by Gigi Moore
“Oh, please. I came in at the last minute. Any help I lent was incidental.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
“And neither do you, Lucy.”
She sensed the gravity in her mother-in-law’s tone and slowly turned to face her. “Is there something wrong, Margaret?”
“Nothing at all is wrong, my dear. I just thought you should know that I…I spoke to Ki about your arrangement.”
“Our arrangement?” Was she talking about their six-month marriage agreement? Had Ki told her? To what end and was Margaret happy or angry about it?
“Your and Ki’s arrangement with Ethan.”
Lucy gaped. It was worse than she had thought. “He told you?”
“After I gave him a bit of a nudge, yes.”
Lucy felt heat rising to her face and knew her cheeks must be about as red as a plum.
Margaret cupped her face with one hand. “You don’t have anything to be ashamed of, Lucy. Love makes us do wild and crazy things, but if it’s what your heart tells you and it works for you, well then, it works for me.”
“You mean that?”
Margaret nodded. “I won’t lie and tell you I wasn’t shocked or that I wholeheartedly agree with what you three are doing, or, that it’s going to be an easy lot for all of you.”
“I know it won’t be.” When had anything in her life ever been easy? “I think I’m ready to handle it, though.”
“I know you are.” Margaret nodded and glanced around the room, her gaze lingering first on Maia, Thayne, and Cade and then on Lily, Wyatt, and Dakota. “Seems you’re among friends here with a good support system, too.”
“Do you think…do you think Ki will want to stay on here?”
“He didn’t say anything to me, but I get the distinct impression that he won’t be going anywhere any time soon.” Margaret smiled. “Although, I will be.”
“You’re leaving us?”
“I’ll be getting on the stagecoach departing tomorrow morning for the train station.”
“Already?”
“Oh, please. I know you can’t wait for me to get out of your hair so that you can get down to the business of being a wife to your husband without any interference from his mother.”
They had had a rough start certainly, but once she’d gotten past Margaret’s armor, Lucy had started to feel a real kinship with the woman, the hole left in her heart by her own mother’s passing, filling in just a mite. “I’m going to hate to see you leave.”
“I know, dear, but it’s time. And don’t you dare start crying. This is a day for celebrating and happiness.”
Lucy blinked back the tears that were forming and tried to still her trembling lips as she pulled Margaret into a tight hug. “I really am going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you, too, Lucy. You’ve given me something I never thought I’d ever have. You’ve given me a daughter.” Margaret pulled away and Lucy saw the impish twinkle in her eyes that reminded her so much of Ki. “I’ll be even happier once you give me a granddaughter or grandson so that we can have a party like this for you sometime soon.”
Lucy’s mouth dropped open as Margaret laughed, patted her on the shoulder, and walked away with nary a backward glance.
Not a moment later, someone moved behind her and slid his arms around her waist.
Lucy instantly recognized the citrus musk of her husband as he nuzzled her neck and she leaned back against his hard chest, wrapping her arms around his arms.
“I can only imagine what you and my mother were discussing.”
“I’m sure you can.” Lucy turned in his embrace, draping her arms around his neck and standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him. Her mouth molded to his and she parted her lips to allow him entry. As soon as he slipped his tongue in her mouth, Lucy’s pussy became wet with the idea of Ki filling her with his cock later…Ki and Ethan filling her with their cocks.
It was funny how she couldn’t think of having one of them now without thinking of having the other. The three of them were like a matched set that had once been separated and now that they had been reunited, they couldn’t abide being pulled apart again. At least Lucy felt this way. She wasn’t sure what Ethan’s and Ki’s view was on the subject.
“Your mother wants some grandchildren,” Lucy said once Ki allowed her up for air.
Ki groaned.
She pulled back to stare at him. “You don’t want children?” It wasn’t like they had covered this in any getting-to-know-you session before marriage. Having children hadn’t been one of Lucy’s priorities right then. Financial independence and freedom had been her main priorities just then. Having a baby entailed a would-be father and the last thing on Lucy’s mind back then had been saddling herself with another man to lord over her life.
“You have no idea how much I want to fill your belly with a little one like Lily has in the oven.” Ki gently placed a hand on her stomach and Lucy shuddered, imagining how it would feel to have a life growing within her, a life she and Ethan and Ki had created. “Have you touched her belly yet? It’s absolutely fascinating! Perhaps if we make haste, we can have one to catch up with hers and they can both be on the same football team.”
Lucy laughed at Ki’s excited tone, the bright glow in his light blue eyes. “You really do want a baby?”
“I’d like to have at least two. A boy and a girl would be ideal—a girl with your color-change eyes and my blond hair, a boy with Ethan’s brandy eyes and dark-chocolate hair, or vice versa. It doesn’t really matter to me as long as we all have children.”
Lucy hadn’t even considered having a baby by each of her men, but Ki’s suggestion made sense as well as appealed to her on a gut level. What else appealed to her gut was the way Ki spoke with a tone of authority about their future, his proposal implying permanence.
Her heart fluttered in her chest as she cozied up to her husband, resting her head near his chest, listening to his sure and steady heartbeat.
She could get used to this but was afraid to hope, because in her experience good luck never lasted long. Lucy had already been granted a miracle when the universe brought her two men to love, not just one, so she knew she was due a dose of misfortune and reality.
When she caught sight of Cody across the room leaning against a wall by himself and throwing visual daggers at them, she knew that dose of misfortune and reality was coming soon.
Chapter 25
Prentice stood on the sideline watching Ki and Lucy across the room and wanting to join them like he’d never wanted anything in his life before. They looked so right together, so happy. They looked complete and the thought left a hole in his heart as deep and wide as the Grand Canyon. The idea that his leaving wouldn’t affect them as much as it affected him left him feeling cold and alone.
Come to that, would anyone in this entire town miss him if he just up and left?
Prentice scanned the partygoers, his glance landing on Ethan’s parents—his mother, Kate, speaking to Lily with some of the other town’s women, his father, Clint, drinking punch from a cup with some of the town’s men.
His heart did a funny little dance in his chest at the idea of how he had left things with them, how sad Ethan’s mother had been at his leaving.
As if his thoughts had reached out across the space between them, Kate turned from the woman she was talking to and looked at Prentice.
He wondered for a moment if he had transmitted his thoughts to her without meaning to. Before, he had always been in control of his gifts once he had learned and mastered their parameters. Since his second incarnation, his gifts hadn’t been as predictable or reliable as they had once been. The one thing that had remained consistent, however, was the effect that sex had on his abilities. The more sex he had with Lucy and Ki, the more his powers intensified and grew, so much so that tonight would probably be the best opportunity he had ever had to scan the partygoers present for Ethan’s killer.
At the thought, Prentice’s glance
found Cody standing in one corner of the room, the other man’s sights set on Lucy and Ki in the middle of their clinch.
The man looked like he wanted to do bodily harm to someone and Prentice could only guess who.
He wondered how much Cody had had to drink already. He couldn’t remember a time since he’d known Cody Paxton that the man hadn’t been inebriated and wondered again how he had ever collaborated with him for any project, much less to take down the Malloy brothers.
Prentice closed his eyes and tossed out his psychic net, slipping into Cody’s mind and threading his thoughts with the other man’s.
Being in Cody’s head was like navigating a minefield. Despite his inebriation, Cody’s thoughts were lively, clear, and focused on Lucy and Ki, just as Prentice had thought they were. Cody was busy considering all the ways he had been screwed by the couple when Lucy had accepted Ki’s impromptu proposal and he was planning his revenge. What form the latter would take was unclear, and more troublesome because of its vagueness.
Prentice swallowed hard when he recognized how similar Cody’s and his thoughts, pre-reincarnation, were to each other. Prentice realized in that moment how self-aggrandizing and self-righteous he had been, justifying his actions and whining about his childhood hardships as if he had been the only person in the world who had ever been betrayed or hurt before.
The idea that he and Cody shared anything in common, especially a mindset, was a harsh slap in the face, but something Prentice admitted he needed. He wished he had gotten his wake-up call so much sooner, before he had damaged so many lives and hurt so many people.
He wished he could bring back Aura and his parents to tell them how sorry he was and that they had been right about how he had used his gifts, or more accurately, how he had misused them.
Prentice opened his eyes to see Thayne approaching him.
His heart skipped a beat as fight-or-flight adrenaline instantly flooded his system. He forced himself to stay put as Thayne stopped just a couple of feet in front of him.
Prentice assumed Thayne had sought him out as a result of his proposal to Maia, so reasoned he had brought the current confrontation on himself. He swallowed hard, determined to take his medicine like a man.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you, Ethan. Hope this isn’t a bad time.”
“No, not at all.” Prentice reined in his powers, refusing to cheat and find out what Thayne wanted before he had a chance to tell Prentice himself. He tried to take a page out of Thayne’s book and didn’t know how the man resisted the temptation to go around reading people’s minds at will.
“Maia tells me you’re interested in coming to work as my assistant?”
“I mentioned the possibility to her, yes.”
“Interested in medicine, are you?”
Prentice met Thayne’s direct blue gaze with his own brandy one, and wondered if he was being tested again. Did Thayne want to know how serious were his intentions and whether or not he’d be worth mentoring? Finally, he just answered from his heart. “I want to help people.”
Thayne nodded as if in agreement. “There are all kinds of other ways you can help people. Medicine isn’t an easy profession, not if you want to do it justice.”
“I…I want to do what you do.”
Thayne grinned and reached out a hand to pat him on the shoulder. “If you’re trying to flatter me, you’re doing a good job.”
“It’s the truth.” Maybe one day, he would be able to tell Thayne and Cade the whole truth—about Brielle, Caith, and Aura.
Prentice knew that all roads would eventually lead to him coming clean about his identity and who had helped him become the man he was now—a man Thayne’s parents and aunt could be proud of.
Hopefully, he would get the opportunity to make Thayne proud of him too.
“If you’re really serious about this, just drop by the house next week when you have some free time and we can discuss your career change in more detail.”
Prentice smiled. He could feel Thayne warming up to the subject as if he had been waiting all his adult life for the chance to pass down his knowledge to an eager student. He guessed he would do until Thayne had his own little one upon whom he could lavish his wisdom.
At the thought, Prentice wondered at the legacy he might one day pass down to a child of his own. The unexpected thought of having and raising kids with Lucy and Ki made his heart suddenly soar with hope for the future as he noticed Kate standing just behind Thayne.
She stepped forward, her progress simultaneously determined and hesitant as if she was driven by two different minds. “I don’t mean to interrupt…”
Thayne stepped back, placing a gentle hand on Kate’s back as he urged her toward Prentice.
Prentice could well imagine the warmth and wellbeing Kate experienced from Thayne’s touch. He had felt that same warmth and wellbeing himself when he had first woken up in Ethan’s body, so confused and scared. The memory of how Thayne had calmed him down and made him feel not so alone, reinforced Prentice’s decision to join Thayne’s practice in some capacity. If he had to go back to school and further his education to do it, then he would.
“You’re not interrupting, Kate. Ethan and I were just discussing the possibility of him becoming my apprentice.”
Prentice caught Thayne’s wink right before Kate gaped at the doctor.
“Of course, nothing’s definite. It all depends on our next interview, but I’m very optimistic.”
Kate looked at Prentice as if her prayers had been answered. She seemed like she was about to burst from joy.
Prentice was pretty sure she hadn’t registered Thayne’s “nothing’s definite” part.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to it.” Thayne proffered his hand and after they shook, Thayne took his leave to continue mingling. Once they were alone, Prentice wasn’t sure what to say to Kate. The urge to apologize and beg her to allow him to return home was strong. He wanted to tell her more about his plans to work with Thayne. He wanted her to be proud of him but realized that he would only be getting her hopes up to dash them again. Whether he left Winchester’s or not, he wasn’t coming home and still couldn’t give Kate what she wanted most—her son.
Prentice reminded himself that Kate was not his mother. As much as he wished he could do things all over again, his parents were dead and he was basically all alone in the world…except for Lucy and Ki.
Prentice was about to speak when a heavy hand fell on his shoulder and swung him around. Before he knew it, he was facing the towering and formidable figure of Kurt McCall.
Kurt didn’t look like he was in a talking mood, but Prentice controlled his own natural inclination to lash out with a psychic strike first and ask questions later. Instead, he took the punch that Kurt landed against his jaw, a blow with the power of a virtuous, seething father behind it that sent Prentice sprawling back against the floor.
“Daddy, no!” Ginger ran to Prentice’s side and crouched beside him, cradling his head in her lap, and God, why did she have to do that?
Prentice wanted to tell her that he was okay and to leave him alone. She was only making things worse for him and her and incensing her father even more. He could tell, however, that she wasn’t about to listen any more than her father was.
“Get away from him, Gin-Gin. He ain’t no good for you and you know it.”
Prentice wiped the back of a hand across his mouth, staring at the blood that stained his knuckles.
“C’mon Gin-Gin.” Tanner grasped her under the elbows and helped her to her feet, guiding her away from Prentice.
Prentice got to his knees, feeling like the town pariah that he was until Thayne rushed to his side.
“You all right, son?”
The address threw him. Prentice didn’t think he’d ever get used to anyone calling him son since his actual father was dead. “I’m good.”
He let Thayne help him to his feet and accepted the handkerchief the other man pressed into his hand to wipe his nose.
Kurt kept one fist at his side as he pointed at Prentice with his other hand. “You stay away from my daughter, Crawford. You done hurt her enough already. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your no-good hands away from her or you’ll be sorry.”
Kate stepped in front of Prentice, planting herself between her son and Kurt as she lifted her chin and glared at him, looking just as proud and upstanding as Kurt.
“Ka…Momma…” Prentice tried to move Kate behind him, but she wouldn’t budge. He felt her body shaking against his, but the more he tried to pull her away, the firmer she planted herself.
“My son is plenty good, Kurt, and you darn well know it. He just made a mistake, like any one of us has done at his age. He’s not perfect and neither is your Ginger. You’d be wise to remember that.”
Kurt’s face turned so red he looked like he was going to bust a gasket and steam was going to start coming out of his ears any moment.
Prentice wondered if he was remembering all the times when Ginger had snuck out of his house to see Ethan, or was he so thoroughly convinced that Ethan was some kind of Machiavellian Mephistopheles bent on corrupting his daughter at any cost and his little Ginger was an innocent helpless victim in all this?
In the hush that followed Kate’s challenge, Clint stepped into the fray to stand by his wife and son’s side. “You best pull in your horns, Kurt, if you know what’s good for you.”
“C’mon, Ginger. We’re leaving.” Kurt grabbed his daughter’s arm with a huff and pulled her away from the scene, Tanner following on their heels.
Poor Ginger, Prentice thought. He didn’t envy her having to face down Kurt’s wrath.
The crowd that had gathered around Prentice and Ethan’s parents had yet to disperse, as if everyone sensed more drama to come. They made Prentice self-conscious about what he wanted to say next, but he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
He took Kate’s hand and squeezed it. “Thank you, Momma, for standing up for me.”
She gently slid her hand out of his and nodded, looking like she was doing her best to hold herself together and not just break down altogether.
