Texas Girl Grit: Sequel to Texas Hellcat (Texas Series Book 2)

by Shelley Stringer

  “Not tonight, little guy. Maybe tomorrow we’ll take a dip,” he said, swinging back up and onto his shoulder.

  “Oh no, you won’t. You are not entertaining baby on your own honeymoon. G-maw and G-paw will do that,” Liam’s mother admonished. “Give him here, and say goodnight. The babysitter is here to take him in and get him down,” she said, taking him from Liam. I kissed him on his check as Liam kissed the top of his head.

  “I’m so happy,” Ellen whispered, pulling me in to hug me.

  “Me too,” I answered truthfully.

  “Enough with the tears,” Liam joked, hugging his mother.

  “I never thought I’d see you happy and settled. I’m proud of you.”

  He pulled me in to his side. Sweeping my hair back, he softly kissed my neck. “And I’m glad, Mom. I’m finally where I want to be,” he replied.

  I knew his words held double meaning. He’d married me, and he’d been appointed to office. My nerves jumped once again at the thought. I was now a politician’s wife, and the youngest in Texas. The press was going to have a field day with that alone. Never mind my background or my mother’s skeleton in Senator Reeves’ closet.

  Liam sensed my unease. “Come with me, Mrs. Covington,” he said playfully, pulling me into the water. The water tugged at my dress, swirling around my ankles.

  “Liam!” I protested.

  “What’s a beach wedding for, if not to get wet?” He swept me up into his arms and dipped me low, acting as if he was going to drop me in the water.

  “Don’t you dare,” I said, his mouth sweeping down on mine.

  A camera bulb flashed. Then several at once. At first, I was confused. We’d only hired one photographer and she’d already been snapping pictures from the safety of dry sand. Then it dawned on me as I was blinded once again, the paparazzi had found our wedding party.

  “Kelly, give us a smile for the cameras,” one photographer yelled out.

  Liam pulled me upright, and immediately shielded me behind his body. Tension radiated from his muscled neck and shoulders, his hands fisted at his side.

  “Senator Covington! Over here…Can you comment on your decision not to go to Mexico for your wedding?”

  This was a new question, and one I didn’t fully comprehend. Why did the press care whether we went to Mexico for our wedding?

  “Senator Covington, have you been questioned again in the death of Senator Reeves?”

  At once, Liam’s father and his brother, Ethan, burst through the reporters, planting themselves between us and the confusion. Many passers-by had gathered in the background to watch the beach nuptials, but now a real crowd of strangers gathered to watch the chaos. I shouldn’t have been surprised at the intrusion. We’d had to run the photographers from our property twice before we’d left on the wedding trip, and they’d camped out at Whelan headquarters and at Austin, Inc. The media had been hungry for salacious gossip ever since Reeves’ attempt on our lives.

  “Senator Covington, is there any truth to the rumors a drug cartel in Mexico has issued hit orders on you and your family?”

  My breath left my body in a rush, my legs suspect to support my weight. What? An ordered hit on Liam? As the blood drained from my face, I felt sick.

  “This is our wedding day, guys. Please. I’ll answer a couple of your questions, give you a couple of shots…if you will please leave us in peace.” Liam held his hands up as if he was giving in to them, but as I watched the vein pop out on his taut neck, I knew he was seething inside. “Our decision to have our wedding on a Texas beach was a nostalgic one. Kelly and I are both native Texans. Since my appointment to the Senate, we felt it appropriate to stay in our home state. What better venue than beautiful South Padre for a backdrop?”

  One particularly aggressive reporter, a man I recognized as a reporter for an NBC affiliate in Austin, pushed forward with a microphone, his cameraman on his flank.

  “So, are you saying it had nothing to do with avoiding possible dangerous security breaches occurring across the border in Mexico? Are you denying allegations a Mexican Drug cartel has declared war on you and the other Texas Senators who are pushing the Fence and Fortress/Border initiative?”

  “We’ve confirmed no such rumors. I suspect a bit of this talk comes from my counterparts in this fight who want to weaken our stance on border control. My colleagues in the Texas Senate who helped me draft the bill are committed to fighting for strong Texas families, and the first part of that fight is securing the border so our law enforcement here in Texas can do their jobs and fight the illegal drug flow into our state.”

  “Mrs. Covington, can you tell us if there is truth to the rumor you eloped because you are pregnant,” a female reporter yelled over the din. It seemed as the roar of noise ceased, the only sound left in the humid Texas twilight was Ellen Covington’s appalled gasp.

  Could this get any worse? As I felt myself melting, I realized it could. I could face plant in front of a crowd of paparazzi in the South Texas surf.

  “That’s enough for today, gentlemen. Follow the hotel security out of the area,” Davis bellowed angrily, attracting their attention as several hotel security guards surrounded the group of cameramen and women. Liam turned swiftly, grasping me around my ribcage as I began to sink. Through the fog in my brain, I realized we were surrounded by Liam’s friend Sean, Scott, who also a former teammate and body-guard to the Covingtons, and Chelsea and Tana. Tana stood in front of us, fists on her hips, her breath leaving her heaving chest audibly. Tana was pissed…and a pissed-off Tana was a sight to behold. The entire crowd backed away and dispersed rapidly as the hotel badges urged them away.

  “Brother, get her up the beach. She needs some cool air,” Sean urged as he helped us out of the water. When Liam realized how weak I was, he swung me up into his arms and pushed his way up the aisle and back to the open patio doors of the resort.

  “Kelly, dear,” I heard Liam’s mom call from behind us.

  “Momma, get this dinner underway and the drinks flowing. I’ll bring Kelly back out in a bit,” he called over his shoulder. I buried my face in his neck, grateful for the moment alone. I detested scenes, and hated being the center of attention even more. I had so many emotions swirling at once, I didn’t know which one to deal with first.

  “Baby, breathe,” Liam whispered as we entered the atrium. His steps never slowed as he turned and took the first hallway to the doors leading to the suites the wedding party inhabited.

  “Can you stand?” he asked.

  “Yes, I’m okay,” I answered, a bit steadier now that we were out of the crowd. He pulled the room card from his pocket and unlocked the suite door, and then pulled me unceremoniously through and kicked it shut with his foot.

  “God, Kel…I’m sorry! That never should have happened,” he said, his remorse apparent.

  “This wasn’t your fault, Liam.” I took his face in my hands. He immediately took both my hands in his and walked us back into the suite, urging me to sit down on the plush sofa in front of the fireplace.

  “It’s my fault we didn’t have better security in place to keep reporters at bay. I thought with the last-minute change of location, no one would be aware of us here. I guess I was wrong. And yeah, the fact you are being hounded by the press is kind of my fault.”

  Liam paced the entire time, running his hands through his hair in the most adorable manner possible. Turning back to me, he knelt in front of me.

  “Are you sure you feel okay? How about a drink? I know I could use one,” he offered.

  “Sure. Then we need to talk,” I said, deciding we’d better deal with the pachyderm parade the reporters had unleashed.

  “I know.” He pushed to his feet, and then disappeared around the corner. I heard the mini-fridge door, followed by the tinkling of ice in glass. He returned moments later with two glasses of bourbon.

  “Here you go,” Liam offered. I froze. I assumed he was getting some ice water or Dr. Pepper or something. I couldn’t drink al
cohol. But now was not the time to let him know why. We’d had enough excitement for one day. I took the glass from him, and then sat it down on the end table beside me, hoping he didn’t notice.

  He sank down beside me and pulled me into his side. After taking a long drink, he rolled the mostly-empty tumbler against his forehead, cooling it.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. He snorted, lowering the glass and then moving to set it on the coffee table in front of us. He answered, “Probably not after I level with you.”

  I knew from the questions the reporters asked, things had been heating up on the political front while I’d been blissfully planning our beach wedding and settling in the new house with a new baby.

  “Was security the reason why you and your dad wanted to stay in Texas for the wedding?”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry, Kel. I should have leveled with you, but I didn’t want to worry you. And we got confirmation, three days ago, the rumors are true about the Cartel’s targeting me and the other senators who are working on the bill. We didn’t want to travel to Mexico and take a chance.”

  I sat silently, letting him tell me in his own time. He mistook my silence as anger.

  “I’ve dragged you into this firestorm, and I’m sorry. I promise I will level with you from now on. This is no way to start our marriage, I know.”

  I nodded and then turned toward him, tugging my feet under me and smoothing the ridiculously ruffled satin of my wedding dress under my knees. Liam smirked as he worked his Ascot loose and then pulled it from his collar and unbuttoning his top collar-button.

  “And the question about Reeves?”

  He leaned over and kissed my nose, trailing his fingers along my jawline. “Nothing to that one. They’re grasping at straws. The police have already closed the case and no one in law enforcement even questioned what happened that night, as they arrived the moment it all went down.”

  “I know; It seemed silly to me too. I don’t want you to have to deal with more than you already do,” I said, reaching to touch the vein in his neck.

  “And about the pregnancy rumor,” he began.

  I tensed, the butterflies coming alive in my stomach and mimicking dive bombers. Here it is, the real issue of the night, I thought. I wasn’t ready to do this. I didn’t even have all my own feelings under control yet. But how I felt or didn’t feel wasn’t going to change the facts.

  “Don’t worry about it, Baby. It will all blow over in a couple of months. Most of this tabloid stuff will roll off us. Don’t pay attention to it. Remember, this is all to get at me. Let it go,” he repeated as he continued to caress my cheek.

  It was now or never. I took a deep breath, and then faced him, my chin raised stubbornly. “Covington, brace yourself.”

  His sly grin almost side-tracked my resolve. Almost.

  “In the spirit of being truthful with one another, I’d better level with you, too.” Breathe, Kelly, breathe. “You aren’t the only one trying to protect us and our wedding day,” I admitted, feeling sicker by the minute. Come on, Sanger, suck it up. Brave, independent Kelly doesn’t fold under pressure. I’d worked hard to leave my insecurities behind. My self-image was my worst enemy, and had almost cost me the love of the man who now sat beside me. I’d worked tirelessly over the last couple of months with Liam’s friend, Dr. Hallie, trying to put my troubled past into perspective and see myself the way Liam saw me. I’d worked with all my might to become the woman Liam needed. But the darkest demon I faced was forgiving myself for the abortion I’d had at fifteen; a pregnancy resulting from the rape I’d endured at the hands of Senator Reeves. I was haunted by the tragic experience, and never planned on having a family. I’d never planned on ever becoming pregnant, and never planned on becoming a mother. After the complications from the abortion, I wasn’t even sure I could. But motherhood was forced on me when my sister was murdered, leaving me to raise my nephew, Masen. I loved him with a fierceness I didn’t know possible, and now I couldn’t imagine my life without him. Liam was in the process of adopting him legally, and our little family was complete. Or so I thought.

  Liam sat waiting, his eyebrows arched in anticipation, frown lines forming between them as he began to worry at my hesitation.

  A pregnancy, planned or unplanned later in life, can bring those feelings to the surface again to be dealt with eventually. The psychiatrist’s words came back hauntingly.

  “That reporter is going to be cocky in a few months.”

  The crease between Liam’s eyebrows deepened.

  “What are you talking about, Kel?”

  “Because when I start showing, she is going to feel vindicated, and the rush to wedding story will be plastered in every headline in Texas. I’m sorry, Liam,” I choked out, dropping my face into my hands.

  I heard his breath leave his body in a sudden “whoosh.” “You’re pregnant?” he whispered.

  I nodded, my face still covered.

  “But I thought you couldn’t get pregnant,” he countered. The disbelief in his voice was chilling. I’d been expecting him to be stunned, but then drop to his knees and embrace the joy of the situation. He’d told me before he wanted kids, and he wanted kids with me. I thought I would be the only one focused on the negative, and my feelings of worthlessness. I hadn’t stopped to think what this was going to do to his career, and the field day the press would have with it. Much less the responsibilities of a birth and delivery, probably right in the middle of his trip down the campaign trail.

  “You told me you were on birth control! How long have you known? How far along are you?” He fired questions at me, sounding like SENATOR Covington. This got worse and worse.

  “I’m eight weeks pregnant. I found out at my last check-up, after the shooting,” I whispered.

  “That was a month ago!” he thundered. I jumped, and finally pulled my hands away to look at him. “Why did you wait to tell me?”

  I couldn’t explain it to him. I couldn’t explain the miserable feelings about myself pregnancy had brought to the surface. Being pregnant again was forcing me to deal with all the emotions I’d never dealt with when I’d experienced it the first time as a scared, fourteen-year-old girl. I’d hated myself at the time for being weak. I’d hated myself for the decision I’d made. Those feelings and emotions had been locked up tightly in a box now for almost eight years, and now they’d been unleashed. I felt unworthy, and undeserving of this precious life that had been given to me.

  “Kelly, Liam…is everything okay?” Ellen called from the patio doors.

  “Yes, sure mom. Everything’s fine. We were taking a moment after the press incident.” Liam ran a hand through his hair, never turning back to look at me.

  “Come, there’s time for that later. Your guests are getting restless, and it’s time to cut the cake,” she said, searching first Liam’s face, then mine. The concern I saw in her eyes told me she didn’t buy his “everything’s fine” answer.

  “Sorry. Come on, Kel,” he growled, reaching his hand to pull me from the sofa, but not once making eye contact with me. I couldn’t believe we were going back to our reception with news of the pregnancy hanging out there.

  The minute we cleared the patio doors, I was passed from one family member to the next. The next hour was a flickering haze of dancing, hugging, drinking and visiting with family. I caught Liam’s gaze several times as he studied me from the crowd of family surrounding him. It seemed his eyes never left me. Maybe he wasn’t as angry as I’d thought. After all, I’d dropped the pregnancy bomb on him with no warning, not giving him time to react.

  I watched, a bit detached, as Liam’s family and friends paired off to dance, even Allison, who’d finally showed up and for the most part, remained on the fringes of the group until Ethan had pulled her on the dance floor. She looked as uncomfortable as I felt, having donned a wine-colored sheath dress that skimmed her knees, and high-heeled sandals in the same color. It was apparent Ellen and Chelsea had dressed her. Her hair and ma
keup, however, was her usual grunge. As I watched them dance, I realized I never saw her interact with anyone but family.

  “May I have a dance with the bride?” Davis asked, touching my shoulder. The band had switched tempo, and now played a country tune, something about little girls growing up. “I know I’d be proud to dance a father-daughter dance with you,” he said kindly.

  My eyes immediately welled-up. Davis and I had gotten off to a rocky start when he questioned my relationship with Liam and Liam’s past playboy status. But he’d been swift to warm up to our relationship, and had supported Liam’s adoption of Masen. He’d gone out of his way to make me feel as if I was a part of their family. I was more than happy to dance the special dance with him.

  Swirling around on the small wood parquet floor laid especially for the reception, I was passed from Davis’ arms into the hands of Grandfather Whelan. It was especially awkward, in view of the fact we’d never even met, and I’d been told he wouldn’t attend the wedding. I’d seen Liam’s grandfather plastered on the news, and there were several photographs of the white-haired gentleman in the Covington’s living room. But the man, in person, was something to take in.

  He wore a dark-gray western suit and an understated felt cowboy hat, not large like the professional rodeo cowboys wore, but smaller, like you’d see in a nineteen-fifties movie on a Texas oilman. He was an extremely handsome man, with deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and deep marionette lines in his jaw. Piercing blue eyes left no doubt who Liam had inherited his from. A slight smirk pulled his lips, but the half smile never reached his eyes. As our eyes met, he took my hand and led me ceremoniously to the center of the dance floor and pulled me into a dance. With a nod of his head, the band began to play an old Texas waltz. Just his presence alone…a simple nod…moved people to act. He was formidable.

  “You’re Liam’s grandfather,” I stated simply. ”It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  I was determined to take the high road and appear confident and unintimidated. But this was a man who delighted in intimidating people. And I knew from what Liam and his family had said about Graham “Tex” Whelan, he didn’t approve of me or my marriage to his grandson.