Lonestar Secrets (4 page)

"I've got things to do before nightfall. This can all wait until tomorrow when I'm supposed to be here."

"Did Jack say something to upset you?"

"No, no, nothing like that." Shannon wished she could confide in someone, but this was too personal. Too hurtful.

Allie reached them. Her face red and her breath hitching in her chest, she paused and put her hand on her belly. "Where's the fire?"

Shannon hated making a fool of herself. Her face burned. "Can we go back to the house? I've got so much to do." Her vision doubled and blurred, and she blinked hard but it didn't clear. Stress did that to her.

"Sure," Rick said. He helped his wife to the truck.

Shannon got in the back of the big crew cab with the girls and buckled them in their car seats. Her thoughts whirled all the way back to the ranch. Her suspicions were crazy. But the thoughts nagged and dug further into her swelling incredulity.

"You want to stop at your office and check it out?" Rick asked.

"I'll do that tomorrow." Right now, she wanted to be alone and think this through. She fell silent as Rick drove to the old ranch house.

Rick parked in front of the house. "You need anything else from us?"

"No, I'm fine."

Allie glanced at her husband. "Honey, take Betsy home for her nap and come get me in a couple of hours. Okay?"

He nodded. "How about I take Kylie too? She's already asleep back there. She and Betsy can play when they wake."

Shannon glanced at her sleeping daughter. Though she hated to be away from Kylie, she needed some space to think. "You sure? They might be a handful when they're fresh."

"I can handle them," Rick said.

"You're the husband of the year." Allie blew him a kiss, then got out of the truck and lumbered to the porch.

Shannon brushed a kiss across her sleeping child's forehead, then followed. She longed to share her fears with Allie but wasn't sure anyone would understand. Her suspicions were too outrageous.

A faint fragrance hung in the air when she entered the house. Shannon sniffed. "Do you smell that?"

"What?"

"A man's cologne." Could Rick's have lasted this long? Maybe it was her imagination.

"I don't smell anything," Allie said.

Shannon went to the coffeepot and dumped out the cold, stale coffee. "I'll make some fresh coffee."

"No caffeine while I'm pregnant. But I've got decaf tea in my purse if you want to start some water."

Tea might calm her. Shannon set down the carafe and put on the teakettle. It was the same stained white one she'd used all her years here, but she hadn't noticed this morning when Allie cleaned it up and made tea. Was it only this morning she'd arrived? Fatigue blurred her vision around the edges again. The familiar motion of clutching the kettle's chipped handle comforted her.

Once the women cupped steaming mugs of tea in their palms, she and Allie settled on the lumpy sofa in the living room. Shannon wrapped her hands around the warm cup even though heat shimmered in the room. Her uncle had always hated air-conditioning.

"Your expression could scare small children,"Allie said. "You ready to talk about it?"

Shannon bit her lip. "You didn't think it odd that Kylie and Faith looked so much alike?"

"I was surprised,"Allie said. "But I've heard of those kinds of things happening. Don't they say everyone has a look-alike somewhere? Are you thinking she's adopted or something? By someone in your family?"

"Not exactly." If only that were a possibility. She took a sip of her peppermint tea. The herb's bite cleared her head. Was there anyone left in her family who might have a child so amazingly similar? There was only Curt, and he was dark-haired like his dad. Shannon took after her mother. No other cousins. And Faith had been born the same day. In the same tiny birthing clinic.

Her teacup rattled in her hand, and she set it down before her shaking hands spilled it. "Kylie had a twin," she said.

Allie choked on her sip of tea. "You gave her up for adoption?" she guessed.

"Never!" Shannon said. "She died. At least that's what they told me. Jack said Faith was born on April 14 in the clinic. Kylie was born the same day in the same place. What does that tell you, Allie? I just keep going over and over it in my mind. What if my other daughter and Jack's were switched? What if Jack's baby died and he took one of my girls?"

Her past with Jack didn't inspire much trust, and she wouldn't put anything past him.

Allie held up her hand. "Okay, I'm lame, but I'm not getting it. Start at the beginning"

Shannon sighed. She was going to have to go through the whole thing. "I got pregnant my final year in college up at Sul Ross State in Alpine. Kylie's father, well, let's say he was less than thrilled. He lit out for Dallas and left me on my own. I came home that summer to stay with my uncle one last time so I could have my babies here. I found out four months before I delivered that I was having twins both girls."

She fell silent, remembering the shock. The thought of raising one child had been daunting. Realizing there were two had been overwhelming. "When my water broke, I went to the clinic. The delivery seemed uneventful, fairly quick and easy. Rylie my first baby was perfect in the delivery room. I kissed her warm cheek and touched her pink skin. She wasn't a bit blue. Then Kylie came, another perfect baby girl."

Not wanting to relive the shock of that day, she stared out the window at the mountains in the distance. Allie touched her hand, and she refocused on her new friend's face. "Then they told me Rylie had died. I don't know what happened." She set her tea on the table and gripped Allie's hand. "But what if she didn't die? What if Jack and his wife took her?"

"You mean on purpose?" Allie shook her head. "I don't really know Jack well, but Rick thinks the world of Jack. And if that's what happened, where's his other child, the one his wife delivered?"

"They showed me a dead baby." Shannon rubbed her head. "Ridiculous, huh?" She still couldn't get the possibility out of her mind. Jack's family had money. And connections. Could the babies have been switched deliberately? It wouldn't be the first time he'd tried to take something that belonged to her family.

"A DNA test would tell you the truth," Allie said.

Shannon pressed her fingers on the bridge of her nose. "You sound like you believe it's possible."

"Anyone who looks at those two girls has to consider it. Go back over the birth. Tell me what you remember."

Shannon nodded and stepped back five years.

THE PAIN HAD EASED WITH THE EPIDURAL. THE SMELL OF ANTISEPTIC AND the cold embrace of the delivery table made her shudder. If only she weren't going through this alone.

"Here comes baby number one," the doctor called out. "I see the head."

"Bear down hard," the nurse said. Her badge read Verna. She was in her late fifties with dull auburn hair.

Shannon's life had narrowed to this small, sterile room. After today, she wouldn't be alone anymore. She'd have her babies. Shannon bore down with all her might, her moans locked behind her teeth. If there was one thing her uncle had taught her, it was that an Astor didn't cry. It took everything she had not to allow even a gasp past her lips.

"Good job," the nurse said. "It's a girl!"

Moments later the doctor deposited a small body on Shannon's stomach. Shannon ran her hand over the tiny head, still white and sticky with vernix. "You're Rylie," she whispered.

"One more time," the doctor said. "Give me all you've got, Shannon."

Shannon closed her eyes and concentrated on the task. She'd have years with her tiny daughters once they were safely here. A few minutes later another baby girl joined her sister. "Hello, Kylie," she said to her new daughter. The little one mewled.

She was a mother now. The strength of her maternal instincts surprised her. She nuzzled the babies, kissing their soft cheeks and inhaling the aroma of their newness.

"Let me check them out." The nurse slid her palms under Rylie.

Shannon hated to let the nurse take them to the warmers, and she ran her palm over Rylie's head one last time, then did the same to Kylie.

"They look good," the nurse said. "Good Apgar scores. No problems here."

"Thank God," Shannon whispered. Weak tears leaked from her eyes. If only there were someone to share the joy with. Shannon's uncle had declared he was too ashamed to come for the births, and who knew where the babies' father was by now. She had to face this like she'd faced every other trial in her life with no help.

Verna smiled at Shannon. "I'm going to take your girls to the nursery and get their tests. You'll have them back by the time we get you to your room."

"Could you take a picture first?" Shannon pointed to the camera on the stainless-steel tray. Verna smiled and took two pictures before whisking away the babies.

Dr. Madison joked as he stitched her up, but Shannon barely heard. She was eager to touch her daughters again. When she finally got to her room, there was only one baby there. "Where's my other daughter?" she asked the nurse who wheeled her in.

"Let me check." The nurse bustled away.

Shannon checked the tag on the baby's wrist. It read "Astor Baby 2." She touched the fuzz on Kylie's head and brushed her lips over the baby's soft skin. She'd do anything for her babies. Somehow she'd give them a good life.

Glancing at the clock, she realized the nurse had been gone fifteen minutes. A vague alarm began to tickle Shannon's spine. That alarm changed to panic when half an hour passed. All of it a premonition of the nurse's return and the announcement that Rylie had died.

SHANNON BLINKED AND SHE WAS BACK IN THE DINGY LIVING ROOM WITH Allie's compassionate gaze on her. Shannon swallowed hard. "I asked to see my daughter, to hold her one last time, and they brought her."

"Were you sure then it was the same baby?"

Shannon struggled to remember the tiny blue face. "I wasn't suspicious, if that's what you mean. I'd gotten such a brief glimpse of her in the delivery room."

"What reason did they give for her death?"

"The doctor said her lungs weren't developed properly," she told Allie. Even now, her throat closed and her eyes burned. She often thought about being reunited with her daughter in heaven.

A frown creased Allie's brow. "Wouldn't that have shown up in the delivery room? You'd think she would have been struggling to breathe from the moment she was born."

The thought had crossed Shannon's mind more than once. "I couldn't let myself think about it too much. I still had Kylie. She's been the joy of my life."

"Do you still have that picture?"

"Yes, just a minute." Shannon stood and went to the stack of boxes against the wall. She found the right one and pulled the tape from the top, then rummaged through Kylie's collection of unicorns until she found the photo album. "Here it is." Returning to the sofa, she flipped it open and showed Allie.

Allie ran her finger down the page. "Wow, the girls look identical."

Shannon's thoughts lingered on the little girl she'd seen today. Faith. The last thing she needed was one more problem to deal with, but she couldn't walk away from this. "I have to find out for sure if Faith is my daughter."

"You'd need some kind of reason to request a blood test. Or you could exhume the body of the little one who died and see if she's yours."

"How did Blair die?"

"Freak accident, really. A little over a year ago, she went up in a hot-air balloon that crashed. She'd been doing all kinds of crazy things driving a race car, going bungee jumping. Rumor has it that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and wanted to try everything before she got too sick. Shannon, you okay? You went white."

"Fine, I'm fine." Shannon ignored the sick churning in her stomach as the full ramifications of what faced her began to sink in. "Let's see if we can find the nurse first and talk to her. Her name was Verna Jeffers."

"I've heard the name. Can't think in what context though,"Allie said.

The women hashed through the situation for another hour and a half until the rumble of a vehicle floated through the open window.

"I think Rick and the girls are here," Shannon said. Car doors slammed, and she stood at the sound of small feet.

The girls burst into the room. Kylie spoke first. "Mommy, I'm hot. I think my sister is sick."

Shannon suppressed a smile. Kylie often claimed things about her imaginary sister. Her smile faded when she took in her daughter's flushed face and recalled the events of the day. Shannon had often heard of the connections twins experienced. She touched Kylie's head. No fever. But she looked like she might be feverish. Spots of red stained her cheeks, and her eyes were glazed.

Call Jack.

She resisted the impulse. Even if Faith had a fever, Jack wasn't likely to welcome advice from a stranger. Besides, the last thing she wanted to do was talk to him. She pulled Kylie onto her lap. "You're okay, peanut. You and Betsy want some apple slices? Maybe that will make you feel better."

"My sister is sick," Kylie said, her voice insistent. "You should help her, Mommy. You always make me feel better."

Shannon bit her lip. What if Faith really was sick? She didn't have Jack's number, but she was tempted to find it. Her glance went to Allie, who interpreted it.

"I know his number,"Allie said.

Cornered. With Allie and the girls staring at her, Shannon dug out her cell phone. "What is it?" He could only hang up. A little humiliation was a small price to pay for peace of mind.

She punched in the number as Allie quoted it. The phone rang on the other end. A woman's voice, heavily accented, answered. "Mr. Jack's house."

Shannon's words dried up on her tongue. She could handle Jack, but a stranger on the phone would think she was nuts. She wet her lips. "Um, could I speak to Mr. MacGowan?"

"He no in."

Maybe this woman was Faith's nanny. At least she might know if the child was all right. "I was wondering if Faith is all right?"

"This is nurse? You no come now. Miss Faith has fever and cough, but I fix her. She will be okay."