The Horseman

by Anna Jeffrey

  Recognizing the tenor of the call, Shannon picked up her cell phone and took it off speaker. “Hey, all of the Lockhart men I’ve met do have a chauvinistic streak. Ego, I suppose.”

  “Pic thinks he should discuss this with Drake. I can’t believe he wants to talk about it to someone besides me, but there it is. That man suffers from a middle child complex big time. Sometimes it’s so glaring in his personality it’s textbook. I’ve even gone back to my old textbooks and researched and he shows most of the signs. Anyway, he thinks his big brother can give him the name of a male doctor he can go to after Christmas.”

  Uh-oh. Mandy wasn’t shouting, but threads of impatience and even anger underlaid her sharp tone. Shannon worked at staying out of the Lockhart family’s quarrels and upsets. “What kind of doctor?”

  “A urologist, I think. Does Drake know a urologist he’d recommend?”

  Did Drake know a urologist? The question stumped Shannon and a frown tugged her brows together. She pulled up her salesman’s voice and replied to Mandy with caution. “I’m so sorry you and Pic are having this problem, Mandy. Try not to let it bother you. From what I see, Drake and Pic do have a special bond. Maybe it’s because they’re so close to the same age. In their Wild West upbringing by their parents, I think they must have relied on each other to find some sanity.”

  “Oh, I know all about that. Pic and I grew up together. Actually, I’m acquainted with the whole family. You’re right about ego. Overblown ego is part of their DNA. It goes all the way back to Bill Senior and maybe before him. That man was a total chauvinist. I suspect Sarah was never as happy when he was alive as she’s been since he died. She’s so old now and half crazy, so she speaks out a little more about Bill Senior and their marriage.”

  Whoa! Shannon hadn’t heard many details about Drake’s grandparents on either side of his family. Other than a remark once by her own grandmother, she had never heard anyone say anything so disrespectful of the man who was reputed to have taken the Lockharts from being comfortably wealthy to mega-rich. She sat back in her chair, her curiosity abounding. “You think so?”

  “Oh, God, yes. When Betty still lived here, Bill Junior was almost as bad as the old man. I witnessed some of those knock-down-drag-outs between him and Betty after he had been out carousing for days at a time. I’m not fond of that woman, but at least she didn’t just roll over and take it like Bill Senior’s wife did. At least she put up a fight. I think she would’ve left here sooner if she hadn’t been so involved with remodeling the ranch house.”

  Shannon’s brow arched as her alter ego spoke up: Well, that’s one reason to stay in a miserable marriage. “Hm. No doubt having a project helps.”

  Shannon had been to the Double-Barrel ranch house only a few times and had never seen all of it. She pictured the rooms that were familiar. All were beautifully decorated in Southwestern Chic, probably from some elegant store like The Arrangement in Dallas. Though the house was a hundred-year-old small structure remodeled several times into a near-mansion, traces of its age remained. Where was this conversation headed? She bit down on her lower lip.

  “And Drake even...”

  At the mention of her husband’s name again, Shannon’s spine straightened and she gave a hundred percent of her attention to her sister-in-law.

  “I had just started high school when he and Tammy McMillan got engaged,” Mandy said. “I still believe that whole thing was engineered by Betty and Tammy’s mother. The Lockharts and the McMillans were neighbors, you know. Drake had just graduated from high school, but he was still a kid and everyone said he was a virgin. Tammy was waaay more experienced than he was. You can imagine how that went. After she gave his ring back, he turned into a sex maniac. He tried to screw everything that would stand still and let him.”

  Shannon’s eyes squeezed shut. She did not want to hear this.

  “And belligerent?” Mandy continued. “Oh, my God. He would’ve picked a fight with a priest. Given who he is, I’m surprised somebody didn’t sue the whole family.”

  “Well, that was years ago, right”, Shannon said, searching for an exit from this conversation.

  “Seventeen to be exact and you know what? I still don’t know for sure what happened to that gorgeous engagement ring he gave Tammy. I do know he got it back. Pic thinks Betty has it in her bank box. Whatever. It hasn’t been seen or even discussed since the breakup.”

  Shannon glanced down, straightening the fingers of her left hand and admiring her own wedding ring—a natural yellow diamond the size of a dime. The one he gave Tammy McMillan must have been bigger and fancier.

  Shannon’s jaw quirked. Coveting a larger, more expensive ring wasn’t in her makeup, but the emotion attached to it pecked at her. If Shannon Piper left Drake Lockhart, would he grieve by picking fights and pursuing wild women?

  Her alter ego piped up again. What is wrong with you? He was twenty years old. All twenty-year-olds would screw a fencepost. He was too young to get married anyway.

  Mandy’s laugh brought her back to the conversation. “Oh, crap. I probably shouldn’t tell you that about Drake. Pic would kill me if he knew I said anything.”

  Shannon was never disinterested in her husband’s past, but she strived to not let her anxiety travel through the phone. “Oh, don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago. I’ll never mention it.”

  “I know. But I know better than most people that hurts like that hang on a long time.”

  Shannon didn’t disagree. She had a few recollections of her own that were impossible to totally forget. Did Drake still cling to memories of the blond beauty who dumped him for another man?

  Her alter ego gave her a pinch. Stop it! You’ll never know the answer to that question. You need to get on with your day.

  Shannon shifted her thoughts to wondering why Mandy had called and right on cue, her sister-in-law responded as if she read Shannon’s mind. “The reason I called is to ask you if you’ll put a bug in Drake’s ear. Maybe when y’all are down here next week, he could find a private minute to persuade his little brother that the two of us going to a doctor together is a good idea. Dr. Goodman is the handiest and I do like her. If Drake blesses it, I know Pic will do it.”

  A simple request and the reason for the call. Shannon breathed a silent sigh of relief. “Sure. I’ll talk to him about it.”

  “Tell him to discuss artificial insemination and in vitro.”

  Anxiety returned. A new frown tugged at Shannon’s brow. “Okaaay. Is that what they call AI in animals?”

  “Right. In people, they call it IUI. Intrauterine insemination.”

  Jeez. She would never remember medical terms. “Oh, hell, Mandy. I need to write this down. Hold on.” She grabbed a notepad and her Mont Blanc pen Drake gave her for Christmas three years ago. “Okay. Now spell it for me.”

  Mandy spelled the words and Shannon jotted them down.

  “Pic was horrified when I brought it up,” Mandy said. “He equated it with cows and horses.”

  “Naturally, he would. I mean, cattle breeding is the business he’s in, right? So bring me up to speed. I think I know how artificial insemination works, but what about the other?”

  “In vitro? In vitro fertilization. It’s a little more complicated. They would collect eggs from me and sperm from Pic, then marry them outside the womb and hope for the best.”

  “Okay. And how would they get Pic’s sperm?”

  Mandy’s laugh came over the line. “He’d have to jack off in a cup. That might be the part that’s really bothering him.”

  Yikes! TMI! Heat crawled up Shannon’s neck and she knew her face had turned red. What she had read about sperm banks at some point past flashed in her memory. A visual of her big, robust brother-in-law in a closed-in room reading girlie magazines to arouse himself to ejaculate in a cup refused to form in her mind, but a question did. Would Drake go through all of that to have a baby? She doubted it. If he wouldn’t do it himself, would he try to persuade his brother to do it?
She doubted that, too. For that matter, would she go through it herself?

  “If they wind up with fertilized eggs,” Mandy went on, “then they plant them in the uterus.”

  Shannon’s thoughts flew immediately to news items she had read about women carrying quintuplets and sextuplets and maybe more. Her skepticism level rose higher. “Did you say eggs, as in more than one? Is this how those women you see on the news wind up with six or eight babies?”

  “I don’t know for sure. I need to learn more. Seems logical it’s a possibility.”

  “Oh, my God, Mandy. Are you sure about this?”

  “That isn’t what they start out with. They begin with fertility drugs. Pic was equally horrified when I mentioned that.”

  Now Shannon heard the nervousness in Mandy’s voice. “Fertility drugs?”

  “It’s just conversation. The point is, there’s more than one option to talk about and you have to start somewhere.”

  “Maybe the doctors can figure out why it hasn’t happened. Maybe they can do something so you won’t need those exotic procedures.”

  “Maybe. We’ll have to see. But we’ll never know if Pic doesn’t go to a doctor.” A pause, then, “Pic said y’all will be here on Saturday?”

  “That’s the plan. Should be there by noon. With Will, for us to go anywhere is like moving a house. Drake wants to get down there early and settle in so he can be in on the Sunday morning bird hunt without interference.”

  “Oh, yeah. Blake Rafferty and his partner are going to hunt with them. That means they’ll shoot a lot of birds and we’ll have a quail feed. Ugh. I don’t even like quail. It’s white meat, so that part’s okay, but I don’t really enjoy eating it. I hate the idea of swallowing buckshot and I don’t like biting down on it, either.”

  Shannon didn’t share Mandy’s distaste. At home, her freezer was full of quail and other game birds Drake had shot. Time for a change of subject. “Drake’s eager to visit with Troy. Except for last week in the arena, he hasn’t seen him since we were down for branding back in June. Troy was so mobbed with fans after the performance in Fort Worth, Drake had no chance to talk to him. He’s so excited about his horse’s win.”

  “We’ve hardly seen him either. He’s off in West Texas doing one of his clinics now, but he’s due back here Friday night. And that’s another bomb waiting to go off.”

  Uh-oh. Were there new developments with her brother-in-law’s status in the barn fire investigation? She had overheard any number of phone conversations between Drake and Troy, with Drake telling him to clean up his act. But Drake didn’t discuss those conversations with his wife. He still held his relationships with his brothers apart from her.

  She sized up the situation nevertheless. Drake’s youngest brother was a thirty-year-old man. Being given orders by his older brothers probably annoyed him no end.

  “I need to run to my English class,” Mandy said hurriedly. “I wanted to catch you before the day gets started. Can’t wait for y’all to get here.”

  They disconnected, leaving Shannon unsettled. Was the catalyst for all of this the fact that she had given birth to Will? If so, what would Mandy do when she saw that Shannon was pregnant again? Now she was glad Drake had postponed telling his family.

  Though Shannon hadn’t spent much time around Mandy, she saw how competitive she was. Good grief, she had put Drinkwell High School on the map in high school sports. She coached a swimming team of teenage girls she single-handedly took to unexpected championships, something unheard of in an under-funded sports program in a tiny poor school in a tiny town. That had to be like pushing rocks up a steep mountain. What other woman did Shannon know who had the drive or ambition or ability to accomplish something like that? No one.

  Drake thought Mandy to be a solid, well-grounded woman and a great wife for his brother. Shannon saw something different. Hidden beneath the nice person everyone thought Mandy to be, Shannon saw a rebellious edge, a fierce independence and a strong will. As good as Drake was at reading people, why did he not recognize the same traits in Mandy that she, Shannon, did? Maybe he found it easier not to.

  Her thoughts veered to what Mandy said about Drake’s past. When it came to her husband’s broken engagement with his former fiancé, Shannon knew only the part of that story Drake had chosen to tell her, which had not included an array of women in the aftermath or his getting into fights.

  No doubt Mandy knew every detail. Shannon weighed again if she really wanted to hear the whole story. If asked, Mandy would probably tell her. She appeared not to be good at keeping secrets.

  Shannon’s alter ego barged into her thoughts again. Forget it! Like she said, it was seventeen years ago. You’ve already accepted that he used to be a player. You haven’t exactly been a saint yourself.

  Chapter 10

  When Shannon arrived at Red Rover’s restaurant, Christa was seated in a booth out of the busy traffic pattern. With teary eyes, she gushed over the gift basket. After she sampled the perfume and looked over every item, she sat back against the booth’s back. “Wow. Thank you so much. Nobody has ever given me such a lovely present.”

  “Merry Christmas. Grammy Evelyn and I both want you to know you’re special to us.”

  “I have your gift, too.” She dug into her purse and produced an envelope. “You’ve become impossible to buy something for, so...” She shrugged and handed Shannon the envelope. Inside was a Christmas card with a touching message of friendship and an I.O.U that said in elaborate formal calligraphy: LUNCHES FOR THE COMING YEAR.

  Shannon laughed. “This is great. Perfect.”

  The waitress came with silverware and napkins and they both ordered Caesar salads. Christa spread her napkin on her lap. “You look great today, by the way. That green dress is gorgeous on you.”

  Shannon looked down at the Christmas green tent dress she had worn today. She had also worn flat-heeled shoes. “I feel like a cow. At least this is comfortable. No way is little Colum James going to wait until the middle of February.”

  Christa chuckled. “I know you’ll be glad when it’s over. Is the winery deal still on?”

  “We’re going to the title company tomorrow. Drake has no idea why I’m dragging him down to Stephenville. I’ll take him to lunch somewhere, then, surprise! She opened her hands and gave a clown grin.

  The waitress reappeared with their salads. Shannon sat back, allowing her to serve them. “I doubt if Drake will want to go look at the winery tomorrow, but I’m sure we’ll go down there while we’re at the ranch.”

  As soon as the waitress left them, Christa picked up her fork and stabbed into her salad. “This is so exciting.”

  Shannon, too, dug into her salad. “It is, isn’t it? I wish I could say the same about the trip to the Double-Barrel.”

  “Uh-oh, what’s happened now?”

  “Oh, nothing new, really. It’s just that I’ve spent the night there only once. Last Christmas, Will was barely two months old. We stayed two nights and Drake’s dad was drunk as a skunk most of the time. This year, Drake’s planning for us to stay from Saturday through Wednesday. I think Mandy and Pic might be fighting, but hopefully, they’ll make up before we get there.”

  “Well, it’s Christmas. From what you’ve said before, somebody in that family is always fighting at Christmas.”

  “Uh-huh. Mandy sounds like she’s on a crusade. She wants to get pregnant. It hasn’t worked out, so—”

  “You mean inserting Tab A into Slot B failed? That’s what they’re fighting about?”

  “It must be a bigger deal than I thought. She’s been to three doctors who have all told her there’s no reason she shouldn’t get pregnant. Now she’s talking about artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization and even fertility drugs. She wants Drake to talk to Pic about it. I have a feeling that’s going to go over like a lead balloon with Drake. It would put him in the middle of their disagreements, whatever they are.”

  “I’ve wondered myself why she isn’t expecting
by now. I mean, she and Pic are both thirty-something and they’ve been married over a year. I thought maybe they didn’t want kids.”

  Stabbing a bite of chicken, Shannon arched her brow. “The fact that it hasn’t happened isn’t from a lack of trying. Their sex lives are almost an open joke. Bill Junior tells people that if he’s outside for a while, he’s afraid to go into the house without ringing the doorbell first.”

  Christa giggled. “That must be embarrassing. I’d die in one of my father-in-laws had said something like that.”

  “One of the doctors she’ been to see is our favorite OB doctor, Lillian Goodman. She wants to meet with Mandy and Pic together. Apparently, Pic won’t consent to do that because Dr. Goodman is female. Mandy wants Drake to talk him into it. Or talk him into something. I’m not sure what.”

  “Is something wrong with Pic?”

  “I don’t know. If Drake can convince him to see a doctor, maybe they’ll find out. On the other hand, Drake might not say anything about it. He and his brother have this macho thing going on. Some things these silly men who are manly men just don’t talk about, you know.”

  Christa huffed and shook her head “Men. They’re all just assholes.” Then her brown eyes grew round. She leaned forward and spoke in a low voice. “Does Mandy think Pic is sterile? Is that why she’s talking about this off-the-wall stuff?”

  A gasp burst from Shannon’s chest. “I can’t imagine that’s the problem.”

  “That would be the ultimate irony, wouldn’t it? Just look at him. Six-feet-something, sun-bleached hair. A body any eighteen-year-old athlete would envy. He looks like he should be in that show, 90210. He’s the epitome of masculinity. He looks like Adonis.”

  Shannon chuckled. “Was Adonis blond? Who Pic looks like is that actor, Chris Hemsworth.”

  “The point is, he’s such a good-looking, masculine-looking guy. Judging by his appearance, you’d think women would suddenly be struck pregnant from just looking at him.”