Page 96 of Love Me in the Dark
Beauty pageants were more chaotic than the jungle. Various daughters were put on display while mothers fought over who’s sang better, or danced better, or who’s looked better. Meanwhile the children were hopped up on sugar, stressed out, and dealing with adult judgement at the tender age of three. I hated them. Mama considered them part of my debutant life.
Shelby poked her head up from the open hood of my husband’s car and waved a wrench. “Hi Nana. I’m looking for the cansmission. Daddy says it’s broken.”
“Did he?” I could feel the disappointment in my mother’s face when she tsked my way. “Cheyenne, Shelby has a pageant in two days.”
That was Mama’s way of telling me to get my daughter away from the car. Our child rearing views were very different. Mama thought there were things girls should do and things boys should do. Playing with a car engine did not fall in the girl category. I just wanted my daughter to be happy. If that meant she spent her childhood covered in grease, so be it.
“She doesn’t want to do the pageant, Mama.”
“She’s four, Cheyenne,” Mama pointed a perfectly manicured finger at me. “She doesn’t know what she wants.”
My heart warmed as I looked over at my little girl, bent over the hood with her orange shorts covered butt in the air. Cars had been Shelby’s thing since the day she was born. She’d rather play with her cousins hot wheels than her dolls. Mama didn’t care about that. The only thing that mattered to Daddy and her was the reputation of the Davis family. That meant that girls were pretty and always smiled while boys never cried. They had to be tough and of course play football. My brother could attest to that, before the car accident that is.
Now, he was the family secret that sat in his wheelchair, hidden away. A lot like I was before I gave birth to my first child. Getting pregnant at seventeen wasn’t exactly something my parents were proud of me for. I was tucked away at a ‘school’ for troubled girls and had my child ripped away at birth. My parents never let me forget about that, not that I could’ve. My baby boy was constantly on my mind, just like his father was.
Mother always told me that people couldn’t affect your life, but she was wrong. I’d only spent a day with Louis Kessler four years ago, and I still couldn’t get him out of my head…
“Oh my lord.”I ducked down to quickly scoop up the books I’d knocked out of someone’s hand.
My visit to the college campus wasn’t off to a great start. Some asshole wouldn’t leave me alone at a party last night, an asshole who apparently had a lot of pull. We got kicked out shortly after that. When I woke up this morning I was determined to make a better impression. That failed five minutes out the door when crashed into someone.
“I’m so sorry.” I muttered while gathering some loose papers.
The only reason I decided to tour this college was because Bella went here. My parents weren’t happy about that, they thought Bella was a bad influence, but she was the only one who really saw me. I missed her.
The deep tone of the voice that wafted down cause me to falter. “It’s entirely my fault.”
Of course I crashed into a man. Why wouldn’t I?
I had to remind myself to move when he crouched down to help collect his things. I didn’t just crash into any man, I walked right into the most beautiful man on the planet. His broad shoulders, deep chocolate eyes and dark hair were the things Bella and I used to dream about. While he didn’t appear that much older than me, his eyes held a spark of knowledge far beyond his years. But it was the aura of authority around him that drew me in.
Even his chuckle was sophisticated. “Do you always stare at people you almost knock over.”
A flush heated my cheeks as I ducked my head.
Way to make a first impression Cheyenne.
The man’s brow arched at my reaction. “You don’t strike me as the shy type.”
I wasn’t, but this guy had me feeling like a timid schoolgirl. I could barely even find my voice. “I should’ve been watching where I was going.”
Mama would’ve scolded me for that. Never admit your short comings.
“If you would’ve done that, then I wouldn’t have gotten to see you blush.”
How embarrassing was that?
“I don’t think I’ve even anything so beautiful.”
Did he just call me beautiful?
My eyes rolled up to his as he tipped his head and smirked.
He wasn’t like the boys back home. He wasn’t a boy at all. He was a man. A breathtakingly handsome man, with an aura of authority someone his age should not have. Everything about him screamed power. From the clothes on his back to the way he smelled. Money recognized money. My family had wealth and respect. The Davis had been in south Carolina since before the civil war. But something told me that his family would make mine look like peasants.
“Are you going to keep those?” He asked while tipping his chin at the papers in my hand.
“Right.”
