Jesse

by Reina Torres

  “If that’s what you want. Fine.” Norman ground out the words.

  He heard Etta’s soft plea, but he wasn’t going to change his mind.

  “You can have your movie filmed at our ranch, but Randy Calhoun won’t be a part of it. I won’t… we won’t put Etta in any danger. Not for any reason.”

  Norman slid a glance toward Randy and Jesse knew the look. He’d given Randy the same look several times himself. “We’ll have to get back to you on this.”

  Randy shook his head. “What? What are you talking about?”

  Turning on his heel, Norman headed for the door with the others following him. Including, Randy who was already complaining about what he’d heard inside the room.

  Jesse followed them and happily shut the door behind him.

  “When did you find out?”

  He gave Etta a smile and crossed the room to sit on the edge of her hospital bed. “I talked to Betty last night after they assured us that you didn’t have any life-threatening injuries. She wasn’t sure that you would even remember much of what you told her.”

  “I don’t remember her being there at all.”

  Caroline poured her a little water to drink. “She went over to check on you when you didn’t go to the laundromat to have dinner with her. She got the manager to open your door when she saw a car was blocking your car in its space.”

  “Randy was still unconscious, but his weight was making it hard for you to breathe. You were delirious when she called 911. You wouldn’t stop talking.”

  Jesse leaned over, setting a hand down on the other side of her body so that he could look straight into her eyes. “She said you just kept apologizing to us. You couldn’t hear what she was saying to you, but by the time the police showed up she had figured it out, but the Police weren’t having any of it. They took one look at Randy Calhoun and the dent you put in his skull and they decided to lock you up.”

  Holt scoffed. “Next election, I just might put my hat in the ring with that pompous windbag.” He looked at his wife with a pronounced pout. “The nerve of him… try to jail my daughter-in-law.”

  Jesse turned to glare at his father.

  “Holt!” Caroline gasped in shock. “Goodness!”

  “What?” He held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry, I jumped the gun. Go ahead, son. Show her your grandmother’s ring.”

  “Heaven help me!” Caroline moved away from Etta’s bedside and ushered her husband outside. A step before they reached the door, she called over her shoulder. “But since he’s ruined the surprise. Welcome to the family, dear. We’re so happy to have you.”

  He could tell that Etta was stunned. She sat there with her incredibly beautiful dark brown hair pillowed against all the snowy white hospital linens and he wondered if he was getting a little preview of what it might be like to see her as a bride.

  First, he had to ask the question.

  Shifting on the bed, Jesse reached into the pocket of his denims and pulled out a little satin pouch. “Now that my father told you, I don’t have to explain where this came from.” He opened the pouch and turned it upside down until a ring fell into his open palm. “I can just tell you why I have this.

  “The day before I took you up to look at the stars I went to my parents and told them how I felt about you. I told them that I wasn’t going to need to look any farther for the woman who would be my wife. It turns out I was the one in need of a glittering fairy princess who just walked right into my life.

  “The Sutton men, we can hem and haw over a hundred different things in our lives, but once we find ‘the one’ we know it pretty quick. And we don’t want to lose them. That day, my father gave me his mother’s ring and told me that I was making a damn good decision.”

  Jesse picked the ring up off his palm and held it out between his thumb and forefinger. “Now, the question remains. Etta, my dearest love, will you take pity on this poor cowboy and be his wife?”

  “How could I say no? Besides the fact that you stood up for me like no one ever has before, it would have killed me to leave the ranch and all of you behind, because I love you, Jesse. I don’t know how I got so lucky, but yes, I’ll marry you. And quick before you change your mind.”

  He slipped the ring onto her finger and turned so he could hold and kiss her as much as her healing body would allow. “I’m never going to change my mind, but quick is fine with me. I think my bed is a little too big for just one person. So as soon as you let me marry you, the better.”

  She shook her head, but she smiled like the sunshine. “Didn’t your mother say her father is a Justice of the Peace?”

  He nodded. “Grandpa passed on a few years ago, but… my Uncle Teddy’s got the job now.”

  “Your family is the best,” she laughed with joy.

  “And you’re a part of it, Etta. I think you always have been.”

  Epilogue

  February 1975

  The Sutton Family’s Cowboy Days Festival was in full swing. Activity stations were set up all around the town and a local band was playing on the stage set up at the head of their Main Street. Etta was enjoying the shade near the stage, on a quilt that Caroline had just finished. The central feature of the quilt was a huge family tree of every Sutton who was part of the family during the time that the ranch had been in Sutton hands. She was idly tracing her finger around the blank space in the quilt pattern.

  “Uh oh…”

  Holt walked up with a squirming little boy in his arms.

  “Looks like you got something on your mind, Mama.”

  “Mama!”

  She smiled up at her son and reached out her arms. “Come here, Harmon! Mama’s little cowboy.”

  Holt set Harmon down into her lap and cautioned the little boy. “Careful of your mama’s tummy.”

  Wiggling his little body, Harmon slipped off her lap and sat down on the blanket beside her before he gave her little bump a gentle pat pat. “Mama’s baby.”

  Etta mussed his hair. “That’s right. You were mama’s baby and now we’re going to have another baby.”

  “How come if Harm is your baby, why isn’t the next one, my baby?”

  Etta looked up at her husband with loving indulgence. “Jesse…”

  But, Caroline, who was standing at his side, gave her daughter-in-law some help. She gave Jesse’s arm a big squeeze and he pretended that it had hurt, making Harmon laugh at his father’s comical face. “The answer, which if we have to tell you again will get you a real pinch on your arm, is that they’re all going to be mama’s babies.”

  “But we’re the fathers! We helped make the babies.”

  Etta stared at Jesse and covered Harmon’s little ears. “Jesse!!”

  When Jesse looked at Holt for assistance, the older man sauntered away. “Your funeral, son.”

  “Jesse,” Caroline rolled her eyes. “Until you’ve carried a child in your womb for nearly ten months, you don’t get to act like you made the babies.” With a gentle smack on Jesse’s arm, Caroline waved at little Harmon. “Hey, handsome boy!”

  He waved back at her. “Hey, pretty gamma!”

  “Oh, that boy is going to be a heartbreaker.”

  Etta gathered Harmon close to her chest and peppered his face with kisses. “Not for a long… long time.”

  Caroline laughed. “Right. Anyway, I’m off to see how Alice is doing at the popcorn booth. If Jesse misbehaves, you’ll have to deal with him.”

  “Hey!” Jesse looked between his wife and his mother. “I’m right here!”

  Jesse sat down on the quilt on the other side of Harmon and his son didn’t waste a moment, grabbing his father’s shirt front and pulling himself up on his feet.

  He swayed a little at first, but once he got his balance the dark-haired boy smiled at his father and then promptly drooled down the front of Jesse’s shirt.

  “Why me, little man?”

  Etta laughed and handed him a handkerchief. “Here.”

  Jesse took the cloth square an
d tucked it into his shirt like a bib making Harmon bounce happily in place. “He only drools on me.”

  “Maybe you ought to take him to the laundromat and show him how to launder the shirts he drools on. I’m sure Betty will be more than happy to take him away from you while you’re folding.”

  Jesse set a hand on Harmon’s back to hold him steady as he leaned closer to Etta for a kiss.

  As he pulled back, he whispered to her. “I love you so much.”

  She blushed bright red. “I love you too.”

  “Excuse me. Sorry to bother.”

  Jesse sat up and looked at the gentleman standing near the edge of the quilt. “No bother, sir. How can we help?”

  The gentleman had a sweet smile on his face. “I have a few questions about your town here. If this isn’t a good time-”

  “No, no, please. Have a seat, sir.” Etta shifted on the cushions and held her hand to the side of her belly.

  “The baby kicking?” Jesse reached out and settled his hand over hers. “Are you in pain?”

  She shook her head. “Not right now. It will if this boy starts to line dance in my belly in a few months. Right now, it’s just flutters here and there.”

  “I remember those days.” The gentleman carefully took off his boots and set them beside the blanket before he sat cross-legged near Jesse. “My wife and I have a daughter. She’s the light of my life. How do you know it’s a boy?”

  Etta gave Harmon’s cheek a tickle and the boy drooled even more on his father’s shirt. “I think it’s just a Sutton trait. Every woman in the family had to marry in.”

  “That is a pretty impressive record.”

  Jesse puffed out his chest a little and almost bumped Harmon down to the ground, but the boy thought it was great fun and yanked his handfuls of shirt like a pair of reins.

  “I arrived about an hour ago just to look around, but when I saw that you were having a festival, I was excited to see everything close up. The whole set up is very impressive.”

  Etta nodded. “We love to have things filmed here, but over the last few years we’re doing all kinds of activities for the locals and now we’re getting some folks coming here to see us for other things like large parties and weddings.”

  “Weddings?” The man’s eyes almost disappeared when he smiled, but that’s when his mustache would lift and show a whole set of perfect teeth. “Is this where you two tied the knot?”

  Jesse took her hand in his and smiled. “Yes, sir. We used the little church down at the end of town.”

  The gentleman shook his head. “What a unique experience.”

  Etta grinned at him. “It’s like living in my dreams every day.”

  “I’ve seen movies that were filmed here before and I was excited to see that there are some new buildings.”

  “So are we.” Jesse lifted the corner of the handkerchief and dabbed at the baby’s mouth. “It was a really nice edition.”

  “I’d like to shoot straight from the hip.”

  They both looked at him with a smile. He didn’t seem like the kind of man who would shoot anything, but the day was beautiful and they were happy that the ranch was thriving more than it ever had been before. “Sure.”

  He pulled a business card from his shirt pocket and handed it to Etta since Jesse’s hands were a bit occupied with a squirming baby. “I’m Earl Sussman. And I want to work with your ranch if you folks are agreeable.”

  It was Jesse who spoke first. “Work with us… How?”

  The man’s smile was almost impish. “I was a writer on ‘The Marshal’ for years and recently Lawton Studio has ordered a pilot for a show I created about the Pony Express. I think, with your locations, we can put together one heck of a show.” He looked around at the hundreds of people surrounding them, and the band that was setting up on the stage. “I know this isn’t the time to talk much more about this, but I just had to tell you that I think this is the perfect place to film.”

  Reaching into her shoulder bag, Etta pulled out a small pad of paper and a pencil. She wrote down their phone numbers at the ranch and handed it to him. “We’re here seven days a week, Mister Sussman, so please feel free to call and set up an appointment to come in and talk about schedules and budgets. Make sure to save some room for a meal. We like to feed people around here.”

  The man clapped his hands together. “You’re my kind of people.” He got up on his feet and slipped his boots back on. “I know we’re going to make this work. And when it does, I think we’re going to be working with each other for years.” Shaking hands with both Jesse and Etta, he walked off into the crowd, heading straight for the caramel apple booth.

  Jesse chuckled. “If he has a sweet tooth like my father, they’re going to be fast friends.”

  Etta caught Harmon as he launched himself at his mother. She gathered him close to her chest and pressed a kiss on the top of his head. “I love you, baby boy.”

  He clapped his hands and gave her a big toothy grin.

  Moving closer, Jesse scooted around behind her and wrapped his arm around them both. “I think we’re going to be spending a lot of time with Earl Sussman.”

  Leaning her head back against his shoulder, Etta pressed a kiss to his chin. “I think so too.”

  The band’s lead singer stepped up to the microphone and gave it a few taps. “We’re going to do a special song right now as a favor to one of our closest friends. He should be the one standing up here and singing for y’all but he’s sitting out there on a blanket with his wife and baby and I guess that we’re just going to have to be good enough.

  “Next time, Jesse, you’re up here.”

  Jesse waved off the demand and gave Etta a gentle squeeze. “I like where I am right now.”

  Looking down over Etta’s shoulder he saw Harmon was laying his head on Etta’s breast with his thumb in his mouth, his eyes drifting closed. “He loves to be held by you.”

  She rocked a little as the introduction of the song played. “He just recognizes my heart. Poor thing heard it for months and months. Besides, you’re the one he loves on.”

  He chuckled. “You mean ‘drools’ on.”

  “Po-tay-toes. Po-tah-toes.”

  The singer started and Etta’s gaze turned toward the stage and then up toward Jesse. “You got them to sing a Stevie Wonder song?”

  “Chase got the guys to do it. He promised them it would be more Ronnie Milsap than Stevie Wonder.”

  Etta listened as the band reached the chorus and Jesse sang softly into her ear.

  “That’s why I’ll always be around.”

  “You better.” She sighed in contentment.

  “Yeah?” He gave her a peck of a kiss on her cheek.

  “Yeah,” she echoed, “because we have the next generation of Suttons to raise. Add to the legacy.”

  He cradled his family in his embrace. “This is my legacy, right here in my arms.”

  Next for ‘The Suttons’ -

  Time for the Next Generation to take over -

  Harmon was the first son of Jesse & Etta Sutton and he wasn’t the last…

  Harmon and his brothers-

  Pickett

  Taggart

  Carver

  & Joe

  … have quite a legacy to live up to!

  About the Author

  Who would have thought that I'd start off as a painfully shy child writing stories and end up as a painfully shy adult writing books and publishing them for others to read? Crazy? That's me!!

  When I was a little girl, I read every book I could get my hands on and if I didn't have one available to read, I'd get out my pencils and paper and write down stories and scenes. Waiting for my mom to finish working, I'd duck into the ladies' break room and use the typewriter. I'd feel like Jessica Fletcher, happily tap, tap, tapping away until I got to 'The End.' Couldn't quite get the flourish after that and end up tearing the paper, but it was cool and scary to sit down and read the book or give it to my friends to read.

&n
bsp; Now my 'typewriter' doesn't clack the same way and the I don't even have paper to pull out of it with a nod of satisfaction, but I have the joy and excitement of sharing my characters and books with people all around the world!

  I hope you'll enjoy reading my books, because I'm going to keep writing as long as the characters are feeling chatty!

  Also by Reina Torres

  Reina writes a variety of romance books from Heat to Sweet and back again…

  **ALL of Reina’s books are available in

  KINDLE UNLIMITED**

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