(Calahan Cowboys 08) The Cowboy Soldier's Sons (12 page)

“Where are you going?”

She shrugged. “What do you care?” she said, and walked out the door, already wishing she was in bed with Shaman, letting him hold her the way she knew he wanted badly to do.

Chapter Ten

By May, Shaman was devastated. No one would tell him anything about Tempest. Even Cat didn’t seem to know her whereabouts. He knew full well that the twins should have been born by now.

He’d blown it.

There was no question he’d made a major strategic error. Such poor thinking would have cost him dearly in the war zone. “The problem,” he told Candy, “was that I wanted so badly to protect her that I ran off the only thing that made me feel redeemed. She was the other part of my soul, but I never told her that.”

Candy pranced in an almost perfect circle, her coat glossy and black. It had taken him months to gentle her, train her, mold her into the beauty she was now. The barn had gone up, a new bunkhouse had been constructed, and Dark Diablo was no longer a lonely dot on the road between nowhere and somewhere. There was a new roof on the main house. Jonas was so pleased with the changes at his ranch that he’d given Shaman a monster raise and offered him long-term employment. Jonas wanted a big house built out here, in the style of the family home in Rancho Diablo, and he wanted Shaman to oversee the project.

Shaman was considering the offer. He still had the horse program to get off the ground, though he now had six good horses in the barn. It was a start.

Someone else could take over the job. He felt as if he was waiting, hoping, for something that was never going to happen. But now he knew: Cupertino was never coming back.

The flip side of this realization was the one silver lining: Bobby Taylor no longer worried him. The man floated around town, telling everyone who would lend an ear that Tempest had stolen from him. No one listened. Everyone knew the truth.

Shaman kept a gun loaded in the farmhouse, but he knew Bobby’s one cowardly act wasn’t likely to be repeated. Taylor had really been after Tempest, his rage stoked by overhearing their conversation in the restaurant that night. Shaman knew Bobby was still living in the old Cupertino shack where Zola had grown up.

But Tempest had left Zola behind long ago, and Shaman didn’t figure it mattered whether Bobby camped out in the falling-down rattrap.

His mother made the donation to Tempest Elementary School, anonymously, as Tempest had asked, even when Shaman told her that his marriage had been, as she’d noted, a business transaction.

“A promise is a promise,” Millicent told him, and sent the check. “Nothing’s keeping you here now. Fitzgerald and I are getting married, and I want to retire. So it’s time for you to focus on Gil Phillips, Inc.”

He kissed her. “Congratulations. When’s the wedding?”

“In a month. I’m waiting for a special wedding suit I ordered from New York.”

Shaman was happy for his mother. She was completely different from the woman who’d raised them, and who’d been Gil Phillips’s wife. “You deserve happiness.”

“We all do,” she’d snapped back, in true Millicent style. “You’d be happy if you weren’t so stubborn.”

But he was stubborn. It was perhaps his finest trait. Stubborn enough to stay in the military after he’d been hit by a sniper, stubborn enough to drag to safety a man in the line of fire, stubborn enough to run off a wife he loved like crazy in order to protect his children and her.

“I could have kept Tempest here,” he told Candy, “or I could have moved away with her. The thing was, this is her home. She was ready to come home.” But Bobby had been determined to take his revenge on his sister.

There was nothing that could be done about Taylor’s desire for vengeance. The money he sought was gone, the lawsuit decided in Jonas Callahan’s favor.

“Candy, I’ll miss you. When I first laid eyes on you, I thought Jonas had brought me a bag of bones, mean bones, to train. I thought he was nuts. But you know, he’s not as dumb as he looks. You turned out well, pretty lady.”

He led her into the state-of-the-art barn, not letting any of the hands take her from him. He rinsed her off with a hose, then swept the water from her coat with a plastic sweat scraper. He ran a gentle comb through her mane, then took a towel to thoroughly dry her, though he didn’t really need to. The warmer weather would have done so, but he wanted to spend a few last moments with her.

When he was finished, he gave her a final pat. He walked to the small farmhouse, picked up his gun bag and his duffel, loaded his truck and drove away from Dark Diablo, his heart in a lot worse shape than when he’d first arrived almost a year ago.

* * *

S
HAMAN PULLED INTO
Hell’s Colony, sudden memories washing over him at the sight of his family home rising up on the Texas horizon. The large buildings always seemed to overwhelm the landscape, a colossal group of white structures sprawled across the land Gil Phillips had amassed.

Shaman pulled his truck into the drive, and a uniformed attendant came to greet him. “Welcome home, Shaman,” he said. “I’ll park this for you. Miss Millicent is waiting for you in the great room.”

Shaman looked at the valet. “New procedure?”

“At some point in the last ten years, sir, I believe Miss Millicent instituted valeting as part of our job concerning the vehicle fleet. It’s nice to have employment, sir.”

This was true. Shaman knew it as well as anyone. He grimaced. “All right.” He turned over his keys, and walked inside the contemporary-style mansion with a sense of déjà vu and apprehension all wrapped up together. Though he hadn’t been home in years, he well remembered where the great room was. Usually it was a silent place, all white, with only a black piano to relieve the coolness. He shivered, feeling a chill despite the May heat.

Millicent wasn’t in the room. He ambled over to a window, staring out, wondering if the house had always been so quiet when he and Gage and Xav and Kendall were growing up. He didn’t remember. Mainly they’d stayed outside, trying to distance themselves from their father.

Shaman had been something of a nerd, finding an outbuilding to hole up in and read. He’d graduated valedictorian, so the studying hadn’t gone to waste. Kendall had been more interested in riding, and Xav followed anything his twin did. Gage had mainly raised hell on the rodeo circuit when he could slip away, something he’d managed to do fairly often.

Shaman had always wished he was more like his big brother. A little more of a rebel, a little less of a nerd.

“Hi.” He heard a voice behind him, and he turned.

Tempest stood there, just as beautiful as he remembered, bringing color to the white room and the austere atmosphere, and most of all, his soul. There was a giant white pram next to her, and Shaman knew his children were in it.

He strode over to look inside, his heart in his throat. Two little wrapped bundles lay sleeping inside. One baby had a thumb in its mouth, the other had a hand on its sibling. “Hi,” he said to Tempest, and then to the babies, feeling tears push into his eyes. “Hey, there, little people.” He reached a finger into the pram to touch their soft clothes. “They’re beautiful. What are their names?”

“Shaman Jonas and Gage Xavier Phillips,” Tempest answered.

His gaze jumped to her face. “Both boys?”

She nodded.

He looked back into the pram, staggered. His sons. He was the father of two little boys. “I can’t believe it,” he said, hardly able to take in the new lives that were part of him. “They’re amazing.” He glanced back up at Tempest, wanting so badly to put his arms around her and hold her tight, celebrating this moment. “When were they born?”

“About three weeks ago.” She was obviously delighted, a proud mother. He thought she glowed with something he’d never seen before, a mixture of happiness and confidence and sheer joy. “I was confined to bed for the last few months, but everything went absolutely fine with the birth.”

He couldn’t help it; he pulled her to him. “I’m sorry I missed it.”

She moved out of his arms after a moment. “I have it all on video, though I doubt you’ll want to watch it. Men don’t want to see that sort of pain.”

He looked back in the pram. “I’m not that strong, to be honest.” He knew he couldn’t bear to see Tempest in pain. “I’m pretty sure I’m one of those guys who’s happier knowing less than more about how babies arrive.”

“Like Cat said, magic storks.”

He nodded, looking at Tempest sheepishly. “Yeah.” Then it hit him. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

She shrugged. “Your mother invited me.”

“I’m glad.” He was thankful, for once, for his mother’s overbearing fortitude in all matters. “I bet she is loving having grandchildren in her house.”

“The boys were born in the hospital in Hell’s Colony. Your mother insisted I stay here when I was put on bed rest.” Tempest smiled down at her babies. “I’ve become very fond of Millicent. You’d be surprised what a doting grandmother she is.”

Tempest gave him a questioning glance that held some annoyance. “You forgot to mention how your family lives. This place doesn’t exactly square with how you presented yourself to me. Now I see why Millicent wanted me to sign those papers.”

“I didn’t leave anything out. This isn’t my home. Hasn’t been in years.” He stared at her, torn between gazing at his babies and drinking in the sight of his wife after all the months apart. “I’ve missed you,” he finally said.

She looked at him, remaining silent.

“I would never have guessed you were here.” Understatement of the year—he was shocked she and the boys were right here, under his nose. Trust his mother and Kendall to pull a fast one on him.

“I went to New York to do some work. Millicent kept in touch with me, as did Shinny and Blanche. They became quite communicative with each other. Apparently, everyone felt it was best for me to be here to have the babies. When the doctor advised bed rest, I needed to go somewhere. You didn’t want me in Tempest,” she said, shrugging, “so I came here.”

“It’s not that I didn’t want you.”

She glanced away. “It’s hard to imagine you growing up here.”

“It was never a good fit, probably. Maybe more for Xav and Kendall, because they were the youngest. And because they were twins, they had each other. Gage and I relied on each other, but two years is still a big difference. We were lonely, not being with other kids our ages.”

She looked at him. “I can see that. Strangely, I like it here. I think this part of Texas is beautiful. Kind of outback and lonely, maybe. I can understand why you wouldn’t be happy here, though.”

He didn’t want to talk about it. “And now? What happens now?”

“Millicent wants me to stay. She and Fitzgerald want less to do with the day-to-day operations of The Family, Inc. Kendall can handle most, but she wants an assistant. I was asked to take the job, and I’ve accepted.” She smiled at her children sleeping in the big white pram. “It will allow me to be with the babies, which is all I really want to do right now. I’m taking an indefinite hiatus from acting. Though I wouldn’t tell my agent, it’s probably forever.”

Shaman couldn’t believe how beautiful Tempest was. Being a mother agreed with her in a way he could never have understood, probably never would. He didn’t want to talk about anything but her. “I didn’t handle things well between us.”

“No. You didn’t.”

“I’m not good with relationships.”

He supposed she had likely figured that out herself.

“So why are you here? Obviously not to see me or the babies.”

“I came home to... I don’t know why.” Why? He’d finished his job. He’d gotten wandering feet.

He’d missed the hell out of her, mostly.

“I came home because it was time.”

“Going to work in the family business?”

“Millicent said she could use some help.”

Tempest nodded. “It’s true. It was good to see you, Shaman. I have to take the babies upstairs to the day nursery. They’ll wake up soon and want to eat.”

His throat tightened. He wished she’d stay a little longer. “Thanks for...letting me see the babies. They’re beautiful, Tempest. I’m the happiest man in the world.”
Almost.
He wanted to tell her she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and that he’d missed her more than he could put into words. Yet he knew she didn’t want to hear that. She was still upset with him, and he couldn’t blame her.

He understood the feeling of abandonment. It wasn’t the world’s most fun emotion, and essentially, Tempest felt he’d abandoned her.

He didn’t know how to fix it.

She smiled at him—barely—and wheeled the pram down the hall. He heard the elevator ding, and the doors close. He shut his eyes, his heart burning, wishing so much that things were different between them. He’d missed the boys’ birth.

I’m really a father. I have sons. I had no idea it would feel this in-my-face glorious. It’s like Christmas and birthday and every other holiday rolled together.

It was all the best feelings he’d ever experienced melded into one overwhelming haze of joy.

“It’s about time you came home.”

Shaman opened his eyes to see Millicent parked in front of him. He bent down to kiss her on the forehead. “Obviously. Why didn’t you tell me Tempest was here?”

His mother gave him an innocent look. “It wasn’t my place to butt in. She said you didn’t want her staying with you. It hurt her feelings, I suppose. She said a wife belonged with her husband, even if it was a short-term situation.” Millicent glared at him. “Probably you handled things in a rather ham-handed manner, but I’m sure you had your reasons.”

“I did.”

“Heavens knows your father wasn’t exactly the silver-tongued prince, either.” She sighed. “I thought it was best to keep her here where we could help her. Truthfully, I figured you’d be here before now. I keep forgetting how stubborn you are.”

“Not stubborn.” Okay, he was stubborn like the old man. He appreciated his mother’s forbearance on the topic.

“Anyway, Tempest made us promise that if she stayed here, we wouldn’t breathe a word to you.” Millicent shrugged. “I figured you’d be mad at first when you found out, but then you’d realize we did our best in a bad situation, which, I might add, you created.”