The Proposal & Solid Soul (18 page)

Lena shook her head. “Yeah, you did have it bad. You thought you were in love, and nobody could tell you differently.”

“And you saw what happened to me. One day of acting irresponsibly changed my entire life. I was pregnant on my sixteenth birthday.”

And rejected at sixteen, as well.

She would never forget the day Sam told her that he wanted no part of her or the baby, and that he would get his parents to give her money for an abortion, but that was about all she would ever get from him. He intended to go to college on a football scholarship and under no circumstances would he let her mess up his future with a baby he didn’t want. He agreed with his parents that there was no sense in him throwing away a promising career in pro football because of one foolish mistake. So instead of hanging around and doing the right thing, he had split the first chance he got. Even now she could count on one hand the number of times Tiffany had seen her father. Sam did get the football career in the NFL that he’d wanted, at least for a short while before an injury ended things. Now he was living in California, married with a family, and rarely had time for his daughter.

Emotions tightened her throat as she remembered that time she had gotten pregnant. She had hurt her parents something awful. And disappointed them, as
well. They had had so many high hopes for her, their only child, including her attending college at their alma mater, Southern University.

She had eventually gotten a college degree but that was only after years of struggling as a single parent and trying to make a life for her and Tiffany. And now to think that her daughter could possibly be traveling down the same path was unacceptable.

“Yes, I did see what happened to you, but look how much you’ve accomplished since then, Kylie,” Lena said. “The only thing you didn’t do was allow another man into your life because of Sam’s rejection, and I think you were wrong for turning away what I knew were some good men. You never gave yourself the chance for happiness with someone else after Sam. I tried to tell you how arrogant and selfish he was but you wouldn’t listen.”

Kylie sighed. No, she hadn’t wanted to hear anything negative about Sam. She had been too much in love to see his faults and refused to let anyone else talk about them, either. A sickening sensation swelled in her stomach at the thought that history was about to repeat itself with her child. “That’s why I can’t let Tiffany make the same mistake I did, Lena.”

“Don’t you think you and Chance might be overreacting just a little? It’s not like Tiffy and Marcus planned to cut the entire day of school. They were skipping the last two classes to go somewhere, probably to the mall,” Lena pointed out.

“And that’s supposed to be okay?” Kylie’s nerves were screaming in frustration and anger each and every time she thought about what her daughter had planned on doing. She remembered when she had cut school with Sam. Instead of going to the movies like the two of them
planned, he had taken her to his house, where they had spent the entire day in his bedroom doing things they shouldn’t have been doing and things neither of them had been prepared for. But all she could think about was that Sam Miller, the star player on the Richardson High School football team, was in love with her. Or so she’d thought. Silly her.

“You need to calm down before you talk to Tiff, Kylie. I understand you’re upset, but your anger won’t help. You know how headstrong she is. She’s just like you when you were her age.”

Kylie sighed deeply. Again, that was the last thing she wanted to hear. “She broke her promise to me, Lena. We’ve had a lot of talks. She had promised me that she would let me know when she was interested in boys.”

“And had she come and told you about Marcus, then what? Would you have given her your blessings or locked her up for the rest of her life? Girls like boys, Kylie. That’s natural. And you’ve had so many talks with Tiffy that she probably knows your speech by heart. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you’re laying things on a little too thick? Tiffy is a good kid, yet you’re judging her by the way you lived your life, by your own past mistakes. It’s important to you that she ‘be good’ because you don’t think that you were.”

Kylie’s eyes began filling with tears. “I only want what’s best for her, Lena. I made a foolish and stupid mistake once and I’ll do anything within my power to keep her from making the same one.”

Lena got up, came around the table and hugged her friend. “I know. Tiffy is going to be fine. I’ll be here to help you any way that I can. You know that. I just don’t want you to build this brick wall between you and her. That same kind of wall your mother built with you.”

Kylie wiped away a tear from her cheek. Although she and her mother had a fairly decent relationship now, Kylie would never forget when Olivia Hagan had let down her only daughter by upholding her belief that by getting pregnant out of wedlock, Kylie had committed the worst possible sin.

“I’ll never let that happen,” Kylie vowed quietly.

“T
HAT’S THE CRISIS
you called this meeting for?” Sebastian Steele asked, turning away from the window and looking across the office at his brother with both amazement and amusement on his face.

Chance glared first at Sebastian, and then at his other two brothers, Morgan and Donovan. They were sitting in front of his desk and looking at him with the same expressions. “Your nephew is putting a pretty face before his studies and that doesn’t add up to a crisis to any of you?”

When all three chimed the word
no
simultaneously, Chance knew talking to them had been a waste of his time.

At the age of thirty-six, Chance was the oldest of the group. Next was Sebastian, fondly called Bas, who was thirty-four. Morgan was thirty-two, and Donovan was thirty. Of the four, Chance was the only one who had ever been married. Bas was presently engaged, but the other two claimed they enjoyed their bachelor status too much to settle down anytime soon.

“Look, Chance,” Morgan said as he stood up. “It’s normal for boys Marcus’s age to like girls. So what’s the problem?”

Chance rolled his eyes heavenward. “The problem
is that the girl is only fifteen and they were planning to cut school together and—”

“No,” Sebastian interrupted. “They planned to cut a couple of classes, not school. There is a difference.”

“And he of all people should know,” Donovan said, grinning. “Considering the number of times he used to play hooky. I understand they still have a desk in Mr. Potter’s math class that says, ‘Sebastian Steele never sat here.’”

“I don’t find any of this amusing,” Chance said.

Morgan wiped the grin off his face. “Then maybe you should, before you alienate your son.”

“How about chilling here, Chance,” Sebastian interjected. “You act as if Marcus committed some god-awful sin. We know the promise you made to Cyndi, but there is more to life for a teenager than hitting the books. He’s a good kid. He makes good grades. Marcus is going to go to college in a couple of years, we all know that. One girl isn’t going to stop him.”

“You haven’t seen this girl.”

Morgan raised a brow. “Have you?”

“No, but I’ve seen her mother, and if the daughter looks anything like the mother then I’m in trouble.”

“I still think you’re blowing things out of proportion,” Morgan countered. “If you make a big deal out of it, Marcus will rebel. You remember what happened last year when you didn’t want him to play football.”

Yes, Chance did remember, although he wished he could forget. He rubbed his hand down his face. Regardless of what his brothers said, he needed to talk to Marcus again. He didn’t have any problems with his son being interested in girls, he just didn’t want Marcus losing his head over one this soon.

K
YLIE WAS WAITING IN
the living room the moment Tiffany walked through the door. She took one look at her daughter’s expression and realized Tiffany knew the conversation that was about to take place. Kylie tried not to show her anger, as well as a few other emotions, when she said, “We need to talk.”

Tiffany met her mother’s stare. “Look, Mom, I know what you’re going to say and I don’t think I did anything wrong.”

So much for not showing her anger, Kylie thought. “How can you say that? You planned to cut classes with a boy and you don’t consider that wrong?”

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “My last two classes of the day are boring anyway, so we—”

“Boring? I don’t care how boring they are, you’re supposed to be in them and you
will
be in them anytime that bell sounds. Understood?”

Tiffany glared at her. “Yes, I understand.”

Kylie nodded. “Now, about Marcus Steele.”

Tiffany straightened her spine and immediately went on the defensive. “What about Marcus?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about him?”

“Why? So you could find some reason for me not to like him, Mom? Well, it won’t work because I do like him. You’re the one who wanted to leave Buffalo and move here. And I’m the one who was forced to go to another school and make new friends. Not all of the kids at school like me. They say I talk funny. Marcus has been nice to me. Extremely nice. He asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes.”

“You’re not old enough to have a boyfriend, Tiffany.”

“That’s your rule, Mom.”

“And one you will abide by, young lady.”

“Why? Because you think I’ll get pregnant like you did? That’s not fair.”

“It’s not about that, Tiffany. It’s about such things as keeping your reputation intact and not getting involved in anything you aren’t ready for.”

“It
is
about what happened to you when you were sixteen, Mom. And how do you know what I am or am not ready for? You want to shelter me and you can’t. You’ve talked to me, but the choice of what I do is ultimately mine.”

“No, it’s not,” Kylie bit out. “As long as you’re living under my roof, I make the rules and you will abide by them.”

“I can’t, Mom. I care too much for Marcus and we have news for you and Mr. Steele. We are madly in love!” she almost shouted. “And nothing either of you say is going to make us not be together, whether it’s at school or someplace else.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” Tiffany said stalking off to her room, “that I don’t want to talk anymore.”

C
HANCE LEAPED TO HIS
feet. The sound of his chair crashing to the floor echoed loudly in the kitchen. “What do you mean you might not go to college but stay in Charlotte to be closer to Tiffany Hagan?” he shouted. His anger had clearly reached the boiling point.

“There’s no reason to get upset, Dad. What’s the big deal if I decided to hang around here and go to college? One university is just as good as another.”

Chance rubbed his hand down his face, trying to fight for composure, and quickly decided to use another approach. “Marcus,” he said calmly, “I’m sure Tiffany Hagan is a nice girl, but you’re only sixteen. In another
couple of years you’ll finish high school and go to college where you will meet plenty of other nice girls. You have such a bright future ahead of you. I’d hate to see you get too serious about any girl now.”

A stubborn expression settled on Marcus’s face. “She’s not just any girl, Dad. Tiffany is the girl I plan to marry one day.”

“Marry!” Chance nearly swallowed the word in shock. “How did marriage get into the picture? You’re only sixteen! I know you think you really care for this girl and—”

“It’s more than that, Dad, and the sooner you and Tiffany’s mother realize it, the better. Tiffany and I are madly in love and we want to be together forever. There’s nothing either of you can say or do to stop us, so you may as well accept it.”

“Like hell I will.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Marcus said as he walked out of the kitchen toward his bedroom.

Total shock kept Chance from going after his son and wringing his neck.

K
YLIE PACED THE FLOOR.
Her nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Tiffany hadn’t come out of her room yet, which was probably the best thing.

Love!

At fifteen her daughter thought she was in love. Madly in love at that! Kylie swallowed a thickness in her throat when she realized how her mother must have felt sixteen years ago, dealing with her when she’d been obsessed with Sam Miller.

She paused when she heard the phone ring and quickly crossed the room to pick it up, thinking it was
probably Lena checking to see how things with Tiffany had gone. “Hello.”

“We need to talk, Ms. Hagan.”

Kylie blinked at the sound of the ultrasexy male voice. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who the caller was, or to know he’d evidently had another talk with his son. She sighed. Yes, they did need to talk. “You name the place and I’ll be there.”

“All right.” After a quiet pause, he said. “They
think
they’re in love. Madly in love.”

Kylie shook her head. “So I heard. Louder than I really cared to, in fact.”

“Same here. Do you know where the Racetrack Café is?”

“Yes.”

“Can you meet me there around noon tomorrow?”

Considering what was going on with Tiffany and his son, she really didn’t have a choice. Hopefully, together they could devise a way to stop the young couple before they got into more trouble than they could handle. “Yes, I can meet you there.”

“Fine, I’ll see you then.”

C
HANCE ARRIVED AT THE
restaurant early to make sure they got a table. Jointly owned by several race car drivers on the NASCAR circuit, the Racetrack Café was a popular eatery in town. He hadn’t been seated more than five minutes when he glanced over at the entrance to see Kylie Hagan walk in.

He had hoped his mental picture of her from yesterday had been wrong, but it hadn’t. Kylie Hagan was an attractive woman. Every man in the place apparently thought so, too, judging by the looks they gave her. Not for the first time he wondered about her age and how
someone who looked so young could have a fifteen-year-old daughter.

He watched her glance around before she spotted him. There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on her face as she walked toward him. But, he quickly decided, it didn’t matter. Smiling or not, she looked gorgeous dressed in a pair of black slacks and a blue pullover sweater. And those same curves that he’d convinced himself had to be a figment of his imagination made her slacks a perfect fit for her body. Even her walk was mesmerizing and sexy.

When she got closer, he saw the wariness around her eyes, which led him to believe that she’d probably gone a round or two with her daughter sometime during that day, as he’d done with Marcus. He wondered if the discussion had been about the “his and hers” tattoos Marcus had indicated he and Tiffany were thinking about getting.

Chance stood when she reached the table. “Ms. Hagan.”

“Mr. Steele.”

He thought they were overdoing the formality, but felt it was best to keep things that way for now. After all, this was nothing more than a business meeting, and the only item on the agenda was a discussion about their children.

After they had taken their seats, he asked, “Would you like to order anything? They have the best hamburgers and French fries in town.”

A small smile touched Kylie’s lips. “So I’ve heard. But no, I’m fine, you go ahead and order something if you’d like. It’s just that my most recent conversation with Tiffany has killed my appetite.”

Chance heard the quiver in her voice and recalled
his own conversation with Marcus that morning before he’d left for school. “I take it Tiffany told you about the tattoo.”

He watched her nostrils flare as she drew in a silent breath. “Yes, she told me. Matching lovebirds on their tummies right above their navels, I understand.”

“That’s my understanding, as well.” A soft chuckle erupted from his throat. There was a cloud hanging over his head that refused to go away and he had to find amusement anywhere he could to keep his sanity. But he had to believe this was just one part of parenthood that he would get through, and for some reason it was important to him for Kylie Hagan to believe that, as well.

“Things are going to be all right, Ms. Hagan,” he said soothingly. “That’s why we’re meeting today, to make sure of it.” He flashed her a smile.

She glanced up and met his gaze. “I want to believe that,” she said quietly. “Under the circumstances I think we should forgo formality. Please call me Kylie.”

“Okay, and I’m Chance.” After a pause he said, “Kylie, I want you to believe things will work out. We have to think positively that we’ll get through this particular episode in our children’s lives. We have good kids—they’re just a little headstrong and stubborn. But I believe with some parental guidance they’ll be fine.”

“I hope so. Otherwise, if they continue with the route they’re going, they’re bound to make a mistake.”

Chance raised a brow. “By mistake you mean…?”

“Taking their relationship to a level they aren’t ready for, Chance.”

He liked the way his name easily flowed from her lips. “I take it you mean sex.”

“Yes, that’s precisely what I’m talking about. Over
the years, I’ve had the mother-daughter talks with Tiffany, but when teenagers are in love, or think they’re in love, they believe that sex is just another way to show how much they care.”

They paused in their conversation when a waitress came to give Chance his beer, hand them menus and fill their water glasses.

“And you think that’s going to be on their minds?” he asked.

“Of course. Raging teenage hormones are the worst kind.”

He picked up his glass to take a sip of beer. “Are they?”

“Yes, trust me, I know. I had Tiffany when I was sixteen.”

Chance’s glass stopped midway to his lips. His mouth opened in surprise. “Sixteen?”

“Yes. So I hope you can understand why I’m upset with all of this. I don’t want Tiffany to make the same mistake I made as a teenager.”

Chance nodded. That explained the reason Kylie didn’t look old enough to have a fifteen-year-old daughter. That meant she was around thirty-one, but still she didn’t look a day over twenty-five. “Did you and Tiffany’s father get married?”

Her laugh was bitter. “Are you kidding? He had to make a choice between me and a football scholarship to Hampton University. He chose college.”

“I didn’t.”

Kylie glanced up from studying her water glass. “You didn’t what?”

“I was faced with the same decision as Tiffany’s father. My girlfriend, Marcus’s mother, got pregnant when we were seniors in high school. We were both
eighteen and had plans for college. We acknowledged our mistake and felt that no matter what, we loved each other and loved the child we had made. Instead of going to college, we got married, remained here in Charlotte and made the best of things. I later went to college at night. My wife died of cancer when Marcus was nine.”

Chance finished his beer. A part of him regretted that the man who had gotten Kylie pregnant hadn’t done the responsible thing. “It must have been hard for you, pregnant at sixteen,” he said.