The Divine Creek Ranch Collection Volume 3

by Heather Rainier

  “Can I ask you a question, Richard?”

  “Sure, Maya. Ask away,” he said as he walked beside her. The aisle was fairly deserted, and she felt safe in asking her question as she halted the cart to put some chicken broth in the basket.

  “If Kendall and Boone weren’t involved, would you still want me?” She hated putting him on the spot, but she needed to know, separate from the others, if his heart was truly in this.

  Richard pondered her question and then said, “I meant to spend my life with Michelle. She’s who I’d be with right now if…circumstances hadn’t changed. But I can’t alter what happened. That doesn’t take away from what I feel for you now. You’re my present. That was my past.”

  Pointing to a bottle of salad dressing on the top shelf, she asked, “I’m not asking for a declaration. I just wonder if you can picture yourself loving me that much.”

  He placed the bottle in the cart and smiled at her. “I know I can.” The truth of his statement was in his unwavering gaze.

  “Well, all right then,” she murmured with a giggle as an elderly woman turned down their aisle with her cart. “Shoot. I had all sorts of questions to ask you while we were alone.”

  He used a fingertip to tilt her chin up so her eyes met his. “I know I’m not the easiest person to read, but I want you to know you can ask me anything. Okay?” He nodded to the elderly lady as she wheeled her cart closer.

  Maya smiled at him and said, “Thank you, honey.”

  She stifled a giggle when he blushed slightly at her endearment.

  “Young man, could you help me, please?” The petite senior said in a wavering voice. She looked like she was holding on to the cart for dear life as she lifted a shaking hand and pointed to a jar of pickles out of her reach. “Could you get that jar of bread and butter pickles for me?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said smiling as he retrieved the jar and placed it in her trembling hand. Maya guessed her age to be mid-to-late eighties.

  A little, elderly man who had to be closing in on ninety years old tottered up to them and said, “Well here you are, Trudy.” He tipped his cowboy hat to Maya and winked at her, and Maya nodded and smiled back. To his little wife he said, “I wondered where you got off to, gingersnap.”

  Trudy’s faded blue eyes twinkled merrily at her husband as she replied, “I got me a handsome cowboy to do my bidding.”

  He shook his head in mock disapproval and said, “Guess it’s time to take you in hand again.”

  Trudy flapped her hand at him and replied, “Oh, promises, promises.”

  The chuckling old cowboy reached out to shake Richard’s hand and said, “These little fillies are a might headstrong when given their way too much, don’t you reckon?”

  Richard returned the greeting and nodded. He glanced at Maya with laughter in his eyes. “I know it, sir.”

  “Well, Trudy. Let’s leave these young ones to their shoppin’.”

  “Thank you, young man. Y’all have a good day,” Trudy said as her husband took her hand and placed it securely on the shopping cart handle, and they continued down the aisle, chatting amiably.

  “Now, Trudy, I wish you’d taken one of those motorized shopping carts when the manager offered it to you. Are you tired, gingersnap?”

  “Oh, I’m fine, Lawton. Nothin’ a little nap won’t cure.”

  Maya watched with a feeling that approached awe as the little, aged cowboy smooched his tiny wife on the lips right there in the middle of the store. This was what a lifetime of love looked like. As they moved farther away she heard the old man say, “I love you, gingersnap.” Trudy giggled and said something Maya couldn’t make out as they rounded the end of the aisle.

  She looked up at Richard and saw that he, too, was watching as they moved off.

  “Wow,” Maya said, her eyes burning just a bit.

  “Yeah.” His voice was barely a whisper.

  “That’s true love.”

  He turned his gaze to her and gestured with his thumb in the direction the aged couple had gone. “Think you could handle some of that?”

  Willing herself not to cry at his sweet question that was more of a declaration, she nodded and pressed her lips together so her chin would stop quivering. She was thankful when Richard put an arm around her shoulders, drew her to his side, and directed the shopping cart down the aisle.

  He insisted on paying for the groceries and loaded them into the back of the truck after starting it for her so the cab could cool off. As they rode down the state highway toward the Divine Creek Ranch he put his hand over hers on the console between them and held it the whole way home, their fingers intertwined. The warm feeling that suffused her heart and the memory of the elderly couple so clearly in love came close to bringing tears to her eyes.

  * * * *

  Kendall looked on in amusement at the scene before him, along with the rest of the men. The girls were jumping up and down, cheering and weeping at the news Rachel had just shared with all of them. Eli watched Rachel indulgently before receiving handshakes from all the men.

  Michael Martinez, formerly Palacios since being adopted by his stepfather Angel, approached the group and patted Rachel’s thigh. “Rachel-baby, what does ’specting mean? Why are you crying?” Evidently, five-year-old Michael couldn’t stand to see a woman weeping any more than the rest of the men.

  Rachel smiled at Michael and sat down on the sofa in Grace’s living room and drew him with her. She glanced up at her husband, Eli, and wiped tears from her eyes.

  “Michael-baby, sometimes ladies cry when they’re very happy, not just when they’re sad. ‘Expecting’ means I’m going to have a baby this winter, at Christmastime.”

  Michael’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Cool! High five, Eli!” he hooted as Eli sat down beside Rachel and put out his hand for a smack from Michael. “Gonna have a little boy? He can hang out with me and A-zar.”

  Kendall chuckled at Michael’s abbreviation of his brother’s name. Eleazar was a mouthful for a five-year-old.

  “I don’t know what I’m having, honey. I just found out this morning. But if it’s a boy he can hang out with you, and you can teach him all kinds of stuff, okay?”

  “’Kay.”

  Kendall and his brothers, Wes and Evan Garner, Ash Peterson, and Angel and Joaquin Martinez adjourned to the kitchen with Jack, Adam, and Ethan while a discussion about baby preparations ensued among the girls. Ethan and Richard sliced the brisket while Kendall and the rest of the men got fresh beers.

  “So how are things going with the EMT training, Eli?” Boone asked as he helped Jack cut up the barbequed sausage.

  Eli was currently burning the candle at both ends, working security at The Dancing Pony and attending emergency medical technician courses in Morehead. He had hopes for getting on with the Divine Emergency Medical Services Department.

  “Hard but good. They keep us on our toes. Rachel is excited because it means fewer late nights. It could also mean that I help with delivering the baby,” Eli replied as he leaned against the counter. The man was seriously tall, towering over the rest of them, even Richard and Adam. When he talked about his wife it was plain to see that he loved her deeply.

  “How did she talk you into that?” Kendall asked.

  Eli smiled and shook his head. “It was my idea.”

  “Really? You don’t mind seeing—”

  “The baby I helped put there being born? No, man. Not at all. Rachel is excited about it, too. We’re taking special classes together, and I’m going to be her childbirth coach.”

  Kendall shook his head, not sure he could watch Maya go through the pain of labor and then watch their baby actually being born.

  Adam said, “Kendall, I know how you feel, thinking about being there for something like that. But when it’s yours it’ll be different. I remember thinking there was no way I could watch Grace go through that, but I’ve realized since then that she’ll need us. Her needs take priority over my fears.”

  Eli nodded in agr
eement. “Rachel’s even talking about having the baby at home, maybe using the big tub and having a water birth.”

  Ethan chuckled. “They both are talking about that. Part of me still hopes Grace gives birth in the hospital with as little pain or risk as possible.”

  Kendall couldn’t help but notice the satisfied smile on Ethan’s face when he mentioned his wife. And Eli looked like he could handle whatever he had to in order to be there for Rachel. Kendall understood that kind of devotion. If Maya wanted him there for that event he knew he would be there for her, too.

  Boone asked, “Wes, does Rosemary like working with the two of you? I ran into her over at Cheaver’s the other day. Is she still splitting her time between your furniture business and the family store?”

  Wes and Evan chuckled as they leaned side by side against the kitchen counter. Wes replied, “Rosemary works basically wherever the hell she feels like it on any given day of the week. Randy lost an assistant manager a couple of weeks ago, and so she’s been helping out a bit more over there. I’ll tell you, that girl can sell ice to Eskimos. We saw a one-hundred-percent rise in sales when she started visiting with clients. We got lucky that she’s interested in our business.”

  “No, bro.” Evan chuckled. “We got lucky when she said ‘I do’ on that beach on Grand Cayman last summer.” Wes smiled and nodded as the other men chuckled.

  Kendall turned his gaze out to the living room as the ladies’ discussion continued. He watched as Teresa’s toddler son, Eleazar, walked up to Maya and handed her his little board book.

  “My-my, read me?”

  Maya nodded and said something to him softly as she lifted him into her lap and opened the thick pages of the durable book. Kendall chuckled at the little boy’s version of Maya’s name. My-my. Yep, he felt the same way.

  He looked over and caught Boone and Richard watching her, too. He wondered if he bore the same goofy, in-love expression on his face. Sometimes he wanted to pinch himself because this relationship with her had been a fantasy for so many years.

  He’d been in and out of relationships, but she was the only woman he’d ever loved this deeply, even if it was only from afar.

  He recalled a time during the year after the three of them had met their first year in college. He’d been dating a girl at the time who had been more flash than substance. It was his first experience living away from home, and the freedom had been heady. Pam was a social butterfly and very concerned with appearances and pleasing her sorority sisters. At a party she dumped him harshly in public, calling him a dumb redneck. When Maya had found out, she’d come to his dorm room and convinced him to go to supper with her and Morgan, who had seized the day and was already dating her.

  Later that night after the party was over, the three of them had gone to the sorority house and toilet papered every tree in their pristinely landscaped front yard.

  Though he had nothing to do with it, he thought it was hilarious when he saw the large sign proclaiming the name of the university at the entry to the campus. Someone had spray-painted in neat, red letters, “Pamela Vandernoot takes it up the ass. Call her at…” and then listed her phone number.

  It wasn’t until later when he was telling Morgan and Maya about it that he noticed the red spray-paint residue on her fingers. She’d blushed and hugged him then told him Pamela didn’t know her ass from a hole in the ground. To this day, he remembered the feel of her comforting hug when he thanked her. It had felt like slightly more than commiseration when she looked up at him with earnest blue eyes and told him he deserved someone much better than Pamela Vandernoot. Morgan had agreed with her. That was the day he fell in love with Maya.

  He didn’t need to have made love to her to know he wanted her forever. Then there was the fantasy he and his brothers had entertained lately, that she would somehow find it in her heart to not only love again, but to love the three of them enough to make a commitment. It was too soon to talk about engagements or things like that, but the three of them hoped for something permanent with her. The thought of making love with her and then watching her leave at the end of her week-long stay with them tore him up. Bit by bit Boone and Richard were losing their hearts to her, and it was no surprise, given the way she’d claimed his heart.

  It gave him hope that she’d reacted favorably to the news that Grace had put in a good word for her with Dr. Guthrie, who would soon lose her RN to retirement. He hoped that meant she was seriously considering Divine as her permanent home.

  Boone had mentioned to him the night before that he and Maya had been intimate out at the creek earlier that day. He’d expected as much when Boone had told them he would fetch her from the creek. Kendall knew if it had been him, he’d have done the same thing. She’d returned with Boone and Richard looking content and rosy-cheeked. He couldn’t wait until he had the opportunity to put that bloom in her cheeks himself.

  He’d disciplined himself to one more night of nothing but rest for Maya and hoped tonight could be the night for the three of them. He planned to talk with her about it at their first private moment together.

  Kendall observed Maya with little Eleazar in her lap as Michael approached and leaned against her. He couldn’t hear what Michael was saying, but the look on Maya’s face and the twinkle in Michael’s dark eyes told him the little cowboy must be flirting with her. Like fathers, like son.

  “Hey, Angel, I think your boy is making time with our woman,” Kendall said with a chuckle as he nodded his chin in their direction.

  Angel and Joaquin looked over at the exchange. Both of them laughed and Angel replied, “Michael’s skills with women rival even our brothers’, Luka and Matthias. We’re gonna have hell to pay when he’s a teenager.”

  Joaquin guffawed as he proudly watched his sons and whispered, “Oh, damn. They’re tag-teaming her, Angel.”

  Kendall had to suppress laughter as he watched little Eleazar gaze adoringly at Maya and reach out a pudgy hand to caress her cheek. Maya was obviously enthralled by the two miniature Don Juans as they worked their charms on her. She glanced up at Kendall, a blush on her cheeks, and blew him an air kiss.

  Ethan laughed and said, “The phone is going to be ringing nonstop when they’re teenagers.” He held up his pinky and thumb to the side of his face and said in a reedy, high-pitched voice, “Is Michael there? Um, er, um, can I talk to him pleeeeease?”

  The men all laughed as they continued to give Angel and Joaquin a hard time over their flirtatious sons.

  Boone elbowed Kendall and said, “She fits right in.”

  Kendall’s eyes were on Maya as he murmured, “She does. I’ve been wondering…”

  “About what?”

  Kendall lowered his voice significantly as Richard joined the two of them. “She said earlier that she felt good. I feel like making love to her tonight.”

  Maya glanced up at him and smiled when she caught them all watching her. The blush in her cheeks deepened a bit more then she was distracted by a question from one of the girls. She looked at the men again as she answered, probably curious to know what they were talking about.

  Boone’s tone was guarded and tight. “You want time alone with her tonight?” Kendall looked over at the two of them and shook his head. Sure, a part of him would like to have her undivided attention, but he didn’t want to start down that road this early. Later they could each have her all to themselves whenever the need or desire struck, but right now it was more important to share her love and lavish her with attention.

  “No, Boone. I want to blow her mind with how good it’ll be between the four of us.”

  Richard’s voice was so low they could barely hear him. “Do you think she can handle all three of us in one night, right off the bat?”

  Boone replied, “If we put her in the driver’s seat, she’ll let us know if it gets to be too much.”

  Maya laughed at something one of the girls said, and the melodious sound made Kendall’s heart perform a sappy little somersault. His cock was signali
ng interest and he willed it into submission. It wouldn’t do to walk around with a hard-on the whole evening.

  “God, I can’t wait,” Boone said, most likely speaking for all three of them, judging by the bulges they were all sporting.

  Kendall was trying to think of something to distract himself when a noxious odor filled the room. Ash groaned as he stood holding his sleeping seven-month-old son, Will, to his chest. “Dude.”

  Evan and Wes snickered and moved away from him as Will punctuated the odorous aroma he’d created with a prodigious toot.

  Wes laughed and waved his hand in the air. “Damn, Ash. What did you feed that boy? Broccoli?”

  Ash chuckled and said, “It was just as awful-smelling going in as it is coming out, too.”

  The men all burst into laughter as Ash grabbed the diaper bag. Juliana was away at market in Dallas with Margot Heston, Summer’s sister, so Ash had baby duty.

  Grace must’ve overheard them and came to Ash’s rescue, taking the diaper bag from him and then relieving him of the baby. “Don’t worry, Ash. I’ll take care of him. You’ve had your poor hands full with Will for two days.”

  “You sure, Grace? I change him all the time. It’s no bother.”

  Grace smiled and replied, “It’s good practice for me.”

  She cooed to the auburn-haired baby as she walked away, and Kendall noticed the smiles on her men’s faces as they watched her. They were goofy in love with her, and that was the truth.

  After ascertaining that the women were caught up in their conversation, Jack finally told the men what Kendall had been waiting to hear about. They’d already done some digging about the offensive blog site that listed Grace, Teresa, and Rosemary by name.

  “Ace and Kemp will get to the bottom of this and see what our options are. Kendall, Boone, and Richard, hopefully we can keep Maya’s name out of this altogether. Ace said he and Kemp should be back in town next week. How are things with Maya?”

  Kendall met Jack’s eyes and replied for him and his brothers, “Good. She’s feeling better every day. I think she likes Divine. She loves the girls, judging by what I hear.”