Royal Trouble (44 page)

"Promises were made to be broken, Mother.  You should know that, you broke enough of yours to our daddy, and I'm not following in your footsteps."  Leigh Ann wanted off of this roller coaster ride her mother had held her hostage on all her life.  She was through with the drama and demands.  Leigh Ann wanted peace, and knew exactly where she could find it.

With a sad shake of her head, Leigh Ann turned and walked toward the front door of the church.  When she stepped outside, the fresh air invigorated her.  Leigh Ann drew the first deep breath she'd had in three days.  She moved to the top step of the church, and felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. 

Rolling her shoulders, the tension in her neck eased. Her blood felt like champagne in her veins as she put her foot on the first step to freedom.  By the time she reached the bottom step, she was practically euphoric.

Traffic buzzed by on the street in front of the church, and she knew the drivers must think she had lost her mind.  Several of them swerved when they saw her standing there in her underwear, one or two honked as she made her way along the hedges lining the front of the church to make her way to the sidewalk. 

Those people were wrong, Leigh Ann hadn't lost her mind, she had finally found it.  Her own mind.  She didn't know where she was going, but she was the only one who would decide that from now on.  Leigh Ann kept on walking purposefully toward her future.  She was too blocks from the church, when she heard someone call her name.

Leigh Ann didn't stop, nobody in that church meant a damned thing to her.  The people who meant something to her were in Amarillo, and that is where she was going.  Stopping at the curb, Leigh Ann waited for the walk signal across the street. 

A beat-up burgundy car turned the corner and stopped at the curb.  She backed up a step, because the car had almost driven up on the curb and hit her.  Before she could draw a breath, a man shot out of the driver's side of the car and ran toward her. 

Prickles of unease lifted the hair at her nape.  He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place him.  Leigh Ann listened to her intuition.  She spun on her heel and took off running back toward the church, but she only made a few strides when arms closed around her waist and she was jerked back against a hard chest.

"You've betrayed me, Leigh Ann. You are mine, not Lester Fallon's," a gruff voice hissed into her ear, as she was dragged backwards.  He turned her toward the car and she saw his crystal clear, almost colorless eyes.  Red Jones opened the passenger door then tried to shove her inside, but Leigh Ann braced her arms against the doorframe and fought him.  She screamed, so loud everyone in Dallas could probably hear her, then brought her elbow back into his stomach hard. 

Satisfaction poured through her when she heard Red's oomph, right before his arms released her.  She had seen that move in a movie, ironically enough about a beauty queen.  It worked!  Leigh Ann skirted away from Red Jones, who was trying to get up off of the ground.  Reaching between her breasts she pulled out the can of mace that thankfully hadn't fallen out when she took off the wedding dress.

She held it up, aimed it at his eyes, then pressed the button.  "I'm tired of people messing with me," she said gruffly.  Red screamed and fell back to his knees rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, before he pitched over on the ground writhing in pain.

Leigh Ann walked over to him and kicked him in the side.  It felt damned good to be able to protect herself.  "You should have more respect for women.  Remember that next time, Bucko."

"I'll sure remember it," someone said behind her and Leigh Ann spun around.

"Wes..." she whispered and tears shot to her eyes.

"Hey, gorgeous," he said, taking a step forward to pull her to him and put his arms around her protectively.  "I forgot to tell you something before you left."

Her heart fluttered in her chest.  "Yeah?  It must be important if you came all the way here to tell me," she replied, her voice trembling as she put her hand on his chest.  His heart beat wildly beneath her palm, almost as crazily as hers was beating from the adrenaline pumping through her system.

Wes turned her to him and looked deeply into her eyes.  "It's the most important thing I've ever said in my life, baby...I love you, Leigh Ann."  Leigh Ann whimpered, as Wes emphasized his words with a gentle kiss.

Roxanne came up behind Wes, followed by Ethan and two of the guards who had been inside the church.  Leigh Ann heard sirens blaring in the distance, and looked toward the church to see the first of a long line of squad cars skid to a stop.

"Well, I'll be damned," Roxanne said looking down at Red who was still writhing on the ground wailing.  "Good job, baby sister."

"See, I can take care of myself," Leigh Ann replied with a laugh, then kicked the can of mace she had dropped when she saw Wes.  "I only wished I had used half the can on Lester, before I left the church."

"Is this how you're going to dress for
our
wedding, sweetheart?" Wes asked with a leer after his eyes moved over her from head to toe.

"Our wedding?" she replied with a squeak.

"Lester left and told me I could have you.  He said you were too much trouble," Wes informed her with a chuckle.  "I guess that means you have to marry me now, because I love trouble.  Every second of it you want to dish out for the rest of our lives."

Leigh Ann's heart melted, as tears of happiness shot to her eyes.  With a watery chuckle she replied, "I want peace, Wes.  No more trouble."  She took a swipe at her eyes and came back with mascara streaks on the back of her hands.  "Damn, I've cried more on my wedding day than I have in my life."

Wes smiled and wiped her cheek with his thumb, then his eyes widened as he evidently realized what she had just said.  "So, you'll marry me?"

Leigh Ann's lips wobbled again, as she told him, her voice filled with promise, "Every day, including Sunday.  But I don't want to do it without Trey being there, so not today...definitely tomorrow though."

"Putting me off, huh?"  Wes grumbled hugging her to him.

"No, I just want my
whole
family there when we get married."  Trey would be a part of her family now, her son.  Her heart filled with so much happiness she couldn't stop the new tears that tracked down her cheek.

Wes's eyes filled and he cleared his throat.  "Okay then we'll wait.  But since you're already dressed for it, the honeymoon can start tonight," he growled, as he leaned in to give her a kiss that melted her stockings.

EPILOGUE

Leigh Ann couldn't believe she was doing this the night before her wedding.  But it was too important to miss.  Trey was doing so good, was so excited, she couldn't let him down, even though Wes told her he would handle it.  Since, after tomorrow, she would officially be Trey's mother, she was not going to miss Parent-Teacher night at his school.

But she was late, very late, because she had been held up in a client makeover conference at the ranch.  Her fourth of the day.  She should have been relaxing and getting a makeover herself, or at least a massage, because her shoulders were so tense she felt like someone had put a lead weight in the shoulder pads of her lavender suit. 

Juggling the wedding, her new job at the ranch, and her new family for the last three weeks had about worn her out.  But she also felt better than she had in her entire life, in control of her own destiny and direction.

Wes was feeling better too.  The people who owed him money, the ones she set up payment plans with, were actually paying him now.  She helped him develop a plan to create the foundation they talked about.  Yesterday, she'd made preliminary calls, and people were darned excited about the idea and wanted to help. 

Leigh Ann pulled on the front door of the school and was immediately hit with so much noise it made her head hurt.  Pushing past a couple of people blocking the doorway while they talked, she was relieved when she finally had a little space in the hallway to herself.  She straightened her suit, then stiffened her spine and took a deep breath.  Scanning the hallway, she located room 16b, which was near the end.  She also saw Wes's cowboy hat in the line of people standing outside the door.  With a little lift of her chin, she started down the hall, her heels clicking in rhythm on the highly polished tile floor.

Wes looked up, their eyes met, and she smiled holding his gaze until she stopped beside him.  The noise level in the hallway had lowered considerably as she made her way toward him.  Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw most of the couples outside of the other doors had stopped talking and started either staring or whispering. 

Let them stare, she thought and looked back at Wes.  "Hey, handsome," she said quietly, then put her hands on his chest to tiptoe and give him a quick kiss.  "Where's the second most handsome man in my life?"

"He had to go to the bathroom," Wes said and leaned down to give her a longer kiss, before he dropped his arm over her shoulders.  "You look amazing, sweetheart.  Have I told you in the last hour that I love you?"

"You only love me, because I look good?" she asked with a snort.

"No, I love you in spite of that," he replied with a chuckle, giving her a quick squeeze.  Leigh Ann's heart melted and she snuggled into his side.

"So, if I get wrinkles and gain fifty pounds, you'll be happy?"

"I don't give a damn what you look like, as long as you love me," Wes whispered near her ear.  "You'll always be the most beautiful woman in Texas to me, baby."

And that is why she loved Wes Jepson with all of her heart.  He loved
her
, all of her, not her title, and not her body.  Well, he did love that too, and she loved that he loved it, but it wasn't his primary reason for loving her.

"Miss Lei--um,
Mama
!" she heard Trey squeal as he ran down the hall toward them.  What was left of the conversation going on in the hallway completely hushed.  The only sound she heard was the squeak of Trey's tennis shoes as he ran across the smooth polished floor.  Leigh Ann stepped away from Wes and held her arms open to him.  Trey didn't look right, he didn't look left, he ran straight into her arms to hug her tightly.  She could feel the love radiating from him. 

"Hey, baby boy, you look almost as handsome as your daddy tonight.  Is that a new shirt Nana got you?" she asked pushing him back to look at him.

Trey pulled at the collar and frowned.  "Yeah, and it's itchy," he grumbled.

"You can change when we get home," she said with a chuckle and ruffled his red hair. 
Home
.  Just the sound of that made her heart twist in her chest.  The little boy standing in front of her completely wrung it out every time he called her mama.  When she and Wes told him they were getting married, her ears had rung for an hour afterwards, Trey had squealed so loudly.  And he had cried, once the excitement wore off.  They all had a good cry.  "Why don't you introduce me to some of your friends?" she said with a wide smile.

"Really?" Trey asked, his eyebrows shooting up with his grin.

"Yeah, I'd like to meet them, and their parents."  Leigh Ann took his hand in hers, then reached back to grab Wes's hand in her other.  Tonight, they were going to settle the question of whether Trey had a mama or not.  Those kids were not going to pick on him again, or their parents would hear from her.  And before she left here tonight, she was putting the teacher on notice too, nicely, of course, that Trey being bullied wasn't going to be tolerated.

They walked toward a bigger, dark-haired boy who was standing with his parents at the back of the line.  Trey pulled her arm and she stumbled behind him pulling Wes with her.  Leigh Ann laughed.  "Slow down, baby," she said.

"Billy, this is my new mama," he said proudly with a little edge to his voice.

She dropped Wes's hand, and stuck her hand out to the mousy brown-haired woman who was giving her a once over with her eyes.  One side of her mouth cocked up as she took Leigh Ann's hand to give her a quick fish-like handshake.  "I'm Leigh Ann Baker-Jepson, and you are?"

"Geez, Trey your mama is pretty," Billy interrupted with a snort then looked up at his own mother.

"She sure is, she used to be Miss Texas," Trey said sticking out his chest.  "Now, she's just my mama."

Just his mama.  That's all Leigh Ann wanted to be from here on out.  His mama, and Wes's wife.  That would make her the
happiest
woman in Texas.  That is what was most important to Leigh Ann.  She slipped her arm around Wes's waist and pulled Trey back to her other side to hug him too.

About the Author

Becky McGraw is a married mother of three adult children, and a Southern girl by birth and the grace of God, ya'll. She resides in South Texas with her husband and dog Abby.

A jack of many trades in her life, Becky has been an optician, a beautician, a legal secretary, a senior project manager for an aviation management consulting firm, which took her all over the United States, a real estate broker, and now a graphic artist, web designer and writer.

She knows just enough about a variety of topics to make her dangerous, and her romance novels interesting and varied. Being a graphic artist is a good thing for her too, because she creates her own cover art, along with writing the novels.

Becky has been an avid reader of romance novels since she was a teenager, and has been known to read up to four novels of that genre a week, much to the dismay of her husband, and the delight of e-book sellers.

She has been writing fictional short stories and novels for fun, as well as technical copy for her jobs for many years. She was a member of the Writer's Guild on AOL during her last venture into writing romance, as well as a founding member and treasurer of the first online chapter of the Romance Writers of America, From the Heart Romance Writers. Currently, she is a PAN member of RWA and a general member of FTHRW.

You can contact Becky McGraw at
[email protected]