Melanie had seen that miracle happening to Jamie in one of her visions. She had also told all of the women in their group of friends that they were going to be mated and pregnant very soon, and she demanded a giant chocolate bar with almonds when each of the men realized that their mates were right in front of them and finally claimed them. All the women secretly hoped that Melanie was correct in her vision, but none of them held any hope for it actually happening to them. Lainey’s sister Becca was sure that Melanie was wrong about her future. So was their friend Claire. The men who held Becca’s and Claire’s hearts had hurt them with their distance. Lainey also felt Melanie was wrong about her future mating. She couldn’t imagine how she could ever choose Spence over Tim or Tim over Spence. She loved them both too much to do that.
For many years the Great Spirit had blessed the members of the McKade family and their friends with the finding of their true mates. When a fated mating occurred, and the mating had been accepted by both parties of the mating, a marking of two golden links appeared at the nape of the mated couple’s necks, attesting to the fact that the mating had been blessed by the Great Spirit. It was a miracle that each and every one of the McKade family and the people who lived near McKade land hoped for. Lainey certainly was among those who wished for the blessing of a mate—thus was the source of her sadness.
She had loved Spence McKade and Tim Hughes ever since she was a young girl. Over the years she had tried to step away from the men who were her best friends, trying to give them space to find their own mates, but every time she watched them date other women her heart broke. Even trying to date other men had been a dismal failure for her. Every man she dated was nice enough, but she couldn’t allow herself to get close to them. They were good guys, they gave her nice kisses, they even made her laugh, but there was one major problem. They weren’t Spence or Tim.
She shook herself mentally, turned and walked the length of the counter, rubbing at her stomach to try to ease the pain in her left side. Looking up, she gazed at the two men who filled every waking moment with thoughts of them. Her heart fluttered at the sight of them. Being near them caused an ache in her chest to match the one in her side.
How am I ever going to get through this day?
“Spence, Lainey’s in pain,” Tim told his best friend, indicating the girl who had captured their hearts.
Spence’s attention snapped toward Lainey in time to see her rub at her left side again. “What the hell?”
“I saw her do that before,” Tim told him. “Now she’s doing it again. Something’s wrong with our woman.”
“What’s wrong is she’s not with us,” Spence told him firmly, his blue eyes flashing with determination. “We’re going to fix that today.”
“Yeah, Spence, I know. But look,” Tim told him. “She’s doing it again.”
Spence looked and saw Lainey rub at her left side again. He watched as she pushed down at the half apron that was slung around her sexy hips, tugged up her pink T-shirt, and pressed against her bare skin. The sight of her body made him harden with need, but the look of pain on her face cooled his ardor quickly.
“What’s wrong, Lainey?” he asked her as she walked toward them.
“Nothing,” she answered without hesitation as she stood in front of the booth. “What can I get for you?”
“Yes, there is, baby,” Tim told her, reaching out and lifting her T-shirt so he could touch her left side gently. “Don’t deny it. You keep rubbing your side. Why?”
“No reason. I’m fine.” She had to steel herself to withstand Tim’s gentle touch on her body. She couldn’t cave in to the emotions his hand on her made her feel. “So, what can I get for you, cowboy?”
Spence looked at Lainey’s stomach, wanting to help her but not knowing how. “Do you have your period, baby?” he asked her gently.
“Geez, guys, stop!” she snapped, pushing away Tim’s hand and taking a step back from the table. “Touch me again and I’ll have to stab you with a fork. Go find the women who are meant to be yours and stop playing with me. I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t want you to touch me like that. It’s not right.”
“Lainey, sweetheart, you know Tim and I have helped ease your cramps before,” Spence reminded her. “Come here and sit between us. We’ll rub your stomach for you.”
“I don’t have cramps,” she told them through gritted teeth.
“Do you think it could be her appendix?” Spence asked Tim worriedly.
“No, the appendix is on the right side. She’s rubbing her left,” Tim told him, shaking his head. “Come here, honey. Let me feel your stomach.”
“Oh. My. Goodness.” Lainey was losing control quickly. She knew there was no way she was going to be able to handle it if both men cuddled her between them and touched her at the same time.
She tried to turn away from them but found her hips being grasped by four strong hands. She was spun around carefully, and she found herself looking directly into Spence’s beautiful, blue eyes. She ached to run her fingers through his thick black hair and hold him tightly against her chest. She tried to look away but that only succeeded in making her meet the softness of Tim’s brown eyes. Reaching up, she was about to card the fingers of her left hand through Tim’s soft, brown curls, but she pulled back and clenched her hand into a fist as she fought to control her need to touch him.
“Please, baby,” Tim whispered. “We’re worried about you.”
Lainey huffed in exasperation. She looked at both men and saw the real concern that they had for her. Looking around to make sure no one could overhear her, she leaned forward and felt her heart pounding against her chest as both men eased forward. When they placed their hands gently on her waist, she couldn’t help but wish that things could be different. But they weren’t, and it pissed her off.
“I’m ovulating! Okay?”
She pulled out of their hold and was about to turn around when she was hauled back toward the table and ended up sitting on Spence’s lap. His arms surrounded her and his hand covered her stomach, rubbing it soothingly. She didn’t want to turn into his touch, really she didn’t, but his warmth and his gentleness drew her. She leaned against his chest and sighed tiredly.
She watched as Tim slid out from his seat and knelt in front of her, wrapping his arm around her waist and placing his hand on her stomach to join Spence’s. It felt right to be between them, to be held by them, and to be soothed by their touch. Damn! She was doomed.
“I didn’t know that ovulating caused pain. Did you, Spence?” Tim asked him quietly as he rubbed Lainey’s side gently.
“No, I didn’t. Is that normal, Lainey? Should we take you to the hospital to get you checked out?” Spence asked her quietly as he brushed her cheek gently with the back of his hand.
Lainey sighed, letting her body relax between them. She leaned into Spence’s chest and covered Tim’s hand with her own, stilling his movement. Seeing the way they looked at her made her give in to her need to be with them. She knew she could never act on it, but she would take what little closeness she could get. It may be the last time she would ever be with both of them again. She had to distance herself from them before she hurt them. How could she ever choose one over the other?
“It doesn’t cause pain for everyone,” she explained tiredly. “I’m just one of the lucky ones I guess.”
“Well, at least you’ll know when you can get pregnant,” Tim told her gently, smiling at her and winking in an attempt to make her smile.
“A fat lot of good that does,” Lainey told them, snorting. It had to be the most unladylike sound she had ever made.
“What do you mean, kitten?” Spence asked her gently.
“It’s hard to get pregnant alone.”
Pushing out of Spence’s arms, she stepped around Tim as he knelt before them, and walked toward the counter. She picked up her pad and pencil and headed toward her two customers, not really wanting to face the two women, but she had to have some reason to distance herself from Spen
ce and Tim. She just knew the two women were going to make some kind of rude comment to her. They always did.
“Would you like some more tea, Mrs. Emery?” she asked Melanie and Gracie’s mother politely.
“You know, Lainey, it’s really disgusting the way you flaunt yourself at those two men,” she told her coldly. “Don’t you realize that the whole town can see how inappropriate you are?”
“Those McKade brothers are nothing but trouble,” Charlotte Majors spoke up, sneering over her shoulder at the two men who occupied the back booth. “And Tim Hughes has caused his father nothing but heartache and pain. Shame on him.”
Lainey’s spine stiffened. The anger that filled her as these two women maligned her best friends was nearly blinding. She stepped toward the counter, slapped her pad and pencil down on it, and leaned forward.
“Get out of my diner right now,” Lainey told them firmly, barely holding onto the shred of control she had.
The shocked look on the women’s faces almost made her smile. Almost. The anger in her wasn’t going to let anything but pure fire fuel her.
“Well, you’re certainly rude,” Mrs. Emery sputtered.
“No, you’re rude,” DelAnne spoke up from beside Lainey. “Get out before I call the police and have them come and arrest your sorry butts for being disruptive in a place of business.”
DelAnne’s light brown eyes flashed with anger. There was no way she would stand by and allow these two spiteful women to hurt Lainey. And she certainly wasn’t going to allow them to make Lainey feel ashamed about caring for Spence and Tim.
“Lainey Markham, you’ve always been a fresh child,” Mrs. Emery said slowly, her blue eyes cold as she stared at her. “When others have called you a harlot in the past, Charlotte and I have come to your defense, but we were wrong. Your actions are sending you down the path of destruction, and you’ll be spending eternity in hell.”
“If Lainey is condemned to hell then there’s something seriously wrong with God’s judgment of her,” DelAnne spoke up. “She’s the kindest, most loving person I have ever met. Unlike you two.”
The two women stood and slowly placed their napkins on the counter. Picking up their purses, they turned and left the diner without another word.
“Thanks, DelAnne,” Lainey whispered, reaching out to squeeze her hand gently.
“No problem,” DelAnne told her, smiling. “I really can’t stand those two old biddies.”
Lainey laughed softly despite her heartache. She agreed with DelAnne, but she also knew that the town would probably condemn her for loving two men. It didn’t really make a difference anyway. She couldn’t let Spence and Tim know how she felt. Damn, but she hated the choices she had to make.
Tim turned to Spence and smiled. “She’s defending me again,” he told him quietly. “She doesn’t have to. I don’t care what people think. And I certainly don’t care about my father.”
Spence nodded and reached out to touch Tim’s shoulder as Tim slid back onto the bench seat. “The only person we need to concern ourselves with is Lainey,” he told him, his voice low. “We’re going to finally get her to understand what she means to us.”
“It’s about damn time, Spence,” Tim told him. “We need her.”
“Yes. We do. And you know what else?”
“What?”
“We’re going to claim her as our mate, and we’re going to make sure that we take care of her pain.”
“How’re we going to do that?” Tim asked worriedly. “She won’t let us take her to the hospital.
Spence smiled as he looked at Lainey before returning his attention to Tim. His smile grew wider as he thought about how they were going to help their woman.
“What do you think about becoming a father, Tim?” he asked him.
The expression of shock on Tim’s face was quickly replaced by a smug smile. Spence nodded at him and folded his thick arms across his chest.
“I think that’s something I’m going to love,” he told Spence honestly. “What about you?”
“I want us to be a family,” Spence answered him honestly. “I want Lainey to be mated to both of us, and I want us to have kids that will look exactly like her.”
Tim smiled, nodding in agreement. “Yeah, I think we’ll make a great family. I want us to be a family, too, Spence. We need to convince Lainey though.”
Spence looked at Lainey and knew that there was no one but her for them. “I think we need to convince her to date us, live with us, and mate and marry us. Then we’ll ask her about having babies with us.”
“I agree,” Tim said with determination. “We’re going to convince her tonight.”
“Think so?”
“Yup.”
“Okay, Daddy. I’m with you.”
Tim just smiled. All he could think about was how beautiful Lainey was going to look with her belly filled with their baby. It was something he was looking forward to experiencing with her.
Chapter 3
Lainey walked back into the kitchen and stood behind her sister as Becca was preparing steak sandwiches for a take-out order they had just received.
“Becca,” she whispered, leaning forward and resting her cheek against her sister’s shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
Her twin turned around and faced her, wiping her hands on the kitchen towel and throwing it down onto the work counter before reaching out to take her hand. Lainey looked down at her slightly shorter sister and smiled sadly, seeing the immediate concern in Becca’s unique brown eyes that held flecks of blue.
Lainey shrugged, unsure what to say. How could she tell Becca how confused she was? It wasn’t that she didn’t know what it was that she felt about Spence and Tim. It was because of what she felt for them that she felt so lost.
“I think something’s wrong with me, Becca,” she whispered.
“What do you mean? Are you sick?”
“Yeah, in the head,” Lainey told her, laughing lightly.
“Lainey Markham! You are not sick in the head!” Becca’s voice was firm as she reached out and grabbed for her sister’s shoulders and shook her firmly just once. “What in the world are you saying that for?”
“Spence and Tim…” Lainey whispered, looking over her shoulder to the doorway that led out into the serving area of the diner.
“Oh,” Becca whispered, understanding. “They’re out there?”
Lainey nodded, facing her sister once again. “I don’t know what to do, Becca. I love them both so much. There’s got to be something wrong with me.”
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you,” Becca told her firmly.
“How can there not be something wrong with me?” Lainey challenged her. “I want to be with both of them.”
“And I think you’re meant to be with both of them,” Becca told her calmly.
It was as if the roof had just caved in on her. Never in her wildest imagination would she have ever thought that Becca would tell her something like that. Something within her eased just slightly at the support her sister gave her. Maybe things weren’t as black and white as she had been raised to believe. Thinking about the way their parents had raised them, she should have known better than to allow their archaic thoughts and beliefs to influence her. Their parents were cold and abusive. They had definite opinions about people and life that neither she nor Becca agreed with. If it weren’t for the love and support of the McKade family as they were growing up, she and Becca would have never known what a loving family really was.
“You think Spence and Tim are meant for me?” Lainey asked, needing to clarify what Becca was thinking. “Together? Both of them? With me?”
Becca laughed as she reached up and pulled on the end of her sister’s beautiful, sable hair as it fell from the ponytail at the crown of her head. She wrapped her fingers around the length and settled it so that it fell behind Lainey’s shoulder to curl gently to the middle of her back. “Yes. Together. Both of them. With you.”
“But, Becca,” Lainey began.
“No. Listen, Lainey,” Becca stopped her. “I’ve seen how those two men have been your best friends for our entire lives. I’ve seen them take care of you and watch out for you. I’ve seen them help you when you were in college, and supported you when you and I wanted to buy this diner. Those men have been by your side for every important decision you’ve ever made.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Lainey told her softly. “We’re friends.”
“Yes, you’re friends,” Becca agreed. “And that’s important for a lifetime of love with your mates.”
“They’re not my mates, Becca,” Lainey whispered.
“Oh, honey. Yes. They are.” Becca reached up and touched Lainey’s cheek lightly. “Those men belong to you just as much as you belong to them.”
“But it’s wrong.”
“Says who?” Becca snapped. “Who has the right to deny you a future of happiness with your mates?” She lowered her hand and stood before her with her hands on her hips. “Are you going to let narrow minded people dictate who you love? Are you going to throw away the two men who have been chosen for you?”
Lainey was quiet for a moment as she looked at her sister. Becca was an amazing person. She gave Lainey support and unconditional love, and she never let her get away with giving in to her insecurities.
“You may think both men belong to me, and I may hope they both belong to me, but how can I expect Spence and Tim to accept that they have one mate that they will have to share?”
Becca couldn’t prevent the laughter that escaped her. “Yeah, it’s a big hardship for them both to have you as their mate,” she teased.
“Becca, stop laughing. This isn’t funny!”
Becca wiped at the tears of laughter that slipped from the corners of her eyes. “Sorry, sweetie,” she apologized, sobering immediately. “Just don’t question it, Lainey. You and I both know that our mates are predestined. The Great Spirit has chosen them for us because they’re perfect for us. Don’t worry so much. Just allow it to happen.”
Claiming Lainey [Cowboy Mates, Psychic Connections 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 3
