Finding Pride (Pride Series) (24 page)

“Don’t, you’ve had some bad luck with men, until now.” Todd turned her to face him, setting the book down. “I’ll never hurt you. That’s my promise to you Megan. I’ve never raised a hand to a woman, and I never will. I’m not saying that we’ll always get along, I’m smarter than that. I know that relationships take twists and turns, but I can promise you this. I’ll never hurt you.”

Megan leaned her forehead against his. “I know, I trust you completely, and it scares me, but now…” Todd reached up and pulled her face to his, the kiss was light and soothed Megan’s tortured mind. An image of this scene years from now flashed in her mind. She could see them sitting before a fire, older, with kids running around the house. Letting out a large sigh, she kissed him back with something that had been building up inside her.

“Let me take you upstairs.” He whispered when their lips parted. He pulled closer and started to pick her up.

“Don’t you have a plane to catch?” She teased.

“
There’s always another one,” he said in between kisses.

“No, you need to get going. There’ll be time when you get home.” She pulled away dodging his lips and laughed at the face he made at her.

Megan busied herself the next few days. Todd had left on his trip with a promise to call everyday, he did. She kept telling herself that she didn’t miss him, but it didn’t help the fact that every time she turned around, she’d been thinking about him.

She was sitting at her desk running over some ad ideas when the phone rang, by the time she hung up five minutes later, she was jumping around laughing. She had her first customers! She had booked a family for three nights starting this weekend. Then as it hit her, this weekend! She promptly sat back down.

There was so much left to do, she hadn’t figured out yet how to work the billing software that Iian had installed on her computer. She had the meals planned, but hadn’t printed up a list to place in each of the cabins yet. There was a matter of stocking the refrigerators, and many more odds and ends that came to mind.

She quickly made a list and then called Lacey to see if she could come over the next day to help. By the time she went to bed that night, her stomach was in knots. It seemed like so many things still needed to be done, and only two days to get them done.

She headed upstairs and decided it would be a perfect night to sit in the hot tub and try to relax. Boomer sat at the edge and looked like he wished to join her, she really enjoyed his company.

The day Todd had left she hadn’t only picked up cat food and a littler box, but had purchased every type of cat toy the store had in stock. He had a large scratching post in the corner of her room. He was a spoiled cat. In the few days he had been there; she could see that he had already gained some weight. She had, of course, taken him to the vet the next day as well. Boomer was a boy, but then again she had kind of guessed it. He was now up to date on shots and received a collar and a shiny tag with his name and address on it.

The vet said that he thought Boomer was about two years old. He could stand to gain some weight, but now that he was in a loving home, she didn’t think that would be a problem.

When she got out of the hot tub Boomer jumped up on the bed and went to his pillow, curled up and quickly fell asleep. Megan noted the pillow was the one that Todd had used. This had been their routine; she liked having a routine, and someone to share it with.

The next morning, she woke up late, her body ached and when she stood up, she had to run to the restroom where she immediately got sick. She had a slight temperature and took a couple of Aspirin before heading downstairs.

When Lacey arrived, an hour later, she almost dropped the box of cinnamon rolls she was holding.

“
What’s wrong? Are you sick?” she said ushering Megan to the couch feeling her forehead. “You’ve got a fever. Did you take anything?”

“Yes, a couple of aspirin.” Megan let Lacey push her down on the couch and put her feet up.

“Aspirin, good, I’ll go make you some soup. You just rest now.”

Megan tried, but her head, and her stomach were spinning. By the time the smell of the soup filled the house, she was back in the bathroom.

Even though, she started feeling a little better by noon, she spent the day on the couch.

“The aspirin took care of most of the aches. I still feel run down though,” she told Lacey.

“There was a twenty four hour bug going around town. I had it last week myself.”

They ended up working until later that evening to finish everything that had been on her list. Lacey had really helped out. She had printed the menus on card stock paper and had placed them in silver frames that Megan had purchased from Allison’s store. Everything was ready for her first customers.

She had shipped her printed brochures to Ric and had delivered some to each of the stores in town the week before. They had come out very nice and had a beautiful colored picture of the honeymoon cabin on the cover.

“Todd asked me to marry him.” Megan said later on. They had decided to celebrate the official opening of Pride Bed and Breakfast, over the cinnamon rolls that Lacey had brought with her earlier that day.

“What did you say?” Lacey didn’t seem surprised.

“You don’t seem surprised.” Megan looked over at her. Today she had on bright blue socks with yellow ducks and dark purple pants and a gray shirt. She was sitting on the end of the couch with a cup of hot chocolate in her hands.

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Todd isn’t one to mess around, when he wants something, he usually gets it.” She smiled at Megan.

“I don’t know what to do. I didn’t give him an answer. I need some time to figure my life out. There’s so much that I just want to… I don’t know.”

“You need to find yourself first.” Lacey said plainly giving Megan a look of understanding. “You know about Todd’s past?” When Megan nodded, she continued. “I knew that Todd wasn’t really in love with Sara, I mean, there was a time when he’d been. But, I think that it had been more love out of obligation then anything. Sara had been raised by her father, her mother died when she was young. Her father was the town drunk, he neglected Sara all together. I remember seeing her in the store one day. She had gotten a job there when she was fourteen. You see, after her mother died, her father just refused to acknowledge her; it was almost as if Sara didn’t exist in his eyes. She had to fend for herself, buying food, clothing, and everything. I think she could have dealt with it better if he had hit her, but to have someone you love, just… ignore you.” Lacey shook her head. “When Todd and Sara graduated school, she moved into the apartment above the store, Todd went away to school out east. After a year though he moved back and they married.” Megan couldn’t imagine being ignored, and at some times in her life, she had wished she had been ignored.

Boomer jumped up on the couch and lay down on Lacey’s lap. Lacey scratched his neck, smiling when he rolled over so she could do the same to his stomach.

“I can see how he feels for you. Its right there, plainly on his face whenever he talks about you, or looks at you. I know you want to start your life over here. Just take the time to think about all of your options. The answers will come to you.”

“I have these feelings for Todd. I’ve never felt like this before, for anyone. I can’t explain them or how they make me feel. All I know is that they scare me. I wish I knew what to do.”

By the time Lacey left for the evening, Megan was up and around with no side effects from the bug at all. Her mind refused to stop and she ended up staying up late watching old movies and eating the left over cinnamon rolls, a whole plate of them.

The next two days, the same sickness came again. By the second evening, Megan called Dr. Steven’s office. He had received her medical files already and she set an appointment for the next morning.

When she arrived, she was feeling just as bad as the previous days; she was late for the appointment since she couldn’t tear herself from the bathroom.

Her hair was in tangles, her skin clammy, and she had large bags under her eyes. One look at her and Dr. Steven’s smiled.

“Well, my dear, I’ve been in this business for over sixty years, I can tell you now, it’s not the flu.”

“It’s not?” Megan asked, sitting down on the examination table moaning with the jerking motion.

“No, but let’s just run some test before I go shooting off my old mouth.”

He drew blood, made her pee in a cup, and gave her a complete physical. Then he left the room for a few minutes and returned with an even bigger smile.

“Knew I wasn’t wrong, can spot it from a mile away.” He mumbled writing something in the folder.

“What?” Megan asked.

“Pregnancy.”

Megan’s jaw hit the floor. “What is? Who is? What now?” Megan stuttered.

“You my dear, about seven and a half weeks I would say, which would make it a February baby. I’ll need to know some more information to get an exact due date, but mid February would be my first guess. Maybe even a Valentines baby.” He smiled over at her.

Megan had yet to breathe or blink. She just continued looking at the old man like he was insane. He kept right on, rattling off in a cheery voice while he wrote in the file.

“It’s been a while since I brought a new life into Pride, been about oh, I would say five years.” He stared off at the wall like he was looking for something important in his mind. “Not too many young couples settle down here. But, oh boy! The joy of bringing a new life into this world!” He was saying.

When these words hit Megan’s brain, the realization finally hit her. “A baby!”

“
A
baby?” she asked again.

Dr. Steven’s turned in his chair and looked at her.

“Are you saying that we, that I’m going to have a baby?”

They had been so careful, seven and a half weeks meant their first time. But, they had used protection that first night.

Then she remembered that next morning when she had woken him up, and the blood drained from her face.