Texas Girl Grit

by Shelley Stringer

  “Yes, of course. Are you with the DPS?”

  “Texas Rangers, ma’am. Your husband told us you told him on the phone you were being followed, and the unknown suspects hit your vehicle from behind and attempted to force you off the road.”

  I rubbed my temple, my head pounding. “I don’t remember the wreck. I’m sorry...I haven’t been awake long.”

  Liam pushed the door to my room open, his eyes on me, and then surprised registered when his gaze settled on the uniformed officer at the foot of my bed.

  “Officer Reyes. I was told you would come by sometime tomorrow,” he greeted the man with a frown.

  “Sorry, time constraints. We needed to interview your wife as soon as possible, while events are still fresh. I hope that’s okay.”

  “I told him I don’t remember the wreck,” I murmured, embarrassed I couldn’t recall the minutes before the accident. My eyes rose to meet Liam’s, and he moved to my bedside, sinking down on the bed beside me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

  “My wife has been through an ordeal. There are still some tests to run, and she needs to rest. She has a concussion and is still a bit fuzzy. I think she’ll be in better shape to interview her in a couple of days.” His tone was final and he let the officer know he wasn’t going to put me through an interrogation today.

  “My apologies. I understand. I’ll leave my card, and if she remembers anything at all…identifying information about the vehicle, the passengers…anything you think could help us, please contact me, day or night.”

  I nodded, still a bit overwhelmed with confusion, frustrated my memory was spotty.

  As soon as the door closed, Liam turned to me. “Baby, I’m sorry. I should have told you they would come by. With the threats my office received, they’re suspicious of the circumstances of your wreck.”

  “I haven’t had time to process everything. I’m still confused, I don’t remember the wreck,” I said, my eyes filling with moisture. “Did I tell you someone was chasing me?”

  “We talked to you as you drove and tried to figure out where you were. They bumped you and scared you. As you tried to turn onto a major road, we could hear the crash through the phone. You had it on speaker. When we finally came up on you, I guess they’d already left the scene. Your car was upside down in a ditch about one-hundred feet past the turn. The car and the surrounding grass had caught fire. We had to cut you out of your seatbelt, and pry the dashboard to get to you.”

  “We?”

  “Scott was with me.”

  I rubbed my temple again. Shutting my eyes, I could remember short flashes…Scott’s shoes.

  “I laughed at Scott’s tennis shoes. I said he looked like Forrest Gump,” I remembered shakily.

  Liam leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “That’s right, Baby. Just rest, everything will come back to you. Shhh,” Liam whispered, as he rocked me gently, his arms still around me.

  Then it occurred to me. “You do believe me, don’t you?”

  He pulled back and studied me. “What?”

  “That someone was following me. You believed me, when I told you on the phone?”

  “Of course, Kel. Why would you ask me that?” he asked, perplexed.

  “You said, ‘I guess they’d already left the wreck.’ You didn’t believe me.”

  He ran his fingers agitatedly through his hair, and blew out his breath. “I didn’t mean it like that, Hellcat. Of course I believed you. I guess I’m still a bit irritated with you.”

  “You should be. I embarrassed you at the fundraiser and I ran,” I admitted again, my heart thudding as I choked back tears.

  He turned to me and took both my hands in his. “You didn’t embarrass me, Kel. Just the opposite. You turned a negative into a positive, showed those people you wouldn’t be intimidated, and charmed the pants off Austin elite at dinner with your knowledge of promoting Austin nightlife. Politics is business, and those were businessmen and women. When you showed them your passion for what you do best, it impressed them.”

  “Not all of them. I overheard some of them, Liam. They thought I was a liability for you, and you shouldn’t have been thinking with your other head when you got married,” I whispered.

  “Who in the hell said that?” he exploded, his eyes narrowing in anger.

  I sighed. He seemed oblivious. “Someone in the house. I could hear them from the patio. It was a man talking to Texanne,” I admitted.

  “You must be mistaken. Texanne wouldn’t be a party to such a conversation,” he said forcefully. “Maybe you misheard them.”

  “Um…now you’re in politics, you’re going to use those spin terms?”

  “What spin terms?” he asked, exasperatedly.

  “Misspoke…misquoted…misheard. All those ‘miss-es.’ I said, using the finger air-quotes. “You’re making excuses for one of your political supporters. She’s out to get me,” I murmured.

  “That’s ridiculous. Texanne has worked hard on my campaign. She’s devoted a lot of time into my fundraising,” he argued. “Why would she try to disparage you?”

  She’s devoted a lot of time and I hadn’t. What he didn’t say was I was still working for the design company instead of coming to work for his campaign, to support him as a good wife would. And I realized that was exactly the way Texanne wanted it. It was useless to argue with him about her. I sounded like a jealous wife. And that’s exactly what I’d become. My heart sank with the realization.

  Liam sighed, tired of the argument. “Kel, the only reason I’m angry with you is because you left the fundraiser early and un-escorted. You know we’ve beefed-up security because of the threats from South of the border. And it’s not about you anymore,” he said, softening his voice. “You are carrying my baby. I don’t care how angry or hurt you are, or who pisses you off…you must wait for an escort. No more going off on your own!”

  The rational side of my brain knew he didn’t mean anything by his choice of words. But the hurt, insecure side of my heart heard “not just you” and “my baby.” The insecure part of me heard Liam berate me for being “pissed off” about something imaginary.

  I grabbed the button for my bed, pushed it to recline all the way flat, and scooted down. As I placed my hands under my pillow, I turned to my side. “Sorry, I’m tired. I need to sleep,” I dismissed him, my heart aching.

  I sensed him beside the bed for several moments. Then I heard the door shut. I curled into a ball and cried myself to sleep.

  Chapter Seven

  I woke to voices outside in the hallway. I stared at the ceiling, gathering my thoughts. I hadn’t slept well…fitfully would be more like it. A dull headache stayed with me throughout the night. The nurse practitioner arrived after Liam and performed the sonogram. The baby looked good, and his or her heartbeat was strong. She said my bleeding had all but stopped, and it was a good sign. I’d wanted to call Liam but I didn’t have my cell, and the hospital room didn’t have a phone in it. After the way we’d left things, it was probably best that we’d had a night apart anyway.

  I’d had plenty of time to think as the night wore on. It didn’t matter what Texanne had said or done, I needed to suck it up and grow up if I was going to help Liam. With the morning sun of a new day pouring through my hospital room window, I was more determined than ever to be the wife that Liam needed.

  Another voice joined the conversation in the hallway, the voices closer to my door. Partially ajar, it afforded me access.

  “You left her last night?”

  I recognized Sean’s voice.

  “I had to. I met with our security team and the officers working the case. It was late when we got through and I called. The nurse said Kelly was down for the night. She suggested I come back first thing this morning,” Liam answered.

  “What is it? She’s going to be okay, right?” Sean asked. “So, what did you argue about? She’s great, Liam. I can’t imagine anything I’d argue with her about, if you get what I mean.”

  I
heard Liam slap him – on the shoulder or some such.

  “Just kidding. Hey, you can’t blame me. I am a red-blooded American male, after all.”

  “Man, I get frustrated with her insecurity. She gets upset when her imagination runs away with her. And her leaving put her and my baby at risk.”

  And once again, I remembered why I was pissed at him last night. He didn’t believe me. Wasn’t it him who told me to tell him every wifely intuition, and he was the one who got to decide if it was crazy? Evidently, crazy was his decision.

  “Wait. She said that she was upset, and that’s why she left without you?”

  “Yeah. She accused Texanne and her friends of talking about her…saying,”

  “That you were thinking with the wrong head when you married her? That they compared her to that Anna Nicole bitch because of the dress she wore, joking this was Texas, after all?”

  I teared up at Sean’s admission. He’d overheard them too.

  “What the fuck?” Liam asked, incredulous.

  “I heard them. I’d left Kelly on the patio and told her to tell you goodnight. You were in the great-room with your dad and grandfather, so I said my goodbyes to Kel and stepped back through the house. I heard them in the library off the patio, laughing about her. I’d hoped Kel didn’t hear them. Man, I was going to tell you. Texanne is a bitch.

  “Shit,” Liam said. “No wonder Kelly left. She should have come to me. She should have told me,” he murmured. I could picture him as he ran his hand through his hair.

  “Evidently, she did try to tell you last night,” Sean said softly.

  “Damn it,” Liam muttered again.

  It was quiet for several moments, then Sean spoke. “Hey, man. Go in and talk to her. You’ve both had a good night’s sleep. It will be okay. I have the feeling she’s the forgiving kind of wife. I’ll just go down and see what’s keeping Tana. She’s supposed to meet me here. We’ll come see Kelly in a few.”

  I turned as the door pushed open wide, Liam appearing in the open doorway.

  “Hey, Baby. How are you feeling this morning?”

  I pushed up in bed, the fight for my emotional stability still underway with the conversation I’d overheard.

  “Like a forgiving kind of wife,” I replied, a faint smile on my trembling lips. I knew he was sorry before he even said it—it just stung someone else had to tell him about the conversation before he believed me.

  “You overheard?” he asked softly as he sat down in the chair beside my bed.

  I nodded silently.

  “God, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Kel. I hate that happened to you, and I shouldn’t have questioned you when you told me last night. I understand why you were upset enough to run.” He lifted his hand and touched my cheek carefully. As he stroked his thumb back and forth across my cheek, he dropped his voice to a whisper. “Promise me, you’ll run to me next time. I don’t care if the Governor himself has me tied up in a meeting. You come to me,” he said. His eyes searched mine.

  “I will,” I answered in a whisper.

  “Good. Now I want to take you home,” he said as he continued to stroke my cheek.

  “In a couple of hours. The nurse who took my vitals at six this morning said everything looks good, and I can go as soon as my paperwork is finished.

  He pulled back, concerned. “What about the sonogram? The baby?”

  “They did it last night. The baby looks good, heartbeat is good. The bleeding has stopped.”

  “When? After I left? I’m sorry, Kel…I should have been here! I wanted to go in with you.”

  “It’s okay. The nurse practitioner from my OB/GYN’s office came in right after you left and took me down for the test. I would have called you, but I don’t have my cell.”

  “Hey, Cat,” Tana called, pushing the door open. “Are you up for some visitors?”

  “Sure. But you didn’t have to come,” I answered.

  “Of course we did. And I’m a bit pissed Coving-stud didn’t call me last night,” Tana said with a glare at Liam.

  He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I thought about it, Tana…truly, I did. I got busy with the law enforcement afterward, and the reporters,” he said.

  I tensed. The media had gotten wind of the incident. But which incident? Dress-gate or wreck-gate?

  “The reporters?” I asked.

  “Yeah, Baby. It’s been a bit of a circus in front of the hospital.”

  “Well, thanks to them,” Tana drawled, “I’m now in the know, and that’s what brought us to your bedside.”

  Liam blew out a breath, reaching to clasp my hand in his.

  “How bad is it? The reporters, I mean.”

  Liam searched my eyes, his own expression softening. “They’re mostly hungry for news of your condition. The authorities must have leaked part of the investigation, because there is already speculation surrounding the suspects who ran you off the road.”

  Tana interrupted, “And the doctors were quick to suspend that drunk-driving rumor, thank God.”

  “What?” I shrieked. “Ow,” I immediately called out as I held my head.

  “Calm, Baby,” Liam urged, holding my head in his hands. He placed a kiss on my forehead and continued. “There were a couple of reporters who speculated you’d driven home under the influence, but your doctors dispelled that rumor this morning. They already gave a statement you are in stable condition and would be released later today. I was able to talk to your doctor beforehand, though, and asked him not to say anything about the baby since we haven’t announced it.”

  “What baby?” Tana demanded. Her eyes cut to me. “You’re pregnant, and you didn’t tell Aunt Tana?”

  “Um, yeah. About that,” I began.

  “Congratulations, man! That’s great,” Sean gushed, moving to pat Liam on the back as Tana moved to sit on the side of my bed.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” she started to berate me.

  “Well, we are telling you now. And we need to make an announcement to the media soon. I mean, your parents and Chelsea already know. They are bound to find out soon,” I said.

  “Well, it might be a good time now, to get the focus off all the negative. Do you want to do it today as we leave the hospital?”

  I took a deep breath. “Sure. make sure my outfit fits the occasion, though,” I said with a plea to Tana with my glance.

  “Done. I’ll run to the house right now, and Chels and I will pick something perfect for you to wear home. Come on, Sean, you’re my chauffer,” she demanded. They left the room holding hands.

  “Our best friends, a couple now,” Liam said with a shake of his head. “Something else for the press to play with.”

  “Maybe it will take the focus from last night’s dress,” I said, sighing.

  Liam cautiously pulled me closer in his arms, minding my ribs. “Kel, the dress was beautiful, and you were stunning in it. You were just over dressed. There was no media there to take pictures. If anything is said, it will be page twenty news at best. But this dramatic car accident, and a pregnancy announcement? That will overshadow it all anyway. It’s quite a dramatic distraction, one that works in our favor. But,” he said as he pulled my chin up and gazed down into my eyes for emphasis, “Don’t scare me like this again. My heart can’t take it.”

  * * *

  As I settled in to heal, I decided cracked ribs and a concussion were worse pain than a gunshot wound. There seemed to be no relief – then again, I couldn’t take the good stuff for pain because of the baby. After maneuvering to the bathroom by myself, I decided to check on Masen. When I pushed the nursery door open, I found Miranda curled over the crib and cooing to Masen as she dressed him. When she sensed the door open, she straightened and turned to me.

  “Mrs. Covington, you shouldn’t be up,” she scolded. “I’m sorry, were we too loud? I hope we didn’t wake you,” she continued as she picked Masen up and cuddled him to her. He jumped in her arms, reaching out to me as he slobbered a
nd jabbered, wanting me to take him.

  I moved to take him but she shook her head. “Mr. Covington left strict instructions. You are to stay in bed and rest, and he was adamant you are not to pick baby Masen up.”

  I dropped my arms and nodded. “Has he had his breakfast?”

  “Yes. He woke up early, before Mr. Covington left. He insisted he feed the baby while he drank his coffee.”

  That made me smile. Liam loved to feed Masen, and he often woke him before he left for work to spend time with him.

  “Would you mind bringing him to me in my room? I want to spend some time with him, even if I can’t lift him.”

  Miranda smiled warmly. “Sure. But only if you promise to get back into bed. I’ve never seen Mr. Covington mad, and I don’t want the first time to be with me,” she finished as she guided me back to our master suite.

  As I began to painfully work my way back down under the covers, it occurred to me Miranda should be in class. It was a weekday, after all.

  “You’re not skipping classes to help me,” I began.

  “No, I don’t have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, except one night class on Thursday nights. And I only have class ‘till noon on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so I told Mr. Covington I could stay with you during the day and after classes to help with Masen.

  “That’s would be a lot of driving for you. Are you sure it won’t be too hard”?

  She shook her head. “No, just the opposite. I think I will get more studying done this way. He asked me to stay in the guest room next to Masen, and your house is closer to UT than my apartment. And with what he pays me, I won’t have to tutor at night and on the weekends.”

  As I studied her, I relaxed. She seemed truly happy about the situation. I was glad Liam had thought to have her stay with us, and it made me happy to think he paid her enough to help her with her finances. My own struggles with money when I was an undergrad at UT had left their mark, and anything we could do to help her was a balm to my memories.

  Miranda made use of my time with the baby to study in her room, with the promise I would call her when I tired. Masen crawled around me on the massive bed, playing with his toys and jabbering away at the cartoons on the flat screen Miranda had turned on for us. When he became fussy, I snuggled him down next to me and used Dr. Seuss to lull him to a blissful and much-needed nap for the both of us.