Also by Olivia Gaines
Slice of Life
Friends with Benefits
A New Mommy for Christmas
Slivers of Love
The Cost to Play
Thursdays in Savannah
The Blakemore Files
Being Mrs. Blakemore
Shopping with Mrs. Blakemore
Dancing with Mr. Blakemore
Cruising with the Blakemores
Dinner with the Blakemores
Being Mr. Blakemore
The Davonshire Series
Courting Guinevere
The Value of A Man
My Mail Order Wife
Standalone
Santa's Big Helper
A Menu For Loving
North to Alaska
Turning the Page
An Untitled Love
A Better Night in Vegas
Watch for more at Olivia Gaines’s site.
Olivia Gaines
Davonshire House Publishing
PO Box 9716
Augusta, GA 30916
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s vivid imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely a coincidence.
© 2016 Olivia Gaines, Cheryl Aaron Corbin
Copy Editor: Dark Dreams Editing
Cover: koou-graphics
ASIN:
ISBN-10:
ISBN-13:
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means whatsoever. For information address, Davonshire House Publishing, PO Box 9716, Augusta, GA 30916.
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 9 8
First Pink Door Publishing October 2015
DEDICATION
For you Cooky Butler-Jackson...your questions have been answered.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To all the fans, friends and supporters of the dream as well as the Facebook community of writers who keep me focused, inspired and moving forward.
Write On!
Also by Olivia Gaines
The Slice of Life Series
The Perfect Man
Friends with Benefits
A Letter to My Mother
The Basement of Mr. McGee
A New Mommy for Christmas
The Slivers of Love Series
The Cost to Play
Thursday in Savannah
Girl's Weekend
Beneath the Well of Dawn
Santa’s Big Helper
The Davonshire Series
Courting Guinevere
Loving Words
Vanity's Pleasure
The Blakemore Files
Being Mrs. Blakemore
Shopping with Mrs. Blakemore
Dancing with Mr. Blakemore
Cruising with the Blakemores
Dinner with the Blakemores
Loving the Czar
Being Mr. Blakemore
The Value of a Man Series
My Mail Order Wife
A Weekend with the Cromwell’s
Other Novellas
North to Alaska
The Brute & The Blogger
A Better Night in Vegas ( Betas Do It Better Anthology)
Other Novels
A Menu for Loving
Turning the Page
An Untitled Love
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” – Mike Tyson
Table of Contents
Chapter 1- To Be ...
Chapter 2 – A State Of Being
Chapter 3- What Would Have Been...
Chapter 4 – They Would Be Being...
Chapter 5 – Let’s Be...
Chapter 6 – What Will Be...
Chapter 7 – We Will Be
Chapter 8 – We Be...
Chapter 9 – Señor...You Have Been Shot.
Chapter 10- You Beest...
Chapter 11 – Be...Know...Do
Chapter 12 – Bar-B-Que Anyone?
Chapter 13 –Say What Now?
Epilogue – ...Or Not To Be...
Chapter 1- To be ...
Houston, Texas
Patsy Sterling sat in the overstuffed wingback chair in her bedroom staring out at the side lawn of the Busy B Ranch. Arthritic hands rubbed the thinning fabric of the arm rests which were hand stuffed and tufted by one of the best furniture makers in the great state of Texas. A highly skilled craftsman, who along with his art form, died years past. At times, she’d too felt her time had passed as an uncertainty filled her chest of how she’d managed to live so long. Another birthday was hovering over her head like death with a scythe waiting, just waiting for her to take that last breath. It wasn’t time yet. There were still things to do before her old eyes closed.
Ryanne had shown her that.
I can still be of use.
This wasn’t the first time she’d thought the purpose of her life was over. The majority of her time on the planet had focused on the raising of her only child Lucille. At times, she lived vicariously through the girl, who always seemed to have her head in the clouds. Thoughts wafted in and out of Patsy’s mind, but a memory resurfaced of when Lucille became serious about a young man from a well-to-do family. Patsy’s heart sunk when her daughter came home with the tall, good-looking, strapping young man named Robert Raymond Blakemore. He preferred to be called Bobby Ray. In her eyes, the young man was too handsome for his own good, but he’d surprised her on more than one occasion by being nothing like she expected.
The first shocker to Patsy was in the initial stages of the early romance between the Blakemore boy and her daughter. Late on a Friday night, two hours after Lucille’s curfew had passed, right at the moment when she was ready to mount a posse to go and find her daughter, she came down the stairs to find them in the kitchen, working on a bar-b-que sauce.
“What in the f...?” Patsy started to say. It looked like every pot and pan in the kitchen had been used to create what she determined was nothing more than a big fat whopping mess. Mustard was smeared on one countertop while tomato sauce and brown sugar were everywhere else.
“Howdy Mrs. Sterling,” Bobby Ray said with that thousand-watt smile. “I didn’t want to keep Lucy out late, and I may have overstayed my welcome, but I wanted to make you a batch of the sauce I am perfecting.”
Patsy liked the sauce but she wasn’t sure if she liked the man. She had a sure fire test to determine what a man was made of, so she offered Bobby Ray a hearty bowl of her chili. She watched with interest as he stirred the bowl. His dark haired head lowering to sniff the contents on the spoon before slipping a small serving between those perfectly shaped teeth.
“Whoooo-Hooo! That is hot!” he said, as he took his spoon to the sink and washed it. The bowl of chili was pushed to the side as if it were no more than an afterthought or was potentially crafted of the stuff which would be the cause of a night of bad dreams.
“Aren’t you going to finish the bowl, Bobby Ray?” Patsy asked sweetly.
“Ma’am, my daddy always told me a man should understand his limitations at a young age. He said that if a man can do that, it greatly reduces his chances of growing up and becoming a fool,” Bobby Ray said. “I ain’t no fool, and I ain’t gonna eat that bowl of colon cleanser.”
And he didn’t. Not on that day or any day which followed, not even when his brother Dusty double dogged dared him to try it. Robert Raymond Blakemore was a stand-up sort of guy that seemed to always catch Patsy off guard. He was a thoughtful man that always had a sweet gift for his
Lucy. He also seemed to keep Ms. Patsy in mind as well.
Another surprise came several months later when she caught him and Lucy on the lanai making out. Her daughter, to her dismay, was being far too bold if not downright brazen in her forwardness with Bobby Ray. Patsy clutched her pearls when she overheard Lucy begging the young man to come with her to the barn. Patsy, ready to intervene stood on the ready but Bobby Ray handled the matter like a man of impeccable breeding.
“Lucy,” Bobby Ray had said, “this is not the time nor the place for such intimacies.”
“I know, but we can go inside the barn if you like,” Lucy said as she pressed her young taut body against his.
Bobby Ray stood up suddenly, pushing Lucy away. He asked, “Lucille Sterling, are you saying you love me enough to give me the precious gift of your first time with a man?”
“Bobby Ray Blakemore, I love you enough to give you anything you want...three or four babies...a horse with your name branded on its ass...,” Lucy told him.
“Well, that would be nice, but do you love me enough to spend the rest of your life with me?” he asked.
“Are you asking me to marry you?” Lucy said, her brown eyes staring up at him.
“No...yeah, I guess I am,” he said as he ran his large hand through his dark hair.
“Where in the hell is my ring?” Lucy asked.
“First things first Lucy Girl,” he said to her.
The first thing on his list was getting approval from Ms. Patsy for her daughter’s hand in marriage. The second thing was figuring out a way to merge the two family dynasties without ruffling feathers or stepping on any toes. Somehow, he accomplished just that. Patsy often joked with him that he missed his calling as a politician after he became her son-in-law a few months later.
Patsy had prepared herself to be moved out of her family home once Bobby Ray and Lucy were married. Instead, he knocked out a wall in the downstairs office to convert it to a second master bedroom for him and Lucy, allowing Ms. Patsy to remain in the bedroom she’d maintained for years. He never asked her to leave. If anything, he went out of his way to make sure she was comfortable.
“Mrs. Sterling,” he said one morning, three months after marrying her daughter. A thermos of hot black coffee was in his hand, the steam billowing in the morning air as he placed the cap on the container. “Will you accompany me on a Saturday morning ride? I have some ideas I would like to run by you.”
Bobby Ray had her favorite gelding saddled and brought around as he mounted the big roan. She remained tight-lipped as they rode down to the main entrance of the Sterling family home. He pointed at the gravel and dirt driveway which led to the front entrance under the porte-cochère. “The good thing about being an oilman is that I have disposable income. This driveway leading up to the house needs blacktopping. In the summers, it’s too hot and dry for this to still be gravel. I would like to pave and rename it,” he said.
“Name it what?” she wanted to know.
“I want to name it Blakemore Drive,” he said. “I also have been working with the city to have them incorporate the main road coming from town to the ranch.... that road outside the main gates... into the city’s plans leaving them to maintain it, but the land remains part of the ranch. Before anything is agreed upon, I need to know if that is okay with you.”
It was something she had been planning to do, but running the ranch had become almost too much for her. Keeping good help had also been an issue since her husband died. Most men didn’t want to work for a little slip of a woman; especially not a woman as powerful as Lucy Sterling. The ones who did thought it was an opportunity to ease into her bed in the middle of the night. It had happened too many times for her or Lucy’s comfort to run the risk of hiring more strangers. Because of those circumstances, the ranch had started to go downhill.
“And what is it you want in return, Mr. Robert Raymond Blakemore? For me to sign the ranch over to you?” Patsy asked with sarcasm in her voice.
“Good Lord no, Ma’am! This is your family’s legacy. This is your family’s land. I am only asking for a few compromises since my sons will take care of this property and my daughter will inherit that house,” he said.
Patsy squinted, “I’m listening.”
“I would like you to sign the paper from the city so that road can be blacktopped,” he said with a smile.
“Go on,” she said through gritted teeth.
“I want to name the road Blakemore Boulevard,” he said with a smile.
“What else do you want Robert Ray?” Patsy found herself biting the inside of her lip. “I know you are not done. I am waiting for the other boot to drop.”
“Mrs. Sterling, I hope you don’t think poorly of me, but honestly, I don’t know a damned thing about running a ranch. I have no clue about when to shod a horse, or which pastures to rotate with which herds...and I don’t want to know,” he said flatly. “But this place needs a good foreman. My brother would be great at it because he is lousy at being an oilman.”
“Are you asking me to hire your brother as a foreman for the ranch?” Patsy said.
“Yes, Ma’am. I would be honored if you would do me the favor of letting him get this place back into shape. It would also be a giant help to me by getting him out of my office, off of my nerves and being in my damned way all day long,” he said to her.
“What do you want me to pay him?” Patsy asked, thinking it was going to be a ridiculous seven figure salary.
“Put him and his wife, Sue Ella, in the foreman’s house along with the standard base salary for the job,” Bobby Ray said to her.
“That’s it?” she asked.
“That’s it,” he said.
“You don’t want me to rename the ranch Blakemore too since you are sticking your name on damned near everything else?” Patsy said with a frown.
“No ma’am. This is yours and Lucy’s ranch. If she wants to change the name, that is up to her. My job as her husband is to take care of her inheritance so that when we have a daughter, she will have something to inherit,” he said.
Patsy respected that about Bobby Ray. She also learned to respect him as her daughter’s husband, a father, and a businessman. He was the one man she had learned to love without question. She understood why Lucy did as well.
A searing pain shot up her left arm as she clutched her chest. The little necklace Bobby Ray forced her to wear around her neck had been a point of contention for her, but today she was grateful. Shaking fingers pushed the button sending a signal for help as her body began to slump in the chair. The room went dark as her vision blurred. The sound of running feet came through the door, voices were calling her name, all of them loud and shouting at her. The faint sound of Lucy’s voice in the background was heard as the sound of water rushed to her ears, bringing her down like she was going under water.
“Mama?” Lucy cried out. “Mama, I’m here.”
Patsy Sterling closed her eyes.
Chapter 2 – A State of Being
Houston, Texas
It was nearly one in the afternoon before Odessa managed to even make it out of the bed. Alternating feedings between two babies was tough on her time, her energy levels, and her breasts. Robbie and Austin had only been in the world a little over two weeks and she was plum tired even with the help of a live-in nanny. Nanny Nell was a nice enough woman, but she often gave Odessa weird looks when she fed Austin. As she watched the woman closer, Odessa took notice that she always provided peculiar stares when she suckled Robbie. By the end of the week, she asked Ms. Lucy to let the woman go.
“She makes me uncomfortable,” Odessa told her mother-in-law.
“Did she say something to offend you, Odessa?” Lucy asked.
“No, not at all. I just don’t think she has the right temperament to match with me and two very active babies. They are only two weeks old and a handful, I can’t imagine how Nanny Nell will react when they start to scoot about and crawl,” she said gently.
Honestly, Od
essa didn’t believe she had the right temperament to handle two babies herself. The idea of tying her tubes crossed her mind more than once because pushing another big head out of her momma maker didn’t sound like a lot of fun. One thing that did sound fun was an entire day of slumbering. A day of uninterrupted log sawing was going to be the last thing to come her way. She barely made through a night of unbroken slumber before the sounds of hungry babies pulled her into the light of the wee hours of the day.
The next morning, sounds of sirens coming down the drive scared her and the children, who began to cry with a fierceness which made her breasts ache. The milk ducts heard their cries and opened on command to ooze out what seemed like a pint of baby breakfast juice. She jumped from the bed grabbing her babies, swaddling them as she took off for the stairwell. Odessa reached the bottom landing all the while performing a quick assessment of her lawfully wedded family.
No fire.
No henchmen.
Doc Thompson is still here.
Lucy crying.
Bobby Ray looks worried.
She took a mental inventory as she came down the stairs, one child under each arm.
Dusty is here. Oh, my Gheerrrrrdddd! Where is Saxton?
On cue, he entered the rear hall carrying his grandmother in his arms. Oh, my Gheerrrrrdddd! Ms. Patsy.
“Put me down Saxie,” Patsy said feebly. “I am okay.”
It was a lie and her grandson knew it. Her daughter knew it. Her family knew it. Saxton was also not going to put her down.
“Take me back to my room so I may rest in my bed in peace,” she pleaded to her grandson.
Saxton would not hear of it. “You are going to the hospital Grammy,” he said with a firm voice.
“The doctor is standing right there,” she said to Saxton, pointing a wrinkled finger at Doc Thompson.
“He is a veterinarian,” Bobby Ray said loudly.
“Yes, which means he is twice as smart as a human doctor,” Patsy argued with a smidgen of fire in her weary eyes.
Being Mr. Blakemore (The Blakemore Files Book 7) Page 1
