Aidan: Loyal Cowboy: Aidan: Loyal CowboyThe Family Plan

by Cathy McDavid

  “Mike’s doing a bang-up job as superintendent.” When Jolyn left Chase’s place earlier, he was riding herd on the drywall tapers.

  “Mike Flannigan!” Steven’s outburst rang with skepticism. “The same Mike Flannigan who got kicked out of 4-H for using permanent markers to draw naked women on Wanda Cummings’s pigs right before the state fair?”

  “’Fraid so.” Jolyn couldn’t help laughing. “He’s matured a lot since high school. He’s even a member of the volunteer fire department.”

  Steven drew back in disbelief. “This I’ve gotta see.” Switching gears, he said, “Where do you want the desk? Be warned, it’s in pieces.”

  “The corner, I guess. And in pieces is fine. I’ll only have to move it again when I install the new carpet.” Jolyn had recently torn up the old vinyl tile, leaving behind bare concrete.

  “I’d say the place is coming along but…” He shrugged.

  “Hey. Be nice.” She cuffed him in the arm. “You think this is bad, you should have seen it before.”

  “Come on, String Bean. Let’s unload your desk. Better yet, I’ll unload and you watch. Got a handcart anywhere nearby?”

  “Mrs. Cutter does in the back room. I’ll ask her if we can borrow it.”

  Like the two children they’d once been, they bickered constantly over the desk. Steven insisted on doing everything himself, and Jolyn refused to let him, claiming she was the expert. In the end, it took them twice as long as it should have.

  “I’m hungry,” Steven announced when they were done. “What have you got to eat around here?”

  “Whatever’s in the store. Mrs. Cutter lets me run a tab.”

  “She still make those rotgut chili dogs?”

  “With cheese and jalapeños?”

  Steven pressed a hand to his chest and groaned. “I can feel the heartburn already.”

  “Two enough?”

  “And an extra large Dr Pepper.”

  Since there were no chairs in Jolyn’s office, they went outside and perched on a low block wall behind the market to enjoy their meal.

  “I hear Mom’s pestering Chase again to have DNA testing done.”

  Steven’s comment, so out of the blue, took Jolyn aback. “Who told you?”

  “Dad. He stopped by the restaurant one afternoon a few Saturdays back when he was in Pineville.”

  Before her mother’s mammogram, Jolyn thought. “She is. Or was. I think she’s agreed to cool it. Temporarily, anyway.”

  Longer, if her tests were normal. Jolyn intended to see to it. And they would be normal. Taking her own advice, she was assuming the best.

  “Fine by me if she abandons the idea altogether.” Steven polished off his first chili dog and took a big swig of soda before biting into the second one. “Mandy’s not my daughter.”

  “You sound so sure.”

  “I am. And that’s not just wishful thinking.” He stopped eating and pushed a lock of shaggy blond hair off his face. In a community where most guys favored cowboy hats and silver belt buckles, Steven’s rock-musician looks always stood out.

  “Did SherryAnne tell you you’re not Mandy’s father?”

  “Hell, no. She didn’t have to.”

  Jolyn’s “Hmm” was rife with doubt.

  “If Mandy’s my kid,” Steven said, “then she was born three weeks early.”

  “Babies are born early every day.”

  “Except Mandy was something like nine and a half pounds. That doesn’t sound like any premature baby I’ve ever heard of.”

  “I don’t remember. I was gone by then, on my first tour.”

  “Well, I remember. Mom made sure I knew about the baby because she thought I was the father.”

  Jolyn lost interest in her hot dog and set it aside. “But SherryAnne’s tall for a woman. Mandy could simply take after her.”

  Then again, Chase was tall, too. He had three inches on her brother.

  “Anyone will tell you I’m not parent material,” her brother went on. “Though lately I’ve been thinking kids might be okay with the right woman.”

  “Do tell.” His girlfriend, Jolyn decided, must be having a positive effect on him.

  He flashed her an almost embarrassed smile before abruptly sobering. “I’ve only seen Mandy from a distance. But even so, wouldn’t I feel something for her? Like a connection or bond? I don’t, in case you’re wondering,” he declared, anticipating Jolyn’s question.

  She absently twirled the straw in her soda. “People aren’t emperor penguins. I’m not sure we instinctively recognize our offspring.” Jolyn didn’t add that her brother might not feel a connection to Mandy because deep down, he didn’t want to.

  “Trust me, you’re not telling me anything I haven’t already thought of myself. But you’ve yet to mention the main reason I’m convinced Mandy’s not my kid.”

  “What’s that?”

  “SherryAnne and I have spoken exactly twice since the day Chase walked in on us at their apartment in Pineville.”

  Jolyn chuckled mirthlessly. “That’s hardly a reason. She and I have barely talked since then, either.”

  “Exactly,” Steven exclaimed as if Jolyn had reached a brilliant conclusion. “If I were Mandy’s father, SherryAnne would have come to me by now, demanding a payoff. Money’s always been her top priority in life.”

  Jolyn was struck by the rancor in her brother’s voice and the pain in his expression. Had he been in love with SherryAnne? The instant the thought occurred to Jolyn, she knew she was right. No one, herself included, had ever considered the possibility that Steven might have been hurt by what happened, only that he, like SherryAnne, had done the hurting.

  “Chase was in vet school at the time.” Steven stared sightlessly at the slow stream of passing traffic. “He and SherryAnne were living on whatever money his parents gave them and her wages from the Clip and Curl. I was far from rich but I did have a decent job and made more than the two of them put together. SherryAnne would have jumped Chase’s ship for mine in a heartbeat if Mandy was my kid.”

  “Is that what you hoped?” Jolyn asked gently.

  Steven’s startled look confirmed her suspicion. He had been in love with SherryAnne.

  “She was a beautiful woman,” Jolyn observed. “And sexy.” When SherryAnne turned on the charm, few men could resist her.

  “She told me she and Chase were separated and planning a divorce. I swear, Jolyn, I wouldn’t have slept with her under any other circumstances.”

  “She deceived you.”

  He shook his head. Sighed. “She and Chase had hit one hell of a rough patch. He was interning with a veterinarian part-time and going to school full-time. SherryAnne didn’t like being left alone at night, liked her job at the Clip and Curl even less. I’m pretty sure they would have divorced if she hadn’t wound up pregnant. She stayed with Chase because he’s Mandy’s father.” Steven turned an unwavering gaze on Jolyn. “I’m not just trying to shirk my responsibilities.”

  Steven made a valid argument. And his conviction wasn’t easy to dismiss.

  “I was only with SherryAnne that one time after she and Chase were married and only because she sought me out. Not the other way around.”

  “I believe you.”

  “But it wasn’t our first time together.”

  Stunned, Jolyn gaped at her brother. “You’re not joking.”

  “I wish I were.” His shoulders slumped a little more with each confession he made. “Every time she and Chase wer
e on the outs, SherryAnne came running to me. It started the year I was sixteen.”

  “Sixteen!” Jolyn was flabbergasted. “We would have been fourteen then.” Chase and SherryAnne’s romance was in the beginning stages those days. Puppy love more than anything else.

  “We didn’t sleep together until the night of your senior dance. Remember, I came home that weekend to help Dad paint the house?”

  The same night Chase had kissed Jolyn on her parents’ front porch. She drew in a sharp breath, feeling like someone had sucker punched her in the stomach. Chase and SherryAnne had been having one of their fights and had left the dance early. Later that night, he’d shown up at Jolyn’s house and they’d kissed. SherryAnne had gone to Steven and… and… Oh, God! Jolyn fought a wave of nausea.

  The day after the dance, Chase and SherryAnne had reconciled. Hurt and disappointed, Jolyn had given up on Chase and her girlhood crush once and for all. Steven, apparently, was another story. She didn’t know how often SherryAnne had gone running to him and didn’t want to know. Her heart couldn’t take it.

  She’d realized long ago that SherryAnne was less than perfect but this went beyond anything she’d ever imagined. How could she have been so blind?

  “I’m not proud of what I did.” Steven flung the last bit of his second hot dog to the waiting birds, who instantly dove on it. “SherryAnne took advantage of me to get back at Chase. But it’s not like I said no to her even after I got wise to her games. She kept both Chase and me on her own personal leash for years.”

  Jolyn considered telling Steven he wasn’t a trained dog and could have gotten away from SherryAnne, then realized he had. Only it might have been too late.

  “In a way, she still has us both on leashes.”

  “How so?” Was her brother still pining for SherryAnne?

  “By not admitting which one of us is Mandy’s real father.”

  “Has she ever threatened you?”

  “Not seriously.” Steven picked up his soda and polished off the last of it. “She hinted at coming after me for child support, but I’m pretty sure she was just blowing smoke.”

  “Because she can’t prove you’re Mandy’s father?”

  “Right.”

  “Have you told Mom this?”

  “Not all of it. Not the part about SherryAnne coming around since high school. She thinks I only slept with her that once.”

  “Maybe if you did tell Mom, she’d leave Chase alone.”

  Steven’s eyebrows came together in a pronounced V.

  “A lot of good could possibly come of it.”

  He shot her a chagrined look. “Here I am, thirty-one years old, and still scared to tell my mom I screwed up.”

  “You were young, and it was a long time ago. She’ll get over it.” Jolyn smiled, her spirits lifting. All these years her mother had been clinging to a false hope because she didn’t know the whole story.

  At the sound of squealing tires, both her and Steven’s heads jerked up. Their parents’ white SUV barreled into the parking lot and came to a brake-grinding stop in front of Jolyn’s office. She and her brother were on their feet before their father fully emerged from the driver’s side.

  “Dad! Hey, Dad.”

  He hurried toward them. “Steven! What are you doing here?”

  “I told Mom yesterday I was coming.”

  “You di— Never mind. I’m glad to see you no matter the reason.” He clapped his son on the back only to pull his hand back and rake his fingers through his hair.

  “What’s wrong, Dad?” Jolyn asked with rising concern. “I thought you and Mom were on your way to Pineville.”

  “Pineville?” Steven asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Their father’s gaze went straight to Jolyn. “Your mother’s refusing to go to the doctor. She canceled her appointment and won’t make another one.”

  Chapter Nine

  Turning the key to his post office box, Chase withdrew a stack of mail. Included among the bills, catalogs and sale flyers was a pink, laminated ticket. Milt Sutherland used the tickets to let customers know they had a package ready for pickup.

  Chase’s face was a familiar one at the front counter. With the nearest warehouse three hours away in Phoenix, most of his veterinary supplies and medicines were shipped to him. Since starting construction at his house, pink tickets appeared in his post office box on an almost daily basis as items for the new clinic arrived.

  Chase rang the bell and waited for Milt to appear from the back. The town of Blue Ridge didn’t provide door-to-door mail service. If residents wished to receive mail, they rented a post office box. Up until eight years ago, homes hadn’t had formal street numbers. After much pressure from delivery services such as FedEx and UPS, the town had assigned addresses. Only people outside of Blue Ridge used them.

  To Chase’s surprise, Kenny Jr. came through the door separating the back from the front. A teddy bear of a man, Kenny Jr. did a little of everything around town, from working part-time at the Raintree ranch to being a member of the volunteer fire department.

  “Hey, Chase. What’s up?”

  “Nothing much. On my way to the Holleran place. Where’s Milt today?”

  “Funny you should ask,” Kenny Jr. said, taking Chase’s ticket from his outstretched hand. “When he called and asked me to cover for him, he said he and Dottie were going to Pineville for the afternoon.”

  “And they’re not?”

  “Mrs. Cutter came by not ten minutes ago to pick up a shipment. She said Milt tore into the market parking lot like he was a driver in the Indianapolis 500. Next thing, him and Jolyn and Steven all left at the same time, one after the other in a big ol’ caravan.”

  “Steven was there?”

  “Guess so. Mrs. Cutter said something must be going on with them. Something bad. Milt’s been acting kinda funny-like and so has Jolyn.”

  Chase agreed, at least where Jolyn was concerned. And he was becoming increasingly worried about her.

  “Heard you guys found that boy yesterday.” Kenny Jr. let out a long whistle. “Weren’t he a lucky son of a gun?”

  “Yeah.” Chase was suddenly in a hurry. “How about that package?”

  “Sure thing.” Kenny Jr. ambled to the back room.

  One minute stretched into two, then three. Tapping his truck keys on the counter, Chase wondered what in the world was going on with Jolyn’s family. Steven’s visit was nothing out of the ordinary but the same couldn’t be said for Milt taking off work. Add to that a speed-racing display and mass exit home and the evidence mounted.

  “You mind giving me a hand?” Kenny Jr. called. “This is more’n I can carry.”

  The package turned out to be three large, flat boxes containing the unassembled holding kennels Chase ordered for the new clinic. The boxes were more unwieldy than heavy. He and Kenny Jr. loaded them into the back of Chase’s truck, securing them with bungee cords. Once he got home, Mike or one of the laborers could help him unload.

  Waving goodbye to Kenny Jr., Chase pulled out of the parking lot. The Hollerans lived west, about a mile and a half. Jolyn also lived west, about a half mile. Hardly out of his way.

  Chase decided to drive by Jolyn’s parents’ house. What he saw when he cruised past did nothing to assure him his concern was misplaced.

  All four of the Sutherlands were standing in the open garage, having what was obviously a heated discussion. If they noticed Chase, they gave no indication. He traveled abou
t 150 feet farther before pulling to a stop along the side of the road.

  He wouldn’t go back, wouldn’t intrude on Jolyn and her family. He had no right. But Dottie’s insistence on DNA testing and Steven’s presence convinced him that whatever was causing such strife in the Sutherland family probably had something to do with him and Mandy.

  Chase slammed the heel of his hand on the steering wheel. It looked like he’d been right about Dottie all along. She’d stopped pressuring him of late only because she was gathering her forces.

  Was she trying to use Jolyn to get to him? And had Steven, after all these years of staying away, decided to join his mother’s campaign?

  Chase started his truck and hit the gas. The rear tires skidded and swerved before gaining traction, sending a shower of dirt and pebbles into the air.

  He was crazy to think he could have a relationship with Jolyn, friendship or otherwise. Keeping Mandy safe and by his side mattered the most. Starting today—this minute—he’d steer clear of Jolyn and the oh-so-risky temptations she presented.

  * * *

  “YOU HAVE TO CALL your doctor and make a new appointment.”

  Jolyn followed her mother around the garage, determined to talk some sense into her. Her father and brother leaned against the workbench, watching in stoic silence. They’d already taken their turns with Dottie, who’d listened but remained unaffected.

  Steven’s admission about his long-standing affair with SherryAnne clearly unnerved Dottie but had no effect on her decision to cancel her doctor’s appointment.

  Ignoring Jolyn for the most part, she sorted through various boxes and bins and trunks stored along one wall of the garage.

  “Mom,” Jolyn pleaded. “This is serious. If it weren’t, your doctor wouldn’t have insisted on seeing you right away.”

  “I know that.”

  “Great. Then I’ll just bring you the phone and you can call for a new appointment.”

  “Not today.”

  Jolyn bit back an angry retort. Her mother’s refusal to listen to reason was getting old fast.