by Dani Wyatt
“No.” She shakes her head, her hair falling into her face. “What if Nana is hurt though? What if...”
“No what ifs, Cricket, we’re almost there. She’s their ace in the hole. They knew you wouldn’t come without her, so they’ll keep her safe.” I’m not entirely sure my words are true, but until we know for sure no need to borrow trouble.
“And you.” I address the driver who is as white as a ghost. I can understand him being shaken by all this, but I need him to stay with me, so I rest my finger lightly on the gun, hoping to gain his undivided attention. “When you see Nana come into view at the door of that jet, you get up those stairs, get her down and in this car, understood? Once she’s inside, you keep both her and Mia safe. That’s the price you’ll pay for not having me report you to the cops as an accessory to kidnapping. We clear?”
He gulps on a nod, and I’m ready for whatever comes next.
Mia forces a smile as the limo pulls off the freeway and we wind back into a small private airport. The minutes tick by until we are stopped as close as we can get to a ten-seater Learjet with the stairs down and waiting.
I address the driver as he puts the car into park. “Turn the car off and give me the keys.”
He complies.
“Now get out of the car and stand there ready to get her when she comes to the door.” He reaches over and opens the driver’s door an I turn around to Mia.
Stay here,” I order, because if there is any trouble or—God forbid—something has happened to Nana, I want to be the first one to deal with whatever bullshit comes our way.
“But—” Mia protests with her hand on the door handle.
“I’m dead fucking serious.” I leave no room for argument and with a defeated sigh her shoulders drop and she lowers her hand. “I love you, baby. Stay put.”
I take the steps up into the plane three at a time and I’m inside the small jet, gun first.
As I shoulder through the small space, I turn the corner to see Nana.
Her eyes flick upward as she catches me coming. I see her swallow and note the worry in her eyes. It tugs at my heart, but she’s alive.
I hold a finger to my lips, motioning to her to keep still. The seat across from her is occupied, the shiny bald head of a man with his back to me sticking up above the headrest. He must be the one other person Marco brought with him.
With silent steps, I’m on him in a few seconds, cold steel against his ear.
“This is going to be easy,” I announce. The man turns to stone in his seat, hands gripping the armrests. “I’m going to hold this gun on you. Nana...” I nod in her direction before continuing “...you are going to stand up and walk to the stairs. You okay to walk?” She nods with a smile already pushing up and out of her seat. “Good. A nice man in a tuxedo is going to help you into a car. Mia is there waiting, she’s fine.”
I see her shoulders drop in relief.
“You make it to the door?”
She smiles. “Of course.” She eases herself the rest of the way to her feet, then takes slow, shaky steps towards me. Reaching over to smack the head of the guy that was a moment ago guarding her. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
I chuckle as she works her way to the front of the plane, hanging onto the head rests of each seat as she goes.
Behind me, a moment later, I hear someone ascending the steps quickly, then the slow, steady steps as the driver helps Nana down to the runway.
I address the goon in the seat. “Now, if you’d like our business to conclude with your brains still between your ears, I suggest you put your hands on your head nice and slowly. Interlace your fingers. Now,” I order and he complies, keeping his eyes focused on the rear of the plane. “Keep them there. Count to a thousand. And you may want to rethink your employment. Your boss isn’t very good at this shit.”
On that, I back away, keeping the gun trained on the back of his head. When I finally get outside the door, I swing it closed and breathe a sigh of relief, descending the steps at a sprint. I run over the tarmac and throw myself in the backseat of the limo, then bang on the divider shouting to the driver and tossing him the keys.
“Go. Get us gone. Back to the house on Maxfield Road.”
The euphoria of success rushes through me as I look to see Mia and Nana sitting practically on one another’s laps, their hands clasped together like they don’t ever want to let go.
We ride in silence for a few minutes. The adrenaline calming and I just enjoy watching the way Mia’s face softens.
“We’re okay,” I assure them after a bit. “Fucking crazy day, but we’re here, we’re all safe.”
They both let out a soft sigh and the tension feels broken.
“Oh, I got an A on my test.” Mia giggles and her sweetness rivals any candy in the world.
“Good girl.” I lean over and kiss her, letting the warmth of knowing she is safe once again and going back home with me settle in.
When I move back I see tears cresting Mia’s lower lids as Nana gives me a tight smile.
“Baby, please don’t cry.” The sight of her tears cuts straight through me.
“I’m sorry. It’s just...this was not the way today was supposed to go. There is something I needed to tell you.”
Nana lifts one hand and pats her shoulder. “Tell him.”
Fear spikes through me. After what we just went through, what the fuck else could go wrong today? What is it she needs to tell me?
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine. I mean, I’m better than okay.”
“Cricket, if you don’t say words that give me some actual solid information my head is about to explode.”
Her cheeks redden and she tightens her lips, evidently searching for words. Then she nods and reaches into the side pocket of her cargo pants to pull out a plastic stick.
I’m confused, not sure what she’s showing me for a second.
“I had the drug store deliver this today. But I was going to wait until we got home from our dinner. I wanted to surprise you.” A grin crests her lips.
The worst day of my life just became the best day of my life.
I pull Mia over and into my lap, smothering her face with kisses as she giggles and wraps herself around me.
Nana laughs from behind. “I’m going to be a great-grandmother.”
“And you’re going to be a daddy,” Mia chides me playfully as my heart swells.
“We’re a family. And you’ve given me the greatest gift I could have asked for.” I hug her so tight against me. “A bigger family.”
For a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who never knew what family meant growing up, I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.
This is what I was born to do. Be Mia’s husband. Be a father. Take care of all of us until my last breath.
“Thank you,” I whisper in her ear. “You are everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”
I take her mouth in a kiss listening to Nana’s playful chiding that we may have to add on to Tensfield to make room for all the babies if we keep going as we are.
“I love you.” Mia looks at me. “I have since that day I met you.”
“Here’s to adding onto Tensfield.” I nod at Nana who wags her finger back at me.
“Here’s to adding on.” Mia leans in and kisses me. “But what about the tax thing? They said they have a lien now.”
I smirk. “They aren’t that smart. The tax code includes a provision that for any payment of the arrearage by a party other than the property owner will not take effect for three business days. The property owner has those three days to redeem the title and repay the lien. And, I’ve got the funds, we’ve got a driver and the property owner. So, I say, we head to the courthouse and take care of this business once and for all.”
“But you said you wouldn’t have the money until tomorrow.”
“I actually have it today. Just figured what difference could a day make, right?” I raise my eyebrows. I may be a slow learner but
at least I learn. “No more waiting. Let’s get it done.”
Mia’s smile lights up my heart as she taps on the divider between us and the driver. When he lowers the glass she speaks. “Take us down to the courthouse. We have some business to take care of.”
“I told you,” I add, reaching over to squeeze Nana’s knee and hold Mia close on my lap. “I will always take care of my girls. Always.”
E P I L O G U E O N E
Walker
One year later
“LEAVE SOME FOR SAMUEL.” Mia giggles as I suck hard on her left breast.
I never dreamed this would be me, but here I am, hard as a fucking rock, my dick buried in her cunt while she feeds me from her swollen breasts.
“Switch at least.”
I grunt as she pulls her nipple from my mouth as she straddles me, riding my dick as I sit up against the pillows propped on the headboard. She quickly slips her other tit between my lips and I go back to feeding from her.
Her hips begin to shift and sway until she drenches us both with her release. I follow quickly behind shooting off inside her hot cunt trying to get our next baby into her as quickly as possible.
When I cum, I bite down on her nipple, wrap my arms around her waist and pull her against me feeling the way her cunt milks every drop of my cream. Mia wants our next spawn inside her as badly as I do.
Samuel came a month early, but he’s perfect. I small part of me wanted another girl, but once I saw my boy and the midwife handed her to me, I was so fucking proud already.
I’ve moved my work place here to the house. Mia and I live, love, and work here at Tensfield. Taking care of Nana still who, believe it or not, has a boyfriend.
Richard Dellamere, a local businessman she met online. He’s ten years her junior and I had him fully checked out when he came sniffing around. Making sure he didn’t smell dollar signs and a desperate older lady. Turns out, he’s got his own trust funds, businesses, and plenty of his own money. So, he and Nana have been living it up here at Tensfield and helping with Samuel as well.
My business is better than ever. Our accounts are nearing seven figures and only growing. My mind is sharper than ever and seems everything I touch turns to gold. All the old investors are paid off, Roman Henricks has been put out to pasture with the help of a misstep of a business deal on his part. Not that I had anything to do with it, just bad luck on his part. He’s getting a taste of what the federal pen is like.
Mia’s taken on a few independent writers as clients. She’s building a reputation for herself as an editor and has even stared a blog about romance books. She still reads so much and she loves sharing her passion with other readers. Her sense of self and independence has grown measurably, and I support her in whatever she wants to do.
Charlie is coming over today as well. One of Mia’s online friends from her class, Laila, a local, was over one day here doing some school project a few months ago with Mia when Charlie came by.
Fucking fireworks went off. And not a month later, those two were already talking their own babies and ceremonies.
Mia and I got married quietly here at the estate. She decided she didn’t want a big wedding and whatever she decided was fine by me. So, with my baby inside her, we took our vows in the back garden under a canopy of white lights and a few friends.
“We need to get ready.” Mia slips up and off my dick but I reach out and get a handful of her hip before she goes too far. “What?”
“You know what. Turn that ass around. Show me.”
She playfully protests but does as I say. She spins around, leans her head down onto the mattress and shoves her ass and pussy in the air for me to see. Her hands come around and pull her apart for my viewing pleasure.
“So pretty.” I admire her body as a stream of my white release seeps from her cunt. I lean forward and land a hot smack on her ass. “Now, go get the shower going and we’ll get dressed. No panties. I laid your clothes out. I want that cum dripping down your legs at the church.”
She groans but hops up and skips to the bathroom. A moment later I hear the sound of water and Aretha Franklin.
Nana insisted we have Samuel baptized so that’s on the schedule for this morning. Charlie and Laila are going to be Samuel’s god parents and will be arriving here soon. I’ve got breakfast to cook before we head out and we are already running late.
I still can’t get enough of Mia. We’re fucking late for almost everything because I’m either eating her, fucking her, fingering her, or putting her on her knees to suck me off or any combination thereof. Good thing she’s still as hot for me as I am for her. Maybe more.
We got married two months after the whole Marco incident. Nana was her maid of honor and Charlie stood for me. Small ceremony since neither of us have any other family to speak of but it was beautiful. Mia was beautiful and I cried like a fucking baby.
The one thing I’ve realized is you never know what obstacles may come to pass. But sometimes, it’s those obstacles that lead us right where we need to be. Right where we will finally find all the things we’ve dreamed of.
“Walker!” Mia shouts from the bathroom; my heart skips because she never raises her voice.
“What?”
“You are a dog, you know that? A low-down, dirty dog?”
I’m on my feet and in the bathroom in a second to see what she’s griping about.
I see her standing there naked. Hand on her hip, holding another one of those damn plastic sticks.
“What the hell?” I ask.
“I had to pee. So, I figured I’d just check. And guess what?” She nods at me.
I bust out in a laugh. “Knocked up again.”
“Yeah. Whose fault is that?”
“Can’t help it, baby. You just best get used to it. We have a lot of rooms to fill around here. Tensfield has what? Eight bedrooms?” I bob my eyebrows and take her hand leading her to the shower. “We better think about that addition. Seems we’re going to fill those up fast.”
Mia giggles as we glide under the water. I lean down to kiss her and bask in the warmth of being right here, right now. The path that brought us here was longer than I’d hoped, but we’re here now and I’m never letting her go.
Never.
E P I L O G U E T W O
Mia
Ten Years Later
WALKER HAS GIVEN ME a rare day to myself. He’s got all six of the kids packed into the Suburban and they are going to spend the day and overnight at the country house with Charlie and Laila. I’ll catch up to them tomorrow after I finish off two books I’m in the stages of final edits.
My client list has turned into a who’s who on the best sellers in romance list. I get to read and get paid and God bless Nana’s soul, she pointed me in the right direction on my passion.
She passed quietly one night with Richard her husband by her side. She lived to one hundred and she’d always said that was her goal.
I’m pregnant, again and this baby will probably be our last. Not that we don’t love our family more than our breath, but the last pregnancy was hard on me and this one is already taking its toll with my blood pressure and diabetes. Walker insists on taking care of almost everything and has taken time off from his work until further notice.
My health is good, but the pregnancies have become hard on me so I’m no good to my family if I’m not here, so seven children is enough. All the bedrooms are full Walker said and that was what he’d wanted way back when we first got back here to Tensfield together.
He’s the best father and husband I could have wished for. The kids all think he hung the moon and so do I.
We spend most of our time here at Tensfield still, the kids all go to school nearby, but we love our country house as well. Two hundred acres, animals, and old crooked farmhouse that we are renovating. Most all the holidays are spent there, filled with family and friends. Walker plays the harmonica still, and it’s become such a part of our lives the kids get grouchy if he can’t reach into his pocket
at a moment’s notice and play something for them.
I still can’t match my socks. Or cook and Walker has developed a knack for taking over in the kitchen thank goodness otherwise our children would be living on frozen chicken nuggets and cereal. Every morning he’s downstairs cooking after our morning shower routine which hasn’t changed in all these years. It’s our bonding time, time we talk about anything and everything as well as connect in our usual way.
The sex hasn’t diminished at all. If anything, it keeps getting better which is hard to believe, but I count every blessing in my life including that.
My fear of going out in the world has long been cured. It just took some time and with Walker by my side I quickly realized there was nothing out there to be afraid of and the panic attacks evaporated over time.
Walker’s business has us set for life. His mind is a miracle and even though he only works when he sees fit nowadays, he makes more in a week than most people make in a year. He spoils the children and me terribly and I fuss at him but deep down I love every gift and gesture.
Hard to believe ten years have passed but I’m ready for the next ten. And the ten after that. My body is more round and soft with all the babies, but Walker never misses a chance to tell me how beautiful I am and how he loves every inch.
I’ve learned to live in every moment. The years I spend so isolated and miserable are distant memories and I don’t dwell on the past at all. I don’t worry about the future. Life is beautiful. Things work out in the way and time in which they should.
I never dreamed my life would be filled with so much love after feeling so lonely for so long. Every night when I lay down, I pray and give thanks for the day. The good and the bad because it’s all part of a plan and if you trust, and have patience, joy and love are right around the corner.
SADDLED
1
__________
Ranger
I GRUNT, STRAINING against the weight as I swing around to toss another couple of hay bales out the open door of the barn loft, squinting against the hot sun reflecting off the windshield of my pickup truck. Momentarily blinded, I allow myself a pause to blink away the sunspots.
