back to the farm—the only place that truly felt like home now. Now that Salvatore was going to jail and had also confessed to breaking into the bridal shop and framing those kids for it, she’d thought that Perth could feel like home again. But the noise of the traffic annoyed her, and the fumes surrounding her everywhere she went made it harder to breath. She missed going into town and stopping for chats with people she passed on the street. She missed riding her horse and watching the beautiful sunsets. She missed Clarabelle and all the other calves—many of which would have been moved on to their new homes by now.