Absentminded Angel [Divine Creek Ranch 20] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Heather Rainier

  Kendry and Jared introduced Presley Ann to the other men, and she patted Dougie when he put his paw on her leg.

  Once the men had all gone back to work, Kendry and Jared turned warm gazes on her, reassuring her that it was no problem when she thanked them yet again before taking the baby home.

  For men who professed to understand that she was a single mom with her hands totally full already, they sure looked like men on a mission.

  Chapter Four

  With her car warming up downstairs, Presley Ann put the final touches on her makeup while Whit finished nursing from his position inside her stretchy sling. Life had made some remarkable improvements after that stress-filled day in November, right before Thanksgiving. Much as she wanted to say she could do everything on her own, it had taken two caring, gorgeous men to break her out of her funk.

  When she’d mentioned Violet’s offhand comment about needing a supplier for the baby slings, they hadn’t pointed out all the reasons she shouldn’t do it. They’d encouraged her to think outside the box. She looked down at Whit and smiled and then kissed his forehead as she closed her nursing bra and adjusted her top with one hand.

  “You have dimples just like your father, did you know that? No? Oh yes, you do.” He gave her a soft baby chortle in response, and she turned off the light and grabbed her purse and his diaper bag.

  Her maternity leave would end the week before Christmas—only a few days away. Leah had offered to wait to put her back on the schedule until January, but it was a fact of life that she needed to get back to work and replenish her emergency fund. She also didn’t want her cousin Willie accusing Leah of favoritism toward her sister.

  The thought of putting Whit in daycare made her anxious, even if it was in-home daycare at the home of someone she’d known most of her life. She wanted to be the one taking care of her baby, but she knew that dream was unreasonable, at least in her current position. That was something she planned to change, or at least try. So she was off to San Antonio that morning to see about purchasing a barely used industrial sewing machine.

  Her Uncle Marvin caught her in the hallway as she exited her apartment and said, “The boys were looking for you this morning.”

  Presley Ann smiled. She knew exactly who Marvin meant when he referred to the boys. “Did they say what they wanted?”

  “Nope. I told them I’d heard you rushing around upstairs, getting ready to go. All they said was that they’d be watching for you and to not leave until you see them.”

  “Okay. Say bye to Uncle Marvin, Whit,” she murmured to the baby as he peered out of his cozy little spot in the sling she’d donned that morning. His dimple popped out when Marvin made a growly sound at him and tickled his chin.

  “That boy is cuter every day. Takes after you, sweetie.”

  Presley Ann smiled, but she didn’t see the resemblance at all. People had mentioned that he took after her, but when she looked at her son, all she could see was his resemblance to his father.

  Marvin held the door open for her and kept a protective hand around her arm as she stepped out onto the concrete in case there was ice. “Now you be careful on those roads, sweetie.”

  She nodded, wishing that she’d had time to take her smartphone, which had died the day before, by the place she’d bought it at. It was under warranty and she needed a replacement, but they wouldn’t open until after she had to be on the road to San Antonio.

  “Brrr,” she said to Whit as she went around the side of the building where her car was running and now nicely warmed up. Footsteps on the gravel alerted her as she stowed her bags in the passenger seat and her heart lurched a little as she looked up at Kendry’s handsome face. “Hi.”

  “Hi, kitten. Jared’s worried about you driving that far without a phone. He wants you to take his with you, just in case.”

  “That’s not necessary, Kendry. I could make that trip in my sleep.”

  Kendry shuddered and said, “I’ve seen you sleep-deprived. Recently. Don’t even think stuff like that. I’ll be worried as it is.” He held out a smartphone to her. “It’s fully charged. Keep it handy.” He leveled an expectant gaze on her and she giggled.

  “Yes, sir,” she quipped, adding a cheeky salute.

  “Keep an eye on the time. I don’t want you driving after dark.”

  She snorted as she lifted Whit from the sling and strapped him securely into his car seat and bundled a blanket around him. “Don’t worry, Mister Bossy. I don’t want to have Whit out that late any more than you do. We have a schedule to adhere to.”

  “There’s nasty weather coming tomorrow and it could rain today. In conditions like that, an inconvenient situation can become dangerous in a heartbeat. Keep the phone with you and I’ll worry less. We’ll worry less,” he said, gesturing over his shoulder toward the firehouse where she could see Jared working in one of the truck bays. Jared paused, looked over, and waved at her, his gaze serious as usual. Kendry moved closer to her and she could sense his body heat as he stroked the tip of her nose. “We care about you. I care about you.”

  Over the last several weeks, she’d maintained a boundary with Kendry and Jared that they respected and hadn’t questioned. When they said things like that, she reminded them she was a new mom and they just smiled and nodded. But lately, she’d found herself returning their touches and allowing herself to be more vulnerable in front of them.

  Presley Ann laid her hand over his pectorals, clearly delineated through his thermal shirt. “Kendry?”

  “Yeah?” he asked as he reached out and stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers, sending a shiver zipping down her spine.

  “Please don’t think I’m being silly, but have you considered that what you think you’re feeling for me is really just…the residual connection between Leah and Patterson?”

  “You mean like a physical or psychic connection pulling me to Divine because the original owner of my heart was in love with your sister?”

  Heat rushed up her neck and she looked down as she nodded. Her fear that the universe was playing some big cosmic joke on her by sending not one but two men to tempt her into losing her heart was very real to her, no matter how silly it sounded.

  Tilting her chin so she would look up at him, Kendry said, “Trust me, kitten, I know what I want. It’s just a matter of time for you to decide what you want.”

  She could feel his heart beating strong under her hand, and the heat growing in his eyes matched the determination in the set of his jaw as he placed his hand over hers, holding it in place.

  “Feel that? I know who my heart is racing for right now. And as nice as your sister and her men are, it’s not her or them that I’m feeling…or wanting.”

  She was about to ask why, with her heart in her throat, but the wind gusted up and she realized that she still standing with the door beside Whit’s car seat open.

  Kendry backed away and said, “Please be careful.”

  She nodded after closing the door and gasped when Kendry drew her to him in a warm hug and then kissed her temple. “The three of us will talk soon.” She wanted to lean into him so bad, but she pulled back and climbed into the driver’s seat after he opened the door for her.

  The clear intent in his eyes and the determined tone he used set all her nerves to dancing, and a shiver rippled through her that she couldn’t blame on the wind. If he’d tried to kiss her, she wasn’t sure she would’ve stopped him.

  Jared’s phone was tucked in her purse beside her in the passenger seat and she set out. The weather held for her on the trip into San Antonio and she said a prayer of thanks when she arrived at her destination with little trouble beyond having to deal with the traffic and road construction. Whit had been so quiet on the trip, she’d reached back and checked him at intervals during the start and stop traffic.

  She parked in front of the custom embroidery shop in the strip mall and unloaded Whit and slipped him into the sling she still wore. “Wish me luck, babycakes.”

  Insi
de the shop, the owner showed her the machine that she was selling, complete with all the manuals and the packing materials and box it’d come in. After receiving a demonstration that it worked, and a quick tutorial in its basic operation, Presley Ann negotiated the price and said, “I’ll take it.”

  “Wonderful. If you’ll just give me a few minutes to get it packed up.”

  After finishing the transaction, Presley Ann decided to stop at a sandwich shop on the other side of the strip mall to eat a late lunch. She grabbed the blue paisley pashmina Leah had given her for a birthday gift, the only article made of cashmere wool that she’d kept when she’d sold all of her designer clothing earlier in the year. It was cozy, made her think of her sister, and served as a good cover for Whit if he needed to nurse while she ate.

  A group of young women, obviously out on their lunch break, drew her attention with their loud conversation, mostly complaining about their bosses, boyfriends, or other friends. It brought an inexplicable smile to her face as she listened to one that was particularly whiney. She could remember going on just like that.

  “Okay so, he was like—baby, I want you to stay at my place sometimes—so I was like—teddy bear, if you want ‘this’ at your place you need better sheets, and to like do some laundry and house cleaning. So he was like—it’s always about buying stuff for you—okay, so I was like—better you know that up front, right, teddy bear? So he was all—shit, man, I can’t afford this—and I was all—I guess not, teddy bear.”

  Presley Ann wondered if her ears would start to bleed and barely held back a snort as the chippie swiveled her neck and snapped her fingers.

  Whit chose that moment to get fussy in his sling, and she didn’t give it any thought as she drew the pashmina around her and covered him as she adjusted her top and let him have his lunch, too.

  She took another bite of her food, considering how she would go about finding a market for the baby slings she planned to make when she happened to look up. The nearby table of women had grown quiet, and she realized it was because they were staring at her. The one who had been speaking actually curled her lip in disgust.

  Swallowing, she looked down at Whit and made sure that he was properly covered, which he was, and then went about her meal. A few moments later, the women rose from their table. Their staring was rude enough, but the whiniest one made a point of speaking louder than necessary so Presley Ann could hear. “You’ll never see me serving as some kid’s milk cow, but then again, look at how frumpy she is, stuffing her face.”

  Heat blazed in her cheeks, even when one of the girl’s friends elbowed the outspoken one and plainly stated, “Girl, you’re just jealous! I’ve seen your baby pictures. Any kid you make is gonna be at least half-ugly.”

  All three laughed and the exceptionally rude girl called “Moo!” as they walked out on their designer stilettos.

  She looked down at the remains of her sandwich and chips and sipped her sweet tea. Taking in a deep breath, she was very aware of the padding in her waist and hips. Amazing how the words of a stranger she’d never see again affected her so much—perhaps because at one time she might have shared the same attitude.

  But she nodded to herself as she recalled the way she’d looked down on other people in her recent past—judged people based solely on their appearance. Lucy Owen, with her sleek curvy body, came to mind. She’d looked down on her and her sisters-in-law Jayne Carter and Maizy Welsh, for no other reason than the fact that they must have no self-control because they were voluptuous. Then she’d gotten to know them. She shook her head at herself, feeling shame.

  And then she smiled as she looked down at her crossed legs, knowing that although she’d been able to hold off the family genes for a while, there was no denying her fluffy heritage, at least not at the expense of her son and her health. She stroked her upper arm, feeling its warmth, and recalling how proud she’d been of its formerly skeletal thinness. No, she wouldn’t go back there, to that time when her weight had been the only thing she’d truly ever stayed focused on. Whit shifted his blue gaze up to hers and he smiled at her as he continued suckling.

  “He sure is a lovely little boy,” a deep male voice said right next to her ear, and she jumped so hard she banged Whit’s head into the table edge and popped her knee against the table support. Jerking her head around, she caught the older man staring right down her top and past the pashmina, close enough to her that she got a whiff of his stale breath. The silky shawl around her shoulder slipped against the seat at her sudden movement and she lost her balance, smacking her head against the brick wall beside her.

  “Ow! What were you doing looking down my top?” she demanded as she rubbed the sore spot on her head and tried to comfort Whit who was screaming loud enough to draw the attention of every person in the shop.

  “If you’re willing to put it out there then you shouldn’t mind if you have spectators.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked as she drew the baby and the shawl close to her as she quickly did up her nursing bra and adjusted the neckline of her nursing top. “You invaded my space, you pervert.”

  “You put your tit out there, I was just enjoying the view,” the seventy-something man said with a shrug and an oily smile as he took a seat facing her in the next booth.

  Presley Ann looked around the shop but most of the patrons who had to have heard him just looked down at their lunches. The male employee behind the counter looked nervous and like the last thing he wanted was to be involved.

  “I was feeding my son beneath a cover. In order to see, you had to be looking directly over my shoulder. You were practically touching me.”

  The jerk opened his sandwich, seeming completely unconcerned. Was she going to let him treat her that way? The old Presley Ann wouldn’t have stood for it. The new Presley Ann on the other hand, wondered if maybe this was another serving of karma coming her way, like the girls from moments before.

  Evidently unfinished with her, the man looked her up and down and scoffed. “A beautiful woman like you? You act outraged, but you have to be used to being stared at. I think you like the attention but it made you feel guilty because of your kid.” He shrugged again and took a bite of his sandwich before leaning toward her and softly adding, “Just relax and enjoy it, babe. You know you like it.” He grinned at her, showing the lettuce stuck in his teeth.

  Whit was still screaming, and she was done with lunch. She bundled the pashmina around the baby to protect him from the wind and grabbed her belongings. She told herself to take the high road and walk away. She told herself she’d be proud if she held her head high and walked away from that asshole. He’d reap what he’d sown eventually.

  But something made her stop at the door. She scanned the sandwich shop and saw several customers look up at her with curiosity or concern, and then one little old lady in the corner smiled at her and nodded. Not like a little nod of acknowledgement. No. A big nod like, “Baby, go for it!”

  Presley Ann slowly turned and sauntered back with as much sex appeal as she could muster. She snagged the old man’s attention with her smile, reached for his large fountain drink, and dumped it on his crotch as she said, “Just relax and enjoy it, babe. You know you like it.” She set the cup back on his table with a loud bang.

  Not about to be run out of the shop, she walked up to the counter and slid a couple of bucks across to the employee who gaped at her.

  “It’s not much, but I wanted to make up for the mess you’ll have to mop up.” She smiled at him, and his surprised expression transformed into a smile as he looked around the room.

  People were cheering and clapping for her, while the creepy man was bitching and yelling at the employee to get some towels. “You go, Mom!” someone called from behind her and heat filled her face as she grabbed her sweet tea from the table she’d vacated and walked to the front door, actually giggling.

  So the little devil on her shoulder had won today. Shaking from the adrenaline rush, she walked carefully down the sidewalk and
her heart sped up as someone called out to her.

  “Miss! Oh miss! Please wait!”

  All she wanted was to get Whit someplace that she could calm him down, and compose herself, too.

  “I’m so glad I caught you,” the elderly lady from inside the sandwich shop said, a little breathlessly, making Presley Ann feel bad about not waiting for her. “Oh dear, you gave that asshole a taste of his own medicine, now didn’t you?”

  “Well, yes. I guess,” she replied as she held Whit to her, while easing him out of the sling without looking down. The lady was still there, an expectant look on her face as she watched Presley Ann’s every move, making her a little suspicious. What now?

  “I can’t help but notice how comfortable you are with him in that sling. Can you tell me where you got it?”

  Looking down at the stretchy patterned fabric of the sling, she said, “I made it.”

  “My name is Shirley Finch. I own four Sunday Haus Handmade Homegoods in Central Texas and the Hill Country. I carry all locally-made and crafted items in my shops, and I’ve been looking to expand the baby items departments. You say you made that?”

  Presley Ann introduced herself and said, “Yes, ma’am. And I’m planning to make more to sell. Could I interest you in becoming my customer? I’m looking for a way to supplement my income for me and my son.” It would be fantastic if she could work for herself and not need to leave Whit in daycare, or at least not as often.

  The lady tilted her head and nodded in commiseration. “I was widowed young. Rather than working for someone else, I chose to be self-employed. I know firsthand that when you make your own way it can be a scary, yet wonderful, thing.”

  Presley Ann nodded, a blush heating her cheeks again. “Yes, ma’am. I was in San Antonio today, buying an industrial sewing machine for just that purpose.”

  “Ah. That sounds to me like you’re committed. If you have a few minutes to spare, I’d love to show you my shop. It’s just right down this way.” She pointed to a storefront display window. The sign above the door read, “The Sunday Haus Handmade Homegoods.” It fit right into the rough white limestone face of the upscale strip mall.