One Thanksgiving in Lusty, Texas

by Cara Covington

  “Are you ready to begin?” Grandmother Chelsea asked.

  “We are.” They’d said that together then moved slightly.

  Pamela faced her men as she held their hands. Adam’s right hand was in her left and James’s left hand in her right.

  “The history of our community is as unique as it is treasured,” Grandmother Chelsea said. “In the last quarter of the last century, a woman who’d been wed under false pretenses arrived here, having escaped several attempts on her life, attempts made by the assassin her new husband had hired. When all was said and done, and the blackguard buried, she then pledged her life to the two gunslingers who’d seen her safely to this place. Sarah Carmichael married Caleb Benedict but called his brother, Joshua, husband, as well. Sarah, Caleb and Joshua were my parents.

  “Sarah’s cousin Amanda Dupree arrived in Waco, destination this tract of land, to meet her cousin for the first time and to embark on a personal quest of her own. Two men who were more than friends to each other agreed to help Amanda—a woman who had also been wronged and threatened by another scoundrel—and, in so doing, those two men fell in love with her, and she with them. Amanda, Adam Kendall, and Warren Jessop were my parents-in-law.

  “Together, these six people founded a town, a dynasty, and a way of life.”

  “Our forebears, in their wisdom, and yes, in their love, saw to it that we not only had a place to call home but a place where we could live freely as our hearts demanded,” Grandmother Mattie said. “They also provided a solid moral, legal, and financial foundation for themselves and their children and their children’s children. This legacy remains intact and untarnished today. And it is in the tradition of those first Kendalls, Jessops, and Benedicts that we are gathered here, for this very special occasion.

  “Today, we celebrate the lifetime commitment of Pamela Franklin with Adam and James Jessop.

  “Adam, as the oldest man, it falls to you to please begin by giving Pamela your pledge.”

  Adam nodded then faced Pamela. He took a moment, and Pamela knew he was gathering his thoughts. “I was a man dedicated only to medicine, to being a doctor alongside my brother, and following in our father Warren’s footsteps. Since adolescence I knew I wanted to find a woman James and I could both love, but I had no idea how to go about making that happen. Then we met you, and I knew with a sense I’d never felt before that you were meant to be ours. But I didn’t know how to take that first step. I didn’t know how to court you. And as I tried to figure that out, time was slipping through my fingers. I became unsure of myself, afraid that you’d reject us and the kind of family we wanted to build with you.

  “And then fate stepped in, and I didn’t have to think. I just reacted, and because I skipped those early steps I was afraid to take, I very nearly destroyed our chance at building that family. But there you were, loving us when I didn’t even know that you did. You saw through my clumsy attempts at courtship and my heavy-handedness. You saw my fear of losing you, but you also, miraculously, saw my heart. You sure as hell saw all my many flaws, and yet, you still loved me.

  “Pamela Franklin Jessop, I don’t deserve you, but I’m keeping you. You’re the center of my world. I love you now, and I will love you for all of this life and into the next.”

  Adam placed a sweet kiss on her lips. His gaze promised more, but later, when they were alone.

  “James, please give Pamela your pledge.”

  James nodded to Grandmother Mattie then turned to look at Pamela. “Sweet Pamela, the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were the woman we’d been waiting for. I cherished every moment we spent together, and as the days passed, I worried we’d never figure it out, Adam and I. And yes, I was as clumsy, as awkward as he. We weren’t blessed with smooth tongues or winning words. But that doesn’t matter, because, in the end, we were blessed with the greatest gift of all—you. You saw us for the men we were and loved us anyway. You’re our miracle.

  “Pamela, I love you with all of my heart. I will love you and care for you until I draw my last breath. You’ll be able to count on me to be there for you, as we raise our family and as we walk life’s path together.” James brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. And then Adam gave his brother the hand he still held, her left hand. James took the ring off his finger and slid the delicate gold wedding band onto hers. He kissed her finger, his lips gracing that ring.

  “I am yours, wife, now and forever.” James kissed her lips, and in his eyes, she saw the same promise for later.

  “Pamela, it’s your turn, Granddaughter.” Grandmother Chelsea’s words, so softly spoken, nearly had her in tears.

  She looked at each of her men in turn. “I had but one dream in life: to find a man who could love me, whom I would love in return. A man with whom I could have children, with whom I could build a life.

  “I met the two of you in that hospital cafeteria, and my heart leapt. As I got to know you, I loved you, both of you. I didn’t understand how that could be. I, too, feared. I feared that you would think I was a little crazy, because I did love you both. As time passed, I both longed for and feared the moment one of you would make a move because I knew I couldn’t choose between you. I couldn’t, and I wouldn’t.

  “And then that day came when I was so upset, and you listened to my problem so patiently and offered me, in that moment, everything I’d ever wanted. And you gave me more—this wonderful family to cherish and love and this perfect place to raise those children we’ll one day have together.

  “Adam Jessop, I love you more than I have words to say. You’re my husband and the head of our family. James Jessop, I love you so much I can’t adequately express it. You’re my husband alongside your brother.

  “I promise to be the best wife to you both that I know how to be and the best mother to our children. I am yours, and you, both of you, are mine. For now and for always.”

  They all three turned to face the grandmothers. Grandmother Mattie met her gaze and then the gazes of her grandsons. “We’re all so blessed to have you, Pamela, as a part of our family. I’m so pleased to call you granddaughter. And now all that remains is to give you the blessing—the very same blessing that Sarah Carmichael Benedict gave to me and Charles and Samuel on our wedding day.” She spread her hands, palms up, in benediction. “And now your journey begins, and your adventure awaits. May you forever remain steadfast, one in the others, and may love light your way, always.”

  There was applause and cheers and shouts of congratulations. And then there was her father, gathering her in close and hugging her tight.

  Chapter Twenty

  Pamela couldn’t stop smiling at her dad and her brothers. She hadn’t seen them for six months and hadn’t been sure if she and her husbands would be heading to Maryland for Christmas, or not. Now her father was here, and she had so many questions.

  There were several tables set up throughout the New House to allow people to help themselves to the buffet and then sit and eat. Pamela, along with her husbands and her dad and brothers, had been given a spot at the dining room table with the grandparents and her parents-in-law. “I can’t believe you’re here! What about the farm?”

  “Corey Rogers and his cousin George are cow sitting for us for a few days,” her brother Byron said. “They were happy to help, as they’ll need a hand when they head out to Colorado for Christmas next month.”

  “It’s the first time we’ve gone anywhere, so we were grateful and happy to return the favor,” Joey said. “It’s a lot warmer here than it is back home, big sister.” Her brother grinned.

  The Rogers farm was only a couple miles down the road from them, and Corey, though a few years older, had always been a friend of her brothers.

  “You’ll stay with us while you’re here, won’t you?” Adam asked. “We have the room.”

  “Thank you,” Reg said. “I think we’d like that.”

  Her husbands saw to it she had plenty to eat, and then they took both of her brothers around to introduce them to
the family. Not long after, Byron and Joey hunkered down with Jonathan Benedict, and all three appeared to be having a very in-depth conversation. Farmers bonding. Having spent her life on a farm until she’d moved to Lusty, it was a familiar sight.

  “I think I surprised you,” her father said. “Oh, not by being here with your brothers. That was meant to be a surprise for you—Adam’s and James’s doing. But when I nodded. When I showed you that I accepted your choice to claim both men as husband. That surprised you.”

  She and her father were out on the front porch, sitting side by side on one of the two benches the family had set up there. The Thanksgiving feast was over, and many of the women were in the kitchen preparing a snack for later—turkey sandwiches and salads, a relatively light fare.

  Next year she’d be there, elbow deep, helping out. But this was her special day, and she let herself be pampered—for today.

  She looked over at her father. “You did, yes. I felt bad because I’d meant to tell you about our lifestyle. But…”

  “You couldn’t find the words.”

  “No, I couldn’t find the words.”

  “It’s not easy, admitting to others that what you want, what you need, is different from the norm. Pammy-pooh, I know that from personal experience.”

  She met her dad’s gaze. She’d been thinking about her mother, and the words she’d said so many years before that had allowed Pamela to be at peace with the choice she made.

  Something had been nagging at her about those words, though, since she’d shared them with Adam and James. “One time when Mom and I were talking about differences—I’d just met my first gay couple—she said something that stayed with me. She said the heart loves who and how the heart loves. And there’s really nothing wrong with that.”

  “Your mother was a very wise, and kind, woman.”

  “She was. But I…her words were not just the usual parental wisdom, were they? They…they were words learned through experience.”

  “They were. Your mother and I loved each other. I never doubted that, just as I never doubted that she could and did also love my brother, Matthew. He loved her, too, and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with that. To the three of us, it was not only natural, it was right. Even as we knew others would scorn us if they found out, probably her more than us because that’s how society worked.”

  “He lived with us when I was a child. His was the bedroom next to yours.”

  Reg held her gaze and nodded. “The small room that connected to ours was his, yes. But at night, he didn’t sleep in that room. He slept with us.”

  “I remember when he died. We were all devastated. But Mom…”

  “She cried like her heart was broken, because it was.” He took her hand. “If I had known back then that this place existed, I’d have moved us all here. It galled your mother to treat Matthew like a brother in public when she considered him her husband, too.”

  “I hate that feeling myself. But I am able to abide by the rules, because then we come back home.”

  “I spent time with Maria, Warren, and Douglas before we came over here. I met Chelsea, Dalton, and Jeremy, and Mattie, Charlie, and Sam. These people consider you a part of their family, and I’m so very grateful for that. And I’m so very glad you’re happy here, Pammy-pooh.”

  Pamela laughed, and then she laid her head on his shoulder. “I am, Dad. I am down-to-my toes happy and head over heels in love with my husbands. I love the family and the town and the future we’re looking to build here, together.”

  “And that, my sweet daughter, is the best that any father can ever hope for his child.”

  * * * *

  The Thanksgiving feast was over, and they were home. Their houseguests had been settled and were already in their beds, likely sound asleep.

  Pamela and her husbands were behind the closed door of their bedroom. As they’d undressed her and then themselves, she’d worried, some, but her men had assured her that the master suite was particularly well insulated. Sounds simply didn’t escape to the other bedrooms across the hall.

  James cupped her face the moment he’d freed them both of their clothes. He met her gaze for a long moment, a serious expression on his face. And then he smiled, slow and sweet. “Wife.”

  “Husband.”

  In the bedroom, candles burned, and soft music drifted in the air. Behind her, Adam pressed close, his hands bracketing her hips.

  “What do you need, baby?” Adam laid his lips on that place where her neck joined her shoulder. She shivered as arousal filled her.

  “I need us to be one. Ever since you told me you wanted that for us, it’s what I’ve hungered for. Please?” She licked her lips and then brazenly poured gasoline on their already smoldering embers. “Please, husbands. I need your cocks in my cunt and my ass at the same time.”

  Both men inhaled sharply, and the cocks pressing against her flexed and hardened. They surrounded her with their scent and their heat, and Pamela craved, as she’d never craved before.

  Her men looked at each other, and in that moment especially, she was so glad they had that silent communication between them. She didn’t want to think about the details. She just wanted to be one with them.

  James took her hand, kissed it, and then drew her to the bed. He turned her to face him, easing her into his arms. Then his mouth closed over hers, and all thinking ceased. The stroke of his tongue and the taste of him coaxed her fires to burn even hotter. With sweet caresses and gentle kisses, he seduced her.

  This was a second wedding night, and she was grateful to follow, to be led, and to submit, to give both of these amazing men whatever they needed of her. She loved them more than life itself. As long as she had them to call her own, she would consider herself blessed beyond imagining.

  James lifted her and brought her down to lay upon him. She opened her legs and felt the heat and girth of his cock. His pulse, right there against her clit, became the most erotic rhythm in the world. She felt her own moisture betray her. She’d never be able to play a game and act aloof. She needed only to inhale the scent of one or both of these men, and she was hot, wet, and raring to go.

  “You’re always so wet for us,” James said. “That is a huge turn-on. To know that you always want us—oh, sweet wife, you have no idea how that makes me feel.”

  “How does it make you feel, darling?”

  “Like I’m ten feet tall and can conquer the world.”

  “I look up to you, and you’ve already conquered me,” Pamela said. “So that’s a good start.”

  “No, Pammy. That’s everything. Take me inside you. Ride me, woman. I need to feel your cunt milking my cock.”

  The dirty words were beginning to make her horny, too. She gave him what felt to her like a sexy smile. Then she gained her knees, reached down, and took his damp cock in her hand. She quickly took him in, sliding down, lodging him deep.

  Pamela moved on him, this man who’d been patient enough to wait for this day. He was the love of her life, as was his brother. They each gave her something she needed, just to survive.

  With Adam, she’d found boundaries and paths and guidance. With James, she’d found sensitivity and patience and a heart-felt peace. With both, she’d found a boundless, endless love.

  “I love you, wife.” James’s fervent declaration drew her to him. She bent low, kissed him, then moved a hand from his chest to his face.

  “I love you, husband. Thank you for waiting for me.”

  “I’d have waited forever.”

  Adam got onto the bed and began to move closer. He’d given them those few minutes. There was no jealousy between them, only a communion to respect her relationship with both of them and each of them.

  “Head down, baby. I’m going to go slowly, Pamela. Please don’t rush this.”

  Her men had told her many times this was a delicate maneuver. The sternness in Adam’s voice told her how serious he was.

  “I won’t, darling. I’ll be good.”


  “Neither of us have any doubt of that.”

  Pamela laid her head on James’s chest. The sound of his heart pounding hard thrilled her. His excitement, his pleasure—those were her doing. The trembling she felt in Adam as he spread lube on her anus, that was her doing, as well.

  These two men had shown her how powerful and how valuable she was to them. She would never waver in those beliefs again.

  Pamela shivered when Adam pressed into her anus with his fingers. Oh, how she wanted to push against that tiny intrusion. The burning fed her arousal, and she trembled—no fear, all excitement. She wanted and needed more.

  “You open so easily now, wife. Just a bit more lube.”

  “Even the presence of your fingers made her tighter,” James said. His hands smoothed her back and her head, and Pamela’s nipples grew taut with arousal even as she wanted to purr like a lazy kitten in the sun.

  Adam eased his fingers from her then kissed a line down her back. Pamela mewled, words no longer possible. He moved closer, tented her, and stroked his condom-covered cock over her rosette.

  Her deep moan inspired Adam to chuckle. In the next moment he pressed against her, and as her anus began to open, her husband sucked in a breath and shivered himself.

  James held her tighter, Adam’s fingers grasping her hips dug in, and the burn of penetration morphed to an exquisite pain as his cock breached her sphincter and then sank deep into her.

  “Oh…” It was the most she could manage. One word, a cascade of sensations and meanings. She felt full to bursting and on the edge of the most explosive orgasm. She shivered, moving her entire body on the cocks within her, even rubbing her clit against James… “Oh, husbands, please!”

  Adam grunted and began to move in her, slow, precise, his thrusts tempered for about twenty seconds. Then he swore, and James swore, and she could almost hear the snapping of their tethers as their libidos took over.

  “So good…baby, hang on…I can’t…”