NIGHT WIND'S WOMAN

by Sheri WhiteFeather

  "Strawberry," she answered, disengaging herself from his arms.

  Shane knew they weren't going to talk about the kiss. And apologizing for it or claiming it shouldn't have happened would be as good as a lie. They both took what they wanted. Not as much as they wanted, but enough to make their blood swim.

  "The pharmacy is open until nine. They have a soda fountain." He guided her from the shadows and into the light. Like jewel thieves, he thought, after a heart-pounding heist.

  They walked side by side, but didn't touch. No hand holding. No linked arms. Touching proved dangerous. The night held too many shadows, too many secluded spots to slip into. Too many out-of-the-way places to kiss.

  The pharmacy was bright, but not overly crowded. They sat in one of the red vinyl booths and looked across the table at each other. Her lips were still moist, he noticed, and slightly swollen from where his teeth had staked their claim. Windblown and passionately kissed, she made his blood swim all over again.

  "Is strawberry your favorite?" he asked.

  She eyed the napkin dispenser. "Vanilla, too. But I'm in a strawberry mood tonight."

  Yeah, vanilla was too plain, he thought. Not enough kick to compete with misbehaving hormones. "I'm thinking a chocolate malt. I like that malted flavor." And it was just strong enough to confuse his palette, especially since the taste of flowers and moonbeams still lingered on his tongue.

  The soda fountain waitress took their order and departed in crepe-soled shoes, her ruffled pink skirt and white blouse a standard uniform of years gone by. Shane knew her name, had spoken to her often, yet this time he felt almost surreal. "This end of town is more like the fifties than the Old West, don't you think?"

  Kelly nodded and reached for a napkin. "Duarte's an unusual place. I can see why my grandpa loved it. He was sort of caught up in the early days. You know, with those old-man suspenders of his."

  Shane grinned. "Yeah, Butch was an interesting guy. Ohio and Texas all rolled into one." Kind of like his granddaughter. Kelly wore a Western dress and boots, but Ohio was still there, in her eyes, in the scatter of freckles across her nose.

  Darlene, the pink-and-white waitress, brought their milk shakes, then went about her job, wiping down the front counter.

  Shane watched Kelly pick up her straw, remove the paper and slip the straw into place. But before she took a drink, she dipped her finger into the whipped cream topping. Smiling, she tasted it.

  There was nothing deliberate in her movements. Nothing purposely sensual. They were almost girlish, innocent in a way that had him swallowing back an aroused groan. The fact that she could seduce him without intent was nearly more than he could bear.

  He sampled his own drink, but the malt wasn't potent enough. Nothing compared to the taste of a woman. A sweet, vibrant woman named Kelly.

  He frowned as another thought crossed his mind. It hadn't taken his mother's matchmaking to bring him and Kelly together. They had done that all on their own. Of course Grace wasn't trying to set them up. She wouldn't dream of pairing Shane with a woman who had ties to another man. His mother had been there during the fallout of his marriage. She had seen his pain firsthand. A pain he sure as hell hoped he wasn't in danger of repeating.

  * * *

  A week later Kelly stood beside Grace on the porch, both women watching the scene before them. Tom loaded his truck with Linda's luggage, and Kelly's mom clucked over Brianna, saying goodbye to her grandchild as though she would never see her again.

  "Everyone looks so sad," Grace said.

  "Leaving is always hard." Kelly glanced at Shane's mother. "I'm glad everyone was here, though. You know, together."

  "Me, too." The other woman sighed. "Tom's going to miss Linda. He needs someone in his life."

  "They live so far away." Kelly watched her mother turn Brianna over to Shane. He tucked the baby into the cloth carrier he wore, her tiny body snug against his chest. I live so far away from Shane, too, she thought. None of us are meant to be together. "My mother never dates. Tom's the first man who has sparked her interest since my dad, I suppose."

  "Yes, she told me. Your mother and I talked about a lot of things. Our hopes, our dreams. Being single mothers from the same generation is something we both understand."

  "I'm a single mother, too," Kelly said, feeling her eyes mist. Shane stood beside the truck, rocking his body, lulling Brianna to sleep. Watching him with her daughter made her heart throb. In less than two months, they would say goodbye. Shane would no longer be a part of her everyday life.

  "Yes," Grace responded finally. "You are a single mother. But you're not widowed like your mom." She turned to face Kelly. "You're unmarried like me."

  Kelly gazed into the other's woman's dark eyes and caught her own reflection. Or at least she thought she did. The familiar image disappeared as quickly as it had surfaced. Grace Night Wind looked like a gypsy, her jet-black hair blowing in the Texas breeze, sunlight glinting off her jewelry. Could she see the future? Tell fortunes? "Shane said you weren't interested in marrying Tom."

  "I wasn't. And that's because I knew I wasn't in love with him." She took Kelly's hand and held it lightly in hers. "Having no man is better than marrying the wrong one. Remember that, okay? Being a single mother isn't such a bad thing."

  "It's lonely, though."

  "But you shouldn't marry for loneliness. Or for the sake of a child. You should marry for love."

  Because the conversation was making her maudlin, Kelly forced a smile. "Since Prince Charming hasn't appeared at my door on bended knee, there's a good chance that I'll be single for quite some time."

  "Maybe," Grace said. "And maybe not. The future is impossible to predict. But in the meantime, Kelly, be happy. Live each second as if it's your last."

  Wise words from a Comanche gypsy, Kelly thought. A woman who relied on instinct rather than a crystal ball. A beautiful gypsy who had raised a beautiful son.

  They stood quietly for a moment, then turned toward the porch steps where they descended together. Linda came forward to hug them both, then accepted Tom's help into the truck. He had offered to drive her to the airport, a man keeping his own emotions in check.

  Shane waved as Tom backed up the truck and turned onto the dirt road. Walking over to where Kelly and Grace stood, he slipped between them.

  "I'm leaving tomorrow," Grace said. "But I'll be back before the fund-raiser."

  Shane nodded, and Kelly looked his way. Brianna's tiny head was barely visible, her golden hair peeking out from the blue cloth. When Kelly's turn came to go home, she would miss Shane Night Wind. Miss him terribly.

  * * *

  Chapter 9

  «^»

  On the following Sunday, Shane, Kelly and Brianna relaxed at the cabin. Brianna lay in her portable bed, a teddy-bear mobile spinning above her. Although still too young to focus on the toy, her reflexes churned like well-oiled machinery. Arms and legs moved, hands waved, feet kicked. Pride swelled in Shane's chest as he watched her.

  Kelly sipped a tall glass of sun tea and sent him a contented smile. They were both pretending their friendship would go on like this forever, he supposed.

  "Shane?"

  "Hmm?"

  "Was Tami your first lover?"

  His pulse made a quick, unexpected leap. The question could have fallen from the ceiling and he wouldn't have been more surprised. "Does it matter?"

  She stirred her tea, clanking the spoon against the glass. "It does to me."

  Okay, take a deep breath, he told himself. Friends were allowed to discuss old lovers. "Yeah, it happened when we were in high school."

  Kelly moved closer, and he knew that meant another question would follow. Her eyes locked onto his, keen with interest. "Was it Tami's first time, too?"

  "Yeah."

  "Was it good? You know, for both of you?"

  He shrugged, uncertain of how to answer. "I guess. I mean it was a long time ago. It's a bit tough to remember." Kelly frowned, and he knew he'd said the wro
ng thing. She wanted honesty, he realized, the candid truth. "Sure, we both enjoyed it. I know I did. I was young and in love. And it seemed as though Tami was, too."

  She blew an errant lock away from her eye. "It wasn't like that for me."

  "I know." He wanted to grab hold of her flyaway hair, feel it flutter around his fingers. "Did it hurt, Kelly? Did Jason hurt you?" Shane recalled working through. Tami's initial discomfort. A woman's virginity, he'd been taught, was a gift, something a man should treasure. Even an eager teenage boy.

  "Not really, no. There was a little pain, but that wasn't really the problem. It was just so, I don't know, different than I'd imagined. Our fantasies don't always live up to reality, I guess."

  "I suppose not." He stared across the room, depression just a heartbeat away. "You know what was awful for me?" Without giving her time to speculate, he told her, his past surfacing like a dark cloud. "Knowing that my wife felt the need to turn to someone else. Not just emotionally, but sexually. It made me feel so damn inadequate, like maybe I hadn't been satisfying her all along."

  She reached for his hand, urged him to look at her. "A woman would have to be crazy to give you up."

  The gentleness, the sincerity in her voice had him aching to lay his head against her breast, take comfort in the warmth. "Thank you."

  They didn't speak after that. They sat quietly on the sofa while Brianna cooed and kicked, lost in her own little teddy-bear world.

  "Shane?" she said finally.

  "Yeah?"

  "What do you think is sexy? You know, in a woman?"

  Wheat-colored hair, he wanted to say. Freckles and kisses that taste like moonbeams. He shrugged. "I don't know, all kinds of stuff, I guess."

  She left the couch and stood beside Brianna's crib. "Do you know what I think is sexy?" she asked, winding the mobile.

  Enchanted by her smile, he leaned forward. "No, what?"

  "A man who likes children."

  "Yeah?" He felt a grin tug at his lips. "Then I'll cast my vote for motherhood."

  She shot him a suspicious look. "You're just saying that."

  "No. No, I'm not. I'm attracted to everything about it." The changes it left on a woman's body. Rounder hips, fuller breasts, a tummy that pouched just a little. "It makes a woman seem more real. Gentler. Sexy in a subtle way."

  Brianna's mobile played a lullaby, a soft, sweet sound that had Shane looking from the baby to her mother. "I didn't get a lot of sleep the week Brianna was born," he said. "I was awake when you fed her. I kept my eyes closed, but I could hear." The rustle of Kelly's nightgown, her soft murmur to the child, the baby's hungry suckling.

  Kelly's breath rushed out, and he glanced down at his hands, suddenly shamed. "I'm sorry, I had no right to intrude. Those should have been private moments between you and Brianna." Moments that, through his own loneliness, he had longed to be a part of.

  She came to him and knelt at his feet. "I invited you, remember? I wanted you there."

  He looked up and into the face of an angel. "Will you kiss me?"

  She smiled and touched her finger to his lips. "Handsome Shane."

  "Beautiful Kelly."

  She climbed onto his lap, and their mouths met, soft and warm and slow. He let her take the lead, let her touch and explore, bathe his bottom lip with her tongue and then sigh into his mouth. The taste of her poured over him like wine, and he felt it seeping into his pores, drugging him.

  She rocked her hips. Unconsciously, he thought. A feminine reflex to the masculine hardness beneath her. Her movements were experimental – a curious caress, a timid touch, the scrape of teeth, flutter of an eyelash.

  Her first time in charge, he thought, deciding to keep his hands still. He wouldn't push her, wouldn't ask for more. Physically she wasn't ready, the birth of her child still too recent. Emotionally, he couldn't be sure. In her eyes he saw strength, yet vulnerability glittered there, too.

  Rather than touch her, he whispered in her ear. She wouldn't understand his words because they spilled from his lips in the Comanche dialect, but his intent was clear. If she wanted him, he would wait.

  As Brianna's cry tore through the air, Shane and Kelly startled, then stopped to listen. Their eyes met in understanding. They had come to know Brianna's moods, and the little ona craved attention.

  "She's only going to get louder," Kelly said.

  He touched her cheek. "I know."

  Kelly answered her daughter's call, and Shane came to his feet, slightly dazed. The sexual charge had vanished, yet an underlying feeling remained. Tenderness. Human warmth. A bond he couldn't help but feel.

  She went about to change Brianna, powder and diaper, then poke the baby's belly with a finger. No longer angry, Brianna gurgled – a sound of pleasure that made Shane smile. For now, Kelly and her daughter belonged to him. And he wasn't about to spoil this moment by dwelling on their upcoming appointment. Next Monday was still six days away.

  * * *

  On Monday afternoon, Shane sat in the waiting area of the hospital lab, hating everything about it. The sea of unfriendly, tired faces, the sterilized smell permeating the halls. But most of all, he hated the feeling, the memories that lingered too close to his heart.

  Brianna had been fussy during the drive, and it had been a long, anxiety-ridden trip, one he couldn't let Kelly make on her own. But in spite of that, Shane figured Kelly preferred going to a big, impersonal city hospital. No one would wonder about her there, no one would care that a paternity test was being conducted.

  Both Brianna and Kelly were to have blood drawn. Shane understood the process of DNA analysis, and a child's mother as well as the alleged father played a part in it.

  Damn Jason Collier anyway. Kelly didn't deserve this.

  And neither do I, he thought, recalling another hospital lab, another woman and another baby.

  Shane tugged a hand through his hair. "Do you want a cup of tea or something?" he asked Kelly. She sat next to him, holding her daughter.

  "No, thank you," she answered, her smile a tad too brave. He cursed Jason once again, then caught sight of Brianna's tiny face. Her eyes, at half-mast, bore long, luxurious lashes. And her nose – a round, little button, was edged in pink, a remnant from her crying jag. She resembled Kelly, yet she didn't Shane suspected the cleft in Brianna's chin had come from Jason, and probably the color of her eyes, too.

  He touched Brianna's hair. The soft, golden curls slipped through his fingers. He couldn't hold on to the silky hocks no matter how hard he tried.

  What would it feel like to see yourself in a child? he wondered. To know you helped create a life? Sure, he'd looked for himself in Evan, but what he'd found had been a lie. A manifestation of hope.

  "Kelly and Brianna Baxter," a female voice said.

  Shane turned. A young woman, a hospital employee, wearing a pastel smock and stark white pants, called the familiar names.

  The moment Kelly stood and adjusted Brianna in her arms, the child protested with an agonizing wail, alerting everyone in the room. Kelly cooed and rocked, sending the uniformed woman a nervous smile.

  She knows, Shane thought Brianna knows. He came to his feet, but Kelly halted his plan. "That's all right. We'll go alone," she said.

  Feeling useless, he watched her approach the other woman. They disappeared behind a heavy wood door, the barrier muffling Brianna's heart-wrenching cry.

  The tired faces in the waiting room went back to their out-of-date magazines. One old man closed his eyes and attempted to nap in his chair.

  Since Shane was already standing, he walked around the corner to the nearest vending machine. Reaching into his pocket, he removed several quarters and inserted them into the slot. He chose coffee, even though he knew the strong, bitter brew would burn his stomach.

  As the dark liquid dripped into a plastic cup, he heard movement behind him, then the sound of coins jingling in someone's hand. Shane removed his coffee and turned. The man behind him nodded, his face somber.

  He
returned the nod, then went back to the waiting room. The chair he'd deserted was being occupied by someone new, an elderly lady with bluish-gray hair, so he picked a seat closer to the heavy wood door, intent on being nearby when Kelly and Brianna emerged.

  Sipping coffee and clock watching, he waited. And waited. Had Kelly shooed him away for his own good? Or would it have made her uncomfortable to enter the lab with a man when the paternity of her child appeared to be in question? Maybe the technicians in a city lab weren't any different from those who worked in a small town. Curiosity was human nature.

  Damn you, Jason. Damn you all to hell.

  When Kelly exited the lab, Brianna whimpered in her arms.

  "Hey, little Sunshine." Shane kissed the baby's forehead, his heart heavy.

  "She was scared," Kelly said.

  "I know." Evan had cried that day, too. "Let's get out of here."

  They buckled Brianna into her car seat and headed back to Duarte, the highway a long, lonely road. The child drifted off to sleep, and Shane sighed.

  "If you're hungry I can stop at a drive-through," he told Kelly.

  "Thanks, but I'm fine."

  She stared straight ahead, a bundle of nerves. Hardly fine, he thought. "Are they going to mail you the results?" He knew the procedure, but asked anyway. Not talking about it would only worsen the tension.

  "Yes. Once a comparison is made, Jason and I will both receive a copy."

  Both. The unity of the word made the coffee in his stomach turn sour. How could Jason ignore Kelly and Brianna once he knew the truth?

  "How long did they say it would take?"

  "Two to three weeks. It would be quicker if we all would have gone to the same lab, but I prefer it this way. I can keep busy until Jason contacts me."

  Rather than curse Brianna's father once again, Shane berated himself. Jason claiming his daughter would be a good thing, yet the idea had Shane gripping the steering wheel in jealousy and despair.

  He had lost Tami and Evan and soon he would lose Kelly and Brianna, too. It was only a matter of time before Jason Collier acknowledged what was rightfully his.