The Campus Jock: A College Bad Boy Romance

by Serena Silver

  Chapter Eleven

  Jim returned home late that day. He had sent word to James asking Alexandra not to wait up for him for dinner, and when he returned home, he found her at the kitchen table preparing her lessons for the morrow.

  As he came in, she laid out his dinner, poured him a glass of wine then sat back down watching him.

  “How was your day?” she asked lamely, and the hollowness of her question rang loud in the huge empty kitchen.

  Jim just nodded consent as he continued to eat. She made a few more redundant inquiries, and his answer was each time either a grunt or a nod. He didn’t even look her in the eye. Instead, he kept his attention on the food in front of him.

  “Eileen sent over the books with Rosa.” she said motioning to the books on her table.

  Once again Jim nodded then rose to take his plate to the sink. Alexandra could not take it anymore and got up from her place, she rushed to him and hugged him tightly from behind.

  “Don’t do this to me, Jim. The reason I did not go see Andreadora for a week was to avoid this request. I knew somehow it was coming. And I knew equally well you would not approve. And today when she begged me for it, I could not refuse. But later when I came home and thought about it I realized I should have had more courage. I am going to go there tomorrow and put up a sign saying that the school will remain closed for a week for harvest. Then when Andreadora comes back, I will tell her I could not do it.”

  He turned then slowly and framed her face between his palms and placed a light kiss on her lips.

  “Don’t you dare to go back on a promise you made to Andreadora. She will find out you did it due to me and then I will have hell to pay for.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked looking up into his eyes, and he smiled reassuringly.

  “Forgive me, Alex, I did not mean to hurt you. In fact, I wanted to be angry at you, and all day I tried to work up an ugly mad. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t stay mad at you” he said the last words softly placing his forehead against her.

  “Well, since you are feeling such profound regret, come sit down a bit and help me with this math a little.” she said drawing a chair for him and taking a seat across from him.

  “Oh no…” he exclaimed horrified. “Not Eileen’s math again. I have had more than enough of my share while I was growing up.” He said sitting down next to her.

  At that declaration, Alexandra just gawked, and it was a full minute before she could think of anything to say. Not only had Jim spoken of Eileen and uttered her name, but he had done so in good spirit.

  “She taught you math? But…she was never around?”

  “Not as a mother no…but she was my school mistress. And there she drilled it into me plenty. I did everything correctly. But she just would find a mistake somewhere and then make me stay back for remedial.”

  “Eileen has run the school since the time you were a boy?”

  “Even before. Before she was married. She came down from the east with a group of missionaries during the civil war. When they left, she stayed back. She wanted to run the school. She loves her profession. Perhaps more than she ever loved her own child.” He said looking down in defeat.

  “Jim I am pregnant,” Alex announced taking his hand and looping her fingers through his over the table top. His head came up with a jolt.

  “What did you say?”

  “We are going to have a baby Jim,” she said

  “When did you know?”

  “Well, I have been suspecting for a couple of weeks. But after I saw you today I went to see Scot. He confirmed it. Aren’t you happy Jim?” she asked urgently.

  A slow smile spread across his face, and he simply picked her up and took her up to their room. He placed her down on the bed then laid his hand across her abdomen.

  “Are you feeling fine? What can I do for you?”

  “You can stop treating me like an invalid,” she said slapping away his hand and sitting up in bed. Jim narrowed his eyes and growled.

  “Why were you riding that quirky trapcart today?”

  “Jim I am pregnant not fatally ill.” She said with utmost patience.

  “We are not going to the harvest bash on Sunday. It will be too taxing for you.” He continued as if he had not heard her earlier statement.

  Alex got up from the bed in exasperation, raking one hand through her hair and the other planted firmly on her hip. He walked to the window then whirled back on him.

  “This fawning is getting out of hands. So Jim Sullivan next time I get pregnant, I am going to tell you about it a week before I deliver.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Jim and Alexandra Sullivan attended church together on Sunday morning. After the service, they had a light breakfast and left for the Sullivan farm for the harvest bash that evening.

  As the ranch came into view, Alex was surprised. The Sullivan twins lived in a completely different world from that of their grandmother and their nephew. It was basically an abundance of nature and the wild as opposed to developed industry.

  The house, where Ara and Archi lived, unlike the magnificent villa Sullivan was a small farmhouse surrounded by a series of outbuildings with patches of vegetable gardens.

  As the carriage came to a stop, Ara came running out to greet them. She was followed by a black and brown cocky Rottweiler.

  “Hi there. Guess you got our invitation after all.” Ara chided good-naturedly as her nephew jumped down and helped his wife out.

  “Sorry, we were out both times you came by,” Alex said sincerely as she hugged Ara. The dog went mad around Jim, and Ara introduced him as Shep.

  “The doc and Trev rode over just after sunrise,” Ara said looping her hands through both of theirs and walking between them as was her habit.

  “Some of us are civilized, and we attend Sunday service. Besides, I don’t remember inviting Trevor. He was supposed to work on the plans today.” Jim grumbled.

  “What’s your problem Jim? Give the poor man a break. Mother is impressed by Trev’s work, and she invited him.”

  “It’s Trev now, is it? You and him an item?” Jim asked with disapproval.

  “And what are you? My guardian?”

  “I just care about you.”

  “You just have a dirty mind.”

  With their mild banter in progress, the three entered the kitchen through the back door. There were neat rows of herb and vegetable patches on both sides as they walked up to the kitchen and Alex was charmed by their simple beauty.

  “This is an impressive kitchen garden,” she said.

  “Those are Archi’s. He is the one with the green thumb.” Ara said as Alex stopped to admire them. As she bent down to rub some thyme between her fingers Ara drawled.

  “Careful, Archi doesn’t like anybody touching his garden. Though you might be an exception, he speaks highly of your kitchen garden at the villa.”

  “And that is absolute claptrap. What he has here is much more advanced and original than what I have back home,” said Alex fingering the young tomatoes lightly.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The earthiness of Archi’s garden extended to life in general on the Sullivan Ranch. Alexandra found that the way of living here was much original and less urban and the sentiments of people much uncomplicated.

  As the party began at sundown, hordes of people from the neighboring ranches, the employees of the Sullivan ranch and their families and people from the parish started coming in. Everybody brought in food and placed it on long tables laid out under the sky. The drinks were served by Archi. And it was not the expensive wine served at their marriage party. It was Archie’s own brew. His own blend of whiskey.

  He was standing at a corner table, serving people out of a huge pitcher. A band played charming country music, and people of all ages danced mindlessly under the moon.

  “Will you dance with me?” Alex turned to find Archi standing next to her. Her husband had taken his place at the whiskey counter,

  “No thank yo
u. I am not inclined to dance.”

  “Is it bad for the baby?” he asked smiling. Compared to her husband, Alex found him wild and carefree. But his eyes were warm and reassuring.

  “Jim told you? We had decided to wait till after the bash to tell everyone.”

  “No, he didn’t. My nephew would never break his word. Especially to you.”

  “Then how do you know. Doc…?” She began puzzled.

  “Oh no…not him” Archi laughed then said, “The doc is the most honorable man this side of the Mississippi.”

  “Then how do you know?” Alex asked puzzled.

  “Well since you won’t dance with me, walk with me, and I will tell you,” he said offering his arm. Alex looped hers through his, and they started walking on the peripheries of what was now the dancing ground. Jim, who was thumping his foot to the tune of the music, standing in his place, looked over at them and waved smiling, and Archi waved back. Then he made some gesture with his fingers and wrist, and Archi gave him a thumbs up before he steered her in the direction of the woods.

  “What did he say?”

  “He asked me to be careful with you.”

  “You two speak sign language.”

  “Technically we don’t speak it, we know it. We played together as boys. Went to college together.” Archi said seeing her stunned expression.

  “You went to Harvard?”

  “Don’t look the part do I?” Archi said good-naturedly, and she looked thoroughly ashamed of herself. They had come quite far from the crowd and Alex was actually enjoying the slow stroll.

  “I am sorry. That was not what I meant. So how did you know about the baby?”

  “Well, it shows. The way my nephew has been fawning over you since morning. Then you wouldn’t eat much, you wouldn’t dance, and you wouldn’t have my excellent moonshine.”

  “Now you have proved you really went to college,” Alex said, and they both laughed.

  “I saw your vegetable patch. It's beautiful.” She said at length.

  “Thank you. Yours is equally good.”

  “What kind of ranch is this?”

  “All kinds actually. Horses, cattle, sheep. We also grow some corn and wheat. I do the cultivation part. Ara is the cow boss, and she manages the wranglers.”

  “How big is your ranch?” Alex asked surprised.

  “Around twenty-five thousand acres,” Archi said nonchalantly, and she sucked in her breath.

  “The mountains are a part of your land?” she asked waving her hand in the general direction of the horizon, and Archi threw back his head and laughed.

  “We have a mountain range, several small hills, plenty of forest land, and three lakes on our ranch. Actually, the boundaries of the ranch start right behind Eileen’s cottage.”

  “You and Ara speak of her, and treat her with such kindness,” Alex said suddenly, and Archi knew what she meant.

  “Why wouldn’t we? She is a very nice lady.”

  “She left Jim when he was just a baby. Don’t you think that was cruel?”

  “Fed you that story, did he?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think we must turn back. We have come too far.” They turned back and walked in silence for some time. When the dancers came into view, Archie said.

  “Eileen did not leave Jim on her own accord. She was forced to do so. My brother Henry, Jim’s father, was a devious man. He was also a flawless businessman. Sadly, same cannot be said of his character and integrity.”

  “Did he have an affair?”

  “Several. All throughout the three years, he was married to Eileen.”

  “Did she know about it?”

  “Not at first. But when she found out, she threatened to leave him. Jim was six months old then. Henry had a hot thing going with the daughter of one of our neighboring families. He wanted to marry her. But he feared Mother. She would have cut him off from his inheritance if he deceived Eileen. So, he threatened Eileen that he would disown Jim and tell everyone he was not his son if Eileen did not leave him. In those days the word of a Sullivan was gospel. It is even today. So Eileen left him. Not very surprisingly, so did Henry’s young girlfriend. He took to the bottle after that. Requested Eileen to come back. But she would not.”

  “You must have been a young baby back then. So how do you know all this?”

  “Eileen told me her version of the story herself when I was home from college for summer one year. I was seventeen then. But my true source of the story is Morgan.”

  “I understand Jim has not been told the true version.”

  “Several times. I did the honors myself. But you must understand that Jim’s perspective of the story had been tainted by his father at a very young impressionable age. He doesn’t want to see the truth.”

  Alexandra looked at Jim as he ladled out whiskey. When he looked over at them, he smiled, and it broke Alexandra’s heart. Then she turned to where Eileen was sitting next to Andreadora, and it surprised her how similar mother and son looked.

  She was about to comment on it when suddenly she saw Eileen bend forward in her chair at a strange angle. Next to her Archi suddenly dashed in their direction as he cried out.

  “Mother.”

  Jim and Ara heard him and ran after him to where Andreadora was sitting. Everything after that moment was a blur for Alex even years later. The only thing she remembered was the frightened looks of Jim and his aunts and uncle as they called over and over again to their mother.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Andreadora Marcella Sullivan died at the ripe age of eighty-three in the arms of her dear grandson, Jim Sullivan, surrounded by her family and the empire that she had built. She died by all means contented and fulfilled. And her death just like her life was sensational.

  On Alexandra’s insistence, Ara and Archi came to live at the villa Sullivan for a month. As Morgan’s children were traveling to Canada with their father, she stayed as well. They all grieved the death of their mother then found strength and consolation in each other.

  After they had left, Jim and Alex fell into their daily routine. After Andreadora’s death, the burden of the day today working on the entire business fell on Jim and he would work for long hours and would mostly be preoccupied.

  One morning he declared to Alex and Rosa that he was inviting a team of his associates for dinner that night. The two women walked after him through the entire house as he got ready for work and gave them his instructions.

  As they entered the kitchen, they saw sudden movement beyond the kitchen door. Jim strode forward quickly.

  “Who's there? Come on out now, I say. Rosa bring my gun, quick.” As Rosa quickly got the gun, Jim kept in one of the kitchen closets a dirty little face, smudged with mud and soot under a thatch of unkempt hair peeped out from behind the kitchen door. Another little face, an exact copy of the first one peeped out next.

  “Master it’s the Darwin twins,” Rosa said, suddenly relieved. Stepping in front of Jim she pulled the two little boys of around eight from behind the kitchen door and bending down to their height she asked gently.

  “What are you doing here Dom? How come your stomach has suddenly bloated Rus?” she asked. Promptly Rus pulled out a loaf of bread he had been hiding under his shirt and offered it to Rosa.

  “We was come to get some bread. Pa never came home last week, and we was hungry,” he said.

  “No one from the village helps us no more.” Dom provided promptly.

  “That is no reason for you to steal. Now take this bread and run along. And next time you need something, ask for it.” Rosa admonished, and the two twin faces broke into lovely sheepish smiles and turned to go. They had about reached the door when a chilled voice stopped them in their tracks.

  “Give the bread back to Rosa and be gone.” The two boys and the two women looked at Jim terrified.

  “But master…” Rosa began, but Jim held up his palm without looking at her. His eyes were narrowed on the two little boys. The fury in h
is eyes stopped her at once.

  “I know, their father is a drunkard, and their mother ran away. No reason for them to expect charity from us. Next time they want to eat, they can work.” he said in a low, dangerous voice, and the two boys kept the bread on the shelf nearby and began to scuttle out scared and aghast.

  “Wait,” Alex said and went forward. She took the loaf of bread and handed it back to Dom.

  “Take this. It’s a gift from me. No one is going to say anything to you.”

  But one look at Jim and Dom dared not take the bread from Alex. He stood there and shook his head vigorously then took his brother’s hand and ran.

  “I have to air the upstairs bedrooms.” Rosa stammered and left the room quickly sensing the sparks between her employer and his wife.

  “Jim, they are hungry, and they have come to our door. Think of your child ever going hungry. How would you feel?” Alex said beseechingly

  “I wouldn’t abandon a child of mine for it to go hungry. And I certainly wouldn’t allow my woman to do it either. If you ever abandon my child Alex, I will hunt you down from wherever you are…” he said a gun in one hand and the knuckles of his other hand drawing excruciatingly slow, down the side of her face. When it came to his chin, he gripped the side of her neck in his palm. There was a certain threat in his voice, and only Alex could have dared continue after hearing it.

  “And as your wife don’t I have the right to make a small gift, from my kitchen, just a loaf of bread, to a hungry child if I wanted to do so?”

  “Not if I don’t allow, you don’t,” Jim said without a second’s hesitation, and Alex felt it like a slap in her face.

  “And don’t ever again dare to contradict me in front of servants and strangers.” He growled back pointing a finger at her ignoring her shocked expression completely.

  “You are sick Jim.” She sputtered wild with rage now and turned to the direction of the back door.

  “Where are you going.”

  “Out.” she said daring him to contradict her and turning her back on him firmly she passed out of the kitchen door, into the backyard, quickly.