The words began again and he realized she was chanting to the puppy willing the animal to get stronger. The words tore at his heart, his chest aching, tears welling up inside him.
What had she suffered that would cause her to be so determined to save this little dog.
The memory of his father dying and realizing that everyone depended on him, overwhelmed him and yet he wanted to take Shadow's pain away from her. Clearing his throat, he let her know he was there.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" she asked.
"No, I wanted to check on her. How is she doing?"
Last night as he lay in bed trying to fall asleep, thoughts of Shadow and the bundle of trouble in her arms refused to give him peace and he feared the worst.
"Hard to say. She's eating and sleeping. But she hasn't gone to the bathroom yet. I'm worried."
How could he say this without breaking her? How could he prepare her in case the poor little thing didn't make it? His heart wrenched at the very thought. They would both be saddened if this precious little puppy died.
"Shadow, don't let yourself become too attached. That little dog is still not out of the woods yet. There's still a chance--"
"Stop," she demanded. "Don't say the words around her."
Vehemently, she began to shake her head as she stroked the animal’s soft fur.
"Don't listen to him," she whispered, holding the dog tightly to her chest. "You're a strong fighter whose destiny is to bring joy to a family. Some little girl or boy is waiting to chase you through the fields, play ball with you, and love you."
A tear slipped down her face and she gave him a sideways glance, swiping her face. "No negativity around Keiko."
"Keiko?"
"Yes, it's Japanese and means blessed child. This little one is a blessed puppy."
Wow, he knew she was a little out there, but she'd named a dog that might not even be alive tomorrow. And what if it didn't? How could he strengthen her for the loss, the sadness, the pain she would experience once the animal died?
"Look, I know you want the dog to live, so do I, but death is part of the life cycle. We're born, we live, but eventually we die."
No one understood this better than Jim. First his parents and then Chrissy, his fiancée, two months before their wedding. Everyone he loved had gone onto heaven leaving him behind.
"You're being cold hearted."
"No, I'm not. I want this little puppy to grow old, but I'm a realist and her chances of making it are not good." He took a calming breath to still his racing pulse, all the pain rising to engulf him. Pain buried so deeply, you'd need a miner’s light to find it. Until this moment, he didn't realize the grief was still there. How could one little dog bring back all that hurt.
"Death is a sneaky, mean demon that rips out the heart of the living when it takes someone you love."
Shadow's gaze was curious as she stared at him, her large emerald eyes shining brightly, but she didn't ask questions. That was something he liked about her, she didn't pry like most people. Personal conversations, she waited for you to offer up what you wanted to share.
Any talk of Chrissy was like a dagger in his heart reminding him of what he'd lost. Their life together had been all carefully planned and then it came crashing to an end.
Once the puppy finished the bottle, Shadow rocked her in her arms, a cotton ball in her hand stroking her privates hoping to stimulate her to urinate. Jim walked over and looked down at the dog. She didn't look much different from this morning.
"Let me hold her for a couple of minutes."
Reluctantly she let him take the dog and he sank down onto a chair beside her. "When my father was ill, we prayed he would get better. That the cancer would go away and he would be healed. Our prayers went unanswered. Dad died here at home with all of us surrounding him."
All the memories of that terrible time flooded him and he took a deep breath to chase the chill of death away. "My father was a strong, proud man, but the ugly disease stripped him of everything, leaving him just a shell of his former self. By the time he died, he begged us to let him go."
Gently he rubbed the cotton ball over the little puppy's lower regions, trying to keep the pain from overwhelming him, trying to swallow the log of agony in his throat. Even after all these years, tears were still right below the surface and a single memory sent them streaming down his cheeks. Sometimes he still thought he heard his father's voice telling him what he needed to do.
"That must have been so difficult," she said softly.
Nodding, fearful if he tried to say anything, his voice would crack and the tears would flow.
Suddenly a little spurt of water sprang from between her legs.
"Oh my goodness, she peed on me," he said laughing. "This little bugger just let go all over the towel and my hand."
Shadow squealed loud enough for the puppy to snuggle in deeper. Clasping her hands together in prayer to her chest. "Thank you, oh, thank you."
"Remember, she's still not out of the woods," he reminded her.
"I'm positive she's going to make it. I told you, she's a fighter," she said and reached over and stroked the fur of the animal's face. "One battle won, now keep getting stronger."
Jim looked into her eyes, and his heart did a somersault. The night before he stayed up most of the night, reading her erotica novels. Just the thought made him hard.
The books hadn't been as explicit as porn, but rather a tasteful tale of a woman learning to embrace her sexuality. The lucky hero of the novel had been masculine and virile and all he thought about was how he wanted to be that guy.
After reading her book, he longed to show Shadow he was amenable to helping her experience her own passion and sensuality and then he would remind himself the author and the heroine were not one and the same. The two had nothing to do with one another, but still he wondered about the saucy girl with enough whoo-whoo to light the town.
"For our sakes, I hope so," he finally said, fear gripping his chest like all the other times death knocked on his door.
Her tongue swept across her lips and the urge to kiss her overcame him. No, not now, not here in the middle of the night with both of them in pajamas. Not the appropriate time or place. Yet he felt like celebrating Keiko's small accomplishment.
Puzzled by his attraction to a woman who radiated happiness and creativity, not the typical woman he was drawn to, longing filled him and he wanted to pursue Shadow Wilson a little further to see the appeal, knowing he lingered in dangerous territory with the two of them alone in the house.
Three days later, Shadow drove an old farm truck into town to pick up more formula for the puppy. Keiko now let her hunger be known with a whine and her bodily functions worked perfectly.
Kyle checked on her every other day, when he had the time and said she appeared to be getting stronger. Shadow knew she was growing more attached by the day and there was no way Keiko could stay with her. A big Lab didn't belong in a small apartment with two other girls. As much as she wanted to take Keiko home with her, but it would be unfair to the dog and her roommates.
The old truck bounced along the road and she smiled, remembering how Jim handed her the keys and told her to be careful. No fires. Instinctively, she had thrown her arms around his neck.
First, she was going to the vet's office, then the police station to obtain an accident report and grab a bite to eat before she returned home to feed Keiko. Being independent, it felt good to be mobile again.
Thirty minutes later, she parked the vehicle in front of the Braxton family restaurant and hurried inside to order lunch before heading out to the ranch. Between Keiko's feeding schedule, no car, living outside of town, she was having a hard time doing the investigation she needed for the article.
Opening the diner’s door, she stepped into the eatery.
"Shadow," Kelsey said, jumping up from a table, rushing over to her. "How are you? I've been meaning to drive out and check on you, but the boutique kept me busy."
; Shadow smiled, she really liked Jim's sister who was fun.
"Come meet my friends," she said, pulling her by the hand toward the table where two other ladies sat. "This is Shadow. She's the first person Jim met after dancing around the Cupid fountain."
"Hello, I met Taylor the other day."
A collective sigh sounded and Shadow wasn't certain how to respond. Wanting to glean as much information as she could from these women without admitting she didn't believe this Cupid hocus pocus would be tough. Frankly, she didn't know if it was true or not. Shadow practiced chakras, mantras and many, many spiritual beliefs, but a superstition that helped you find love? Didn't seem plausible.
"I'm sorry. I'm confused. Kelsey told me about the statue. Do you think parading around the piece of sculptured rock and finding love is real?" she asked.
All three women started laughing. Meghan, a curly blonde ran her hand over her stomach. "Because of that night, I'm married and we're expecting our little cherub in six months."
"Congratulations," Shadow said "Did you do the dance?"
Giggling in unison, they glanced at each other and smiled.
"Yes, we drank a little too much one night. Removed our clothing and danced," Taylor admitted. "When my soon to be husband, Sheriff Ryan tried to arrest us, I took the fall while these two ran."
"My husband Max, picked me up running down the road," Meghan said.
"My fiancé, Cody, stopped to help me when he saw me running down the road. All of us naked as the day we were born."
Stunned, Shadow stared at them. "Were your husbands the first person you ran into?"
The thought of dancing nude with the chance of someone seeing wouldn't bother her mother, but Shadow's boundaries said no. Her mother shed her clothes and her inhibitions at Hippie Hollow in Austin more times than Shadow cared to think about. But to dance in your birthday suit in the town square around a statue? No way.
"Yes," Taylor said.
"Now, it wasn't all hearts and flowers and happily ever after from the moment we met," Meghan said. "Oh no, I hated Max. Slowly he won me over. Now, I'm so thankful we did the Cupid Stupid dance."
"Cupid Stupid," Shadow said, wishing she could take out a notebook and jot down notes, but that would be a dead giveaway she was writing a story.
Taylor laughed. "Ryan is the sheriff and he calls it the Cupid Stupid dance. He arrests or scares a lot of people who decide to test the superstition."
"Oh," Shadow said, thinking the law named it appropriately. Yet some people would find it a challenge. "Did your husbands ever dance around the statue?"
Not a numbers person herself, she would love to see some kind of statistic showing how many couples had done the dance and married. How many of these people participated in the town's popular dance only to later be divorced.
"No. That's why we know it was our dance that caused us to come together," Kelsey said. "Now we're watching what happens between you and my brother."
Shadow swallowed, suddenly nervous. There was no way she would ever admit to these women they kissed. Some things were just better kept to herself. Though she was attracted to Jim, she lived in Austin and his ranch was near Cupid. Distance separated them.
Like Taylor said, Jim had a stubborn, rigid side, but the other night when they bottle fed Keiko together, she'd also seen the caring side of him. The nurturing man who feared being hurt by death again.
"No news. He's out rounding up the newborn calves, getting them ready for branding. Checking to make sure none of his cattle are sick."
Grinning at them, she asked, "How did this superstition ever start?"
Meghan sighed. "The town was founded back in the late 1800s, by Thomas Cupid, he couldn't find a woman to marry him. Right before he died, he had an artist, craft a statue. By this time, he was in his sixties."
An older man began this hocus pocus nonsense?
Taylor took up the story, her eyes wide. "One night after drinking too much he stripped off his clothes and danced naked around the statue. A storm was brewing and lightning struck, hitting the statue and killing Thomas."
Well, he certainly didn't find true love.
Kelsey shook her head. "A year later, a man decided to honor Thomas by dancing in the buff at midnight in the town square. The very first woman he saw after the dance, he met and married her. Then another man desperate to find love tested the rumor he'd heard, he soon walked down the aisle.
“Twelve months later, all the eligible bachelors in town had a band of gold around their finger. And they all gave credit to the Cupid statue. Since then, people have been dancing in the town square for nearly one hundred years."
Shadow wanted to jump up and run out to the truck and furiously write down what the girls had revealed, but she remained calm and gave a quick look at her watch.
"Interesting story. So why don't you have a lot of outsiders coming and doing the Cupid Stupid dance? Why isn't the city overrun with tourists looking for the opportunity to meet their true love."
They laughed. "Very few strangers have heard of the superstition. The Cupid story is the town's secret and the only reason we're telling you, is because you met Jim. Now you're one of us."
An eerie feeling came over Shadow. Maybe getting to know and becoming friends with these people and writing a magazine piece no one would approve of wasn't a good idea. The memory of the movie, The Stepford Wives, came to mind, sending a chill through her. Dance around the statue and become the perfect wife.
A shiver of fear trickled down her spine. Her imagination was running wild. The town would not appreciate her penning a story about their secret. Yet, she had a job to do, an assignment.
"Ladies, it's been a pleasure meeting all of you and hearing about your experiences, but I have a sweet little puppy waiting home for me to feed her. Excuse me, I need to get back," she said.
Glancing at each other they giggled making Shadow feel uncomfortable. These girls were strange.
"What?"
"Back home. Sounds to me like the statue is already working its magic on you," Taylor said.
Shadow sat there absorbing their words. No, the superstition was not putting her under its spell. These women wanted her to think, even now, this hocus pocus was bringing her and Jim together. Dream on.
Instead of having the opportunity to order food, she needed to leave. Intrigued by the women's tales, she completely forgot about food and now it was time to get home to Keiko.
Swallowing, she didn't know how to react to the women.
"Nah, I'm trying to get my car settled and Jim is overloaded with Spring roundup. There's no way the two of us are getting together."
The look they all gave her clearly showed they didn't believe her.
Chapter 5
Saturday evening, they sat around the dinner table, Kelsey, Cody, Jim, and Shadow finishing up barbecue ribs, potato salad, and a peach cobbler for dessert. Shadow had never eaten so much food and they had finished off a bottle of white pinot grigio.
Now they were gathered around the table, telling stories of a family life Shadow had dreamed of, but never experienced. Sitting there she watched the brother and sister and Cody interact like good friends do.
The jealousy monster reared its ugly head, conceiving a burning sensation in her chest spawning havoc within her. It wasn't their fault her father had left her mother before she'd been born. That she didn't have close relationships like these because they never stayed in one place long enough to create friendships that would last a lifetime.
"Cody would spend the night with us when he was a little boy. I remember wanting to play video games with the boys and being run out of the play area by three boys in their pajamas. Nothing like seeing Superman, Spiderman, Batman and the Hulk chasing each other. How Mom put up with all the noise, I will never understand," Kelsey said. "You boys were loud enough to wake the dead."
She smiled at them and thought their childhood sounded perfect, so normal and she tried to act like she was one of them, but she was
n't. She had no idea what it felt like to have brothers and sisters, sleepovers and friends running around in their pajamas.
"Well, at least, we were playing games. All you wanted to do was have tea parties."
"That's not true. If you remember, I'm the one who created the bicycle jump."
"Only to make us think you were a boy."
"And I'm the one who started the treehouse. Remember..."
"Okay, I'll give you credit for starting the treehouse. I think you put one nail in a board."
"Did not," she said. "I made the steps going up the tree."
Jim started laughing. "That's right you did because you fell out of the tree and got the wind knocked out of you."
"That smarted," Kelsey said.
"Then Jim and Kyle and I finished building the treehouse."
"Where was Drew," Shadow asked trying to appear that she was interested in their stories of times long ago. Envious of the camaraderie and the love shared between them all.
They had no idea what they possessed and how easily it could be taken from them. They had no idea that not everyone had this same experience.
Jim stared at her, his dark eyes questioning if there was something wrong. Funny, but in the last few days, she was beginning to read his expressions, his glances, his body language. She hadn't told him, but the insurance inspector told her anytime she wanted to pick up the rental, it was ready.
But she wasn't ready to leave Keiko. The little dog seemed to recognize her voice now and she would suck on her fingertip, searching for the nipple. She was a joy and yet, Shadow knew she couldn't keep her and eventually they would have to part. And she wasn't looking forward to that day.
"Didn't Drew have the measles about that time," Cody asked reaching over and picking up Kelsey's hand and rubbing his thumb across the top.
Shadow made a mental note to use that gesture in her next erotica. She'd almost finished the book that was due. Between feedings of the puppy, she was editing.
"Yes, Drew had the measles. He spent that time separated from us. Remember he was so jealous that we were outside playing and he had to stay in a dark room," Kelsey said gazing at Cody, she bit her lip.
Cupid Help Me! (Return to Cupid, Texas Book 4) Page 6