by Diana Palmer
“Will you stop right now? Give that—” she indicated the suitcase “—back to that son of the devil you’re going around with!”
“Not on your life,” he retorted.
She lifted her chin. She didn’t say another word.
She didn’t have to. Rodney knew what it meant. He turned away. He was going to have to stop her. He wasn’t going to prison or the mortuary because his baby sister suddenly developed morals again. He knew exactly what he was going to do.
* * *
J.C. SENT COLIE a message by Ren, who had Merrie call her.
“He said to tell you he’s coming back Sunday,” Merrie said, laughing at the delight in Colie’s voice. “No, he doesn’t want you to meet him, he’s got his SUV at the airport in Jackson Hole. He said if you wanted to come over and fix supper for both of you, he’d be delighted. It’s going to be a long flight and he’ll be hungry.”
“I’ll make something wonderful,” Colie said dreamily.
Merrie smiled to herself. “I think what he really wants is to see you. Food would be nice, but Ren said J.C. talked about you every time he called. He wanted to make sure you were staying at your father’s place, and that you were okay.”
“I wish he’d called me,” Colie sighed.
“He hates talking on the phone,” Merrie said. “He told Ren he never knew what to say and he hated trying to put his thoughts into words over a long-distance line. He said he’d say them in person when he saw you. He missed you,” she added. “Ren thought it was hilarious, although he didn’t tell J.C. Neither of us ever imagined we’d see J.C. Calhoun go crazy over a woman.”
“Is he? Crazy over me, I mean?” Colie asked huskily.
“From what we see, yes, he certainly is. He’s just been sold out too many times to trust people easily, Colie. That’s all it is. He’ll learn to trust you, in time.”
“I’ll never let him down,” she promised. “Oh, gosh, I have to get busy! It’s Saturday. He’ll be home tomorrow! I’ll go crazy waiting!”
“Anticipation is nice,” Merrie said demurely. “It leads to amazing memories.”
Colie laughed. “I’m anticipating that,” she confessed. “Thanks so much for calling me!”
“You’re more than welcome. We’ll be waiting to hear how things work out. I’m sure we’ll have exciting news in the near future,” she added drily.
“I hope so!”
* * *
HER FATHER WAS sitting at the kitchen table, finishing supper. Rod was there, glowering at Colie.
“Well, what lit a fire in you?” her father asked amusedly.
“J.C. will be home tomorrow!” she said excitedly. “He’s flying into Jackson Hole tomorrow afternoon. I have to go make supper for him. I’m so happy!”
Her father hid his misgivings quickly. “I’m happy for you. Just put out cold cuts for us tomorrow night,” he added. “Save you a little time.”
She kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Daddy.”
Rod didn’t say anything. He kept his eyes down. He was having an epiphany. He knew exactly what he was going to do now.
After supper, he even smiled at Colie as he went into his room, took out his cell phone and made a call.
* * *
COLIE HAD MADE roast beef and a potato casserole and English peas, with a cherry pie for dessert. She’d shopped for the ingredients and taken them to J.C.’s place, using the key he’d given her when they first moved in together.
She was so excited that she almost burned the potatoes. She couldn’t wait to see J.C. again. It had been almost two months, two long and lonely months without him. She put a hand on her flat stomach. It was far too soon to even feel a rising there, but she knew there was a baby. Her symptoms were such that she couldn’t have mistaken them, even without the positive pregnancy test she’d used. Pretty soon she’d have to see a doctor. If J.C. didn’t want to marry her, she could see a doctor at the health department and swear him to secrecy. What she’d do about hiding her condition was a puzzle, but she’d work something out. Surely, there would be a way.
But she might be worrying for nothing. Once J.C. knew, if he’d missed her as much as Merrie said he had, there might not be any need to worry at all.
* * *
SHE WAS ON pins and needles as darkness fell. The snow had melted somewhat, but it was still in the shady areas of the property, shining, glowing, in the moonlight. It gave the cabin’s surroundings a fairy-tale look. She hoped her personal fairy tale would have a happy ending.
She punched up cushions and watched the news, but still J.C. didn’t come. It was almost nine o’clock, and she’d just reheated the meal again when she finally heard his SUV drive up outside.
Odd how he slammed the door of the vehicle. He didn’t usually. She heard his footsteps on the porch. The door opened abruptly. And there he was, shepherd’s coat, boots, jeans and all.
She started to run to him until she saw his face close enough to recognize the furious temper he was in.
“H-hi, J.C.,” she began uneasily.
His jaw was clenched so hard that it looked as if his teeth were in danger of breaking. His pale gray eyes were glittering like hot sun on a gun barrel.
“What’s wrong?” she said, moving a step closer.
“You tell me,” he replied icily. His eyes went homing to her stomach.
He knew! How did he know? She hadn’t told anyone!
Her hands went protectively to her belly. She felt sick all over. “I haven’t said anything...!”
“When were you going to tell me?” he asked, lifting his face to sniff the air. “After a home-cooked meal and some passionate sex?” he added. He laughed coldly. “Not that you’d know passion if it sat on you, you little icicle.”
The joy drained out of her all at once. “Who told you?” she asked sadly.
“Your brother.”
“Rod?” She was trying to think. He’d made threats. He knew about the baby... “When did you hear from him?” she asked.
“He met me at the airport, with the father of that child you’re carrying,” he said in a voice as cold as the grave.
Her lips parted on a shocked breath. “What?”
“He brought your boyfriend Barry with him. Rod said he was absolutely disgusted with the way you’d behaved. It hurt him that you’d two-time his best friend with another man. It hurt even more that you were willing to pass the child off as mine, because your boyfriend didn’t have as much money as I did.”
“What...boyfriend?” she exclaimed. “I don’t have a boyfriend!”
“Give it up,” he shot back. “You’re busted, Colie,” he added. “I was sick of you, anyway,” he said as he headed toward the bedroom. “You never did anything in bed except lie there like a plastic doll. You never wanted me. You couldn’t even pretend that you did. I guess your boyfriend was better in bed, even if he was poor. Rod said you couldn’t keep your hands off him, even in front of your father.”
She started after him, shocked, sickened, absolutely bereft of words.
He pulled her things out of drawers and stuffed them into the big duffel bag she’d left there. He shoved her trinkets and the photo of her mother and father and Rod into the bag with them.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“What does it look like?”
He finished, very efficiently, and zipped up the bag. He carried it out through the living room to the front porch and slid it toward the steps.
“Do you have your cell phone?” he asked with icy politeness.
“Yes. In my pocket...”
“Good. You can call your father to come get you. Goodbye, Colie. I’m sorry I wasn’t quite gullible enough to make it work out for you.”
“He lied,” she managed through tight lips and tears.
“Sure he did.” He looked her up and down with eyes that hated her. “I almost fell for it. Sweet, gentle Colie who loved me more than anyone in the world and just wanted to live with me and take care of me. What a line!”
“I meant it.”
He wasn’t moved by her white face or the hot tears rolling silently down her cheeks. “Just for the books, I wouldn’t have married you, even if that child had been mine,” he added. “I told you. I love my freedom.”
She just looked at him, so wounded that she couldn’t even manage a defense.
He was still glaring at her. “Maybe you’ll have better luck with your new lover.”
It was cold. She had on a thin jacket. She hadn’t expected to need anything warmer. Her truck wouldn’t start, so she’d called a cab to bring her here. It had been warm inside the cab and she’d imagined she’d stay with J.C. once he was home. She hadn’t counted on being put outside like this. It was freezing.
“Women,” he finished with pure venom. “Two-timing prostitutes, the lot of you! I thought you were different. I really did. But you were just out for what you could get, like all the others.”
Her gaze fell to the porch. Please, God, don’t let me faint at his feet, she pleaded silently.
Her silence made him even angrier. “How long did you wait to crawl into his bed?” he demanded. “Did you even wait until I was out of the country? Or was it going on before, when I was in Denver? You said you’d dated another man, was it really him and not some out-of-town accountant?”
“I told you the truth,” was all she said.
“What would you know about the truth, Colie?” he asked. “Did you have to grit your teeth every time you slept with me? You never gave anything back. I had to do it all. And you made me feel inadequate, every time. It got to the point that I hated even touching you!”
She swallowed, hard. She could have told him why, but he wasn’t listening.
“I hope it goes without saying that I never want to see you again,” he said finally. “If I see you in town, I’ll look right through you. I won’t speak. From this day forward, you don’t exist for me.”
She drew in a breath. She was so sick that she hardly even felt the cold.
“Go home,” he said coldly. He went back inside and slammed the door, enraged that he couldn’t make her apologize.
She opened her cell phone a minute later and called her father.
“Can you drive over to J.C.’s house and get me, Daddy?” she asked in a haunted whisper.
He knew immediately what was wrong. “I’ll be right there, honey.” He hung up.
She started crying. The wind cut through her like a knife. She didn’t care. Her life was over.
* * *
THE REVEREND DROVE her home and made hot chocolate for her. Then he just sat and let her talk. She told him that Rodney had gone to J.C. with a lie that broke them up, but not what it was.
He caught his breath. “Rodney did this to you? But, why?” he asked, aghast.
“You can ask him,” she said. “I won’t carry tales.”
“I don’t understand why he’d lie to his best friend about something so important,” Reverend Thompson persisted. “This isn’t right, Colie. I’ll call J.C. myself...”
“No!”
He hesitated.
She laid her hand over his on the table. “He was looking for an excuse to get rid of me, Daddy,” she said sadly. “He said so. He was tired of me.”
He grimaced.
“There’s something more,” she continued, shamed and sick at heart. “I’m...pregnant, Daddy.”
He groaned out loud.
Tears rained down her face in a silent torrent. “I’m so sorry!” she sobbed. “I’ve ruined my life and your life, because I was in love. I thought he loved me. I thought...” She swallowed down nausea. “I’ve been such a fool. I’m so sorry!” she repeated.
He got up and pulled her into his arms, rocking her as he had when she was little and someone had hurt her.
“We’ll manage,” he said. “Don’t you give it a thought. We’ll manage!”
“It’s so shameful,” she wept.
“It’s a baby,” he said softly. “Babies aren’t shameful.”
“It doesn’t have a father,” she reminded him.
“It has a mother,” he retorted. “You’ll be a wonderful mother. The very best!”
That made her feel worse. She’d expected censure, anger. But he was kind and caring and loving. Just as he’d always been. She realized that she didn’t really know her father at all. What she’d taken for disapproval was his knowledge of how things were going to turn out, his sorrow for her. He’d known, as she hadn’t, how it was going to end. But he loved her just the same. She wailed.
“You get a good night’s sleep,” he told her when the crying stopped. “In the morning, we’ll talk and make decisions. Meanwhile, I’m going to have a very long talk with my son!”
“It won’t do any good,” she said quietly. “He’s mixed up with bad people, Daddy. It would be better if you didn’t say anything about this to him.”
“Colie...”
“Promise me,” she said. She knew what her brother was doing. If her father pushed him too hard, found out what was going on, he’d put himself in danger. She didn’t want that. Rodney wasn’t the son her father remembered. He was a stranger now.
“What do you know, Colie?” he asked.
“Things I’ll never say. Not now.” It was true. She’d have told J.C., and he’d have handled it. But J.C. would never believe her now. He’d taken Rodney’s word over hers, knowing that Rod couldn’t tell the truth if his life depended on it. There was no going back now.
“All right, then,” the reverend replied. “I’ll let it drop. Things usually work out.”
“Usually.” She didn’t believe it, but it was easier to agree. “Thanks for not being mad at me.”
“You’re my daughter. I love you. I may not approve of what you’ve done, but that doesn’t mean I’ll turn away from you, ever.”
She smiled and hugged him again. “Thanks, Daddy. Good night.”
“Good night. Try to get some rest.” He hesitated. “Colie, it might be as well if you called in sick tomorrow. We’re going to need to discuss a few things.”
She nodded. “I’ll do that.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
A NEW SECURITY hire was supposed to meet with J.C. to discuss his duties. But J.C. never showed up at the line cabin where the man was assigned. Ren was concerned enough to go looking for him. J.C. was punctual, always.
He knocked on the door of the cabin. Merrie said that Colie had gone last night to cook supper for J.C., so possibly they’d had a very long and passionate reunion and J.C. had slept late.
He was disabused of that suspicion when the other man finally struggled to answer the front door.
It was a J.C. that Ren had never seen before. His clothes were rumpled, as if he’d slept in them. He had a day’s growth of beard. His eyes were red and bloodshot, and he absolutely reeked of whiskey. That alone was alarming. J.C. never drank hard liquor.
Ren was at a loss for words. He just gaped at his security chief.
“She’s pregnant and it isn’t mine,” J.C. said, slurring his words a little. “And that’s the only thing I’ll ever say about it. She’s history. I never want to hear her name mentioned again or I’ll walk out.”
Ren ground his teeth together. He knew, as Merrie did, that Colie had never looked at another man since she’d been with J.C. She’d dated the accountant, just once, and everybody knew he’d taken her home early and played chess with her dad. And that had only been because gossip put J.C. in the arms of some gorgeous blonde in Denver.
God knew where J.C. had heard that Colie was two-timing
him. The pregnancy was news, though. He knew that his security chief didn’t want kids, or marriage. Either J.C. had gotten careless or there really was another man in Colie’s life. Hard to believe that, though, considering how crazy she was for J.C.
“I can’t work today,” J.C. said apologetically. “Sorry. I had...a lot to drink.”
“It’s okay,” Ren said. “I’ll put him to work updating software until tomorrow.”
“I’ll be fine tomorrow.”
“Sure you will.”
“Damn women!” J.C. said icily. “Damn them all!”
It was like looking in a mirror. Not too many years ago, that’s what Ren was saying. He’d had his own bad experience with a woman and it had soured him so much that he’d almost lost Merrie. Here was J.C., walking in his footsteps.
But Ren couldn’t reach him. He didn’t want to lose J.C. He shrugged. “Life goes on,” he said philosophically. He smiled. “See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
J.C. closed the door and Ren went home.
Merrie looked up when he came into the living room. “Well?”
“He was so hungover, he could barely talk.”
“What happened?” she exclaimed.
“It all boils down to the fact that Colie’s pregnant and J.C. thinks it’s some other man’s.”
“Oh, dear. That’s not true. Colie’s so much in love with him, she couldn’t have slept with anyone else.”
“We know that. J.C. doesn’t. Or doesn’t want to.”
“Poor Colie,” she groaned. “And her poor father!”
“They’ll get through it,” he said. “We all have hard times. We survive them.” He pulled her close and kissed her warmly. “My treasure,” he whispered against her mouth.
She smiled and kissed him back.
* * *
COLIE AND HER father sipped coffee. His was strong and black. Hers was decaf.
“I want to go to Jacobsville,” she said. “Cousin Annie Mosby and her brother Ty live there. She said I was always welcome.”
“Honey, Jacobsville is bigger than Catelow, but it’s still small enough that people gossip...”