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Shannon Piper Lockhart sat at her desk in her office at Piper Real Estate Company, studying a Web site on her computer monitor. She could barely contain her excitement. She picked up her cell phone and speed-dialed the number of her best friend, Christa.
Christa Johnson worked as a closing officer at Vista Title, one of the two title companies in Camden, Texas. Christa answered on the second burr. “Hey, girlfriend.”
“Hi. How was your weekend?”
“Same old stuff. Spending money, maxing out my credit cards. Getting ready for the holiday. Did you decide when you’re leaving?”
“Saturday morning. The cold front should be out of here by then. A bird hunt is scheduled for Sunday morning. What are you doing right now?”
“You just caught me. I was headed for lunch.”
“Where?”
“SUBWAY.”
“Can you come by my office? I want to show you something.”
“Want me to bring lunch?”
“Sure. I’ll buy. Get a six-inch tuna for me.”
“Right-O. See you soon.”
Shannon had never had a relationship with her own sister as good as the one she had with Christa. They had known each other since kindergarten. Over a span of years, interrupted by various episodes of life, they had put each other back together after broken romances more than once. Well, in Christa’s case, it was broken marriages in addition to romances. They ate lunch together at least once a week.
Less than an hour later, the energetic blonde breezed into Shannon’s office carrying a bulging SUBWAY bag and an additional bag obviously holding two bottles. She began unpacking the lunch on Shannon’s desk.
“Come look at this,” Shannon said. She turned back to the computer monitor behind her and gestured for Christa to come around.
Leaning over Shannon’s shoulder, Christa gazed at a video of a tractor and trailer moving along neat rows of full green plants growing on fences. She squinted at the screen. “What am I looking at? Is that grapes?”
“Uh-huh. That little winery south of Drinkwell.”
“Good Lord, there’s a winery south of Drinkwell? Who knew?”
Shannon laughed. “Obviously not you. It’s been there about fifteen years. San Gabriel’s Fine Wines. I’ve been researching it. They make a dozen different wines. A couple of them are prize-winning. They even have wine-tastings and a small restaurant. It was a bed-and-breakfast at one time. One old guy owns it.”
“You’re listing it?” Christa straightened, returned to their lunch and unscrewed the lids on the two bottles. “I stopped by the health food store and got that caffeine-free tea we like.” She set a bottle on Shannon’s desk blotter.
“It’s already listed with a Realtor in Stephenville. I’m buying it. It’s a Christmas present for Drake.”
Christa’s dark brown eyes widened into a bug-eyed stare. “You. Are. Shitting me. A whole winery?” She propped a hand on her hip. “Cuff links wouldn’t work, huh?”
One of the many things Shannon enjoyed about her friendship with Christa was the woman’s wit.
“There’s a seventy-acre vineyard, too. I presented an offer in September when it first came on the market. Back then, I was thinking about it for Drake’s birthday. The owner turned down the offer. I wasn’t interested in upping the price, so I put it out of my mind. Then, out of the blue, his agent called me this morning and told me the old guy would accept if I still wanted to buy it.”
Shannon rolled her chair back, lifted her purse from her bottom desk drawer and dug inside it for her wallet. “I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come with something for Drake besides the usual boring gift. This fills the bill. I already gave him the gold watch to match his wedding ring last Christmas. That’s pretty ordinary and boring, right?” Shannon laid a twenty on the desk blotter to pay Christa for the lunch.
“Oh, yeah. A gold Gucci watch that cost four thousand dollars is ordinary for most of us working stiffs.” Christa pulled a bag of potato chips out of the sack, placed it on the desk blotter and picked up the twenty.
Shannon called back last year when she had bought the watch. Her hand shook when she handed over a black American Express card, holding her breath in fear that some security person would hustle her into a back room and question her. “C’mon. You helped me shop for Drake last year. You know how hard it is to find something he’d like and doesn’t already have. I can’t get him clothing. He has a personal shopper who does that. And I don’t want to buy some expensive gadget he’ll never use.”
Christa looked up, staring into space and blinking. “And he’ll use a winery? He doesn’t even drink much. In fact, scary thought that it is, I think he drinks less than I do.”
“But he likes wine and he knows a lot about it. And he loves land. Sometimes he buys land just for the hell of it. He’s bought two small ranches this year. There’s a half-section of raw land adjacent to the vineyard. The Realtor told me it could be bought. This is something for him to play with. You know what a marketing genius he is. He could put this little business on the map.”
“What’s wrong with it? Why is the one old guy selling it?”
“His agent told me he’s getting old and has no heirs to keep it going. She said he’s sick. He probably needs money.”
“I swear, girlfriend, I’ve never known you to be so daring. Every day the new Shannon amazes me.”
“Hah. Having some spare change makes a difference in a lot of things. The old Shannon couldn’t have bought a winery if her life depended on it.”
Christa carried the lunch sack over to the white wicker sofa across from Shannon’s desk and set her own drink on the side table. She took a seat on the cushion with a bright tropical flower print and pulled her own sandwich from the bag.
“I guess his very own vineyard and winery is the perfect gift for the man who truly has everything. But what happened to the idea that the Lockharts donate to charities instead of giving presents to each other?”
She dipped two fingers into a potato chip bag and came up with a chip. “Which I think is a great idea, by the way. They must already have every material thing anyone could possibly want or need.”
Shannon unwrapped her sandwich. “Or if they don’t, they just go out and buy it. Regardless of their tradition, I’m sure Drake will still give me a Christmas present in private.”
“Probably great jewelry. Like that pendant he gave you when Will was born. Or that gorgeous tennis bracelet he gave you last Christmas.”
The day after Will’s birth, Drake had presented Shannon with a quarter-sized pendant made of a double row of diamonds encircling a molded gold mother and child. Will’s birth date was engraved on the back. Shannon didn’t know if he’d had it made or found it in a jewelry store. Well, amend that thought. She didn’t know if his personal assistant had found it in a jewelry store. Drake had no time for shopping.
“That pendant is blinding,” Christa went on. “And the bracelet ain’t bad either.”
Shannon glanced down at the diamond tennis bracelet on her left wrist—a row of connected gold hearts with a diamond mounted in the center of each. “I know. I wear the bracelet almost every day, but I’ve worn the pendant only once. I’m afraid I’ll get mugged.”
“You’ve got a bodyguard. Isn’t he supposed to keep stuff like that from happening? If you’ve got it, flaunt it, I say.” Christa heaved a sigh. “But if you aren’t going to wear it, I guess you can store it away and look at it as an investment. If you ever find yourself alone and broke again, you can hock it.”
Shannon had already stored it away in a secret safe in Drake’s home office. She would never hock it. No one had ever given her anything so precious and sentimental. She gave Christa a solemn look. “I assure you, I haven’t forgotten what being broke is like. I doubt I’ll ever get over feeling like I’m Cinderella.”
“I know. You probably aren’t even aware that you do it, but you still refer to the Lockharts as they instead of we. You need to learn to be one of those rich bitches, girlfriend.”
“Believe it or not, that’s what Drake tells me. For some reason, I haven’t been able to take ownership of that label.”
“If you were on good terms with your mother-in-law, you could take lessons from her. She apparently knows its true meaning.”
Christa was speaking out-of-turn. She had never met Shannon’s mother-in-law. Shannon glanced up with an arched brow. “Now, now. You’re being snarky again.”
Shannon herself had never met her mother-in-law either. Even now, after she and Drake had been married more than a year and brought the first Lockhart grandchild into the world, neither she nor Drake had a relationship with Betty Lockhart. Will’s paternal grandmother had never seen him in person, although she surely must have seen pictures of him. Shannon’s own mother hadn’t seen him either. Shannon had lost touch with her long ago. Little Will existed on an island without grandmothers.
“Drake and Pic make jokes about all the jewelry Bill Junior has given her,” Shannon said. “They say she has enough gems to start her own store. The Lockhart sons must be following their dad’s example. They’re very generous when it comes to jewelry. But now, with the winery and vineyard, I have something special to give him, too.”
“I’d say you’ve already given him something. A son last October and another one coming in February? You and Texas Monthly’s Most Eligible Bachelor have been married twenty months and you’ve been pregnant for thirteen of them. Will is going to be barely fourteen months old when the new baby arrives. Did Drake realize that when he let his little soldiers plant their flag?”
Christa had a way with hyperbole. Shannon rolled her eyes. “C’mon, now. You’re being snarky again. Where’s your Christmas spirit?”
Shannon shifted in her chair, seeking a different position. She was starting to be uncomfortable sitting for long periods. She placed her hand on her expanding belly. “I don’t remember being this uncomfortable at this stage with Will. Little Colum James feels bigger.”
Swallowing a bite of her sandwich, Christa shook her head. “Little Colum James. That’s funny. Lord, Shannon. It seems like you just gave birth last month to Little William Drake the Third. I still can’t believe you’re knocked up again so soon. Have you gone sex-crazy or what?”
Shannon couldn’t keep from laughing. From her very first encounter with her sexy husband, their lusty sex life had been no secret from Christa. Shannon thought their hookup was a one-night-stand. She had given him a phony name, fully expecting never to see Drake Lockhart again.
She and Christa had discussed that night and giggled over it like two naughty teenagers at a slumber party. Of course, Shannon hadn’t shared every detail—some things were too intimate—but she had shared enough to make Christa always eager to hear more.
“It looks like it, doesn’t it? Drake and I were still discussing if or when we should have another baby when I discovered I was already in that state again.”
“Humph. That trip y’all made to the coast must have settled the discussion. You see, it’s like this, girlfriend.” Bobbing a potato chip, Christa kept rhythm with her speech. “You go off for a romantic weekend to some cool place like the Texas Coast. Then you spend seventy-two hours locked away in a luxurious hotel room fucking without birth control. Things happen.” She popped the potato chip into her mouth. “You should’ve gotten on the pill after Will was born.”
Shannon and Drake had made a weekend trip to their favorite romantic get away the end of May. Shannon was certain that was when she conceived the new baby. Christa wasn’t wrong about the amount of time she and Drake had spent in bed.
Shannon gave her best friend a mischievous look. “Maybe. But my periods were all screwed up. I must not have paid enough attention when Dr. Goodman gave me the lecture about still being able to get pregnant.”
Christa shook her head. “I get that you find your husband irresistible, but does your brain disengage when you have sex?”
Dear Christa. If you only knew. When Shannon was in bed with her husband, nothing but pleasing him and being pleased by him ever entered her mind. “Well ... yes. It does. Drake makes love the way he lives his life—no holds barred. How could I focus on anything else? He’s so hot and he’s so—so...” She closed her eyes and shook her head as a particularly erotic memory flitted through her mind. “Like I told you before”—she pressed her thumb and index finger together for emphasis—“he knows exactly where everything is.”
“Good Lord, Shannon. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. When a man knows that much about the female anatomy, one might think he has an over-abundance of experience. I doubt if he learned it from reading books.”
The last thing Shannon wanted to think about or discuss was Drake’s experience with sex with other women. She was only too aware of his reputation. She had even met a couple of women from his past. “It also might mean he’s unselfish. Maybe he just wants me to enjoy it as much as he does. Anyway, I don’t let myself think about it. We’ve both got history. He doesn’t bring mine up to me and I’m not going to, either.”
“Whatever. You two are worse than rabbits. After you birth this baby, you’d better listen to Dr. Goodman and get the king-size package of birth control pills. Otherwise, you’re gonna end up with a dozen kids.”
“I know. That was the first thing I thought of when I saw that the pregnancy test was positive. Obviously, we should’ve been more careful. I was naïve. I didn’t know it could or would happen again so fast.”
Christa giggled wickedly. “God, Shannon, you are naïve. You always have been, which is weird. This sounds like a replay of how you got Will.”
Before Shannon and Drake married, all through their affair, Shannon had intended to get to the doctor for a birth control prescription. She had never taken the time even though Christa had warned her repeatedly. She well remembered how and when she got her baby boy. She had accompanied Drake on a trip to the Lockhart cotton farms in Lubbock and Amarillo. The evening before flying away to the Panhandle in the Lockhart’s private plane, they had spent the night in his condo and had made passionate love without birth control. They had even done it while they were half-asleep. She had no doubt—nor did he—that was when she got pregnant the first time.
“Déjà vu all over again, as that saying goes,” Shannon said. “This time, I’m pretty sure it happened on the deck at Pirate’s Cove. The condo where we stayed has a huge wooden deck that looks out over the Gulf. The first night we got there, we had a full moon and everything was so perfect. We had this delicious seafood supper, then went outside to finish the wine. We started dancing in the moonlight and the next thing I knew we were both naked and—”
“Outside? Now you’re a nudist on top of being oversexed? You didn’t tell me this.”
“No one could see us.”
Christa broke into laughter. “I hope you didn’t get splinters in your arse.”
Laughing, Shannon sat back, covering her mouth with her fingers. “No danger of that. We were in one of those wooden deck chairs. We had a cushion. Sort of.”
Shannon swallowed and leaned forward, still laughing and thinking back on that evening. “Drake was—well, Pirate’s Cove is really private, you know, and—well, actually, I did get a few splinters, but not in my butt.”—Shannon laughed again and pressed back in her chair. “I got splinters in my knees.” She grabbed a tissue and dabbed tears of mirth from her eye.
Christa, too, bent double with laughter. “Oh, my God, Shannon. A deck chair?”
“We were in the moment for crying outloud. The deck chair was the only thing handy.”
“It must’ve hurt. Didn’t you feel it?” Christa pawed in the SUBWAY sack for a napkin and carefully dabbed tears from her eyelashes. “I’m ruining my eye makeup.”
“Listen, if you had been in my position, you wouldn’t have felt a few splinters in your knees either.”
Another laugh snorted from Christa. “Oh, my God. Ride ’em, cowgirl. You’re telling a story like this to a woman who hasn’t had sex in months? You are evil. I’m so jealous.”
“You asked. Is it my fault you haven’t had sex in months?”
Christa sniffed and wiped her eyes again. “That’s too funny. Did Drake know you got splinters?”
“Not at first. He picked them out later with tweezers.” Shannon laughed again. “He was very apologetic. We didn’t do the deck chair again.”
A new burst of mirth came from Christa, too. “Oh, my Lord. What was left? The balcony railing? The chandelier?”
“I can’t help it,” Shannon said through her laughter, but still unable to keep a defensive tone from her voice. “It just keeps getting better between us. Drake is so good and he’s so loving. I never tell him no.”
Christa wagged an index finger like a pendulum. “Consequences, girlfriend. Even fun has consequences.”
She finished off the last bite of her sandwich. “Seriously though, as you’re on the brink of having the second kid, I have to say, as long as I’ve known you, I’ve never heard you raving on about having a bunch of kids. You’ve always talked about having a career.”
Christa was right. Motherhood had never been high on Shannon’s list of priorities and until Drake, she had always been extremely cautious about getting pregnant. Most of her adult life, a decent job and survival had been most important to her. Then, after she stepped out and started her real estate business, survival of the business had become her top priority.
Now, with a husband who was an attentive and even an exquisite lover, whose wealth exceeded her imagination and a healthy, adorable son over a year old, she had new priorities and goals. “It’s fine, Christa. Will and Colum James can grow up close like Drake and his younger brother did. Besides, I’m thirty-five and Drake’s thirty-seven now. We don’t want to be having kids after he’s forty.”
“You mean you don’t want to be having kids after you’re forty. It’s no strain on him no matter what age he is. I’ve never understood that”—she emphasized with air quotes—“‘we’re pregnant’ BS. With both my kids, I never felt like their fathers were pregnant.”
“There you go being cynical again. A baby changes a man’s life as well as a woman’s, you know. Drake’s a different person since Will came.”
Christa’s eyes widened and she opened her palms. “How has his life changed? Except for dating other women, he still does the same things he always did. He isn’t the one taking a risk and suffering through a pregnancy and delivery. And we won’t even talk about what having kids so close together does to your body.”
Shannon waved away the remark. “I’m healthy as a horse. A long time ago, it was nothing for women to have ten kids. And they had to work a heck of a lot harder than I do.”
“But they didn’t start when they were thirty-five years old.”
“Christa. Stop. Drake’s got a personal trainer. He’ll show up every day if we want him to. He tells me what to eat and he’ll help me get back into shape after the baby comes. He’s already helping me with exercises.”
“Okay, fine. But still, babies are a lot of work. An infant on top of a kid that isn’t even two? My God, Shannon—”
“Christa, we’ve got a houseful of hired help. The nanny is there every day.”
Christa crossed her knees, crossed her arms under her breasts and dangled a suede pump off one foot, body language showing she didn’t approve of Shannon’s life choices. “You should just move her in full-time. I mean, how much can one woman do?”
“We might after the new baby comes. Even if we do, I’m not sure I want our kids spending so much of their formative time with someone other than Drake and me. I want them to grow up to be like their father, not their babysitter. Drake’s good with Will and he’ll be good with Colum. That’s great since I’ve got a lot going on here in my little company right now. It needs my attention.”
Christa sighed. “Well, there’s one consolation. Being due in February, at least you won’t have to go through the summer heat big as a barrel. That was considerate of him.”
“Christa, I know you aren’t fond of Drake, but—”
Christa stopped her with a raised palm. “I don’t dislike him. And after you slept with him, I know I said you should go for it. It’s just that at that time, who knew he was such a control freak? He’s so damn ... so damn”—she splayed her fingers searching for a word—“forceful. Yet he can be so charming. It scares me a little when a guy charms your pants off and rolls over you at the same time.” She cocked her head and raised her palms. “But I don’t mean to be criticizing him as your husband. I just think he always seems to override what you want and you always seem to acquiesce.”
“It isn’t like he forced me into have sex, you know. This baby was a miscalculation on my part more than his. I’m not upset about it and neither is he. It isn’t true that he overrides me. I agree with him most of the time. I’m happy in the life he’s given me. Good grief, I’ve got it easier now than I ever have. We’ve got a housekeeper who comes in every day and does everything, even my personal laundry if I’d ask her to. Plus, my grandmother is there.”
“But Grammy Evelyn can’t be much help. She’s eighty-five years old.”
“Oh, I know and she probably gets in Gloria’s way, but she’s still able to do things and she wants to be useful. There’s also Drake’s personal assistant. That woman’s a miracle worker. She takes care of hundreds of mundane details of his life, which also includes me.”
Christa tapped her chin with her index finger. “Drake might be the only person I know who has a personal assistant. Sounds like a much more prestigious job than secretary.”
“Debra is more than a secretary. She’s more like a mother. In fact, she’s almost the same age as his mother. I’m just now starting to get acquainted with her, but she’s been with him from the beginning of his company. I suspect he discusses things with her he doesn’t discuss with me. And I’m positive he discusses more with her than he ever talked about with his mother.”
“Wouldn’t you love to get inside her head and learn what she knows about him before he married you? All the women he was with before he met you? Just think. She’s probably bought them presents, made dinner and hotel reservations, travel arrangements and who knows what else.”
“I don’t let myself think about that stuff. What I see every day is Drake’s a good man and he’s very considerate of me. I remind you, I was the first woman he ever took on a business trip because he didn’t want to be away from me.”
“So he said. And look how that turned out. You came home with Will growing in your belly.” She stuffed her lunch debris into the empty SUBWAY sack. “I’ll bet his assistant collects a fat paycheck. Payoff for keeping quiet.”
Christa was digging for information again. Shannon might share a lot of secrets with Christa, but she would never share the amount of Debra’s pay or any of Drake’s other employees, even with her best friend. Hoping to change the subject, she said, “I’m paid pretty well myself, you know. I suppose I could have any amount of money I wanted and buy anything I wanted. Even if I bought something insane, I doubt anyone would question it.”
“They should reward you. You’re now the matriarch of that family. Stop and think about it. Drake’s grandmother has moved to a nursing home. You said she’s kind of goofy, so you can’t call her the matriarch. Bill Junior and Betty might still be married, but Betty’s gone, probably for good. Besides you, who else is there?”
Shannon had never aspired to take her mother-in-law’s place, couldn’t picture herself doing it. “But I don’t live at the ranch and I never will. Drake doesn’t want to move back there. With Mandy and Pic living in the ranch house, Mandy would be the matriarch. Or even Kate.”
“Nah. Kate’s too flighty and she’s always gone somewhere. Probably not interested anyway. Didn’t you say Drake’s the major decision-maker, that he sometimes tells Pic what to do about ranch stuff?”
“I think it’s Bill Junior who still sort of advises Pic from the background, but from what I’ve seen, he, too, often defers to what Drake thinks is best. Drake’s smart. His instincts about everything are spot on.”
“There ya go. That makes you the matriarch. How sad to be you.”
“I don’t want to be the matriarch. I’ve got all I can handle taking care of my real estate business.”
“You should sell this business and be done with it. With two little kids to take care of—”
“No. Not yet. It’s the only thing I have nowadays that’s all mine. My old life is turned upside down. Every new day throws something at me that’s unfamiliar. And outrageous. This little business keeps me grounded and reminds me who I really am.”
Just then, Shannon’s wall clock caught Christa’s attention. “Oh, hell, I’ve got to go. I’m doing a closing at two.” She rose from her seat, gathered her trash and dropped it in the trashcan beside Shannon’s desk. “When and where are you closing on the winery?”
“In Stephenville on Wednesday. I invited Drake to lunch. Told him I had a surprise for him. That’s when he’ll learn about it. I’m going to buy it and sign the title over to him all in one transaction.”
Christa laughed. “Wish I could see his face.” She opened the office door and waved as she passed through. “Later, girlfriend....”
