Southern Admirer (Southern Loving Book 2) (13 page)

“Oh,” he said. “I’m going to take a quick shower.”

“It’s lightening out.”

“That’s why I said it will be a quick shower.” He
winked out her before making his trek down the hall to his bedroom. During his
hot shower, Shane couldn’t help but think about the guilt that plagued him. He
wasn’t grieving for Sarah; he came to terms with her death last year. The grief
dissipated but took the form of guilt. He refused to feel guilty for feeling
something so wonderful, for someone who brought him so much joy and was helping
him live again. But it didn’t matter because Shane would always be guilty of
falling out of love with her before she died. No one could control who they
passionately loved. It was one of those things that was out of a person's
hands. His mom always said the heart feels that we cannot say and the heart
knows when it’s time to walk away.

Drying off, he put on a pair of slacks and t-shirt,
he walked down the dim lit hallway. Jasmine must have heard his footsteps and
looked up at him. Damn he loved the way she looked at him. Taking a seat next
to her on the floor, Shane sat there and observed her.

“You’re a great mom,” he said honestly.

“You too… I mean you’re a great father.” She
smiled and handed Shay to him.

Thunder rolled down, making the ground shake,
lighting flashed through the window, illuminating the living room.

Boom.

The house fell in total complete darkness. “The
lightning must have hit something.” Shane handed Shay back to Jasmine and stood
up. He stumbled around in the dark until he found a flashlight in the kitchen
drawer.

“How long do you think this will last?” she asked,
her voice shaky.

“Don’t tell me Jasmine St. Clair is afraid of the
dark.” Shane teased as he shined the flashlight on Jasmine and the baby.

Silence.

“You’re scared of the dark?” he said with
amusement.

Jasmine shrugged. Yeah, she was a
twenty-five-year-old woman and afraid of the dark. Her brothers used to tease
her profusely about being fearful of the dark. Her face felt flush with
humiliation.

“You don’t have to worry,” Shane’s calm voice
whispered, his face was close enough to hers that she could smell his minty
breath, but she was still afraid.

“Uh… Shane? How long will the power outage last?”
she stuttered nervously, and move away from him.

“I don’t work for Texas Electricity,” he said with
a smile.

Jasmine wanted to call him a smart ass but instead
she placed Shay in her bassinet. “So what are we going to do, Ranger McBride?”

“I can turn on the fireplace and we can pretend
like we’re camping,” he suggested. “I think I can even find some lanterns.”
Shane began to stand up.

“Lanterns?” she chuckled and shook her head.

“Fine,” he said as he sat back down on the floor.
“We can sit here in the dark. Who knows when Texas Electricity will turn the
lights back on.”

“Okay,” she shrieked.

“There you have it sweet cheeks, we will camp
inside until the power comes back on.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek
before getting up and finding the lanterns.

Shane worked quickly to get the fireplace going to
get Jasmine out of the dark. He moved the furniture to one end of the room,
leaving them a large expanse of hardwood floor where they could set up a pallet
made of blankets on the floor, a safe distance for the fire. Going to the
refrigerator, he pulled out hot dogs and in the pantry he grabbed marshmallows
and popcorn.

“That is a lot of junk food,” Jasmine said as she
eyes the array of food on the floor.

“This is traditional camping food,” he said.

Sitting next to on the floor in Indian-style, she
followed his direction on how to roast a hot dog on the metal stick.

“I’ve never been camping,” she said.

“You’ve never been camping?” he asked
incredulously.

“No.” She chuckled when he made a face. “Think
about the snakes, animals and bugs,” she shuddered just thinking about it.

“Your brothers have been camping.”

“Ha!” Jasmine said, looking at him. “They went to
a cabin near the lake that has four bedrooms, three baths and a gourmet
kitchen.”

“Damn, I’m definitely going to take you camping.”
He turned to look at her. “You will indeed like it.”

“Who said we will be together that long to go
camping?” she asked. Pulling her hotdog out the fire, placing it on a bun, she
reached past him and seized the mustard and ketchup beside him. Jasmine nibbled
on the hotdog and moaned. “This is so good,” Jazz exclaimed as she took another
bite.

“Wait until you taste mine,” Shane said as he
pulled his lightly burnt hotdog off the fire.

“What?” Jazz laughed.

“Not… like that.” His face became beet red as he
thought about the way his remarked sounded.

“Sure.” Jasmine raised an eyebrow at him.

“So do you want to taste it?” he asked.

Jasmine playfully slapped his arm. “Stop playing.”

“Who said I was?” he said, licking his lips.

Jasmine swallowed the orange crush soda as she
turned her attention to the orange flames.

Getting their filling on hotdogs and chips, Jasmine
laid her head against Shane’s shoulder as she watched the flickering of the
flames.

“You ever had a smore?” he asked, looking down at
her head.

“Yeah,” she said. “We made some in a microwave.”

“That doesn’t count.” He fetched the bag of large
marshmallows and skewers sitting next to him. Like a pro, he pushed the
marshmallow onto each stick and handed one to Jasmine. Lifting her head off his
shoulder, she scooted closer to the fireplace and thrust it into the fireplace.

“It’s done.” Shane took the skewer from her and
slid the hot melting marshmallow on a graham cracker with a Hersey chocolate
and topped it with another graham cracker. He held the s’more in front of her
mouth. “Take a bite.”

Jasmine took a monstrous bite. “Umm… Hot.” She
winced and swallowed the delicious snack, leaving a trail of chocolate and
marshmallow on her chin.

“Jazz,” he laughed and pointed to her chin. She
was adorable.

“What?” she asked.

“You have a little…never mind let me.” He smiled
mischievously, leaning over, he kissed her chin. He nibbled and licked the
sticky marshmallow off her chin until it was completely gone. He trailed kisses
back to her lips where he sucked on her sweet lips. Jasmine gasped and pulled
away from him. His lips were swollen as he looked into her dark brown eyes that
shined brightly; he had to remind himself to breathe when looking at her. She
had the ability to steal his breath from him.

They sat there staring at each other, the pitter
patter of rain on the roof and the frequent sound of the thunder was the only
sound that emitted from the room. He was too old for his heart to be skipping a
beat.

Jasmine kissed him quickly and sat back down in
her spot. Nothing was said between them. She had to wonder if it would be bad
to ask him to hold her.

Waa-waa.

“Our princess is up,” Shane said, standing up and
running over to the bassinet to pick up Shay. “I’ll change her, then you can
feed her.”

“Okay.” Jasmine sat there from her spot on the
pallet and watched Shane contently as he rocked Shay back and forth calming her
before he laid her on the changing table.

They sat there and smiled, listening to their
daughter coo and suck on Jasmine’s breast. When Shay got her fill, she let go.
Shane took Shay from Jazz and rocked the baby back to sleep as Jasmine went to
the bathroom. When she came back to the living room, she heard Shane singing a
country tune that she didn’t recognize.

“You ever thought you would have been a father?”
Jazz asked when the song stopped.

“No, I never thought I had too much to give,”
Shane said.

“Why would you think that?” she asked. Jasmine
could never picture Shane as being insecure.

“I wanted to spare my child disappointment of
having—” His voice trailed off.

“Having what?”

“Nothing, just forget I said it,” he said in a
voice that was final.

Some days Jasmine didn’t know if she was coming or
going with Shane, one day they would make progress in their relationship only
to have minor setbacks.
How much could one person take?
She asked
herself. Taking Shay from Shane, she walked over and placed the baby in the
bassinet as Shane used the poker and started to spread out the logs and embers.
Jasmine laid back on the pillow and watched as the fire and embers began to
smolder.

Pulling back the covers on the pallet, she slipped
into the cold, empty makeshift bed. It reminded her how empty she felt. She
couldn’t describe the emotions she felt for Shane anymore. Was that a bad sign?
Jasmine clenched her teeth together as she laid in bed, not able to sleep, the
only light was from the lantern on the kitchen table. The house was silent
except from Shane’s lightly breathing from behind her.

Turning around trying to get comfortable, her eyes
connected with a pair of green eyes. He continue to stare at her, sighing and
hitting the pillow Jasmine rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

“I think you’re confused.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” he said
softly.

“I can’t put my heart out there only to have you
change your mind… I feel like we’re going around circles… we could beat the
odds and be together if you are willing to try.” She rolled completely on her
side and looked at him.

“Go to sleep.” He leaned over and kissed her
forehead.” Shane hovered over her. “I’m lucky to have you in my life.”

“When did you realize that?” she asked.

“Go to sleep,” he whispered.

Chapter Six

 Any moment, the doors would open and Jasmine
and Shane’s family would find out the big secret they’d been keeping for ten
months. Jasmine looked around the beautifully decorated venue. The room was decorated
in all white that was accented with soft pastels of pink, butter yellow and
green. A big wooden rocking chair sat behind an array of different quotes that
read, “
When you took your first breath you took ours away,”
it touched
her heart just reading it.

The shower theme was based off southern charm,
especially with her incorporating vintage milk bottles. Looking over at the
table with food made her stomach growl. Tantalizing line up of French toast
triangles, maple glazed bacon skewers, mini quiche, frozen fruit cups,
buttermilk biscuits. And a dessert bar with oreos, donuts, coffee cake.

Shane picked up one of the many tiny chalkboards
that was at the table and sat in front of each dish. “Farrah outdid herself.”

“Yeah,” she replied. Since early morning Jasmine
had been trying to shake the butterflies that had her stomach on the edge.

“Jasmine, everything is going to be okay,” Shane
promised, as he gently rocked Shay back and forth in his arms.

Reaching up, she adjusted the white headband on
Shay’s head. Their beautiful baby girl was dressed in a cute floral dress and
pair of white bloomers. Shane stood there looking ravishing in a grey charcoal
suit; his blonde hair was cut short. Once distance and lonely green eyes, were
now happy.

“Everything is going to be okay,” she said softly.
She could hear people gathering behind the closed doors of the venue. “It’s
like surprise, we have a baby and I didn’t tell you.”

“
We
baby,” Shane said. “You’re not in this
by yourself.”

“Guys it’s show time,” Farrah said, coming into
the room with Austin right behind her.

Shane passed Shay off to Jasmine and slipped his
arm around her waist. “Let’s go.”

The French doors opened widely. Their family
shuffled into the room looking around and talking loudly. Jasmine trembled as
if she was standing in a pack of flesh eating zombies. The room became ghostly
quiet as eyes flicker back and forth between Shane and her.

“Everyone, please take a seat,” Shane said, giving
her a reassuring tap on the side.

“What is going on here?” Dena asked, giving a
disapproving stare at them.

“We invited everyone to brunch to celebrate the
birth of our daughter, Shay Melody McBride,” Shane said.

“What? Now…When in the hell did this happen?”
Reginald’s deep, booming voice commanded everyone’s attention.

“Son,” Melody McBride said, looking back and forth
between Shane and Kari.

“We will answer ya’lls questions now…if ya’ll
choose not to take a seat and allow us to talk we will leave you guys sitting
right here.” Shane raised his voice enough to get his point across.

Reluctantly their families sat down, but it didn’t
stop them from glowering at them. All around Jasmine’s eyes met the angry,
disapproval stares of her mother and father. Shane looked at her and winked.

“What you winking for? Is something in your eye?”
Benjamin bellowed, the look on his face said it all. He wanted to tear Shane
limb from limb.

Shane face turnd a shade of red. “A few months
Jasmine and I had relations. Three weeks ago we welcomed a beautiful daughter
into the world. Shay Melody McBride.”

Jasmine adjusted the blanket off Shay, revealing
her features. She felt like Rafiki from the Lion King when he held Simba up for
the animal kingdom.

“How long has this been going on?” Benjamin's
voice was tight, he had a balled up fist in his hand.

“Who cares?” Melody McBride grinned from ear to
ear. “We have a grandbaby; a new life has been added to the McBride and St.
Clair families.”

“I’ll second that.” Jerald McBride stood up from his
chair and walked over toward them. He gave Shane a bear hug and Jasmine a peck
on the cheek. “Welcome to the family,” he whispered in her ear.
Melody followed suit and
before you know it there was laughing, eating, drinking and gushing over Shay.
Jasmine and Shane noticed that a few people didn’t partake in the happy
occasion, which was her family and Sarah’s family.

All afternoon Jasmine made sure to keep her
brothers away from Shane. The evil eyes from Benjamin and Reginald Jr. spoke
volumes; it was only a matter of time before disaster struck. The years of
knowing Shane McBride she knew he could hold his own, but she didn’t want
anything to happen to the father of her child.

Sitting in a private dressing room breastfeeding
her daughter, she looked up when the door swung open and Savannah Nichols
sauntered into the room dressed like she just came off the catwalk in Paris.

Savannah walked to the mirror and refreshed her
makeup, her eyes were glued to Jasmine with a scowl look on her face “I see you
finally got what you wanted,” Savannah sneered.

The way the woman was staring daggers at her made
her uncomfortable. She didn’t disguise her disdain for her.

“My dear sister hadn’t been cold in the ground
before you made the moves on her husband.” Savannah stopped putting on makeup
and turned around to face Jasmine. “I know your secret. It’s only a matter of
time before Shane finds out.”

Jasmine unlatched Shay from her breast, closing
her blouse. She placed the baby on her shoulder and patted her back. “Are you mad?”
Jasmine asked. “You can pretend to be the concerned ex-sister-in-law all you
want, but your face is speaking volumes.”

“What is my face saying?”

Standing up slowly, Jasmine walked passed
Savannah. “You’re in love with him,” she said.

“Does Shane know you were the last person to see
Sarah alive?” Savannah uttered with a snicker. Puckering her lips up, she
applied blood red lipstick and smacked her lips. “I wonder what Shane will do
when he finds out?” she laughed and walked out the door.

Jasmine cringed at the sound of the woman laughing
like a hyena. It seemed her past was coming back to haunt her.

“Jazzy, come here for a second,” her mother called
out.

Putting on a happy face, she strolled to the table
where her parents were sitting at with frowns on their faces.

“What in the hell going on?” Her mother voice was
raised.

Jasmine chuckled uneasily, “I had a baby.
Surprise!” The look on her father’s tight face wasn’t amused at all. The way he
observed her felt like she was a criminal just committing a crime and he was
the arresting officer.

“There is nothing funny about what’s going Jasmine
Bly St. Clair.” Reginald St. Clair voice boomed. “You kept this pregnancy a
secret like some kind of scared juvenile.”

“I didn’t tell you guys because of this cold reception
I knew I would receive.” She cradled Shay in her arms, she reverted her eyes
from that of her parents to Shane standing across the room with Austin watching
her closely. Jasmine knew he could become her knight and shiny armor if he
needed to be.

Her mother’s tight-lipped smile was alarming.
“Don’t you dare think you can take that tone with us young lady!” Dena
exclaimed.

“My God, you would think that I was pregnant and
still in high school,” Jasmine sassed. “I’m grown and make a nice living to support
me and child.”

“Jasmine, listen to me and listen carefully if you
think you’re going to sit your ass up here and talk back to me and your mother,
you have another thing coming. I brought you into this world and I will
sho’nuff
take you out,” Reginald threatened.

 “Why didn’t you tell us? Where did we go
wrong with you? I don’t even recognize the daughter I spent 12 hours in labor
with.” Dena picked up a napkin off the table and dabbed her eyes. “No, you’re
not a pregnant teenager but you are an unwed mother who is a statistic thanks
to him,” her mother nodded at Shane standing in the corner laughing it up with
his cousins.

“Jasmine, why don’t I take the baby?” Melody
McBride approached them.

She looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms.
“I’m not sure.”

“Honey, a child don’t need to be subjected to all
this negative energy. I will sit right over there.” Melody pointed to a chair
that was in eyesight to Jasmine.

“Okay.” Jasmine handed the baby to Melody and
waited until she was out of earshot of the conversation. “You are my parents
and I love you guys to death but you will respect my decision.”

Reginald slapped his hand on the table causing the
dishes to rattle and Jasmine to jump an inch off her chair. This was her father
interrogation tactic he been using on her since she was five years old and
stole a cookie from the cookie jar. “You lied for nine months! If you lie you
steal, if you steal you kill.”

Jasmine abruptly stood up from the table, only for
her mother to reach across the table and grab Jasmine’s hand. “I’m not going to
sit here and be belittled because of a decision I made.”

“Jasmine,” her mother said, standing up from the
table. “Little girl, don’t you realize your decision affects everyone around
you.”

Jasmine’ expression went tense, the hope that she
gained from the small pep talk she had with Shane was now dashed away by
negativity from her family. “I’m a grown woman who never once asked you guys
for a pack of wipes or diapers.” She balled her fist up so hard she flinched
when she felt her nail digging in her skin. “This conversation is over. Enjoy
the remainder of the party.”

“Darling, are you okay?” Melody McBride asked,
when Jasmine walked over to the table.

Nodding her head, she sat down and accepted the
napkin Farrah handed to her. “Its okay, Jazz. I’ve been where you’re at. One
day we will talk about it.”

“Baby, have you eaten yet?” When Jasmine shook her
head no, Melody pushed a fully loaded plate of food in front of her. “Eat.”

***

Shane stood in the corner watching Jasmine stuffing
her face with French toast and bacon as she talked to Farrah and his mother.
When she looked up the smiled beamed on her face was priceless. He looked
around the room at the people who were there to celebrate the birth of his
child. His life had changed painfully; most importantly, he was in love with
his best friend’s sister.

“How did it happen?” Benjamin asked again,
snapping Shane out of his day dreaming

He looked up at his best friend who was sporting a
menacing look on his face. “It was a one night stand.”

“I added dates,” Benjamin said in anguish with his
fists balled up. “It was when I asked her to help you!” He shoved Shane
backward. “What? You took advantage of her on one of your drinking stupors?”

Catching his balance, he saw the hurt on his best
friend’s face “Don’t.” Shane’s face became beet red, as he stood toe to toe
with his partner. “Don’t ever insinuate that I took advantage of her.”

“So my sister was a whore who slipped in your bed
on the anniversary of Sarah’s death?” Benjamin said loud enough for everyone to
hear the argument.

“Take it back!” Shane spat, taking a dangerous
step toward his best friend. “You can attack me all day long, but you will not
insult the mother of my child.”

“It’s the truth and I will not take it back.”
Benjamin shook his head. “You were like a brother…I brought you around my
family and this who you repay me by sleeping with my sister.”

Shane’s jaw twitched ever so slightly as he stared
at the man he called a friend for over ten years. “It’s not that freaking cut
and dry—”

Benjamin rushed Shane, pinning him against the
wall. “Jasmine is twenty-five years old! This isn’t what we wanted for her to
be someone’s baby mama,” he spat.

 “Enough!” Reginald St. Clair shouted,
pulling his son off Shane as he stood between the two men. “This is neither the
time nor the place.”

Benjamin turned to face his father. “How can you
stand here and support this?” he bellowed, with his eyes squinting.

The partygoers became quiet as they watched the
altercation that was unfolding right before their eyes. He looked at the three
St. Clair men staring down at him, Shane didn’t have to look back to know that
his cousins were standing right behind him. “Mr. St. Clair is right…this is
about the celebration of my daughter.”

Stacy St. Clair stepped forward in front of them.
“We should leave.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Dena St. Clair gave
Shane an evil glare.

“Apparently I made the wrong decision bringing you
around my family because a true friend wouldn’t bed his friend’s sister.”
Benjamin chuckled, and took a step toward Shane.

“Shut up!” Jasmine yelled, pushing through the
crowd of people gathered in the middle of the floor. “I have a daughter and you
have a granddaughter and niece. Since you guys have been here, you have been
jumping down my throat regarding the actions I took.” Tears streamed down her
face. “Not once…have you guys held her or have you asked questions about the
birth. All you have done was complain that you weren’t included.”