Finding Pride (Pride Series) (14 page)

Laughing Todd pushed Chester away. “Go get your own filly, this one’s taken.” The horse let out another whine and continued his search for sugar cubes by pushing his head in between the pair again.

Todd rolled up pulling Megan with him, putting his body in front of Chester. Megan quickly pulled her shirt back together and avoided Todd’s eyes.

Looking at her back his mind cleared, what had he done? He’d almost taken her here on the ground. Where was his self control?

She was bruised, had a broken arm and he was acting like a teenage boy, pushing her to the hard ground.

“Megan, I’m sorry.” He began, he bent down and picked up the jacket, brushing it off he handing it to her.

She just stared back at him. “Oh, no, I mean, I’m not sorry for that…” he said quickly reading the hurt in her eyes. “I’m sorry about being rough with you. I shouldn’t have pushed you to the ground… For Christ sakes, I almost took you in the dirt.” He felt even sicker hearing the words leave his mouth. He ran his hands over his face and walked back and forth in front of her.

“I’m not so fragile, Todd.” Megan said quietly.

“You are. You deserve better than that.” She watched him pacing and felt relieved knowing that he wanted her so much, that time and place didn’t matter.

“I’m not sorry. In fact, I enjoyed it.” She walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to stop his nervous pacing.

“God! I want you. I seem to lose control around you,” he said running his hands up her arms and then since she looked so lovely, dipped his head for a small kiss.

“Walk me home?” Megan smiled up at him.

“How about a ride?” Todd said with a grin.

“
I thought you’d never ask.” Chester pushed against Todd’s shoulders again and they both laughed.

I
t had been weeks since Megan had visited Matt’s grave site. The black marble marker had been in place, and the white lilies she’d brought sat in the dark marble vase.

“Matt, I didn’t mean to hide my life from you. I just couldn’t bare it if… if you were disappointed in me.” She closed her eyes on a tear. “I was so ashamed of myself Matt, I couldn’t function, I… I didn’t function as a human being. I let someone else control every part of me. At times I felt like I would just fade away and blend into the walls.”

She opened her eyes and looked around the cemetery.

“Never again, I promise you and myself, never again.” Letting out a large breath, she felt a warm breeze lift over her. “I like it here Matt, the people like the Jordan family. Oh Matt, I can see now how easy it was for you to become so attached to them.”

Megan smiled, “Lacey is just wonderful, she is full of spunk, and so very strong for such a small thing. Iian is so very kind and reminds me a lot of you. He makes me laugh and helps me forget all the bad things in my past. Then there is Todd.” She paused and remembered last night and felt heat throughout her body.

“Matt, I don’t know whether I can ever trust another man completely again. I hope one day I won’t be so damaged. That I’m able to feel alive again, because Todd makes me feel alive, and he deserves something more. I just don’t know if I’m capable of giving it to him. I miss you.” Wiping the tear from her cheek, she turned and walked back to her car.

Late one evening she arrived home to see Lacey’s car parked in the driveway. She was walking back from spending the day working in one of the cabins. She’d been working overtime to get them done, most nights she arrived home after dark.

Megan walked into the house and was not surprised to see that Lacey was standing in her kitchen cooking something that smelled wonderful. She had on an old pair of jeans and a large sweater, and her feet were in thick bright purple socks. She was humming to herself. “Hi, thought you might like some dinner, and since it’s my night off, I figured we could have a girl’s night,” she said without turning around.

“That sounds great!” Megan said plopping down in the kitchen chair. “I never knew there was so much to fixing a place up. I don’t want to look at another paint brush for a year.” Lacey smiled over at her. “Speaking of paint, do you know Allison Adams? She runs that little antique store across from the hardware store?”

“I use to baby sit her, and her sister, Abby. Abby passed away a few years back, she had cancer.” Lacey said sounding sad.

“Oh, no, I didn’t know that, that’s too bad.” Megan felt even more kindred toward her knowing that they had both lost their only siblings. “She does some of the most beautiful art work, paintings, and sketches. I’ve bought a few, I have some here in the house and I’m going to hang some in the cabins.”

“I didn’t know she painted at all.” Lacey turned around, sounding surprised.

Megan walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of wine she’d been saving. “She seemed so lonely, when I was over there last week, we ended up talking for about two hours and then she came over the other night and helped me hang up the paintings.” Megan poured two glasses, and handed one to Lacey.

“I’m thinking of helping her market some of her art, you know; help her get it into galleries. I did some work a while back for this small art gallery in Portland; the owner was really nice to me. I called him the other day. He says he’s interested in seeing some of her stuff.”

Lacey smiled over at Megan. “You really are a lot like your brother.”

“You know, Iian was here when Allison arrived,” she said with a hint of humor.

“How did that go?” Lacey said turning around and giving Megan her full attention. “Was he nervous?” Lacey asked smiling.

“Boy was he! What is that all about?” She asked taking a large sip of wine.

“Oh, Iian has had this thing for Allison since second grade. Iian gets all nervous around her. It’s kind of cute.”

“I would feel very flattered if a man got nervous around me.” The two giggled together.

Girl’s night was a success. Lacey could see the changes in Megan; she was laughing and having a good time. She’d actually talked for about five minutes without interruption. It felt good to have a girl around. Not that she didn’t like her brothers, it’s just that Todd and Iian could be so bull headed and over protective.

“
Gee, I think I need something to eat, this wine is going to my head. Here I’ve been rambling on and haven’t let you get in a word.”

Megan looked down and realized her second glass of wine was gone, she smiled. It would be good to get drunk, she hadn’t done so in years, so she poured more. Walked over, she did the same for Lacey as well.

An hour later, the two were sitting on the living room floor an empty bottle of wine and two empty plates sat next to them as they laughed.

She had found Matt’s old photo album. Currently, they were laughing at the outfit she had worn to a high school dance, and then they started laughing at the her date for the evening.

“
Well, what do we have here?” A deep voice came from the doorway. Megan squealed and tipped over her glass, not that there was any wine left in it.

Looking up she saw Todd standing in the doorway, leaning against the door frame. Both girls started laughing again, so much so, they fell over holding their sides.

Todd had taken a walk to clear his mind and somehow ended up on Megan’s porch. He hadn’t expected to find both Megan and his sister sprawled out on the living room floor giggling like a bunch of high school girls.

He’d walked by her house almost every night, since that night at the pond; looking for an excuse to come up to the house. Lacey’s car in the driveway gave him one.

“I made dinner for Megan and well,” Lacey stifled a giggle, “We were just looking at old pictures.”

“Really?” Todd said sounding very amused. “So you decided to get smashed and look at old photos, eh?” He walked over and tried to get a look at the photo book, which Megan quickly snapped shut.

“Oh, no you don’t.” She said with a shake of her head, which caused her head to spin. Now, she was looking at three Todd’s. Three very good looking Todd’s. So, she gave the middle one a smile, and held the book close to her chest.

Standing there looking down at Megan sitting on the floor with a silly grin on her face and her hair crumpled with her eyes all out of focus, Todd lost his heart. She was beautiful before, but once she was relaxed and stopped jumping at shadows she was exquisite. He leaned over and helped Lacey to her feet before helping Megan to hers.

He couldn’t help himself from keeping his hands on Megan’s hips as he helped her stand. He told himself, it was just to make sure she was steady on her feet. The truth was he just wanted to have his  hands on her.

When he felt himself stirring, he quickly pulled away, almost causing her to topple over. Lacey had already sat down on the couch and laid her head down on one of the pillows. Her eyes were droopy and her speech slurred. “Whew, I drank more than I should have, I’ll just lie here for…” She closed her eyes and began to snore lightly.

Todd chuckled. He knew his sister couldn’t hold her liquor. He looked over at Megan and assumed the same. He walked over, pulled his sister’s purple socked feet up on the couch and quickly tucked a quilt around her.

“I think zhez-a-zleep.” Megan whispered teetering on her feet. Walking over he wrapped his arms around her, to steady her. “I never saw someone fall a-zleep so quickly.” She put her finger across her lips and shushed him, when he started to answer.