She didn't want to talk to Shari, or anyone, about him. The emotions were too private. What she had shared with him might have been brief, but it would go with her to her grave.
The front door chimed and she looked up. With the morning sunlight shining against the front door, she could see only silhouettes of customers entering. Now she saw the outline of a male figure that seemed familiar.
But it couldn't be.
Nope, not possible.
Seconds later, Dalton Parker was standing in her doorway. He looked beautiful, wearing jeans and boots and a red T-shirt. A long round tube was tucked under his arm.
Blood began to swish inside her ears, but she forced herself to keep her composure. "Wh-what are you doing here? I thought you'd left."
"Can we go somewhere and talk?"
"Uh—"
"I've got about a hundred things to say."
It would take at least a hundred. Joanna’s heart pounded. "This is my office. I guess you can say what you need to."
He brought the tube from under his arm, his tanned biceps flexing as he flipped the cap off the end and pulled out a rolled document. "I brought you something."
She sat in deafening silence while he unrolled the document and let it hang in front of him. It was a poster that looked to be eighteen by twenty-four inches, an excellent photograph of a shirtless, finely honed male torso lying on its side, covered by fuzzy yellow baby chicks. Chicks all over it as if they were attached—standing on the shoulder, standing on the ribs, two babies nestled in a big hand. She recognized the torso immediately. The American eagle tattoo on the left shoulder gave away the identity. She gave him a narrow-lidded look. "That's you. And those are baby chickens."
"Mom told me you got rid of your chickens. This is fifty to start over with. She said you started with fifty. I figured I'd help you start over."
Her jaw dropped.
"I'll get you more. As many as you want."
She felt her eyes widen, but she closed her mouth. "Dalton, listen, I don’t—"
"I'll help you build a new place for them. Mom wants to give you that ten acres where she's had her garden. She said you were worried about water. There's water and a faucet already there. I’ll put in a watering system."
He deftly rolled the poster back into a tight roll and slid in back into the tube.
"I brought you something else." His hand shoved into his jeans pocket and came out holding a tiny navy blue velvet box.
Her heart began to flutter and skip beats. He gripped her chair arms and turned her to face him, then sank to one knee, opened the box and thrust it to her.
Still speechless, she blinked at an incredible diamond ring—a center stone of at least four carats set off by baguettes on either side. She looked up at him, her head swimming. Overwhelmed by emotion, she broke into tears.
A wide-eyed expression came onto his face. "Are you crying because you're glad? Or are you mad?"
Shaking her head, she sniffled. "I could shoot you. You nearly destroyed me. This last month has been—"
"I know. Baby, I know. I did it wrong. I had to sort it out in my head, Joanna. I guess I had to get away from here to do it. I know it's a piss-poor excuse, but—"
"Dalton, listen, I don’t—"
"You want me to grovel? I'm groveling."
She sniffed. "You owe me groveling, big time."
"I know. I accept that. I 'm a shit-heel. But I'm honest, Joanna. You know I'm honest. And I'll kill every rattlesnake that comes near you. I'll look out for you from now on, Joanna. And I'll be loyal. I know what commitment means. I haven’t done it in years, but I know what it means."
She looked at him through eyelashes wet with tears. Her mascara must surely be trailing down her face.
He pried the ring from its slot in the box and picked up her left hand, but it was trembling so badly he had to capture her finger to slide the ring onto it. It was a perfect fit.
"My God," he said, looking up at her with rounded eyes. "I just guessed at the size. That's gotta be an omen."
A laugh burst through her tears.
He smiled, too, tentatively. "You’re not gonna give up on me, are you."
He leaned toward her and cupped her jaw with his big palm. As his lips covered her face with kisses, his opposite hand clasped her arm, dragging her out of her chair until she knelt on the floor with him. His arms wrapped all the way around her. "Aw, Joanna, don't give up on me," he said again, but softly. “I promise to be the man you deserve. I’m not sure I’d know love if it slapped me upside the head, but I think that’s what I feel. For you, Joanna.”
They kissed and kissed. Finally his mouth pulled away from hers and he was grinning like a monkey. "I know you've figured it out by now. I'm back. For good. I need a place to stay."
She sniffed again. "Clova won't let you stay at the ranch?"
She'd had only a couple of conversations with Clova since disposing of the chicken business. She hadn't been able to make herself even ask about what was going on with her or Dalton.
"That ranch house isn't really home to me. I'm looking for a place that’s got a good bed. And a good woman to straighten me out."
Her heart was so full, she thought it might explode. Another spate of tears spilled from her eyes as she hugged him with all her might. "I don't know. I might never get over hating you."
"I don't blame you. But I still need a place to stay. I still need a home. Will you take me in for the time being, Joanna? Will you go with me? Just 'til you get over hating me?"
"What makes you think I’ll ever get over it? Go with you where?"
"Into the future. Wherever it goes. I figure we can build a house toward the back of the Lazy P, along the rim of the canyon. I can put a little studio separate from the house where I can work and I can help Mom and Lane take care of things. There's a well back there with good water and we could sit on the porch and watch the sun set over the canyon for the rest of our lives. Hell, we might even have some kids."
He was insane. Outrageous. Complicated. Challenging. But he was also exciting and smart and interesting, and she believed in him as she had believed in no other man. There was nothing he couldn't do. And she knew beyond a shadow of doubt he would always take care of her.
They got to their feet together. Nothing, but nothing, could make her let go of him. She would never let go of him again for as long as she lived. She picked up her purse, smiling through her tears. " A man who promises to save me from snakes? I'd follow him anywhere.”
Applause broke out in the retail store. Joanna hadn't even been aware that everyone in the beauty shop had come out and witnessed Dalton Parker's sweet return.
They left Joanna's Salon & Supplies together. Her heart would scarcely contain the utter joy she felt. There were many blanks that needed filling in, but they had the rest of their lives to do it.
Jay Huddleston's words the night of Shari's birthday party came back to her: He always did what he wanted to. It was one of the things that made him different from the rest of us.
She knew this much with certainty. Dalton Parker had always been and still was a man who battled life every day to follow his own path. Convention had no home in his soul. He didn't need a woman in his life. He could go on without Joanna Walsh. Yet he had come back for her. Not because he had to have her, but because he wanted her. And that was the essence of who he was. It was enough.
Her immediate problem now was how to break it to him that she really didn't want any more chickens.
The End
Two Sides of a Heartbeat
Book Two - The Running Series
By
DeLaine Roberts
Two Sides of a Heartbeat
By DeLaine Roberts
Copyright 2013 DeLaine Roberts
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Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental.
For information, contact DeLaineRoberts.com.
Chapter 1
The plane descended sharply at a heart-stopping speed. The armrest of my seat showed indentions from my grip, and my heart raced in fear. Nausea roared in me from the violent shaking of the plane and my throat filled with bile. The movements of the plane were so rough, it was impossible to type a text. I silenced my phone, shoved it in my underwear, and prayed that my earlier stalled messages would go out once we’d landed.
The ground came closer as we circled the landing strip several times on approach. I couldn’t see an airport. Where was this place? The speed of the plane slowed with each pass until it felt like we were floating without engine power. Was the pilot trying to make a covert landing, I wondered? The panoramic circling provided ample view of the area. It was remote, in the middle of a swamp. Thoughts of escaping soon died inside me. Getting lost in the swamp was no safer than my current situation. Fear overwhelmed me as blood roared in my ears. I couldn’t stop shaking, no matter how hard I tried.
Grayson’s face came to me in a vision-like trance. Not an image from our happier times, but rather the last look I had of him, a vivid reminder of his plea for me to stay. I pictured his face when we said our goodbyes. His eyes tattooed sadness onto my heart, forever marking his pain about my leaving. Why didn’t I listen to him, or to my own instincts even? As I sat helplessly trapped in a hijacked plane, I worried he’d forever blame me for this madness. If not for my own stubbornness, I wouldn’t be here, but my do-it-yourself attitude always seemed to bite me in the ass.
The plane landed with an abrupt and violent bucking. Within seconds, the cockpit door was flung open and a masked man charged towards me, wielding a large knife. He yanked my hair and pulled me up by my arms with his hand tight over my mouth, gripping my jaws hard and bruising me. His commanding voice was deep and ragged, instilling fear and causing the hair to extend from my skin. “You will do exactly as I say, you hear me? Not one sound from you or I’ll slice your throat!”
His fierce grip only allowed me to hum my answer and make a slight nod of my head. His gloved hand covered my mouth so tightly, it stopped my voice and bruised my face. My movements were halted by his punishing behavior.
My body shook from the inside out and no amount of deep breathing helped me in any way to regain my composure. My abductor was taller than me with a muscular build. He burned holes in me with dark, angry eyes. He showed no mercy as he yanked me off the plane and I got a frightening look at the tattoos that covered his arms and neck. We passed by the cockpit, where I got a quick glimpse of the pilot, unconscious and tied up, with far too much blood visible on his white uniform shirt. I prayed silently for him to be okay.
He dragged me behind him down the stairs of the small private plane, which caused me to lose one of my shoes. My legs tangled with his and I fell the last couple of steps, landing hard on the ground. He jerked me up, and out of nowhere another person grabbed me by the hair and forced a cover over my head.
“Get up bitch, we don’t have all day,” he yelled.
I silently begged, “Please don’t cover my face, don’t cover my face, I can’t breathe.”
My body burned from the assault and abrasive manhandling. I got a slight reprieve when the torture came to a halt long enough for them to shove me onto a cold floor. Fear forced me to fight back as I tried to wrangle free and managed to get to my feet. My assailant screamed at me.
“If you want to live... DON’T.” He finished tying my hands behind my back then shoved me to the floor once more, ripping pain through my knees and legs. An unseen boot kicked me in my side, knocking me over. I gasped at the pain and involuntarily crouched with my knees to my chest in protection of my unborn child. “Please,” I begged, “I’m begging you stop. I’m pregnant. Don’t hurt my baby.” My voice echoed. There was no response from my attacker, but the beating stopped.
I gasped uncontrollably from fear, the hood covering my face and the ache ripping through my body, nothing short of hyperventilating. I tried all the breathing techniques I could remember and nothing seemed to be working. When I came to, my breathing had returned to normal but my body ached all over from my injuries. Unable to see my surroundings with the hood on my face, I tried to make use of my senses to figure out where I was. It was a quiet open space, I could tell because each sound echoed. The odor and dirt filled my nose, reminding me of the mechanic’s garage that I used in Chicago for repairs on my old Jeep. In the background, I heard muffled sounds of men talking for a brief moment. After a few minutes, I was certain I heard a woman’s voice, but her words were heavily mottled with an accent. My thoughts were interrupted by sounds of metal on metal, echoing very close to me.
***
Grayson, Zoe and Cooper made their way to Love Field for the private charter flight to Chicago. Grayson sent a text to Harrison of their pending departure. Zoe was quiet, and her face was frozen with fear as she held Grayson’s hand, her body still.
Cooper tried to remain calm while he revisited his memory of the last conversation he had with Alex, praying it wouldn’t be his last one. She’d beamed with happiness and excitement about her future with Grayson and their baby.
“Life had just started giving back to her. She always took care of everyone else first. Why did this have to happen?” Cooper muttered to himself. He wanted to vent to anyone who would listen, but when his soulful gaze met Zoe’s tears, he muffled his outburst.
“What exactly did her dad say the hijackers wanted?” Cooper probed Grayson. He felt helpless, even though he was closer to her than anyone.
“They won’t harm her if he meets their demands. He didn’t elaborate because they were in a hurry to get back to Chicago. They’re two hours behind us, coming from the Caribbean.” Grayson’s voice burned silently with anger.
Cooper was furious, his lips thin and tight. “Her dad always had drama... Threats of takeovers and crap. That’s why she never wanted anything to do with the family business. Even her stepbrother stopped working with Al and went his own way. Alexander Morrison should have sold the business years ago. He hasn’t made good business decisions in a long time. Did you know he was friends and business partners with Harrison?”
“Nope, I’m not my brother’s keeper. We went our separate ways years ago. The military kept me away from Chicago for a long time and when we clashed about some personal things, I refused to have anything to do with him. Zoe gave up trying to play peacemaker a long time ago. Since our parents died, it’s just the three of us.”
“Did you know that Harrison was picking Alex up at the airport and helping her pack up her things today so that she could return back home tonight?” Cooper tried to figure out the dynamic of Alexandra’s relationship with Harrison, but it was obvious that she kept Grayson in the dark about how close they had become.
Grayson’s jaw clenched at the very mention of Harrison’s name. He was angry about Alexandra’s relationship with Harrison. “I didn’t know about it until I talked to Harrison earlier. She was trying to pull some surprise. Dammit, if she would’ve just listened.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I begged her to stay and send a courier for her things. She never listens, she’s so damn stubborn!”
“Dude, I t
ried to warn you. It’s the mark of that red hair.” Cooper shook his head. No one wanted to admit that Alex’s willfulness put her in harm’s way.
The pilot announced the arrival time into Chicago O’Hare. He alerted them that authorities would meet the plane once they were parked out on a secure tarmac away from the terminal.
“Did you just get a message from Alexandra?” Grayson uttered as he read the message from her on his phone.
I think my plane has been hijacked, call authorities, call Daddy
“Yes. Her phone is on. Can they can track it?”
“We can’t answer it. We have to wait on the Feds first,” Grayson ordered.
After a few minutes, Grayson, Zoe and Cooper exited the plane and were met by Harrison, FBI Agent Stan Woods and Special Agent Judith Barnes. Grayson and Cooper shared their message with the agents. Alexandra had sent the same message to Harrison, so the authorities were already on it.
Grayson barely acknowledged Harrison’s presence and Harrison returned the frosty sentiment with a sharp glare. Harrison didn’t back down either, he stood with a proud chest and frostbitten gaze back at him. The tension between the twins had piqued Cooper’s curiosity, but he decided quickly that it was best to remain an observer to their war. Zoe had been so quiet the entire flight, it was obvious to him that she loved them both, but refused to be in the boxing ring when the gloves were on. Whatever had occurred with them in the past was still a huge beef. The ill will was extremely tense and jealousy abounded where Alexandra was concerned.
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