Chapter 14

Mr. Wilson and Matt had returned the night before and Justin knew he had to get down to the stables to help out or at least supervise while Matt and Chris learned to take over his job, even though it would be a year before they would be leaving the ranch, there was a lot of various aspects to Justin's job, plus Mr. Wilson really didn't look like he was doing all that well, Justin hoped that he would feel better soon. After having dinner with Mr. Wilson last night, Justin had told Shelly of his being left everything in Mr. Wilson's will. Shelly wasn't as shocked as Justin was about it she knew how dependent Mr. Wilson was on Justin. Justin kissed Shelly's forehead before heading out the door, he had already told her he would be getting up and heading out bright and early in the morning and would be back around 8am to take her up to eat breakfast.

Shelly had planned on sleeping in that morning, but she wasn't that lucky. She felt Justin kissing her goodbye and not long after he left she woke up. Shelly was just going to lie there and relax until 7:30 when she had to get up and get ready for breakfast. Her stomach turning forced her to get up before she wanted to, but that couldn't be helped. After she cleaned up, Shelly decided to get dressed, call Justin and let him know she was heading over for breakfast and to just meet her at the main house, she would be there. In no time, Shelly was ready to go; she grabbed her phone and dialed Justin's number. She was surprised he didn't answer, but then he was busy she wasn't going to worry. Leaving a message on his phone, Shelly headed over to the main house to grab some breakfast.

Shelly ran into Mr. Wilson in the dining hall, she joined him for breakfast and they discussed various things. Neither of them brought up his health. Shelly was concerned that he was looking so pale and ill, but decided to keep it to herself for now. After enjoying her 3^rd cup of coffee she excused herself stating that she needed to go lie down for a bit, for Shelly too wasn't feeling very good, she didn't know if it was the pregnancy, seeing Mr. Wilson ill, not hearing back from Justin, or a combination of all three. Shelly was heading back to the cabin when she saw two people leaving the cabin. It took only a split second to realize that it was Justin and some other woman she had never seen before. When the woman pulled Justin into her arms and kissed him, Shelly thought she would faint. She was so mad that God knows she wasn't thinking straight. Shelly headed to the stables, no one was there so she very quickly had Shadow saddled and ready to go. In her anger she never even felt the pain in her knee, her speed and movements were that of someone with no injuries or problems. Shelly walked Shadow to the stable door and quickly opened it and then shut it again behind her. She vaguely heard someone call her name, but in her anger and hurt at this betrayal, she ignored it, quickly mounting Shadow, after removing the full leg brace that she had on and just letting it fall to the ground outside the stable doors. Shelly saw Chris running towards her, but one flash of her eyes stopped him dead in his tracts. Ignoring her physical pain Shelly leaned over Shadow drove her heals in hard and took off.

Justin had heard Chris scream Shelly's name and as he turned he saw Shadow going by at full gallop, Shelly was letting him have is head and not controlling his speed at all. As Shelly flew by the cabin, Justin noticed her face and eyes even though it was only for a split second, and he knew that Shelly had seen what just happened. Damn it he thought, how am I going to explain this, will she even listen to me? Justin doubted it, but he would have to try anyway. Running to the stable, Justin was going to saddle Azura and head after her, hoping he would be able to find them, Shelly was clearly so angry he wasn't sure she would be paying attention to where she was going. Chris was standing at the stable doors with Shelly's knee brace in his hand and was giving Justin an "if looks could kill" stare. Justin stormed past Chris and was hurrying to get Azura ready to go. After a few minutes, he was out the door on her back and going in the direction that he had seen Shelly go.

Shelly didn't know where she was going and frankly she didn't care. She felt his betrayal like a hot knife in her heart, she had trusted him and he had only used her. I guess he was just after my money after all Shelly thought. Next thing Shelly knew she felt something hit her shoulder and she was flying off the back of Shadow, then darkness surrounded her.

Justin had been searching for Shelly for nearly an hour when he heard a gunshot and a faint scream. Panic filled Justin, deep inside he knew that was Shelly screaming and prayed that he was wrong about her being shot. It took him another 45 min to find Shelly and when he did he felt a part of himself dying. Shelly was lying on the ground unconscious with a bullet wound to the right shoulder, a significant amount of blood was underneath her and staining her clothes. Justin jumped off of Azura and not even realizing that he broke his leg in the process. Looking around Justin didn't see Shadow anywhere, well Azura would have to bear both their weights this time, and he had to get Shelly back before she lost so much blood that she loses the baby or dies herself. Justin ripped off a piece of her shirt in order to bandage her shoulder up as best he could and as he was trying to pick her up, pain shot through his leg. Looking down Justin saw that his leg had been broken when he jumped off of Azura's back. He was trying to figure out how to get Shelly back when he heard noise behind him. To his surprise both Matt and Chris were there, Chris on Shadow's back, somehow Shadow had made it back to the ranch and when they saw the blood on Shadow's side they knew something terrible had happened and rode out. Seeing Shelly on the ground and the angle that Justin's leg was at, Matt got off Moonlight and picked Shelly up and gingerly placing her in Chris's arms. Watching Chris take off Matt went back and helped Justin up on to Azura's back and with a purely pissed off look on his face Matt got back up on Moonlight grabbed Azura's reigns and headed back towards the house, but at a much slower pace than Chris had gone. As Matt and Justin arrived back at the ranch they could hear the sirens of the ambulance as it quickly speed away from the ranch.

Unbeknownst to Justin, Marcus had gone with Shelly in the ambulance. So when Chris came up to help Justin down, Justin about nearly flew off the deep end. "Why the fuck didn't you go with her." Justin screamed at him.

"Who the fuck do you think you are yelling at me, when I saw you kissing my sister Amanda, how could you do that to Shelly, Shelly saw you too, that is why she took off. You don't deserve her; I should just let you figure out how you are going to get down and to the hospital with that broken leg."

Justin knew he was right, but in all fairness he didn't kiss Chris' sister, she kissed him. He had told her about Shelly, but when they went to the cabin to find her, she was gone. Amanda had flown at Justin there in the cabin, trying to get him to fuck her, but he loved Shelly and would never betray her like that. As they were leaving the cabin, Amanda had seen a woman with a knee brace that looked like the woman both Justin and Chris had described and decided to kiss Justin to see what he would do.

"Chris" Amanda said behind him, "It wasn't his fault, I kissed him not the other way around, I wanted to make her jealous of me like I am of her, she has what I have only dreamed about ever having, Justin."

Chris had turned to look at his sister, he was having a hard time believing she could be so vindictive and mean. "Amanda, do you realize your little stunt could end up causing Shelly to lose her and Justin's unborn child, let alone her life? You need to grow up and realize that your impulses and actions can have deadly consequences. I swear if Shelly loses that baby that will be it; I will see to it that mom and dad cut you off completely."

Hearing a grunt of pain and a thud, Chris turned around and saw Justin on the ground, he had tried to get off of Azura on his own and only succeeded in falling into a heap on the ground. Matt had come back from putting Moonlight and Shadow back in the stable and coming out he grabbed Azura's reigns quickly lead her into the stable then was back out helping Chris get Justin up and to the truck to take him to the hospital so that his leg could be set and he could find out what was happening to Shelly.

As they arrived at the hospital supporting Justin on each side, they ran into Marcus, who was pacing back and forth clearly agitated. Marcus looked at Justin with a look that was so angry that his eyes looked completely black. Marcus stomped up to Justin ready to deck him, when Chris held up his hand and quickly told Marcus it wasn't Justin's fault, his sister Amanda admitted to kissing Justin when she saw Shelly heading towards the cabin.

At that moment Dr. Carter came out and was shaking his head, still not sure what would happen, knowing Shelly was in bad shape and could very well loose the baby at anytime. He was waiting for the blood tests to come back in, hoping against hope that Shelly had not yet lost the baby. He would have the test preformed every 6 hours for the next few days to keep an eye on how things were progressing. He saw Justin being supported by Matt and Chris and looking down he saw why, Justin's leg was clearly broken. Calling for a wheel chair, he order x-ray's to immediately be taken of Justin's leg. Max was the one who came to take Justin, Max was not happy with this turn of events, he had seen Shelly, when he had taken the portable x-ray down to the E.R. so that they could make sure that the bullet had in fact gone straight through and that there were no bone fragments floating around. How could he let her get hurt, Max thought? Max had overheard Dr. Carter talking to the surgeon about Shelly being pregnant and they both agreed it would take a miracle for her not to lose the baby. Max heard Justin mumbling and wanted to tell the fucking asshole to shut up. As he listened a bit closer, he heard Justin say "How could Chris's sister do this, she knows I am in love with Shelly yet she purposely kissed me to hurt her and get a reaction out of me."

Shelly was in and out of consciousness for several days, but by some miracle she hadn't lost the baby. When she finally woke up and looked around, the first person she saw was Justin sitting in a chair right next to her with his leg in a cast and propped up on a chair. He was asleep, but what surprised her the most was where his hand was. Justin had refused to leave Shelly's side at all the entire time, once they had him in his cast, he insisted on being with Shelly. Justin was so grateful when Dr. Carter told him that it didn't appear Shelly would lose the baby. Justin had his left hand placed protectively on her womb. Shelly almost shoved his hand off of her and demanded he leave; as she was trying to pull the engagement ring off of her finger, Marcus walked in. Seeing what she was doing, Marcus quickly went to her side and placed his hand over hers, stopping her. Placing his forefinger on his other hand to her lips as she opened them to protest. "Shelly, Justin didn't betray you. Amanda, Chris' sister purposely kissed him when she saw you walking towards the cabin. She is jealous of you and thought it would be funny to get you mad. Both Chris and Mr. Wilson told her to leave the ranch and that she was no longer welcome there. Justin hasn't left your side since they set his leg; he broke it hoping off of Azura's back when he saw you lying on the ground covered in blood."

As Shelly started to cry, Justin woke up, seeing Marcus standing there, Justin knew that he had told Shelly about Amanda's stunt. Justin started to get up and out of his chair, having a bit of difficulty, Marcus walked around to the other side of the bed to help him up, once he got Justin up next to Shelly so he could hold her, Marcus quickly exited the room and softly closed the door behind him.

As Shelly cried, Justin tried desperately to reassure her that everything was ok, both she and the baby were fine. It was several more days before Dr. Carter would discharge her from the hospital. Justin spent every waking hour with Shelly. But Shelly was remorse and quiet, barely answering when she was spoken too. She didn't protest Justin holding her, but she was tense and aloft when he tried. She also was having a hard time eating again; it was like she was losing her will to live again. She had a hard time believing Justin; she just couldn't get the picture of him with Amanda out of her mind.

When she finally returned to the ranch, Shelly asked Jennifer to move her things back to her room. Right now she just couldn't sleep in the same bed as Justin, looking at him was too painful. For nearly a week Shelly stayed in her room, refusing to see anyone, the food that was taken to her was returned hours later untouched. Shelly's weight had dropped significantly which was a major concern for all. They knew that if she didn't start eating soon, she would lose the baby, and if that happened well while no one would admit it, they all knew they would be burying Shelly, there is no way she could or would survive it.

One morning, Justin woke up miserable as he did every morning the last week, he couldn't sleep without Shelly at his side, and with her refusing to see him or anyone else for that fact and knowing full well she wasn't eating, he felt as if his life wasn't worth living anymore. He decided to head down to the stables to see Azura; he hadn't been to see her since he got home from the hospital. He slowly made his way down to the stables, now fully understanding how Shelly felt, not really being able to do things that normally she had no problems doing. As he was walking by his office something caught his eye, going into his office it was there on his desk, the engagement ring he had given Shelly, underneath it was a note that he really didn't want to read, but knew he had too.