Jenna's Cowboys

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “We wanna hear your story first,” Hank said. “We know you got the data on that flash drive, but you won’t get the full story from us until you explain why you fucked Jenna and tossed her aside like she was nothing but a two bit whore.”

  “Christ, Hank, it wasn’t like that,” Cole said, shocked and angered by the older man’s words.

  “Fair enough,” Dillon said, cutting Cole off. “They’ve been watching over her all this time, Cole. If the shoe was on the other foot, we’d be right where Hank is now and you know it as well as I do.”

  Cole blew out a breath and nodded. “That’s true.” He looked at Hank, Meg, and Jack. “She never said anything to you? At all?”

  “She told me that you got angry over something she said in her sleep,” Meg said, and from the surprised expressions on Hank and Jack’s faces, she hadn’t shared that with her men. “She didn’t tell me what it was, but because of whatever you said, she thinks you hate her.”

  “We don’t hate her,” Cole said. “We love her. Which is why we got so damn angry and overreacted in the first place. By the time we got half way home we realized we’d acted like first rate asses. We intended to clean up, then go back and apologize like hell. We would have, too, if we hadn’t checked our messages first.” Cole sighed, then dropped his eyes to the floor so he didn’t have to see their faces while he told them the rest. Twenty minutes later, the anger on Hank’s, Jack’s and Meg’s faces was gone, their eyes full of pity instead.

  “Yeah, I gotta admit, you did what you had to do,” Hank said. “But I thought you cared more about Jenna than to just walk away and never look back. You didn’t even check on her to see how she was doing and that bothers me.”

  “We wanted to,” Dillon said. “More than anything. But after everything that happened, we couldn’t let ourselves get close to her. If we had, we would’ve begged her to take us back and we knew she deserved better.”

  “Why’d you come to town last week?”

  “To apologize, and to tell her the truth. All of it. And to see if she might be willing to give us another chance. We can’t keep going on the way we’ve been. We love her, and we need her. She’s our one.” Hank, Jack, and Meg all nodded, unsurprised by that.

  The door opened and Doc stormed in, slamming it shut behind him. “This is a damn fine mess,” he said as he stalked around his desk and threw himself into his chair.

  “It is,” Hank agreed. “How is she?”

  “The only person in this room I’m authorized to discuss Jenna’s medical condition with is Meg there.”

  “No, it’s not,” Cole said, reaching for the paper in his pocket and getting up to hand it to Doc. He read enough to see what it was, then glanced at Jack who nodded. “Did you show this to someone at the front desk?”

  “Yes, and she took a copy of it to add to Jenna’s file,” Cole said.

  “Good,” Doc said, handing the paper back. Cole folded it up and returned it to his pocket as he sat back down.

  “So how is she, Doc?” Meg asked quietly.

  “Nothing’s broken, but she’s got bruises from her shoulder to her ankle on the left side and part of her back. She’s got eight stitches in her left knee, and some real nasty scrapes on her left arm and leg from hitting the building. She’s got a knot on her head that bled real good, but didn’t need stitches.

  “She came to in a full blown panic while I was examining her. I haven’t seen her this scared since the day I told her she was pregnant, and I’m still surprised she didn’t miscarry then. I had to sedate her which isn’t the best thing for the babies, but her body can’t take the stress, either. I promised that young woman that I would do everything in my power to see to it that her children live and I’m by God going to keep my word.”

  “What’s going on here?” Cole asked tightly, barely hanging onto his temper as he looked from face to face. “Why would Jenna need you to make a promise like that? Why didn’t she tell us she was pregnant?”

  “Are you two the fathers of her babies?”

  “You know we are,” Cole said.

  Doc’s eyebrows rose sharply. “Why the hell would I know that?” He wasn’t deaf or blind, so he knew the answer to his question as well as the rest of the town. But that was gossip and he was speaking as Jenna’s doctor at the moment. As her doctor he didn’t have the faintest foggiest clue who’d fathered her babies because she’d never told him.

  “She didn’t tell you?” Dillon asked, surprised.

  “I asked her once and she damn near miscarried, and I’m not being dramatic. I’m never dramatic. So no, to answer your question, she didn’t tell me. As far as I’m aware, she’s never told anyone.”

  “She didn’t?” Cole asked uncertainly.

  “No, she didn’t, so I ask again, are you two the fathers of Jenna’s children?”

  “Yes, we are,” Cole said.

  Doc looked from Cole to Dillon, then back again. “You can do any damn test you want, Doc,” Dillon said in a low voice. “We’re those babies’ daddies and it says so on that paper Cole just showed you. Now please, tell us what the hell is going on.”

  “I don’t have any idea who’s trying to hurt her, or why. But I do know that she needs all the help and support she can get, especially after today.” Doc leaned back in his chair and sighed tiredly. “To be perfectly honest, if a few things don’t change in a hurry, she’s going to lose those babies no matter what I do. And that’s even if no one tries to hurt her again.”

  “I thought she was doing better,” Meg said, frowning worriedly.

  “She’s been doing everything I ask of her, that’s true enough,” Doc said. “But she’s still too thin, the heart damage she sustained from the attack is taking a greater toll on her by the day, and she’s on her feet all the damn time. She doesn’t have much left for those twins she’s carrying, and getting blown into the side of a building didn’t help one damn bit.” Doc turned his gaze on Cole and Dillon, his brown eyes hardening. “She’s weak, worn out, and at the end of her strength, but she’s also a single woman living alone with two babies to prepare for, no men, no family, no help, no medical insurance, a business to run, and bills to pay. I can’t very well tell her to shut her business and stop working because I know she has to support herself and her unborn children. All that would do is cause her more worry and stress and that’s the last thing she needs.”

  “Susie will be here in two weeks,” Meg said.

  “That’s certain?” Doc asked, turning his attention back to Meg.

  “Yes,” Jack answered. “The movers got Jenna’s payment and confirmed the dates just this morning.”

  “That’s good news, but I’m afraid it’s too late,” Doc said, shaking his head. “I told Jenna to expect to be put on bed rest near the end of her pregnancy. I sure never thought it would happen this soon, though. Then again, I wasn’t counting on beehives and bombs, either. I’m surprised she didn’t miscarry when she got slammed into that damn wall. I’m fairly sure the only reason she didn’t is that, according to Luke, she was fighting so hard just to stay conscious afterward that she didn’t go into a panic.

  “Right now bed rest is her only chance of hanging on to those babies, but I know damn well she can’t afford it. If she has to work until Susie can handle the shop on her own, she’ll lose them for sure. If that happens, I’ll have one helluva fight on my hands just to keep Jenna with us.”

  Meg shook her head sadly, her face drawn with grief, silent tears on her cheeks. “If Jenna loses her babies, we’ll lose her, too Doc, and it won’t matter a damn how hard you fight. She’ll give up altogether.”

  “That’s the truth of it,” Doc agreed tiredly. “She’s all alone in the world and has been for years now. She’s fighting each and every day to hang on for those babies. They’re all she has, and if she loses them, she won’t have any reason to stay behind.”

  “Wait,” Cole said, his face nearly white despite his tan, “are you saying there’s a chance Jenna could die?”<
br />
  “Even without more attempts on her life, as things stand right now, yes, there’s a better than even chance that Jenna will die,” Doc replied. “Every single day she spends on her feet working the way she has been these past months increases that chance exponentially.”

  “No,” Cole said, his fists clenched. “That is not happening.”

  “Whatever Jenna needs, we’ll pay for it,” Dillon said. “We’ll hire nurses, pay her bills, get someone to run the shop, whatever the hell she needs or wants she gets, no questions asked, Doc. You do anything and everything you have to do for her and send the bills to us. But one of you needs to tell us what the hell you’re talking about. What’s this about heart damage and why is she in danger of losing the babies and her own life?”

  “I can’t tell you that,” Doc said with obvious frustration.

  “Why not?” Dillon asked. “You just saw the paper giving us permission to know her medical condition.”

  “Yes, I did, but the answers to your questions aren’t medical. Not entirely anyway.”

  “It’s all right Doc, I’ll tell them,” Hank said. “Jenna gave them a flash drive anyway, and telling them will be a bit easier on them than looking at the raw data.”

  “Good, you sit right down here and do that,” Doc said, standing up and walking toward the door. Hank frowned at Doc who looked pointedly at his desk. Only when Hank stood up and walked around it did Doc look satisfied. “I’m going to go check on my patient.”

  Hank watched Doc leave, then sat down and folded his hands over the folder lying on the desk with Jenna’s name on it. He sincerely hoped he wouldn’t have to open it.

  “When Jenna came to Sparx and decided to stay and open a business, we ordered the usual background check on her,” he began. “Before we got the report she told us there was an incident in her background that might make her undesirable as a citizen for our town. She couldn’t tell us about it directly, but she gave us all the information we needed to find the highlights online for ourselves. Later on she gave us a flash drive like the one you have. The only thing we didn’t get was why Jenna thought we’d view her in a bad light. To be honest, we still don’t understand that.

  “We promised that we’d keep her past secret unless we found it necessary to reveal certain things to certain people. Since you already have the data, I feel it’s necessary to tell you the whole story. I want you to understand loud and clear that I’m not doing this for your sakes. I’m doing this for Jenna.”

  “We hear you, Hank,” Cole said, and Dillon nodded.

  “All right then, here’s Jenna’s story.” Hank paused, saying a silent prayer that what he was about to do would help Jenna, rather than hurt her. “Jenna grew up in a small town in southern Oregon, several times the size of Sparx. Her mother died in a car accident when she was four, so her father raised her on his own. Since he was an orphan, the two of them had no family except each other. He died a few months before Jenna graduated from high school. She was just seventeen at the time and she’s been alone and on her own ever since.

  “She finished high school with perfect grades, earning several scholarships just like her mother did. Between those, the money her father saved, and a couple of part time jobs, she managed to get herself through college.

  “A week or two after graduation a friend invited her to a party, the first she’d attended since before starting college. She was only there for about an hour before she was drugged and raped by the son of the town’s mayor. Everyone at that party knew what was happening, but no one dared to interfere even though most of them were people that Jenna had known her whole life. When it was over and the drugs had worn off enough, she drove herself to the hospital and told them she’d been drugged and raped, but she didn’t file a police report. She knew she’d never succeed in going up against the mayor’s son. A few weeks later she found out she was pregnant.

  “She never told him, and she never intended to tell him. She planned to have the baby and raise it herself. Unfortunately, someone decided he needed to know. She was about four and a half months pregnant, walking through the park one day when he showed up and attacked her. No questions, no conversation, the little fucker just jumped her. In front of witnesses. In broad daylight. He beat the hell out of her, screaming the entire time that he wasn’t gonna let her get away with making him the father of a bastard. Then he went at her with a hunting knife.” Hank paused, swallowing the bile that always rose in his throat when he thought about what had been done to Jenna.

  A soft, pain filled grunt broke the silence and all eyes went to Cole and Dillon. Their faces were masks of pain, their eyes burning chips of ice, their fists clenched so tightly they shook. When they lifted their eyes to Hank he nodded and continued.

  “No one tried to help her even though, again, most of the witnesses knew her. No one wanted to go against the mayor, or the son of the mayor. Luckily someone had the balls to call the police and an ambulance. Anonymously of course, but at least they called. By the time help arrived he’d left her for dead and was already in his car, racing away from the scene. One police officer, new to the town, chased after him. The little bastard went around a turn too fast and rolled into a tree. He was thrown from the car and died. No loss.

  “But Jenna. God. That poor little girl. She lost her baby, he made real sure of that. She also had injuries to her heart, lungs, liver, spleen, stomach, and I don’t know what all else. The heart damage is a big part of what’s causing her trouble now.

  “Her injuries were so severe that she was flown to a hospital well outside the mayor’s influence and jurisdiction. Otherwise I doubt she would have survived. She was there for two months. When she finally returned home the mayor’s family made sure that her life was a living hell. Everyone in town turned their backs on her, like she was responsible for the asshole’s death. I still can’t believe that they tried to charge her with murder. How fucking sick is that?

  “The police officer who’d chased the asshole was summarily fired. It’s down to him that the trumped up murder charges against Jenna were dropped after he made the story public. It also served to curb some of the more inspired townspeople, preventing them from causing her any real physical harm.”

  Hank took a deep breath and forced himself to continue. “Even so, she was damn near a prisoner in her own home for the next three years. She had no family and no friends. Not one single person in that whole fucking town had the guts to stand by her. People threw rocks through her windows, slashed her tires, broke in and vandalized her home and spray painted words like slut and whore across the front of her house.” Another sharp gasp, this time from Cole, caused Hank to pause a moment. Cole ran his hands over his face and nodded, so Hank continued.

  “It took two years to get through all the surgeries she needed to repair the damage from the attack. Before the end of the first year she put the house she’d lived in all her life up for sale. It took two years after that to sell and she went through pure hell the entire time.

  “When the house sold she got rid of all but a few personal things, hopped in her daddy’s old Bronco and hit the road. She spent three months driving up and down the west coast, then working her way inland, looking for a place to start over before she landed here, in Sparx.”

  Dillon pressed his hands to his face. “Good God,” he said, his voice breaking.

  “I saw you three that night, at Jester’s,” Hank said, his voice softening. “Just looking at you with her, I knew you belonged together. I’ve known you boys since you were old enough to drink, and I’ve never seen you so happy. I was surprised as hell when you never took her out again.

  “Jenna took it real hard. You couldn’t look at her and not see it. She withdrew completely. Wouldn’t talk with anyone, never left her shop unless she had to, and she lost a lot of weight real fast. Meg was beside herself with worry, and so was everyone else. But the two of you stayed away. No one knew why, and Jenna wouldn’t say a word about it.

  “Before to
o long it became obvious that she was pregnant. She’s so petite to start with, and she’d gotten so thin. She was carrying twins and it showed. We all watched over her as best we could, but we couldn’t do much since she wouldn’t even admit she needed help, let alone ask for or accept it. After a while we figured out that being on her own for so long, doing everything herself for so long, never having anyone she could rely on or turn to, meant that she didn’t even know she could or even should ask for help. It was a concept she had no experience with.

  “We were worried as hell when she stopped closing the shop on Thursdays and extended her business hours. That was after Doc told her she’d have to go on full bed rest for the last month or two of her pregnancy. She started working harder and longer than ever to sock away enough money for that.”

  Meg cleared her throat, knowing the next part was hers to tell. “She finally confided in me when Doc told her she needed to share with someone she trusted in case anything happened, what with her heart and all. She’s become friends with the woman who makes the candles she sells in her shop. We’ve been helping Jenna with getting Susie here to buy into her business and run it for her when she has to be on bed rest, and also for after the babies are born so she can take time off to take care of them. It’s made us real happy to finally have something we could do to help her.”

  “Why didn’t she tell us?” Dillon asked.

  “I talked with her about that,” Meg said with a sigh. “Mind you, she never said directly that you were the fathers, but she didn’t deny it when I guessed, either. I don’t know what all you said to her, but like I said before, she thinks you hate her, and that scared the hell out of her.”

  “Why would she ever be afraid of us?” Cole asked, shaking his head in confusion.

  “Her past made it impossible for her not to be afraid,” Meg replied. “Once I knew what’d happened to her, I understood that and didn’t push her on the subject.”

  “How’d she feel about being pregnant?” Dillon asked hoarsely. “Did it make her angry?”