Lonestar Secrets

by Colleen Coble

  Had she left one behind?

  Shannon studied the clinic, her gaze slipping past two women who stood smoking by the road. She hadn't been here since her girls were born. The memory of that night was branded so deeply in her psyche that even now her muscles tightened and her teeth wanted to chatter. She'd never felt so alone, then or now. It was the night she finally realized that if she was going to make anything of herself, it was up to her. The night she faced the fact that she'd be raising Kylie on her own. The night she vowed she'd prove one mistake didn't have to ruin her life.

  Now here she was, back in the town she'd promised to leave in her dust. God sure had a sense of humor. She pushed through the glass door of the clinic and stepped to the check-in counter. The gum-popping twentysomething girl with pink streaks in her hair handed over copies of the records once Shannon signed the release form.

  "Does Verna Jeffers still work here?" Shannon asked as she thrust the papers into her purse.

  The girl fingered one of the four studs in her ear. "Miss Verna? Nope, she retired last year. She's in the phone book if you want to give her a call. She help deliver your baby?"

  "Yes. Thanks for the information."

  "No problem. Hey, you hear about the wildfires up north? They might move this way."

  "I haven't had the news on. Are they bad?"

  "The news said they're the worst outbreak since the winter of '05 and ' 06."

  In Texas, talk of fire was as common as conjecture about rain. Shannon thanked the girl again and hurried back out to her Jeep. She glanced at her watch. She had an hour and forty-five minutes before she had to be at the mining camp. Shannon drove to a gas station, where she looked up Verna's address and phone number, then headed along the road to the small house.

  The potholes along the dirt road were big enough to swallow her Jeep, and a wash ran across the road in front ofVerna's house. The road likely hadn't been graded since the last time Shannon was in town. During monsoon season, Verna was probably stuck here.

  Shannon eased the Jeep through the sandy bottom of the wash and into the driveway. The place was a double-wide that had to have been put here back in the seventies. Dents left by hail dotted the siding, but the neatly landscaped yard stole the attention from the house. Bird of paradise, ocotillo, and oleanders lit the yard with a blaze of color.

  Shannon walked along a brick pathway to the house, waving away bees and inhaling the fragrance of the blossoms that filled the air. Verna had made a desert museum of her yard with the native plants and habitat for lizards.

  A woman in overalls and a wide straw hat was coming down the steps from the house with a spade in hand. She pushed the hat off her forehead and smiled at Shannon. "Can I help you?" In her sixties with blue eyes in a tanned face, she was as slim as a girl.

  Before Shannon could answer, tires spit gravel behind her, and she turned to see Jack MacGowan in a big blue truck. He barely waited for the truck to stop before leaping out of the vehicle and striding into the yard. His gaze flickered from Shannon to Verna. "What did she tell you?" he asked Shannon.

  Shannon thought about playing coy and acting as though she had no idea what he was talking about, but the suffering in Jack's expression was enough to silence her. "Nothing. I just got here. How's Faith?"

  "She's fine. The fever broke about midnight. It's just a cold. How did you know she was sick?"

  "Kylie told me," Shannon said, waiting to see if his reaction was anything like hers had been.

  Jack's head rocked back as though he'd been slapped. "Kylie? How did she know?"

  "She has sometimes told me things about her her twin." Shannon forced herself to watch him, to notice the agitation in his hands, the fear in his eyes. She needed every bit of ammunition she could find to fight him.

  "Jack? What's going on?" Verna's voice was tremulous.

  "We need to talk to you, Aunt Verna." Jack took her arm and guided her to a garden bench.

  Verna's gaze lingered on Shannon's face. "I know you," she said. "Shannon Astor, isn't it?" The spade fell from her fingers onto the ground. Her hand shook when she lifted it to tuck a stray lock of gray hair behind her ear.

  "Yes. You remember me?"

  "You told me you were leaving this wide spot in the road and never coming back."

  "I changed my mind," Shannon said evenly. "I need to know what you did that night. How you switched the babies. Don't try to lie. I know it's true. I've seen Faith. She's my daughter."

  "You don't know that," Jack said. "She's mine."

  Verna held her hands up in front of her face. "I want you to go now."

  Shannon folded her arms over her chest. "I'm not leaving. Tell me what you did." She glared at Jack. He had to want the truth.

  Jack's hand was shaking when he wiped his forehead. "We need the truth, Aunt Verna. Did you switch the babies?"

  Shannon glanced at his stony face and hoped she'd never see him stare at her like that. Surely the woman would crumble and tell the truth.

  Verna shook her head. "How could you think such a thing?" Her voice trembled.

  "The girls look alike. Totally alike," Jack said.

  "That happens sometimes." Verna grabbed her spade and turned toward the house. "I have to go now."

  Jack moved after her, but she disappeared inside the house, and the lock clicked. Jack shook the doorknob. "Aunt Verna, you have to talk to us." He rattled the door again, but the woman didn't reappear. He rejoined Shannon in the yard.

  "Faith is Kylie's twin," she told him. "You know it's true or you wouldn't be here either."

  "Not necessarily." But his voice held no conviction.

  Shannon sank onto the bench. "We have to know the truth. I can have Faith's DNA checked if Verna refuses to talk."

  "I don't want to put her through that."

  "I'd just need some strands of hair or a swab from her mouth. She doesn't have to know yet what it's all about." Shannon didn't hold out much hope that he'd cooperate. She wouldn't if she were in his shoes.

  He focused that glacier stare on her. "I'm not giving up my daughter." He couldn't hold her stare and glanced away. "I already know the truth. It's just a coincidence."

  Shannon found room in her heart for pity, even for a man like Jack. "Can't you hear the desperation in your own voice? I think we know this can't be a coincidence."

  He balled his fists and strode back to the front door. "Aunt Verna, we're not leaving here until you tell us what happened that day."

  Shannon joined him and called out through the door. "If I have to get the sheriff involved, I will. We need to know the truth."

  The door slowly opened, and Verna peered out. Her face was white, and the hand on the door frame shook.

  Shannon tried to find an ounce of pity for the woman who was trembling in front of her, but a hard ball of rage settled in her belly. She knew what she was going to hear. It was as clear as the blue sky and the hot sun pressing down on her head. Verna had given her daughter to this man and passed his dead child off as Shannon's.

  JACK PRIDED HIMSELF ON HIS COURAGE. HE'D VAULTED ATOP THOUSANDpound bulls, ridden broncs guaranteed to break bones, faced a charging bull. But bracing himself now for what he feared was coming turned his muscles to mush. "Aunt Verna, what happened?"

  Blair's aunt stepped away from the door. "Come in. I need to sit down." She showed every one of her years as she staggered down the hall to the living room and dropped onto a green chenille sofa. Pictures of Blair and Faith covered nearly every surface of the table stands and the coffee table.

  Shannon followed them. She grabbed the back of a chair and leaned on it. "You played God with our lives, didn't you?" A sob punctuated her question. She swiped a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

  Verna began to weep. She fished a hankie out of her sleeve and dabbed her cheeks. When she nodded, Jack's stomach plunged into his boots. If only he could awaken from this nightmare. Things had been bleak when Blair died, but at least he'd had his daughter. He couldn't lose Faith
he just couldn't.

  Verna clenched the hankie in her lap. "The secret is killing me. I had to believe I did the right thing. I wanted to help everyone. It seemed the best. Haven't you ever stayed quiet so people you love could be happy?" She stared up at Shannon with a plea in her eyes.

  Shannon nodded. "Some secrets aren't made to be kept forever, and this is one of them," she said. "I realize you thought you were helping, but tell us the truth."

  "Truth is always better," Jack said. "There's never a good reason to keep a secret from people you love. It always comes out and hurts in the end. What did you do?" The word secret left a bad taste in his mouth. His father was secretive in ways that always left Jack out of everything.

  "What I thought was best. I heard Blair's panic when the baby wasn't breathing, and I knew she couldn't go through that. Not when I could fix it and help you too." She kept her gaze on Shannon. "I didn't want to hurt anyone. But you would each have a baby then. It seemed fair."

  The strength ran out of Jack's legs and it was all he could do to continue to stand and stare down at Blair's aunt. He shuddered and thrust his hands into his pockets so the women didn't see them shaking. "Our baby died, and you gave us her baby?"

  "Of course she did." Shannon's voice trembled. "She thought you were entitled to a live child because you're the great Jack MacGowan. Upstanding citizen, son of the senator. Who better to gain a beautiful, live baby girl? And who better to be rid of the burden than a downand-out unwed mother?"

  He winced at her assessment. And at the rage in her voice. It sounded like she hated him. And no wonder, after what he'd done to her. He had hated himself enough over the years for it too. "What were you told?" he asked.

  She continued to stare at Verna. "That my daughter, who was perfect in the delivery room, had died. Underdeveloped lungs was the reason given." The fire was gone from her voice, and tears pooled in her eyes. She sagged against a wall. "I can't believe it."

  "I thought you'd understand," Verna said in a piteous voice. "Would you have made it through college and vet school with two children?"

  "That's hardly the point!" Shannon said.

  His daughter hadn't been perfect in the delivery room. She hadn't been breathing. He drew in a deep breath. "How did you manage this?" he asked Verna.

  Verna rocked back and forth with her arms clasped around her. She didn't look at either of them. "I was the nurse on duty. Your baby had just died. I couldn't tell you or Blair. When we took Shannon to delivery, those babies were so beautiful, so perfect. I was alone in the nursery with them. It was an easy matter to switch the wrist tags and tell the doctor one of the twins had died."

  "Didn't he think it a little suspicious that a perfectly healthy baby died and one at death's door lived?" Jack demanded.

  "It was old Doc Crasley," she said as if that explained everything.

  It did. The old doctor had been white-haired when Jack was a kid. By the time Faith was born, the physician had been ancient.

  "Don't you think I should have been the one to make the decision about what was best for me and my daughters?" Shannon demanded. She swiped at an errant tear that trickled down her cheek.

  "I was just trying to help," Verna whispered.

  "What was so important about making sure Blair and Jack had a baby?" Shannon asked, her voice trembling. "What gave you the right to play God?"

  "Blair had tried for four years to have a baby," Jack said. "It was a miracle she carried Faith. Er, our baby. She suffered five miscarriages in those four years, and the doctor didn't think she could carry a child." He winced, remembering the trauma of that time. The tears, the sullen anger and despair he'd tried to coax Blair through.

  "I'm sorry," Shannon said. "For Blair, for all of us." She sounded as though she really meant it.

  "I meant no harm,"Verna whispered.

  "How are we going to sort this mess out?" Shannon muttered, more to herself than to Jack.

  Jack glanced at her. "You want to go somewhere and talk?" he asked.

  Her head came up and she stared at him. "What will talk accom- plish?You don't want to give up Faith, and I'm not giving her up either." She blinked at the moisture in her eyes. "I was cheated of her first five years. From the time Kylie could talk, she's spoken of an imaginary friend her sister. She hurts when Faith has hurt. The girls have been cheated of their time too. Last night was just one time of many that Kylie has told me something about her sister being sick or hurt."

  He'd heard of the twin connection. Faith had an imaginary friend, too, and he had indulged her fantasy, never suspecting it was real. He sighed and took off his cowboy hat, then ran his hand through his hair and put it back on. What could they do? He saw no way out of this.

  "We have to fix this," Shannon said. "But I don't know how."

  Fix it? Jack didn't like the sound of those words. "Do you want to put the girls through a custody battle? Let's talk about it."

  "We both know what kind of man you are, Jack MacGowan."

  He winced. "I was a kid, Shannon."

  "You were eighteen. Hardly a kid anymore."

  "Look, I've apologized. You want me to do it again?" But they both knew a simple apology would never wipe away his guilt.

  Her fingers curled around the strap on her purse. "Where do you want to go talk?"

  "How about the drugstore cafe in town? I'll buy you breakfast."

  She glanced at her watch. "We both have to be out at the mustang training in forty-five minutes."

  "The camp is only a five-minute drive from town. We'd have a spell to talk." He needed time to think this out, figure out a solution that let him keep his daughter. "Wait, I've got a better idea. You think about your solution, and I'll do the same. We'll meet at the cafe for dinner."

  "I have a daughter to get home to," she pointed out.

  So do I hovered on his tongue, but they both knew his claim to his daughter was as flimsy as butterfly wings. "I don't like to train longer than a couple of hours at a time. How about we take a break for lunch?"

  "I packed my lunch."

  "Enrica packed me one too. We could find a place to eat where we won't be disturbed."

  "Fine." She rushed for the door.

  Jack wanted to feel sorry for her, but she stood poised to strip him of his daughter, and he couldn't find the grace not to blame her. He peered out the window and heard the door to her jeep slam. Couldn't she just be happy Faith was being raised by a doting father? She had another daughter. The tires spit dirt when she took off.

  "Am I in trouble?" Verna asked in a weak voice.

  He saw no sign of remorse in her. She'd said she was sorry, but he knew she was only sorry to be caught. "If lawyers get involved, there may be a lawsuit."

  "Will I go to jail?"

  "It's possible. It was a criminal thing to do." Pain began to pulse behind his eyes, and he pressed the bridge of his nose.

  She twisted her hands in her lap. "It seemed right at the time."

  There was no right here. Fixing this seemed impossible. "Are you crazy?" He shouted the words, not caring that she cringed from him. "Don't you care that my daughter is about to be ripped from me? How is she going to feel when the only home she's ever known is torn apart?"

  Verna held up trembling hands as if to ward him off. "After all I've done for you, this is the thanks I get. If not for me, you wouldn't have a daughter at all."

  Jack squeezed his eyes shut. He was about to lose everything that made life worth living, and Verna thought she deserved a medal.

  JUST WHEN SHANNON THOUGHT THE TREMBLING HAD STOPPED, IT WOULD start up again. She longed to see the little girl she'd only glimpsed yesterday. Would she be just like Kylie with her ability to sing perfectly on key? Did she talk in her sleep? Did she love stuffed animals and unicorns?

  Shannon's eyes kept blurring with tears. She hated to cry. Her nose ran, and her throat hurt from holding in the pain. Did Faith talk about her twin the way Kylie did? The minute Kylie had seen Faith, she'd claimed the
girl as her sister. It had been hard to get her to sleep last night with all her chatter about finding Faith. Had Jack dealt with any of that?

  She glanced at her watch. Allie would offer a good shoulder to cry on. Shannon whipped into the Bluebird Youth Ranch's driveway and drove back the long, winding lane to the ranch house. She sat for a moment watching the girls trying to rope calves with Rick. She finally got out and walked to the porch, where Allie sat snapping beans.

  "I didn't expect to see you until this afternoon," Allie said. Her smile faded when Shannon neared. "What's happened?"

  Shannon dropped abruptly onto the top step of the porch. "I saw Verna Jeffers. She admitted to switching my daughter with Jack's dead daughter."

  Allie's hands stilled their task. The color leeched from her cheeks. "I can't believe it. Why would she do something like that?"

  "She said she knew it would be hard for me to raise two children, but I'm sure it was for Jack and Blair. She's Blair's aunt. What am I going to do to get Faith back, Allie? Jack has money, power, and prestige here in the area."

  "Get a lawyer?" Allie began to snap the beans again.

  "No judge is going to rip Faith from her home and give her to an unwed mom who's a hundred thousand dollars in debt with school loans. It will be several years before I make any kind of decent money." Her head began to pound from thinking about it.

  And what judge would grant Shannon custody if her medical records came to light?

  Allie tossed some broken beans into the pan. "You should at least talk to someone. Wouldn't the law be clear about it?"

  "Maybe. I don't know, but I'm scared. Look at the house. It's falling down around our ears. A home study will show the sharp contrast in living conditions."

  "Rick can help you hire a good attorney."

  "With what? He'll want a retainer." She held up her hand when Allie started to speak. "And don't offer to loan me money. I wasn't fishing"