Everyone Deserves a Second Chance (6 page)

"Now
stand back Garrett." Lauren commanded of the younger boy as
she kicked her heels into Tonka's side and got the horse outside
into the riding paddock Marcus had set up for her.

Garrett watched in awe as
Lauren went from a brisk walk, to a trot, and then finally urged
the gelding into a canter.

"Look Ma! No hands!"
Lauren dropped the reins on Tonka's neck and threw her head and
arms back to look up at the sky.

"Lauren! You remember
what happened last time you did that?" Brenda called in a huff
to cover her fright. "Do you want another broken arm young
lady?"

The warning seemed to hit
home, for the little girl snatched at the reins and turned her
attention back to the way before her. Brenda let out a relieved
sigh and smiled up at Marcus who returned the gesture.

"Nothing ever seems
dangerous to them." Brenda said, squinting off into the
distance as Lauren reached the far end of the pasture.

"Watch Mom!"
Lauren took the first and second fences with the grace of a
seasoned rider. On the third fence Tonka stumbled a bit, throwing
her slightly forwards, but she recovered and turned back for the
jumps again.

"Wow! That's neat!"
Garrett said as he watched Lauren take the jumps again. "Is
she gonna do that at the parade?"

"Naw, she's just
showing off. She'll only be walking him in the parade." Marcus
said glancing down at Garrett who couldn't take his eyes from
Lauren.

"Garrett? Are you out
here?" Lindsey's voice called.

Garrett turned and sprinted
towards his approaching mother, pulling her into the barn and
towards the paddock. "Momma, you have to see this! Its cool! I
wanna do this!"

Lindsey allowed her son to
tug her along as she picked her way around the mud near the
stables. Her high heels were dangerously close to sinking in when
she reached the cement floor of the barn and let out an involuntary
sigh of relief.

"Now what is it you
want to show me?"

"Come on, come on!
This way!"

He
dropped her hand and ran the rest of the way, leaving Lindsey to
make her way across the barn to the paddock fence where Marcus and
Brenda stood. Marcus with a very noticeable black eye. He gave her
an approving look, taking in her white blouse, short black shirt
and matching black shoes, then turned back to the paddock. Brenda
caught Marcus's appreciative look and eyed her with loathing.
Lindsey gave Brenda a brittle smile, which the other woman did not
return, and then looked out to where Garrett was pointing.

"Can I do that?"
Garrett pleaded, watching Lauren take one jump and then another.

"Can you put the jumps
up Uncle Marcus?" Lauren called as she slowed Tonka before
them.

"Next year."
Marcus determined by catching a glace at the look that crossed
Brenda's face. "Maybe even the year after that."

"Aw! But Tonka likes
jumping! Don't you Tonka?" She leaned down the horse's sweaty
neck and gave him a hearty pat.

"Can you do that
again?" Garrett asked, hopping up and down in his excitement.

"Okay, a few more
times. Come on Tonka." Lauren turned the gelding and trotted
him back down to the other end of the pasture.

"See momma! I wanna do
that!"

Lauren took the jumps
without hesitation on either her part or the geldings.

"Can I momma?"
Garrett asked, glancing up once at her and then looking back
towards Lauren and the gelding.

"No, absolutely not."
Lindsey said, bile rising in the base of her throat.

"But—!"

"I said no Garrett.
Why don't you come inside and help me make dinner."

"But—"

"Now Garrett."

The tone of her voice was
enough to make the little boy grimace. He dropped his head to look
at the ground as he followed her out of the barn and back up to the
house.

"I just want—"

"Garrett,
drop it. I won't ask you again." Lindsey felt the cold
tendrils of fear spreading throughout her stomach. In her mind she
could see herself taking those same jumps with the same faultless
ease as the little girl, and her stomach clenched in terror.

"Can I at least go to
the parade tomorrow? Marcus said I could ride in a wagon like a
real cowboy." Garrett looked up at her with a longing face,
his blue eyes near to tears.

Lindsey rubbed at her
throbbing temple. "Okay. You can go to the parade and you can
ride in the wagon." She wondered if staying here was such a
good idea as she watched Garrett shout in excitement and sprint
back out the front door towards the stables.

The stables she had once
loved so much she now detested. Watching her son disappear inside
each time brought a pang of anxiety to her mind. What if something
happened to him? Lindsey rung her hands together as she climbed the
stairs to change. The only good thing about this day so far was the
fact that she'd got the job at the bank in town.

She had just started making
dinner when the phone rang. Thinking nothing of it, she reached for
the cordless phone and said hello as she rooted under the sink for
a pot she'd seen the day before.

"Lindsey?"

"Mom?"

"Oh honey, I'm so glad
you're okay. I've called Janet and Gale and Kim and none of them
knew where you were. I didn't think you'd be there either. I was so
worried about you."

"How did you get this
number?" Lindsey asked in a voice that sounded loud and angry
to her own ears.

"If you think I'd
forget his last name and how to use a phone book then you're sorely
mistaken young lady. Are you okay?"

"Let me talk to her—"

Lindsey froze as she heard
Kurt's voice in the background.

"One second, one
second." Her mother replied in annoyance.

"Mom," Lindsey
whispered, afraid to speak any louder. "What is he doing
there? Have you told him where I am?"

"Looking for you just
like I am, what else do you think? We've had the cops looking
everywhere for you. We're worried about you Lindsey. I'm glad
you're safe, but now we want you to come home."

"Promise me you won't
tell him where I am." She pleaded with desperation from deep
within her heart.

"All right, all right.
But I think this is all so silly." Her mother sighed and
cleared her throat. However, before she could answer Lindsey caught
the sound of the phone being picked up from another line.

"Lindsey, what the
hell do you think you're doing? Get your ass back home right now.
By God I'll drag you back home again if I have to!"

"Calm down Kurt."
Her mother soothed. "Now honey, we both want you to come home.
We'll work this out, all three of us. But you have to come home."

"I—" a sob
caught in her throat. "I can't."

"Lindsey, Lindsey
sweetheart. Come home baby. I miss you, I miss both you and my
little boy." Kurt begged; he was near to tears himself. "God
Lindsey, you know I'm sorry. You know how much I love you two. I'd
never hurt you on purpose. I'll get help, I swear I will. Please
come home baby." And then he did cry, loud racking sobs that
tore at Lindsey's heart.

"Honey," her
mother said with a sigh. "Please come home. Let's work this
out. Can't you see what this is doing to Kurt? To your family?"

"Lindsey, Lindsey
please!" Kurt sobbed. "I'm going crazy without you two. I
was so worried. I want you both back home, back safe with me."

Lindsey shook inside and
out as tears slid down her cheeks and fell soundlessly to the tile
of the kitchen floor.

"Lindsey?"

She spun at Marcus's voice
and her eyes went wide with guilt. She'd left him once, and now she
would do it again. His hand came up and wiped a tear from her
cheek.

"Lindsey, what's
wrong?"

"You filthy whore! Is
that who I think it is?" Kurt's angry scream made her wince
and she jerked her ear away from the phone.

His voice was loud enough
for Marcus to catch the stream of obscenities that followed. He
took the phone from her hand and pressed it to his ear.

"If
you ever lay a fucking finger on her again I'll rip you open and
leave you to rot, do you understand me?" Marcus's voice was
cold and angry as he spoke the words.

"Don't you fucking
touch my wife you lousy son of a bitch! She's coming back to me and
I'll do whatever the hell I want to with my property!"

"Over my dead body."
Marcus clicked off the phone with a press of a button. His eyes met
Lindsey's and he understood what he saw there. "You're not
going back to him."

"Marcus, I…"
she couldn't find the right words. "He's my husband." It
was all she could come up with.

The phone rang in his hand,
and Lindsey reached to take it from him. He jerked it away from her
and then threw it hard across the room. It shattered as it hit the
wall in the living room and fell silent. The dent it left in the
wall was emphasized in the fading daylight.

"You came to me for
help. I intend to see that you get it." He held out his hand.
"Give me your car keys."

"Marcus, this is
stupid. You know I have to go back, or he'll come for me. He knows
where I am now. I have to go back or else—"

"You're not going
anywhere."

"Marcus—"

"Give me your fucking
car keys Lindsey!"

"No."

Marcus crossed the few
steps to her and shoved his hand down her pocket. She smacked at
him with one hand, but he caught it and jerked it down. Her other
hand closed around his fingers groping in her pocket and tried to
pull them away.

He jerked away from her
when her foot came down hard atop one of his boots and then his
groin. The minute he released her she scrambled away from him, and
for the back door. He caught the door and pushed it shut as she
tried to jerk it open. With one arm he caught her around the waist
and lifted her off her feet. He carried her kicking and screaming
back into the living room where he deposited her on the couch and
used his body to pin her down.

Her screams grew louder and
more frustrated as Marcus put his hand back into her pocket and
withdrew the keys with a satisfied gleam to his eyes.

"Marcuse
Michael Whitman you give those back right this instance!" She
screamed in fury as she continued to struggle under where he had
her pinned. His knee was pressed almost too comfortably between her
legs and she could feel the rapid beating of her own pulse where
his chest grazed hers.

"No." He put her
keys in his pocket and looked down at her with his dark eyes.
"You're not going back to that bastard. Not if I can stop
you."

Lindsey screamed and placed
both hands on his chest and pushed as hard as she could. She heard
his sharp intake of breath as she ground the heel of her palm into
the bruise on his chest and tried to sit up. While the momentary
pain distracted him she shoved her hand down his pocket in search
of her keys. She pulled her hand away just as quickly as she came
in contact with his growing hardness.

She found herself reaching
for him before she could register what she was doing. Her tongue
forced his lips open as she kissed him, and he her, with a passion
not forgotten. Her hands slid underneath his shirt and her fingers
traced the well-defined dips and ridges of his hard chest muscles.
She heard his sharp intake of breath as she jerked up his shirt and
caught one of his nipples in her mouth, teasing it with her lips,
teeth, and tongue until it was as hard as he was.

He cursed a blue streak and
scrambled off the couch when her fingers reached for the zipper on
his jeans and let it down. His breathing was hard and unsteady as
he zipped his pants, pulled down his shirt, and disappeared out the
front door.

Lindsey groaned and put her
hands back up to her head to rub at the ache of her throbbing
temples.

“Did you find them?" Brenda asked as she watched
Marcus come back into the barn, his hands shoved deep into his
pockets.

"Oh…no, I
didn't. I know I have scissors around here somewhere." He
glanced down at the floor before he disappeared into the tack
room. As he open one tack box and then another, shifting through
the contents inside, he heard Brenda's footsteps behind him.

"Its okay Marcus,
Lauren decided to use that thingy you cut the strings off of the
hay with."

"The hay cutter."

"Yeah, that thing."
Brenda watched Marcus close his eyes and lean against the tack
box. "Marcus, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He
straightened instantly and gave her a lopsided smile. "Let's
help your little stinker get Tonka finished. I still have to feed
the cattle for the night."

"Oh, well we'll be
okay without you. I didn't mean to keep you from getting things
done." Brenda wrapped her arm around his and kissed him on
the cheek. The light stubble on his jaw felt rough against her
mouth, but delightful at the same time.

"You sure?"

"I'm positive. After
she's finished braiding his mane and tail we'll put the blanket
back on him and put him back in his stall."

"Okay. Have Lauren
give him a flake of hay also. Something to keep him busy."
Marcus gave her a pat on the cheek, grabbed a saddle and bridle,
and left the tack room without a backwards glance.

Brenda looked worriedly
after him before she went back to where Lauren and Garrett were
braiding the horse's mane and tail. Tonka gave a soft sigh and
looked at Brenda with his large brown eyes. She gave the horse a
rub on the nose as he stood so patiently with the two children.

"Are you almost done
Lauren?"

"Yeah. We just have
to get the last part of his mane. Can you tie these ribbons in it
for me? I tried but they keep coming out." Lauren jumped
down from the stepping stool she'd been standing on and handed
the ribbon to her mother.

"Can't we do this in
the morning? They'll probably come out tonight."