A Child of Her Own

by Beverly Barton

  Mara Royce sat rigidly, her back straight as a stick. Crossing her arms over her chest and puckering her mouth, she glared at Lori Lee.

  The moment the awards presentation ended and Lori Lee thanked everyone for coming to the recital, the crowd dispersed. Children ran wild all over the gym, proudly holding up their trophies. Mara Royce made a beeline to Lori Lee.

  “Here she comes,” Birdie said. “Brace yourself, niece. Now’s the time to show what you’re made of.”

  Lori Lee barely had time to walk out from behind the speaker’s podium before Mara confronted her. “If you think for one minute that I’m going to let you get away with what you did tonight, then you’d better think again,” Mara yelled loud enough to be heard in the next county.

  Lori Lee glanced over Mara’s shoulder and saw the Nelsons and the Webbers following Rick across the gym. They were all headed straight toward her. Quite a few other parents delayed their exit, obviously waiting around to see what was going to happen.

  “Aunt Birdie, please make sure Darcie gathers up all of her things from the dressing room,” Lori Lee said.

  “Don’t you worry. I’ll make sure Darcie’s kept busy until this is over.” Birdie scurried across the gym, but before she could reach Darcie, Rick grabbed his daughter’s hand and brought her across the gym with him.

  Lori Lee faced Mara. “I don’t think this is the time or place to discuss any complaints you have. Not with so many of the girls still here.”

  “What’s the matter?” Mara asked mockingly. “Are you afraid your precious little Darcie might find out the real reason she won her trophy?”

  “Mara, if you have one shred of decency in you, don’t make a scene in front of these children.”

  “If you are really so concerned about your students, why would you risk ruining your reputation and shaming the Dixie Twirlers?” Mara pointed her finger in Lori Lee’s face. “People know you’re having an affair with that no-good Rick Warrick, and in order to keep him happy, you’re lavishing a lot of attention on his daughter. The only reason Darcie Warrick received the Best First-Year Student trophy instead of Steffie is because you’re sleeping with her father. He must really be something in bed for you to jeopardize—”

  Three things happened simultaneously. Darcie Warrick asked her father if what Mrs. Royce said was true, that she received her trophy because he was Lori Lee’s boyfriend. Rick snatched the trophy out of his daughter’s arms while she was still talking. And Lori Lee Guy slapped Mara so hard that she left a red-stained image of her handprint on Mara’s cheek.

  Crying out in pain, Mara stared at Lori Lee in disbelief.

  “Ohmigod!” The moment Deanie Webber groaned the slurred words aloud, silence fell over the gymnasium and the onlookers froze as her voice rang out loud and clear.

  Rick shoved the shiny trophy into Mara’s arms. She stared up at Rick, her teary eyes wide with fear. She clutched the trophy in her trembling hands.

  “Take the damn thing if it means so much to you. Take it and r—” Clenching his teeth tightly together, Rick snorted. “And to think I wanted my daughter to associate with your kind, to fit in with your child’s group of friends.”

  “Rick.” Lori Lee reached out for him, but hesitated when he glared at her, anger and bitterness in his eyes.

  “As far as I’m concerned, the whole bunch of you can go straight to hell and take all the stupid trophies with you.” Rick lifted Darcie onto his hip. “Y’all know damn well that Lori Lee isn’t the type of woman to play favorites when it comes to giving out awards to these kids. My Darcie won that trophy—” he nodded his head sharply at the trophy Mara Royce clutched to her bosom “—because of her talent, and for no other reason.”

  “Everybody knows that,” Aunt Birdie shouted. “Even Mara knows, but she’s too jealous-hearted to face the truth.”

  Rick turned around and carried a sobbing Darcie out of the gym. The Nelson family hurried after him.

  Lori Lee felt as if her whole life had suddenly ended, as if the world ceased to exist. Her body was numb, her mind swirling, her emotions completely haywire.

  Everyone in the gym stood silently, watching and waiting. Mara tilted her pug nose into the air, twisted her short neck toward her shoulder and stared at the crowd. “I’m not the one at fault. She is.” Mara pointed her finger at Lori Lee.

  No one said a word. Lori Lee reached over and jerked Darcie’s trophy out of Mara’s clutches. “This isn’t Steffie’s. She received the trophy she deserved. This one belongs to Darcie Warrick because her talent and hard work earned it for her.”

  Mara glowered at Lori Lee. “You’ve let your infatuation for that white trash Romeo—”

  “Don’t you dare say another word,” Lori Lee warned her, then turned and looked out at the crowd, many of them Tuscumbia’s elite. “Rick Warrick is a good man, who loves his daughter and has done everything he possibly can to earn the respect and acceptance of this town. All he wants is to make a place here for himself and his child. But y’all won’t give him a chance, won’t forget who he used to be or forgive him for sins he committed when he was just a boy.”

  “She doesn’t see the man for what he is.” Mara pleaded her case to the stunned audience. “If she wasn’t so infatuated with him, she’d know what we know. That A. K. Warrick came from nothing and that’s what he still is. Nothing.”

  “I’m not infatuated with Rick,” Lori Lee said, her voice deceptively calm. “I’m in love with him.”

  A cumulative gasp came from the crowd. Aunt Birdie grinned. Deanie bit her bottom lip. Mara Royce smirked, as if saying, See, I was right all along.

  Lori Lee felt an enormous sense of relief well up and overflow inside her. Finally, she had admitted the secret her heart had kept hidden, even from her, and the joy of that revelation spread quickly through her mind and body.

  “I love Rick Warrick.” She spoke the words, testing them, liking the sound of them on her lips. “Did you hear me? I love Rick Warrick. And I love his daughter. But I don’t think anyone here truly believes that I’m the kind of person who would award any child a trophy she didn’t deserve.”

  “Hear, hear,” Birdie Pierpont said.

  Grasping Darcie’s trophy tightly in her hand and not acknowledging anyone’s attempts to speak to her, Lori Lee made her way through the murmuring crowd.

  “Lori Lee,” Deanie called out and started to go after her.

  Birdie grabbed Deanie’s wrist. “She’ll be all right.”

  “She’s upset. She doesn’t need to be alone,” Deanie said.

  “She won’t be alone.” Birdie smiled. “If I know my niece, she’s on her way over to see Rick and Darcie.”

  “Oh.” Deanie nodded agreement. “You’re probably right.”

  Lori Lee parked her Riviera in the driveway behind the Nelsons’ Bronco. Glancing up when she got out, she noticed the lights were on in the garage apartment. She wasn’t sure what kind of reception she’d receive, but regardless of whether or not Rick wanted her here, she wasn’t going to leave until she had given Darcie the trophy that rightfully belonged to her.

  Now wasn’t the time to confess her undying love to Rick. There would be time enough for the two of them to work through their problems later. Right now, her main concern was Darcie. She couldn’t bear the thought of that special little girl suffering because of Mara Royce’s sick jealousy.

  Lori Lee climbed the steps to Rick’s apartment, hesitated momentarily on the stoop, then took a deep breath and knocked. She waited. And she waited. She knocked again.

  “Whoever it is, leave us the hell alone,” Rick bellowed.

  “Rick, it’s Lori Lee. Please, let me come in. I want to see Darcie.” She clutched the trophy in her hand.

  “Go away.”

  “I’m not leaving until I see Darcie.”

  Rick jerked open the door and glared at Lori Lee, then glanced down at the trophy in her hand. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough for my daughter? She’s in her room ri
ght now, crying her eyes out. She keeps asking me over and over again if she really didn’t win the award for Best First-Year Student.”

  “Well, I hope you told her that she most certainly won the award and that Mara Royce is a mean, vindictive, jealous-hearted woman and no one believed a word she said.”

  “Do you honestly think no one believed her?” Rick asked cynically.

  “No one who really mattered.” Lori Lee laid her hand on his forearm, longing to embrace him and tell him that she loved him.

  Rick yanked back his arm. “Go home. Please. Leave us alone. I can’t deal with anything else tonight. I’ve had just about all I can stand.”

  “No, Daddy, don’t send Lori Lee away,” Darcie cried out as she came running from her bedroom and through the living room. She shoved on Rick’s legs, prompting him to move over so that she could get past him.

  Kneeling when Darcie ran toward her, Lori Lee shoved the trophy into Rick’s hand and swooped his child up into her arms. Darcie flung her arms around Lori Lee’s neck, hugging tightly.

  “Don’t go, please. Stay with me,” Darcie begged.

  Rick clenched his teeth as emotions he could barely control rose in his throat, threatening to choke him. Moisture misted his vision. He swallowed hard, trying desperately not to give in to his feelings. It broke his heart to see how much his daughter loved Lori Lee.

  He’d been a fool to think this woman, this beautiful, perfect woman, could ever belong to him. Could ever be a part of his and Darcie’s life. Surely after what had happened tonight, she realized it, too. Mara Royce had not only broken Darcie’s heart, she had humiliated Lori Lee by announcing her affair with him to the twirler parents. It had been one thing for people to speculate about their relationship, but it was another to have their affair publicly denounced by one of the town’s social grande dames.

  How the hell would sweet, ladylike, Southern belle Lori Lee ever live down having slapped Mara Royce in front of a large portion of Tuscumbia’s population?

  Stroking Darcie’s back tenderly, Lori Lee glanced at Rick, then took a step toward him. He backed up and out of the way, allowing her to bring his daughter into the apartment. Lori Lee carried Darcie into her room and sat down on the bed, putting Darcie on her lap. Rick slammed the front door. Following them, he stood in the doorway and watched while Darcie laid her head on Lori Lee’s shoulder and Lori Lee kissed Darcie on the forehead.

  “Mrs. Royce wanted Steffie to win the award for Best First-Year Student.” Lori Lee took Darcie’s hand in hers. “Sometimes grown-ups can be very selfish and cruel. They can do and say things that hurt other people when they become so jealous they can’t think straight.”

  “Mrs. Royce said that you gave me the award ’cause you and Daddy sleep together,” Darcie said. “I’m not sure what that means, except that you’re Daddy’s girlfriend.”

  “Yes, sweetheart, I’m your daddy’s girlfriend, but I didn’t give you the award for that reason. And I love you so much, Darcie. You’re very special to me. But I didn’t give you the award for that reason, either.”

  “Then why did you give me the award?”

  Darcie looked up at Lori Lee with eyes an identical blue to her own. Lori Lee’s breath caught in her throat and for a brief moment she couldn’t speak.

  “You know the reason why,” Lori Lee said. “Don’t you?”

  Darcie sat straight up and looked Lori Lee directly in the eye. “You gave me the award because I really am the best first-year student.”

  “And that’s the only reason.” Lori Lee embraced Rick’s daughter, the little girl she desperately wanted to be hers.

  Rick cleared his throat. Two pairs of big, blue eyes stared at him. “I think I have something that belongs to you, Miss Warrick.” He walked into the room and handed the trophy to Darcie.

  She hugged it to her chest..“It’s really mine.” She looked to Lori Lee for affirmation.

  “Yes, it’s really yours. You deserve it. You earned it.” Lori Lee slid Darcie off her lap and onto the bed. “It’s past your bedtime, young lady. You’ve had a big night, in more ways than one. I think it’s time for you to go to sleep. Where’s your pajamas?”

  “Hanging on a peg in the bathroom,” Darcie said.

  “Then you go get into them and I’ll tuck you in bed before I leave,” Lori Lee told the child.

  “Would you read me a bedtime story first?”

  Lori Lee glanced at Rick. He nodded an agreement to his daughter’s request. “Do you have a copy of Beauty and the Beast?” she asked.

  “Get my Beauty and the Beast book for her, Daddy, while I go put on my pajamas.” With her trophy clutched to her chest, Darcie jumped out of bed and rushed toward the bathroom.

  Rick pulled a book from the stack on a bottom shelf of Darcie’s nightstand and handed it to Lori Lee. “Thanks for being so good to her. You mean a lot to her, you know. Probably too much.”

  “I love Darcie,” Lori Lee confessed aloud, and silently added, And I love you, too, Rick. With all my heart.

  “Yeah, I see that you do. It won’t be easy for any of us, but I think it’s best if I take Darcie out of your dance and baton classes. All the other kids will shun her after what happened tonight.”

  “I think you’re wrong about that.” Opening the book, she glanced at it and then laid it on the bed. “I may lose one or two students, besides Steffie Royce, because of what Mara said tonight, but I have a lot more faith in my friends and acquaintances than you do. Why don’t you give the people of Tuscumbia what you say you want from them? Give them a chance to prove themselves to you. Believe me, Rick, only a handful of our citizens are true snobs.”

  “Damn, I’d like to think you’re right. I just don’t know. I don’t want to see Darcie hurt again. Not ever.”

  “Neither do I. I promise you that—”

  “I’m all ready for bed.” Darcie came flying into the room, her little hand circling the base of her trophy.

  Rick lifted her up and into her bed, then leaned over and kissed her. “Is it all right with you two girls if I hang around and listen to the story?”

  “If it’s all right with Lori Lee, it’s all right with me.”

  “I have no objections.”

  “Okay, Daddy, you can stay.”

  “Why don’t you put your trophy on the nightstand?” Lori Lee suggested.

  Darcie set her trophy on the nightstand, petted it lovingly, then cuddled against Lori Lee. In less than ten minutes, just as Lori Lee reached the part in the story where Belle had thrown herself on her bed and was sobbing, Darcie fell sound asleep. Lori Lee read on for a couple of minutes, then closed the book, leaned over and placed it back on top of the stack on the nightstand shelf.

  When she started to get up, Rick offered her his hand. She accepted his assistance, smiling at him and whispering her thanks. She gasped when he suddenly pulled her into his arms.

  “Rick?”

  “I’ll walk you to your car.” He looked at her as if he wanted to kiss her, but instead he released her.

  “All right.”

  When they reached the bottom of the stairs outside, Rick took Lori Lee’s hand in his and squeezed. She stood perfectly still. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Her pulse raced at breakneck speed.

  “I don’t want to let you go, honey.”

  “You know I can’t stay.” She threaded her fingers through his. “I can’t...we can’t...not with Darcie—”

  Rick dragged her toward the garage. Startled by his actions, she hesitated, stumbling against him when he forced her into sudden movement. Rick yanked open a side door to the garage and pulled Lori Lee into the dark interior.

  “Have you ever made out in a truck?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “Would you like to?” He nuzzled her neck.

  “Yes,” she said breathlessly.

  Nine

  Rick slammed the door shut with his foot, closing them inside the cool, quiet darkness. The shimmery moonlight shon
e through the lone window at the back side of the garage, casting murky shadows across the old blue pickup. Lori Lee could barely make out Rick’s facial features, but she had no trouble feeling him. He pressed her against the wall, his big body hard, straining and rigidly intent. Lifting her arms, he manacled both of her wrists in his huge hand and held them over her head.

  Unable to embrace him, to touch his chest or shoulders, she whimpered as sensual need throbbed in her feminine core. She leaned into him, rubbing herself intimately against him.

  “You want it as bad as I do, don’t you, honey?” He mouthed the words against her neck. “These weeks of celibacy have made you crazy, haven’t they? As crazy as I am.”

  “Rick. Rick. Please.” She had known love and desire and sexual pleasure before, but nothing had prepared her for the fiery, raging hunger Rick Warrick ignited in her every time he looked at her. She had never known this aching need to have a man buried deep inside her, had never experienced the overwhelming kind of lust that ruled her mind and body.

  While he held her wrists captive, he slid his other hand behind her back and jerked down the zipper of her black crepe dress. He unhooked her black lace bra. She leaned the back of her head against the wall and gasped for air as he released her hands, dragged her dress to her hips and yanked her bra down her arms, then grabbed her arms again. He tossed her bra onto the floor, then lowered his mouth and laved one puckered nipple. She moaned. Rick raised his head.

  “Your breasts cry out for my mouth, baby. You love it when I do this—” he licked one nipple and then the other “—don’t you?” He savored the mewing sounds she made as he continued tormenting her, taking turns licking and sucking until she writhed against him, lifting one of her legs and rubbing it up and down his.

  He bumped his sex into her aching femininity, grinding into her with hard, circular pressure. “Is this what you want?”

  She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. She could only feel.