Cupid Scores: (Western Historical Small Town Contemporary Romance)

by Sylvia McDaniel

  "All right, you can take me home. Let me tell Principal--"

  She took off running to the bathroom again. What if she couldn't make it home without vomiting out the window or something equally gross.

  When she walked back into the teachers lounge, he was waiting. He had her purse, her keys out and her lunch all neatly wrapped up.

  "I've told the Principal. Another teacher is going to watch the library and I'm taking you home."

  There was no strength left to argue.

  "All right. Let's go."

  She took her stuff from him and together they walked out the door.

  All the way home, she was quiet. She didn't have the strength to fight him any longer. When they pulled up in front of her apartment, he came around and opened her door.

  "Thank you for bringing me home," she said. Glancing up at him, it suddenly dawned on her. "For a man who ran out on me in the past, lately you're always coming to my rescue."

  He bristled and she knew it was the wrong thing to say. But it was true. Over and over again, he'd rescued her. First with the Cupid dance, then her car battery, the science teacher, the accident and now bringing her home when she felt ill.

  "I'm sorry that sounded ungrateful. I appreciate it that you always help me."

  "What the hell are you talking about? I didn't run out on you. You left me. You went to school early to avoid me."

  Part of what he was saying was true. But she couldn't deal with this right now. She was either going to faint or throw up and she didn't know which one would happen first.

  "I can't talk about this right now."

  "That's the problem. You never want to talk about the past. There is always an excuse. I'm always in the wrong, no matter what I do. Name a time and a date. We're going to talk about this and get past it."

  She held up her hand. "All right. Let me get to the point I can drink water. Then we'll talk."

  Needing to escape, not only the angry vibrations between them, but also the sense of longing, she hurried up the steps to her door, leaving him behind.

  Today, was not the time for her to even consider discussing what had happened in the past.

  Damn it! Why did seeing Meghan tear him up inside. And seeing her sick made him want to take care of her. How did a husband cope with the sight of his wife being sick? Seeing Meghan, so white frightened him. No matter what happened between them, she seemed to always be the woman he wanted more than anyone. He'd forced himself to date in the last month, trying to get her out of his mind and mend his heart, but no one compared. No one that he wanted to go out with a second time.

  And now Christy Selleck was hitting on him big time at school, flashing her breasts at him, bumping into him in the halls and he just wanted to run the other direction.

  She was a beautiful woman, but she wasn't Meghan. Since he'd returned he'd begun to think they had a second chance and then Taylor had come over the morning after they had sex and he didn't know what she said to Meghan, but she'd tucked her tail and ran as fast as she could to get away.

  Tearing him up inside, leaving his chest ripped apart. He loved Meghan. Had loved and wanted to marry her for more years than he cared to remember. For years he'd pushed away the thoughts of the two of them that seemed to flow through him like a gentle river, reminding him of all the good times together. The memory of him picking her up in the middle of the street naked.

  She was his one. His one and only. And he wanted her back. He loved her.

  After Taylor left he'd been so angry that Meghan had refused to stand up for them at the time. He wanted to move on if she didn't accept him, but instead for the last month he'd been mooning over Meghan even worse than the time in college. At least this time he wasn't dreaming of what their child looked like. He wasn't mourning the loss of a baby. At lease this time she wasn't...

  Like a slap to the face, it hit him. Slamming on the brakes of the rental car, he pulled over to the side of the road. In his mind, he did the calculations. Five weeks ago they'd had sex together. They'd been safe the first time and used a condom, but when they were in the shower...nothing had come between them.

  "Damn," he said and hit the gas.

  They were right back where they started. But by golly, this time, if she was pregnant, things were going to be a lot different. This time she wouldn't be able to

  The rental car's tires spun out as he headed towards the nearest store that had a pregnancy test.

  Less than an hour later, Meghan was laying in bed, trying to doze off when she heard the front door open and Max yelling. "Meghan, where are you?"

  Just because he knew where the key was didn't mean he was suppose to use to come and go when he pleased. Slowly rising from bed, she walked out into the living area.'

  "What are you doing here? That key will be gone the next time you go to use it," she said.

  "This time around, we're doing it my way. If you're pregnant you're not getting rid of my child."

  "Are you high? What the hell are you talking about? I never aborted your baby. I've never been..."

  Sudden dawning rushed to her face.

  He took a step back, confused. "You were pregnant with my child until I went to Austin for football camp. And when I returned you'd broken up with me, left town and aborted my child. You didn't even let me be a part of the decision."

  "I texted you. I tried to call you. I did everything possible to let you know, but you never responded."

  He clenched his fists and slowly unclenched them. "I told you, they took our phones away while I was in football camp. No outside interference. When I tried to contact you, I got nothing."

  "I blocked your calls."

  "Did you lose the baby?"

  "No. I thought you knew. When I went to the doctor, I wasn't pregnant. It was a false alarm."

  The color drained from his face and he turned white. Sinking down into a chair, he rubbed his hands over his face. "All these years, I believed you aborted our child."

  An ache centered in her chest. "I would never do that."

  "I thought you just didn't want to speak to me. You didn't want to tell me that you weren't ready to raise a child. I felt so alone. Then when I went to the doctor, he told me it must have been a false positive due to the stress of graduation. I've never been more afraid. Too young to raise a child, unable to end a life if I was pregnant. I didn't know what to do."

  The tone had gone from raised voices, to soft ones filled with sadness. Meghan felt so stupid that on one of the most important decisions in her life, she'd left him out and yet she had been unable to reach him to tell him she'd gotten a false positive on the pregnancy test.

  "All this time, I believed you aborted the baby," he said sighing.

  She sat down beside him. "Is this what you wanted to talk about?"

  "Yes, and you wouldn't. You kept saying I'd left you."

  "I thought you had. When you left for the football camp, you acted like I was keeping you from your dreams. I felt like a burden. And then when the doctor told me it was a false positive, I felt so much relief - yet hurt that you reacted the way you did."

  He sighed. "All my life I wanted to be a football player. And then when you came up pregnant, or at least I thought you were pregnant, I was scared. I loved you - but I wanted a chance to fulfill my dream and a baby would make that damn near impossible. But coming home, I made the decision that we would get married and have the baby regardless if I played football. And then you were gone."

  For the first time there was a moment of silence as they sat there.

  "I thought you knew from my text that I wasn't pregnant."

  "Your text said, 'Pregnancy problem resolved. Obviously you've moved on. I'm moving on. Have a great life.'"

  "Oh," she said. "That's not very clear."

  "Hell no, it's not. For years I've believed we had a child, when you were never pregnant."

  "I'm sorry. I should never have blocked your calls. We should have talked, but I was so hurt that you hadn't cal
led - when I needed you the most."

  Running his hand through his hair, he turned to look at her. "I'm not saying you're the only one who was wrong. We both made mistakes. I should have found some way to let you know I had no phone."

  Sighing, she felt so worn out. But what had brought him back to her house so quickly? He'd come running in here determined and saying this time things were going to be different. "What made you come back today?"

  He glanced at her. "On the way back to school, I thought oh my God, she could be pregnant again."

  Meghan gasped and drew back, her mind quickly going back to the date of her last period. Oh no, not again, not again, this couldn't happen again.

  "No," she said. "We used protection."

  He grimaced. "Except when we were in the shower. Remember we got a little frisky in the shower and if Taylor had come in five minutes earlier, she'd witnessed us doing more than just soaping each other down."

  Oh no, how could she have been so stupid. So reckless.

  Getting up he walked over to her counter where a sack sat and brought it back with him. "On the way back to school I begin to wonder if you were pregnant. Which brought back all the painful past. That's why when I walked in, I said this time is going to be different."

  He pulled out a pregnancy test. She stared at the box in his hands, her heart pounding in her chest, biting her lips. She wasn't afraid, but nervous. Very nervous. What if she was pregnant?

  Taking her hand, he stared in her eyes. "For the first time in many years, we both know the truth about what went wrong in our past. While I'm relieved you never aborted our baby, we also mishandled the situation and caused a lot of hurt for each other." He gazed into her eyes. "This past month has been miserable for me. I love the time we spent together, the dates, even the wreck brought us closer again. The time apart has made me realize, I still love you. I've probably always loved you. I want to try again. We have fun together. You make me a smarter person, I laugh with you more, I only want to spend time with you. I love you Meghan."

  She started to cry, tears rolling down her face at his words. In the last month she'd felt like a piece of herself was missing.

  He held up the box in his hands. "Regardless of the results of this test, I love you." He got down on one knee, right there in her living room. "I know this is not the most romantic proposal, but it's a heartfelt one that I can't put off any longer. Would you please do me the honor of being my wife."

  She lunged herself at him, knocking him to the floor, he cradled her on top of him, taking the brunt of the fall. "All month long, I've been miserable. I love you so much, I've missed you."

  Her mouth covered his in a kiss that held all the longing she'd been holding back, just for him. When their lips finally came apart. He glanced up in her eyes. "No more holding back. From here on out we're going to make certain we each understand. No decisions being made without each other."

  "Yes. And if you want to do something to fulfill your dreams, let's talk about it together. I want you to be happy."

  "And I want you to be happy."

  They lay there for a few more minutes holding each other. But her curiosity was getting the better of her. She had to know.

  "Are you ready?" she asked.

  "What if you're pregnant?" he asked.

  "Then we'll make an appointment with the doctor to get the pregnancy test confirmed and move forward from there. The two of us together."

  He grinned. "Agreed. What are the odds you're pregnant?"

  Sitting up, she frowned for a moment and did the calculations in her head. "There is about a forty percent chance I could be pregnant. We made love during the highest ovulation time period, so if your guys made it upstream, we could be having a child."

  Jumping to his feet, he reached down and held out his hand. "Let's go find out if we're expecting a baby."

  A thrill went through her and she suddenly wanted to be expecting his child.

  Chapter 10

  Meghan stared around the table at her girlfriends. Taylor had recently gotten engaged to Ryan and Kelsey...she didn't know what was up with that girl, but her face glowed and she seemed to have a sparkle about her that had been missing.

  "Why aren't you drinking?" Taylor asked staring at her in a quizzical manner. "You're always sipping on a glass of wine."

  "I'm not drinking right now," she said. "Besides, I called this meeting to share some news."

  "Oh?" Kelsey said. "Last time we got together, Taylor was telling us about Ryan's proposal. What kind of news do you have?"

  "I'm pregnant," she said smiling. She still couldn't believe it. It didn't seem real and yet she was so happy and poor Max was busting at the seams. They'd told their parents last night and the wedding plans were already in full swing.

  "Oh my God, that son of a bitch, I'll kill him for hurting you again," Taylor said. "I don't care if he is some big football star, he is not getting away with this."

  Meghan started laughing and put her hand on Taylor's arm. "It's okay. We're back together."

  "What?" Kelsey demanded. "When did this happen."

  "The night we danced around the Cupid Statue," she said with a laugh. "We're getting married there in three weeks and I want you girls to stand up with me."

  Meghan was still suffering from morning sickness and the doctor had warned her that would last for a couple of months, but her and Max had been so excited when they left the doctor's office with the news. This time it was for real. This time they were having a baby and they couldn't wait to see their little peanut.

  "Are you certain he's excited and wants this baby?" Taylor asked.

  Meghan laughed. "We're already designing the nursery. And he bought a family car. No more Corvettes. He's telling me he'd like to have his own football team and I'm telling him, let's just work on the first one before we start talking about the next baby."

  Kelsey jumped up and hugged her. "I'm so happy for you."

  "As long as he's going to be a good husband and father to you, I'm happy as well," Taylor said. Her eyes widened. "Oh my God. I bet it was when I walked in on you guys in the shower."

  Meghan laughed. "I think you're right."

  "I think that makes me his or hers official God mother."

  Kelsey stared between the two of them and Meghan quickly filled her in on what had happened.

  "You know I didn't believe in this Cupid superstition. But I'm engaged, Meghan is expecting a baby and about to be married. That only leaves you, Kelsey."

  She smiled. "Don't worry about me. I've got a cowboy by the tail."

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