Bet on You (Pub2)

9 - Shaun

Shaun looked at the small stream. It was her favorite spot on the property. She and Jimmy used to play in it when they were kids. The time the cousins spent together was the best part of her childhood. She cherished her family time feeling enveloped in the warmth of her parent's love, but when Jimmy visited, they managed to find mischief. Riding together and visiting the stream in the woods on the property was always their thing.

Shaun had been worried about lawyers and how their decisions might affect Tansy. The thought of Courtney being involved in her daughter's life was like a stab in the back. When she told Jimmy, he offered to pay Eliot off.

"I doubt it works that way."

Jimmy shrugged. "With your husband, I wouldn't be so sure."

Frowning, she spoke aloud the question that hurt the most. "Do you think he ever loved me?"

Jimmy paused for a long time as a shadow cast over his face. "I'm not sure he has the capacity to love anything, but his own ambitions. I remember when I came to visit after Tansy was born. He complained you spent too much time with your baby. Not the baby or our baby. Then he hit me up to invest in his latest scheme."

Shaun gasped. "Did you?"

He nodded. "The investment was worth it. I feared if he hated me, I'd lose you."

"Is that why you randomly had business in Seattle?"

"I called them welfare checks. Your parent's worried, especially your father."

Shaun felt the familiar prickle behind her eyes. "I disappointed him."

"No, he was proud of you for your career, as a mother, even the way you supported your useless husband. He knew you loved him."

"I wish I could have told him one more time."

Jimmy shifted on the uncomfortable rock. "Will you be my date again?" Shaun frowned. "I wouldn't ask, but it's for cancer research, you know..."

She stopped him. She knew cancer research was his mother's pet project. Money could buy a lot of things, but it couldn't save a child from aggressive cancer. Years before, Jimmy lost his two-year-old brother to the disease.

"I'll go, but tell me why James Sinclair can't get a date."

"For the same reason, you are unsure if the douchebag ever loved you."

Shaun giggled. "When did you start calling him that?"

He smirked. "Your father did after he met him the first time."

"At my graduation?"

She had been so excited to introduce her boyfriend to her parents. How had her father been such an excellent judge of character? She was the opposite.

"Stop me from getting involved with the wrong man again. We need a code word."

"Douchebag?" Shaun laughed. Eliot defined the word. "I'll have a thorough report with bullets to present. I won't let you make the same mistake twice." He reached out and squeezed her hand.

"I'll probably be in Seattle."

Jimmy looked at her, but whatever he was thinking became a mystery. They climbed on the horses and rode back to the barn.

Once again, Shaun dressed in a gown her mother had happily paid for. The sheer white halter design clung to her hips and flowed to the floor. She rode alone in the car to the Sinclair home on Beacon Hill, where Jimmy slipped in the backseat.

"Sorry, I didn't ride out to get you. I had some business to attend to."

Shaun laughed. "You're my cousin, not my date."