Maris Soule - Paternity Lessons

“What have you gotten yourself into?” Shaunna muttered to herself as she watched Tyler follow his daughter out of the barn. Then she looked back into the horse’s stall.

Magic had returned to the far wall and was watching her, a wary look in his eyes. Given time, she could probably help the horse. She wasn’t sure about Tyler and Lanie.

Before they left, Tyler set up an arrangement with Shaunna. Since it was summer vacation and they didn’t have to worry about school, every day for the next two weeks Lanie would spend some time at the stable working on reestablishing a relationship with Magic. Someone would bring her, and he would pick her up at night after he got off work. Not only would she spend time with her horse, she would do any chores Shaunna assigned her and take some riding lessons.

Shaunna felt it was the best way for her to see what Lanie could do and how she acted with other horses. The girl was angry, and Shaunna had seen too many people take out their anger on animals. She wasn’t about to ask Magic to trust them if Lanie was going to turn around and destroy that trust.

On Monday, Lanie arrived around one o’clock. Shaunna expected the girl to be excited. Instead, she was met with sullen resistance. Even seeing her horse out in the paddock didn’t help Lanie’s attitude. When the horse didn’t come when Lanie called him, it was Shaunna who got the blame. She tried to explain Magic’s thinking to the girl, but Lanie wasn’t ready to listen.

Shaunna found herself trying to puzzle out the girl as much as the horse, but by Friday, she was ready to give up. The horse was settling in nicely, though it was clear that Magic didn’t trust any of them and could still be quite dangerous. Lanie, however, wasn’t settling in nicely at all. No matter what Shaunna said or did, Lanie got angry. Shaunna knew she had a thick hide and could take it—after all, she’d grown up being called incompetent by her father and berated by her mother, but when Lanie started swearing, then decided to take out her anger on one of the other young riders at the stable, Shaunna decided matters had gone far enough. Putting her stable manager in charge, she drove Lanie to her father’s place of business.

Tyler was working at his desk, reading over the new tax laws and trying to decide how to summarize them for the benefit of his clients. When his telephone rang, he automatically picked it up.

“There’s a woman here who wants to see you,” Eve, the firm’s receptionist, said. “She has your daughter with her, and they—”

Before Eve finished, his door banged open and Lanie stormed into his office. “She says I can’t be around Magic,” Lanie shouted. “That I can’t even set foot on her property again. Well, I want you to know, I don’t care. She’s a slave driver, that’s what she is!”

Tyler stared at her as she marched up to his desk, then he looked back at Shaunna, who’d followed Lanie into his office. Behind Shaunna was Eve. He nodded toward the receptionist, indicating that he’d like his door closed. Eve discreetly complied while Lanie continued her tirade.

“Look at me!” she cried. “She treats me like dirt!”

Tyler did look at her. Lanie’s jeans and boots were filthy, dirt ground into the denim and crusted around her soles. She even had dirt on her face and in her hair, and he had a feeling it wasn’t just dirt. The smell in his office was definitely pungent.

“I’m her slave,” Lanie said dramatically. “Is this what you plan on doing with me? Are you going to turn me into a slave?”

Tyler wasn’t sure what to think. Lanie’s physical condition certainly indicated something was wrong. Though she’d come home dirty the past four days, she’d never been this dirty.

“As for her—” Lanie turned and pointed a finger at Shaunna “—she’s not helping Magic. She doesn’t do anything with him, just lets him run around in that paddock. She won’t even let him into his stall except when it’s time for him to eat. And then you know what she makes me do? She makes me clean out his paddock. I have to scoop up his crap.”

She emphasized the word, and Tyler cringed, wondering how far her voice was carrying. He looked at Shaunna, expecting an explanation, but when his gaze met hers, her topaz eyes clear and steady, she merely nodded.

And Lanie wasn’t finished. “All she does is order me around. Do this. Do that. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. I’m supposed to be getting to know my horse, but when do I have time to get to know him? She’s got me so damn busy doing other things, I don’t have time to get to know him.”

“Don’t swear,” Tyler said, then spoke to Shaunna. “Is this true?”

“I expect her to follow the barn rules, and I expect her to do what I say when I say it,” she said calmly. “And I think she has more to tell you.”

He looked back at Lanie. Immediately, she glared at him. “What does it matter what I tell you? You’re going to take her side, aren’t you? I should’ve known it. I’m nothing to you. You don’t give a—”

She used the F word, and at exactly that moment, the door to his office swung open. In stormed his boss, Gordon Fischer, his face a crimson-red, and right behind him was Gordon’s niece, Alicia. Both looked shocked.

As soon as they were in the room, Gordon and Alicia scanned the office, their expressions almost identical as their gazes landed on Lanie, then on Shaunna. Both uncle and niece wrinkled their noses.

Gordon spoke first. “What is going on here?” he demanded, staring directly at Tyler. “Everyone up and down the hall can hear you two arguing. And the language...”

Tyler mentally cringed. He knew his boss didn’t like a scene. Gordon believed an accounting firm should represent calm efficiency and traditional values. You did not have family arguments in your office, and you didn’t swear.

Alicia said nothing, but he noticed how she was looking at Shaunna. The contrast between the two women was even more apparent than he’d imagined. Alicia was wearing her red power suit and high heels, her blond hair neatly confined in a twist and her makeup flawless. Shaunna, on the other hand, wore scuffed cowboy boots, soiled denims, a faded plaid cotton shirt that had a large stain across the front, and no makeup at all.

Although Lanie had met Gordon once, the day Tyler had given her a tour of the offices, and knew Alicia from the times Alicia had come to the hospital and then to the house, Tyler thought he’d better introduce Shaunna. “Gordon. Alicia. I’d like you to meet—”

Lanie didn’t let him finish. “Oh great,” she snapped. “Now you’re going to be all proper, just like you always get when Ah-lee-sha is around.”

She was looking at Alicia when she stretched out her name, and Tyler knew Lanie was a ticking time bomb. He didn’t want to imagine what she would come out with next. “Lanie,” he said in warning, hoping she’d get the message.

Lanie glared back at him and let out a series of words that would make a street kid blush. She then made her departure, bumping against the two standing in her way.

“I never,” Alicia said, turning to stare after the ten-year-old.

“Really,” Gordon said.

Then Shaunna spoke. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have bothered you here at work. I’ll get her and take her home for you.” She headed for the doorway, nodding at Alicia and Gordon as she passed.

Tyler watched her go, too dumbfounded to say anything.

Chapter Three

Alicia looked at Tyler. “Who was that woman?”

“That’s Shaunna,” he said, not sure if he should also go after Lanie or not. “Shaunna Lightfeather. She’s the one who’s going to rehabilitate Lanie’s horse.”

“And what were your daughter and she doing here in your office?” Gordon demanded coldly, his attitude clearly showing his disapproval.