Under the Cowboy's Control

****

Travis came into the house from the barn, covered in sweat and grime. Selena turned from the oven, and as always, her radiant smile beamed at him.

Tonight, it hit him low in the gut. He cleared his throat. "I'm filthy. I'm going to go have a shower."

Selena watched him leave the room, apprehension curling through her. He had been acting differently for days. Something was wrong. She knew it deep in her heart.

When he came back in the room, he sat at the table and picked at his food. Selena sat down with him and picked up her fork. She tried to go slow, but she was starving. Every evening at about this time, a fierce hunger took hold of her and she couldn't control it. Her body was asking for food, and so she ate.

She studied him silently while they ate, her eyes darting between him and the plate in front of her. It dismayed her that he continued to make love to her every day, with no thought at all to her missed period.

After they were finished, Travis didn't say anything, but he came around the table and picked up her hand and led her into the living room.

He couldn't put this off any longer. If he put it off any more, his conscious would start screaming at him even more. He couldn't hide this from her, especially not for his own selfish reasons.

He indicated that she sit on the couch, and he dropped down and sat on the large, wooden coffee table directly in front of her.

"Selena, I have something to tell you."

Chapter Ten

Selena registered the grim cast to his features and braced herself for something bad. He paused and she nodded her head in understanding and an acknowledgement that he should continue.

"I found your paternal grandmother, here in Texas." He took a deep breath, all the way from his diaphragm and held it, waiting for her reaction.

Confusion sliced through her. This was the one thing she hadn't told Travis in the weeks of intimacy that had followed their marriage. He had asked about her family in Mexico, and she had sh

ared with him the horror and trauma of losing them, one by one, and what she had gone through, being left on her own.

How she had fled for her very life.

But she had never shared the almost silly idea of finding her grandparents, lost to her through a generation, another country, and so many years.

A tenuous joy replaced the confusion. Her eyes welled with tears. "My grandmother? Really? She's a-alive?"

Travis held her hands with his and felt the fine tremor gripping her. "Yes, Angel.

She's alive. And she's fairly young and healthy. But your grandfather, isn't, baby.

He's dead, Selena." He broke the news as gently as he could.

Selena felt a pang at that, but no deep pain, because she hadn't known him, and the shock of knowing she had a grandmother alive was still infiltrating her system.

A small seed of happiness was blossoming inside of her.

"How--how did you--" She could barely speak.

"Let me tell you what I know, and how it happened." He paused, and prayed his world wasn't about to come crashing down around him. "I saw the history of your searches on the internet, soon after you got here. I'm sorry I invaded your privacy, but I did. I thought I would try to help you search for them, so I got all the information from your papers, and I called a friend in Houston. A friend with connections." His words came to a halt to see if she was following him completely.

She spoke softly. "G-go on, please."

"He called me a few days ago, and told me what he had found out. I got her contact information from him." He waited.

Her eyes searched his. A few days ago was when he had started acting strangely.

The two events had to be related. "Wow," she breathed out the American slang softly.

"There's more, Selena."