The Texan's Christmas. Linda Warren
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it was Lucky and the Kid. She’d thought nothing would ever come between them. He was more like his father than she’d ever imagined.
KID LIFTED HIS HEAD FROM the steering wheel and saw he was parked in front of the Shilah offices in downtown Houston and it was morning. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten here. All he remembered were Lucky’s words: Our son died while you were trying to lay every woman in Lubbock County.
They’d had a son. He’d died because of Kid’s selfish, womanizing ways. How could he? He moaned and slipped out of the truck. Unlocking the back door, he took the elevator up to the top floor. For some reason he went to Cadde’s office. Sitting in the dark, he let the pain eat away at him. He deserved it.
Suddenly the light came on. He blinked and tried to focus on his brothers. They glanced at each other and then back to him.
“What happened to you?” Chance asked. “Your face is blue on one side.”
“And you look like hell,” Cadde said, sitting in his chair at the big desk.
He could tell them. They’d understand and support him. Yet his actions were so horrible he couldn’t say the words. There were a lot of ways to excuse his behavior. Then again, none came to mind—none that would ease his conscience.
“I gotta go.” He rose to his feet, but before he could reach the door Chance kicked it shut.
“You’re not going anywhere until you tell us what’s wrong with you. Are you drunk?”
“No, but I wish I were stoned out of my mind. I think I’ll go down the hall to the apartment and accomplish that feat.”
“Sit down, Kid,” Cadde ordered. “Have you been fighting in a bar again?”
“Outside a bar, actually.”
“When the hell are you going to grow up?”
Kid sank into a leather chair and buried his face in his hands. “I grew up last night.”
“What do you mean?” Chance asked.
“I talked to Lucky.”
“And she hit you?” Chance was clearly shocked.
“No. I waited until the bar closed so we could talk, but then three guys accosted her. Let’s just say they didn’t leave easily.”
“You took on three guys?” Chance asked.
“Yeah. I wasn’t going to let them hurt Lucky.”
Cadde shook his head. “Was she grateful enough to sign the lease?”
“Damn it, Cadde. I don’t give a flying pig’s ass about the lease.”
His brother frowned. “Isn’t that why you talked to her?”
Kid jammed his hands through his hair and wanted to pull it out by the roots, pull until there was nothing left but the pain. He drew a calming breath. “It started out that way, but she was angry and I couldn’t figure out why. So I asked and she told me in a colder-than-ice voice I’ll never forget.”
“What did she say?” Chance took the seat next to him.
Kid had to swallow several times. “Soon after I left for Tech she found out she was pregnant.”
“What!” echoed around the room.
“Kid.” Chance spoke up. “Lucky doesn’t have a child. I’m positive of that.”
He had trouble breathing and he gulped a breath. “He…he died.”
Silence followed those two words.
“How?” Cadde was the first to speak.
“Lucky had to drop out of nursing school because of the pregnancy and she had very little money. She had to go to a free clinic. When she went into labor, she went to an indigent hospital and they sent her home. The baby wasn’t due for another month. But the pains wouldn’t go away so she went back. It was too late. The placenta had separated and the baby was deprived of oxygen. Lucky dealt with all that alone.”
“Why didn’t she call her father?” Chance wanted to know.
“She was ashamed.”
“She could have called Aunt Etta and she would have gotten in touch with you.”
Kid jumped to his feet. “Don’t you dare blame Lucky or I’ll knock you out of that chair.”
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