“I can’t get involved with you when you might sue me for custody of the baby I’ve wanted for years!”
Silence seemed to ricochet off the kitchen walls and then Dylan was gathering up photographs, sliding them into the portfolio and zipping it. “It’s not that cut and dried, Shaye.”
Her phone rang and she reached for it, thankful for the interruption. “Hello?”
“Shaye, it’s Kylie.”
Her attention immediately focused on her friend. Remembering what Dix had told her, she kept her voice light. “Hi. What are you up to?”
Dylan lifted his portfolio from the table and said, “I’ll be in touch,” and then left her kitchen and her town house.
“Shaye? Is someone there with you?”
“Not anymore.”
“Dylan Malloy?”
“Yes, but he left.”
“Why was he there?”
“To give Timmy a bath and put him to bed.”
“Shaye—”
“It’s okay. I’ll get it sorted out. What about you?”
“That’s why I’m calling. Can you come over tomorrow afternoon? I’d stop by your place but I have an appointment early in the morning and then I have to be back here. The vet’s coming to check the horses.”
“Is something wrong with them?”
“No, just his annual visit. But I need to be here because Dix and Alex won’t be.”
She knew better than to ask about Alex. “Where will Dix be?”
“Something’s wrong with my truck and he needs to take it to the mechanic.”
“What time do you want me?”
“Come over about one. I’ll have lunch for us.”
Protesting that Kylie didn’t have to go to that trouble would do no good. “Is it okay if I bring Timmy?”
“Of course, it is. You don’t even have to ask.”
Shaye hung up the phone. Although she was upset about Dylan, she was also worried about her friend.
Was Kylie sick?
Shaye knew she’d be counting the minutes until she found out.
Chapter Seven
As Shaye drove into the sloping valley, she was struck by the beauty of the mountains against the blue sky, the green of the grazing fields, the pines and maples and oaks that had grown on Saddle Ridge for decades. Years ago, the ranch had been an equine center of high repute. Kylie’s father-in-law had been a renowned trainer and breeder of championship cutting horses. After her dad died her last year of high school, Kylie had gone to work at Saddle Ridge as a trainer. Then Jack Warner’s heart problems had slowed him down and his son Alex had taken over management. Management was the problem with the ranch now. Kylie knew exactly what to do with the horses, but Alex Warner hadn’t been good at nourishing his father’s legacy.
Glancing at Timmy in the back seat, Shaye saw that he was awake but content, at least for the moment. As she passed the split-rail fence that needed repair, she remembered what Saddle Ridge had once been and realized Kylie was wearing herself out trying to handle everything alongside Dix, including training clients’ mounts and digging fence posts. Experienced at ranch life, she knew what had to be done. But there simply weren’t enough hours in the day to do it, not when there was livestock to care for. To Kylie, the horses were more than livestock. If she had to choose between giving the horses the attention they needed and digging fence posts, she’d care for the horses. There weren’t many that belonged to Saddle Ridge now. Some of them had had to be sold off, as had many of the cattle.
The old house dated back to the early nineteen hundreds. It was a large two-story structure, modernized with yellow siding and blue-gray shutters. But even refurbished houses needed care. Kylie could unclog a drain and tack up new weather stripping, but the pipes were getting old, the windows let in more air than they should and the wraparound front porch needed a good coat of white paint.
As usual, Kylie was in the barn when Shaye arrived. Apparently hearing the car on the gravel parking area, she exited the side door of the huge red barn and waved. There was a pickup parked near the corral side of the barn and Shaye wondered if that belonged to the vet.
When Kylie approached, Shaye could tell she forced a smile onto her face until she saw Timmy and the smile became genuine. “He’s awake.”
“Yep, but I don’t how long contentment’s going to last. I brought a bottle. We’ll see what happens.”
After they walked up the path to the house together and climbed the steps, Kylie took the diaper bag from Shaye and let her friend precede her inside.
“I have beef salad, greens, yogurt and fruit cups. How’s that sound?”
“That sounds great. Is the vet here?”
“Yes. If Seth needs me, he’ll come get me.”
They went through the living room, passing a large plasma-screen TV Alex had bought so he could better study his rodeo technique when he replayed the videotapes. He’d told Shaye that one day when she’d stopped by and he was actually there.
Shaye knew Kylie had accepted Alex’s marriage proposal because they’d grown up together as kids and had been friends. But after his father died, Alex had gone a little wild and had spent money targeted for running the ranch on a state-of-the-art tractor, a custom-made saddle and his own personal mechanical bull. All Alex had ever wanted to do was to compete on the rodeo circuit. Shaye followed her friend into the kitchen, positioning Timmy’s carrier on the fifties-style table. Unzipping the diaper bag, she removed the bottle and set it on the top shelf of Kylie’s refrigerator.
“Have a seat,” Kylie said. “I just have to pull everything out of the fridge.”
Soon they were seated at the table and Kylie was shaking a rattle at Timmy rather than doing justice to the beef salad on her plate.
Shaye began eating while she watched her friend closely. “So, what’s on your mind?” she finally asked when Kylie seemed oblivious to her perusal.
Kylie’s blue eyes were terribly troubled as they met Shaye’s. After a deep breath, she confided, “I’m pregnant.”
Shaye wasn’t sure how to greet the announcement because she didn’t know where her friend’s marriage stood. “How do you feel about that?”
Her voice soft and warm, Kylie replied, “I love the idea of having a baby.”
“But?”
“Alex and I have grown so far apart. He’s never here.” She shook her head, her eyes misting over.
“Maybe things will change. Have you told him you’re pregnant?”
“Not yet. I just had it officially confirmed this morning. I had an appointment with my doctor.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure. If Alex doesn’t make some changes, I might have to leave him.”
Shaye knew how difficult leaving would be for her friend. “Where would you go?”
“Not far. I could get a place in town. My computer skills are good because of keeping the books and recording documents on the horses. I spoke with Mr. Tompkins at the temporary agency. There was an ad in the paper that he had a position open. I could interview clients and manage his office. I was looking into the job before I knew I was pregnant. We need to bring more money in and I was going to work away from the ranch.”
“And when would you have time for that?” Shaye asked, knowing ranch life was a twenty-four-hours-a-day job, especially with a husband who was in absentia most of the time.
“I was waiting for Alex to get home and then I was going to talk to him about it. He has to face the reality of our debts, especially now with the baby.”
“It might be easier for you to stay here.” Shaye put her thought into words, knowing this was exactly why women didn’t leave a bad marriage.
“If Alex won’t go to counseling with me, if he won’t make some changes, then I have no choice but to leave. I want my baby to have a good future. The rodeo purse Alex won brought in twenty-five thousand dollars, but we have a mortgage in arrears, credit card debt and ongoing expenses that will eat it up.”
/> “You’ve been thinking about this for a while, haven’t you?”
“The past few months. The truth is, I think he’s having an affair.”
At Shaye’s lack of expression, Kylie said, “You don’t seem surprised.”
Crossing her arms in front of her on the table, she sighed. “I don’t know what to say.” There had always been rumors about Alex Warner, but Shaye had hoped they weren’t true. “Have you confronted him?”
“Oh, yes. I’ve been getting hang-up calls. The last time he was home, when I washed his shirt, I smelled perfume. He denies it. He always has an explanation. But I think I’ve been too trusting and gullible. It’s time we faced all of it.”
“Do you think he’ll go for counseling with you?”
“I don’t know. I found a male psychologist who counsels couples. I thought Alex might feel more comfortable with a man. Every time I’ve mentioned it in the past, he’s adamantly refused. He says all of my problems are in my head.”
“Have you contacted Brock?” Brock was Alex’s older half brother. As a child Kylie had adored him.
“No! I would never do that. After what happened with Jack, Brock doesn’t want anything to do with Saddle Ridge.”
“Brock could talk some sense into Alex.”
The shake of Kylie’s head was as vehement as her tone. “I don’t want to bring Brock into this. When his father willed Saddle Ridge to Alex, that was a slap in the face and proved to him that he never really belonged here.”
Reaching across the table, Shaye took her friend’s hand. “You know I’ll help you any way I can.”
“I know. But I don’t want to depend on anyone for help. I’d rather figure out my life on my own.”
If Kylie had a flaw, that was it. Yet Shaye realized she and Gwen shared that particular flaw, too. They wanted to be independent, self-sufficient women and sometimes that caused more problems than it solved.
Dylan had stayed away from Shaye and Timmy for the past few days for many reasons. First, he knew he was pushing her, maybe too hard and too fast. He wanted to give her a little space and time to think about him being Timmy’s father and the idea of sharing joint custody. Second, being around her strained his self-control. In the past, he’d been able to shut a woman out of his thoughts. He couldn’t seem to do that with Shaye. Maybe he should spend time with Timmy alone without the distraction of Shaye, without the scent of her rose lotion, the sight of her pretty face, the sound of her quietly steady voice. Engrossed in getting his gallery showing together, he tried to put the rest aside, but he wasn’t having a lot of luck at that.
It was almost seven one evening when his cell phone rang. At his computer, he answered it, studying the photos on the monitor.
“Malloy here.”
“Dylan, it’s Walter.”
“Hi, Walter. Do you want to meet me for a late dinner at the Silver Dollar?” His stock of groceries had run out and he was getting hungry.
“Maybe another night. Have you seen Shaye lately?”
“You mean, today?”
“I mean recently. Has she told you her plans?”
“What plans?”
“I don’t know precisely but I do know she saw Arthur Standish yesterday.”
“Arthur Standish, the attorney?” After a short, startled silence, Dylan asked, “Do you know what she consulted him about?”
“I think it should be obvious what this is about. Custody.”
The implications of what Walter was telling Dylan made him go cold inside and then that cold turned to anger. “How do you know about this?”
“We’re living in Wild Horse Junction. Somebody sees somebody enter an office somewhere… You know how it is, Dylan.”
He knew exactly how it was and didn’t know whether to be grateful or frustrated by it. “I’ll find out what’s going on and get back to you.”
“Go easy, Dylan. If Shaye’s planning a custody fight, you don’t want Timmy to get caught in the middle.”
“He’s already in the middle. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so forthright with her. If I’d surprised her—” He knew there was no point in thinking about what-ifs and if-onlys. “I’ll get back to you after I talk with her.”
Away from his desk now and pacing, he speed-dialed Shaye’s home number. Her machine came on. Swearing, he punched in the speed-dial number for her cell phone, and she answered on the third ring.
“Shaye, it’s Dylan. We need to talk.”
“I can’t right now.”
He heard voices, lots of them, the sound of a gathering somewhere. “Where are you?”
“That’s none of—”
“Shaye, I know you saw a lawyer. Where are you?”
Silence…until eventually she answered. “I’m at the high school at a meeting.”
“For work?”
Her hesitation was prolonged until finally she answered, “No. It’s a meeting for parents who have adopted or are planning to adopt.”
Dylan had never been a reckless man. As soon as he’d gotten control of his life and Julia’s, he’d planned every detail. Now he was feeling reckless. “I guess I should attend, too, since I’m also considering adopting Timmy. I’ll see you there in ten minutes.”
When she didn’t answer, he asked, “Is Timmy with you?”
“No, he’s with Barb and Randall.” A note of fear crept into her voice. “Don’t think you can just go over there and take him.”
Dylan’s anger morphed into something that went much deeper and bothered him greatly. “You think I’d do that? You should know me better than that.”
“I don’t know you, Dylan. I only know what Julia told me and what I’ve heard and seen in the past week.”
“You’re conveniently forgetting the time I spent here in February?”
In the silence, he knew that scenes were replaying in her mind as vividly as they were replaying in his.
“We were in a crisis situation then. Everything was heightened. Nothing was real.”
“Our grief over Julia and Will was real. Our fear and concern for Timmy were real. What happened in your kitchen that day was real.”
A few moments passed and then she murmured, “I’ve got to go. The meeting’s starting.”
“Ten minutes,” he reminded her. Then he switched off his phone and headed out the door.
Signs in the lobby pointed Dylan in the right direction. As he walked down a corridor, he could hear voices coming from one of the rooms, people talking and discussing.
When he stopped in the doorway, a moderator perched on the edge of the desk at the front of the room motioned him inside. Chairs were arranged in a circle so everyone could see each other while they were talking. He really didn’t want to pull into that circle, but he saw that Shaye had.
Going around the outside of the grouping, he pulled a chair from near the wall and positioned it behind her. When she would have stood to move her chair over for him to join in, he laid his hand on her arm.
They both froze.
Leaning close, he murmured in her ear, “I’ll stay right here.” Was that a tremble he felt when he touched her? Was she reacting from fear, from anxiety or from the elemental desire that coursed through him every time he got this close?
During the discussion, Dylan remained silent, listening and absorbing. Couples shared their experiences about adoption—agency adoption, private adoption, adoption waiting for an unwed mother to have her baby. There was some talk about home visits and what social workers might look for. Shaye already knew about all that and he suspected she’d come to this meeting to feel she was moving forward in some way. At least, that’s what he hoped. There was no way he was going to let her file for adoption without the caseworker knowing he was in contention for parenthood, too. And he was.
He still hadn’t figured out everything about it, but Timmy was his nephew and he wanted him for his son. Not just for Julia’s sake, but for his own. He wanted to take him to his first baseball game. He wanted to tuck him in bed on
Christmas Eve and watch the wonder in his eyes as he discovered presents under the tree the next morning. He wanted to help with homework and take him to the video arcade. He wanted to be Timmy’s dad.
Sitting behind Shaye, Dylan couldn’t help but notice the straightness of her spine and shoulders, the tilt of her head when someone spoke and she listened, the scent of roses that, as he inhaled, brought back memories that he shouldn’t be having right here, right now.
When the meeting ended, the moderator motioned to a table at the back where a punch bowl and cookies sat. “Help yourselves,” she invited with a smile. “I don’t want to have to take the cookies home.”
If Shaye had been interested in mingling, that was just too bad. He had to find out why she’d gone to the lawyer and what she discussed with him. If she’d tell him.
When he nodded toward the door, a stubborn look came into her eyes. “I need something to drink. I’ll be right out.”
Rebellion, defiance, sheer determination not to give him what he wanted squared her shoulders. They were going to have a rocky road to travel.
When Shaye emerged from the punch and cookie corner, she was holding a cup of punch.
“We can talk in there,” Dylan suggested, pointing to an open classroom.
“I have to pick up Timmy.”
“Do you want to go to your brother’s and discuss this?”
She wouldn’t. Having people around wouldn’t change his position.
After she took a sip of punch, she peered at him over the rim of her cup and shook her head.
“I’m not trying to corner you, Shaye. If we pick up Timmy, we’ll have to see to his needs and we won’t get a chance to talk.”
“All right,” she conceded with a sigh, and went toward the dark classroom.
Reaching it first, Dylan switched on the light. It was bright and glaring. He saw that as a good thing. This had to be a straightforward discussion with no intimate overtones, no chemistry getting in the way of what he needed to say. Maybe that was part of the problem. His chemistry with Shaye had gotten in the way. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her or demand too much or push too hard. Now, however, she’d changed all that.
Custody For Two (Baby Bonds #1) Page 10