Sweet Talking Cowboy (10 page)

“Alright, girl.  Give it up.  What’s wrong with you?” 
Shelly had become a good friend and just seeing the concern on her face filled
Briann’s eyes with tears.

She batted frantically to keep them contained, but accepted
the tissues pushed toward her by the older woman.  “Take your time, sweetie. 
I’ve got nothing to do but look after you for a while.”

Briann struggled against saying it, as if hearing it for
herself would make it anymore real, but finally she shuddered.  “I’m pregnant.”

Wisely, Shelly didn’t react.  But after a few minutes she
reached out one hand and closed it around one of Briann’s.  “Are you hiding
from the father?”  She had noticed that the younger woman shied away from the
young men that were drawn to her and instinctively knew she’d been hurt, and
hurt badly.

Briann nodded.  “I never want him to know.  Ever!”

Shelly squeezed her hand gently.  “So, what do you want to
do?”

Briann shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I…I just realized it.  I
don’t know what to do.”

“Have you thought about your options?”  The older woman’s
voice was soft with understanding.  This could be sensitive ground to tread on.

Briann lifted her head and looked at her friend.  “Options?”

“Abortion, birth and adoption, or birth and parenting. 
Women today have choices.”

The mink brown head shook negatively.  “I ca….can’t have an
abortion!  And I’m not sure I could be a good parent.”

“Well, don’t worry about that for now.  No abortion means
you have plenty of time to decide between the other options.  Just relax and
get used to the idea.  You’ve got plenty of time.”  Shelly walked around the
small desk and squatted down beside Briann’s chair.  “Don’t worry.  Just go
home and think about it.  You’re going to be just fine.”

Briann lifted her head and looked at the older woman.  “When
the parents of my students find out, they’ll pull their kids out of here.”

Shelly smiled indulgently.  “If they even notice, what makes
you think they won’t just assume that you’re married?  Most of these people
don’t even know where their cook came from.”

Briann finally told Aunt Poog and Uncle Mike, prompting an
immediate visit from them.  It was a rough time for Briann.  Both of them
wanted her to tell Slade that she was pregnant, but she adamantly refused.

“Briann,” Uncle Mike counseled, “Slade is an honorable man. 
He’ll marry you and be a father to his child.  Raising a child alone is a big
job.”

Even while he spoke she shook her head negatively.  “No. 
I’m sorry, but I will not tell him.  I’m not sure I’ll even keep the baby.  I
might give it up for adoption.”

Poog couldn’t contain her tears any longer.  “Oh honey,
please don’t make that decision yet.  I…we’ll help you, but don’t give it up.”

Her aunt and uncle continued to do all they could to
convenience her to call and at least inform Slade, but she incessantly refused
and it took all she could do to extract their promise that they would respect
her decision.

She was sitting in the office one afternoon between classes
when she felt the first movement from her child.  The faint flutter of life twitching
in her tummy swept through her and immediately she knew it would always be her
child.  She could never leave the raising of it to anyone else.

Shelly found her there, tears of wonder and excitement
flowing from her eyes.

They celebrated by having supper in one of Atlanta’s better
restaurants that night.

Between the salad and the main course, the baby moved again
and Briann’s hand covered her stomach protectively.  She looked at Shelly
through unshed tears.  “I just wish things were different.  I don’t like the
idea of not being married when the baby is born.”

Shelly shrugged.  “So call the father and tell him that.  His
child deserves his last name.”

Briann shook her head and dropped her eyes.  “No.  I can’t
tell him about this baby.  There’s a lot you don’t know.”

Shelly smiled with understanding.  “I know you love him.”

Briann looked at her in disbelief.  “No!”

Shelly nodded.  “Yes, you may not want to love him, but you
do, Briann.  You should give him a chance.”

“What I might or might not feel doesn’t matter.  This is
my
baby.  The only thing he had to do with it was one night of passion.  That’s
the way it will stay!”

“If that’s the way you want it, I can’t do anything but accept
that you have you’re reasons and since you’re my friend, I’m here for you.”

Before dessert was finished, two men stopped by their
table.  Briann felt a sense of dread, fearing the men were hoping for easy
pickups, but Shelly quickly displaced that notion by introducing them to Briann
as her brother, Evan and his friend Pete.

Chairs were pulled back and Evan and Pete joined them.  It
was a very casual evening and Briann was able to relax and was then surprised
to discover that Evan, like Shelly was a very likable person.  Pete was much
quieter, but Briann dismissed that as shyness.

She learned that Evan was a policeman, hoping to become a
detective before long.  Pete was an interning doctor and the two of them had
been friends from college.  Since neither of them was married, Briann assumed
they had gone out looking to make female connections at one of the local clubs
and figured they would find it easily enough.  They were both good-looking and
even in the upscale restaurant they were receiving attention from the female
diners.

Evan had the dark coloring and the attractive features of
many handsome Italian men while Pete had all the classic, blond, good looks of
every boy next door in all the movies.

Over the next days at the barn, Shelly talked more about her
brother than she ever had and it was during one of those conversations that she
confided that Evan and Pete were more than just friends.  They had been lovers
since their sophomore year at college, but kept that part of their lives
separate from their professional lives.

Evan had gone to college on an athletic scholarship and
didn’t want to lose it, and then going into the police academy decided it was
wiser to continue to be discrete.

Lately however, he’d been taking some teasing from some of
his fellow officers about not having a girlfriend and he feared they wouldn’t
be accepting of his homosexuality.

Briann felt badly for Evan because it was easy to see he
loved his profession and several commendations he’d already received proved he
was good at it.

Since Shelly was Evan’s sister, Briann wasn’t surprised to
see him at the barn occasionally and learned he’d ridden competitively in cross
country events before he became a policeman.  He rode one of Shelly’s own
horses and fell in with Briann as she left the barn one afternoon to put some
trail miles on one of the colts she was sending home in a few days.

Knowing his relationship with Pete meant that he wasn’t
interested in her, she was relaxed in his company and found herself laughing
with his easy humor and enjoying the ride.

Later, after the horses were put away and it was just Shelly
and Briann, walking to the office, Briann was laughing and relating a funny
incident that had happened while she and Evan were riding when Shelly suddenly
stopped and looked at her friend.

“You and Evan should get married!”  She said suddenly.

Briann was stunned and it showed on her face.

“No,” Shelly exclaimed.  “I’m serious!  You don’t want to
marry your baby’s father and Evan can’t marry the person he loves.  You need a
husband, he needs a wife.  You like each other and respect each other.  What
could be better for both of you?”

Briann laughed at the absurdity of such an idea.  Shelly
didn’t push it.  It really was a fantasy-like thought, but she loved her
brother and thought of Briann almost as a sister and didn’t like seeing them
both unhappy over things in their lives that they weren’t willing to change.

Over the next weeks Brianna’s pregnancy became noticeable.

As she started to show, only a couple of the students asked
about the baby, most having been taught that an employee’s private life is none
of their concern.

If she found it necessary to help her students understand
what correction needed to be accomplished between horse and rider, Briann now
used one of Shelly’s horses.  She’d already shipped the two colts she’d brought
to Atlanta home, knowing her advancing pregnancy didn’t allow her the time to
continue showing them.

It wasn’t unusual for Evan to show up to watch one of
Briann’s late classes and she had begun to suspect that Shelly had bounced her
crazy idea off him.  He, however, was always his same cheerful self, joking
with her and making sure that she knew he was only interested in friendship.

It was when she was in her sixth month that he finally
broached the subject with her.  She was putting the last school horse away for
the night when he walked into the barn.  She smiled a greeting at him and
continued down the aisle of the barn to release the gelding into the paddock
behind the barn.  He quickened his steps and opened the gate for her.  She
turned the horse to face her with her back to the gate then slipped the halter
off and watched with satisfaction as then animal found a sandy spot and dropped
to roll in the dry sand.

Evan pushed the gate closed and stood beside her while she
watched the horse get up and shake before walking over to join the others at
the roll of hay.

“Briann, you shouldn’t be here alone,” he chided her
gently.  “What if you got hurt?”

She chuckled.  “I’m fine, Evan.  Shelly had to take one of
the mares over to the clinic and everyone else was gone.  I just had to put
away the last few school horses.”

“What if you got hurt?” he asked again, his black eyes
boring into hers intently.

She shrugged.  “Maybe you’re right.  Maybe I should be more
careful.  I’m just not used to the way this pregnancy restricts me.”

Satisfied that he’d made his point, he nodded.  “You know,
as you get bigger, you’re not going to be quiet as agile as you usually are,
either, and around big animals, accidents happen.”

She nodded.  “I can’t afford to not work and I don’t want to
just sit at home.”

As they talked, their steps took them back to the barn and
into the tack room to hang up the halter Evan had taken from her hand.  Like
Shelly, Evan had become a close friend.  After he pulled the tack room door
closed and locked it from the outside, they turned and started out to the
parking area.  Suddenly he took one of her arms and turned her to face him.

“Briann, you need to call the baby’s father and tell him. 
He deserves to know what you’re going through.  He deserves to know about his
child.”  His brows were knitted in a stern look that brought a smile to her
face.

“That’s out of the question, Evan.  That is over and will
stay in the past where it belongs.”  She felt tears pooling in her eyes.  “I
will not involve him in this.  It was my own stupidity that got me into this
and now, I’ll pay the price.”  She batted away tears and turned to walk on to
her truck.

Evan followed and supplied a supporting hand while she
stepped up into the driver’s seat.

“Then marry me and let me take care of you.”

His proposal caught her off guard but she was deeply
touched.  “I’m sure Pete would love that.”  She quipped back at him.

Evan hesitated then continued.  “I found a note on my locker
last week, informing me that gay men don’t make good cops.”

She gasped.  “You’re kidding!”

He shook his head negatively.  “I wish I was.  There’ve been
a couple of snide remarks about gays that I’ve felt were made on purpose, but
so far, nothing serious.”

“Until the note!”  Briann said flatly.

He nodded.  “I don’t have to work, Briann, you know my
parents are wealthy, but I love my job.  I can make a difference in this city,
if I’m just allowed to.”

Her heart was breaking for him and she placed a comforting
hand on his arm.  “I know that.  You’re a good man, Evan.”

“Think about marrying me.  Name only, I promise.  It’ll just
be for appearances.  You can have and do whatever you want and I’ll make sure
you’re taken care of for the rest of your life.  You and the baby.”  His plea
for her help was filled with promise, but she shook her head.

“Evan, think about what that would mean.  For both of us. 
Living together wouldn’t be all that easy.  I’m pretty independent and just how
will Pete feel about all this?”

“Pete wants me to just quit my job and for us go public, but
I can’t do that.”  He raked his fingers through his thick hair.  “I can’t go
public.  I never wanted this life!”

Stunned by this admission from him, she hesitated, but
couldn’t stop the question.  “Then how did it happen?”

He shrugged.  “Alcohol.  Pete and I were already friends and
we got drunk one night…and it……just happened.  I mean….I’d never been with a
woman…..I was always...….shy, I guess.  Anyway, I can admit it to people I’m
close to, but I don’t want the world thinking of me as that gay guy down the
street.  I grew up Catholic and I know there were other choices, but this is
the one I made and it’s mine to live with.”  He looked at her, his eyes showing
his hopelessness.  “Look, just forget this conversation ever happened.  I
shouldn’t have even thought of dragging you into this.  I’m sorry.”  He turned
and started to walk to his car, but her words stopped him.

“Evan, I will think about it, okay?  No promises.  I have to
be sure.  This isn’t something to take lightly.”  Her hand stroked across her
expanding baby bump.  “I have a child to consider, too.”

His eyes watched her hand and he nodded.  “I’ve always
wanted to be a daddy.”

She smiled.  “We’ll see.”

They were married in a quiet civil ceremony a few weeks
later and moved into one of the new houses on Mirror Lake, just down the road
from the stables.