by Cee Bowerman
“Yeah. I won’t sleep a wink with this stuff hanging over my head, what about you?”
“Probably not.”
“Then your house it is.”
7.
SIERRA
The drive back to Rowdy’s house was quiet, both of us getting our thoughts in order before ‘the big talk’. I knew a few things that I wanted to discuss with him and get out on the table before we took this leap.
Marriage? To a stranger? What was I thinking?
I decided to take him up on his offer of references and I would give him a list of people he could ask about me, too. Not that there were many people, just a few of the girls I had become friends with at the apartments..
It seemed so uneven that I was coming into this relationship with so much baggage and only a few positive things and attaching myself to Rowdy’s already full life.
But if something happened and he lost his daughter, even only part of the time, that life would change and it wouldn’t be for the better.
We drove up in front of Rowdy and Leia’s house and what I could see of it from the outside was promising. Even though there wasn’t a fenced-in ‘yard’ per se, there was a nicely cut square of grass in front of the house. It was soft, green grass like a normal yard in town would have rather than the wild grass that grew around the rest of the property.
To the right of the modest porch, there was a small flower bed and it was weeded and moist, showing dedicated care. A little gnome dressed as a biker held a sign that said, “Get off my lawn!” and when I read it, I giggled.
“Leia bought me that for Father’s Day a few years ago. I worked really hard to get the grass to take and I was probably a little more militant than necessary in the process.”
“I think it’s pretty. It’s already green, even though it’s not quite spring yet.”
“Yeah, like I said, I’m a little odd about the yard.” Rowdy laughed softly as he unlocked the front door. He pushed it open and waited for me to go in and I was happily surprised when I got my first look at his house.
“It looks so, well, it looks like it’s not a single man that lives here!”
“That’s a compliment, right?”
“Yes!” The room was cozy - the couches big and fluffy and covered in a denim material. There was a patterned throw draped over one arm of the couch and it coordinated with the solid one that hung on the back of a big recliner.
Pictures of Leia through the years dotted the walls, mixed in with pictures of men and some women that I recognized through Kari and my new boss, Maria. One picture caught my attention and I quickly walked across the room toward it.
A man, I guessed that it was Rowdy’s father, was standing next to Rowdy beside a big truck. Rowdy had Leia in his arms and she was just a few months old. She was wearing a frilly little dress and a flowered headband on her bald head. The man looked stunned and Rowdy looked terrified, but the way he held the little girl showed that he was already taking parenting very seriously. She was clutched close to his chest with one hand under her bottom and the other supporting her head.
“That was the day we picked her up from her foster parents. They took the picture for us and sent it in the mail once it was developed.”
“That’s sweet.”
“They’re good people.” Rowdy reached out and touched the glass of the frame over the flower on Leia’s headband. “We’ve stayed in touch over the years. They’re the closest thing to grandparents she’s got.”
“What about your dad?”
“He’s a good Papa, don’t get me wrong, but he’s more inclined to teach her to burp the alphabet than take her to service on Sunday morning.”
I laughed at the image of Leia burping next to the man in the picture.
“Yeah, you think it’s funny now, but the girl can make fart noises in her armpit that will clear an entire grocery store.” Rowdy shook his head. “And don’t get me started on her belching. Good God.”
I couldn’t help myself and laughed even harder. Lexi was nothing like that and I guessed it was because I raised her alone and she didn’t have the opportunity to hang out with ‘the guys’ and learn stuff like that.
“Does she get to visit with them?”
“Yeah, they head this way once a year and we make it down there every so often. They write letters and cards back and forth, call sometimes. It’s really cool.”
“What about her other family? The woman’s family?”
“Well, Leia has three older siblings that she’s never met. They’re a little older than I am. They’ve never shown any interest in meeting her and she has never mentioned wanting to talk to them.”
“Does she know about how she was conceived?”
“Some,” Rowdy shrugged. “I’ve explained what she could absorb at each age. When she was in kindergarten and asked why she didn’t have a mama, I told her that it was because she lived far away. A few years later when that explanation wasn’t good enough, I told her that she was in prison. Last year, she finally asked why she was in prison and I told her the truth.”
“Wow.”
“What does Lexi know about her father?”
“Everything.” I smiled, “Well, everything that I knew about him as a teenage girl. His hopes and dreams, that he hated carrots, stuff like that. She knows he was in an accident before she was born. She knows what my parents did, and of course she remembers what happened with Jackson a few years ago. Too much for a little girl to have to deal with.”
“She’s got you, so she’ll be stronger for it.”
“If we do this, you’re right. We’ve got to make it real. I don’t want the girls to know we did this just for them. I want them to believe in romance and true love. I want to show them what a real family is like.”
“From what you’ve said, you didn’t have a real family and neither did I - how are we going to swing this?”
“We’ll have to be a team.”
“I can do that. Did you think anymore about what I said? About the bedroom?” Rowdy asked as he sat down beside me on the couch.
“Well, not really, but I get what you’re saying. What if we aren’t compatible?”
“I guess we won’t know until we find out, will we?”
“What sort of weird rationale is that? We won’t know until we find out.” I scoffed at him. “What if… ”
“What if it’s great?” Rowdy asked just as he pulled me across his lap and put his mouth on mine.
I knew instantly that it was going to be great. His mouth was firm against mine, those lips of his fit perfectly, and when he moved his hand up to knot in the hair at the side of my head, I was done for.
He used his grip in my hair to tilt my head at the same time he opened his lips and ran his tongue along the seam of mine. I heard a moan and realized it was me making that noise. Our tongues touched and I couldn’t get enough of him. I put my hands in his hair, knocking his hat off the back of his head to fall on the couch behind us.
Rowdy twisted his body and slid backwards. My body followed so that it was laid out on top of his and I felt his hand slide down my back and cup my ass. I let one of my legs fall beside his and without conscious thought, I realized I was grinding my crotch against the zipper of his jeans.
“Fuck me,” Rowdy murmured as he kissed his way along my jaw down to the area behind my ear. “Better than fucking great - explosive. Yeah, we work.”
I breathed out a sigh as he nipped my earlobe gently with his teeth. “Yeah, we’re good.”
“Got to stop now,” Rowdy said, his lips moving down my neck as his hand cupped my breast. “Can’t go further today.”
“Yeah,” I whispered against his neck right before I licked the spot below his ear. “Gotta stop. Barely know each other.”
“Fuck!” Rowdy growled and slammed his head back into the couch cushion a few times, almost dislodging me from on top of him. “Okay. No problems here for sure.”
I giggled and laid my head down on his chest, trying very h
ard not to notice the hard bulge behind his zipper right there at the spot I needed just a little more friction.
“Are we doing this?”
“I think we are.”
“You okay with it?”
“Oddly enough, I’m kind of excited.”
“Hey,” Rowdy wiggled a little until I lifted my head and looked at his face. “What’s your last name?”
“Guthrie. Yours?”
“Lincoln,” Rowdy answered me right before he rolled and put me toward the cushions of the couch so he could sit up. He stood up and reached into his pocket, then knelt down on one knee in front of me.
“Sierra Guthrie, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
I nodded my head and Rowdy reached for my hand. Once it was in his, he slipped the spider ring I had given him at dinner onto my ring finger.
Suddenly, it was all so real. Even though it was just a plastic ring, I felt tears in my eyes.
“It didn’t start the way most relationships do, but it will be a funny story to tell our grandchildren, don’t you think?” he asked me as he reached up and wiped the tears from my cheeks. “We’ll work through it together and all be better off for it, I think.”
“I think my future husband is a pretty smart guy.”
“I’m not,” He shook his head and looked down, “But I’m working on it.”
“We’re doing this.”
“Yep. We’re doing this.”
“How are we going to tell the girls?”
“Just simple and matter of fact. You realized just how fucking cool I am and decided to snatch me up off the market before I got a better offer.” Rowdy smiled at me and then wiggled his eyebrows.
“Yeah, because Lexi will believe that.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Rowdy shrugged. “Now, rather than take you home to stew about this alone, what do you say that we sleep here in my bed tonight and then go get our kids in the morning.”
“I like the sound of that.” I watched him stand up and put his hand out to help me off the couch. “Can we do some more of that getting to know you kissing?”
“As much as I want to, unless you’ve got a condom in your pocket, we should probably maintain a safe distance.” Rowdy put his hand on the back of his neck and rubbed it. “Oh, fuck it. We can keep the underwear on and see what happens.”
“I’m good with that.” I smiled.
◆◆◆
ROWDY
“Wake up, sleepy head,” I whispered into Sierra’s ear.
She and I had only been asleep for a few hours and I knew she had to be just as exhausted as I was, but we needed to be at Marcus and Reagan’s house in an hour.
Sierra sat up with a jolt and shoved me off the bed.
“Unghh,” I groaned as I tried to take a breath.
“What the fuck?” Sierra’s face popped over the edge of the bed and she stared at me. “I’m so sorry, Rowdy! Oh, my God!”
“Where did that come from?”
“What?” Sierra asked as she jumped off the bed and stood between my legs, holding her hand out as if to help me off the floor.
“That ninja shit. One second, you were dead ass asleep and the next, you did some kung fu shit and knocked me on my ass.”
Sierra shrugged and pulled me to my feet.
“Well, alright then. Dynamite in a small package, check.”
“I usually don’t sleep very soundly, so things don’t really get past me. But I opened my eyes and you were just there.” Sierra shrugged and reached up to run her hands through my hair to check for bumps. “Did I hurt you?”
“I’m fine.” I reached up and took her wrists in my hands. “Good morning, beautiful.”
Sierra blushed. Honest to God blushed. It was the cutest fucking thing I had seen in my life.
“Good morning, handsome.”
I leaned down and kissed her softly, our hands between us.
“Want to hop in the shower while I make coffee? We can swing by your place and get a change of clothes on the way to pick up the girls.”
“Why don’t I make coffee while you shower, then we go to my place and I’ll shower and dress?”
“But if we do that then I won’t get to imagine you naked in my bathroom.”’
“If we get this shit done and figured out, I’m going to be naked in your bathroom every morning.”
“Well, there’s that.” I laughed and kissed her again. “Make the coffee strong. I didn’t get nearly enough sleep last night.”
“I’ll do that.” Sierra stood there staring at me, so I finally turned around and walked toward the bathroom. When I turned back to say something, I caught her staring at my butt. Her eyes darted up to my face and she blushed again before she rushed out of the room. “Sorry.”
I took the quickest shower on record and came out of the bathroom to find that Sierra had already made my bed, sorted my laundry into piles, and had a mug of black coffee waiting for me on the nightstand.
Damn, I thought to myself. I could get used to this shit.
◆◆◆
SIERRA
I walked around Rowdy’s house aimlessly, finding out all sorts of information about the man without asking a single question. He only had two day’s worth of laundry in the hamper, meaning he took care of his chores without them piling up. The kitchen was spotless and everything was organized perfectly - even mostly in the same places I would have put things myself if it was my kitchen.
There wasn’t a speck of dust on the furniture or a thing out of place in the house... until I opened the other door in the hallway and found Leia’s bedroom.
It looked like a tornado had come though and wrecked the place leaving clothes strewn everywhere. There were piles of clothes all over the room, barely anything hanging in the closet, and one entire wall was covered in pictures.
There were horses, rock bands, country music stars, and pictures of Rowdy and Leia tacked here and there amid the famous people. Some of the pictures looked like they had been pulled out of travel magazines - I assumed they were places Leia wanted to visit someday.
Piles of papers, stacks of books, and the occasional stuffed animal took up every flat surface in the room and the bookshelves were stuffed full of figurines of horses and other animals that were so perfectly detailed I had to step in and take a closer look at them.
I wasn’t sure where she had collected the figurines, but I could tell at a glance that they were worth a fortune. They were hand-painted, most of them wooden, but some of them made of clay - every single one of them detailed to perfection. As I glanced over the shelves, I saw horses, cows, a few goats, some cats and kittens, a dog or two, and even a polar bear. They went from a little turtle the size of my thumbnail to a peacock with his feathers splayed out that was bigger than my hand.
“Are you ready to go?” I heard Rowdy ask from behind me.
I jumped and spun around as if I had been caught breaking into his safe.
“Sorry!” I sputtered as I tiptoed my way through the mess of the bedroom to get back through the bedroom door. “I was just looking around and saw the figurines on the shelf.”
“Oh, Leia loves those,” Rowdy said. “Her room is a fucking mess, but that’s just not a battle I’m willing to fight. I finally decided that she’s perfect in every other way; being a slob can just be her only flaw.”
I laughed and shook my head, wondering how such a neat freak of a man didn’t go nuts knowing what was just behind that door.
“Where will Lexi sleep?” I asked, looking at the other two doors in the hallway.
“We have a guest bedroom that can turn into hers. My dad stays in there when he comes to visit, but we can move his stuff into my work room.
“Work room?”
“Yeah,” Rowdy pointed to one of the doors I hadn’t explored yet. “That’s my hobby room over there. Lexi’s room will be the other one. It’s the same size as Leia’s and painted plain white, but she can paint it whatever she wants. Nicole won’t mind
at all.”
“Nicole owns this house?”
“Yeah,” Rowdy shrugged. “She lets us live here for cheap since I take care of the horses and other large animals when she gets them. I tried to get a loan to buy the property from her, but the bank wouldn’t give me that much, so Reagan has been helping me rehab my credit so I can try again. At this point if I buy my own house it would be in town.”
“What about the horses?”
“I’d just have to drive out twice a day and spend time here,” Rowdy shrugged. “I couldn’t ever give up my girls.”
“Can I see your hobby room?”
“Sure,” Rowdy shrugged. “Come on.”
I followed him a few feet further down the hall and he pushed the door open before waving me in.
The room was organized, just like the rest of the house. But this one had shelves from floor to ceiling on two sides and the middle of one wall had a workbench with tools organized in a row. The upper shelves were filled with figurines like the ones in Leia’s room and I moved closer to marvel at the details.
“You did all this?” I whispered as I reached up to touch a chicken that was set around with others of different colors, as if they were pecking the shelf looking for food. I snatched my hand back and Rowdy laughed.
“You can pick them up. If you break something, I’ll just make a new one.”
“These are beautiful.” I reached out and picked up one of the chickens and marvelled at the detail in the clay. I couldn’t get over how real he made them look with just shading and paint colors. “You’re an artist.”
Rowdy shrugged.
“Did you make those animals I saw in Lexi’s room?”
He nodded.
“Those are exquisite!” I told him, excited about his talent. “They’re so lifelike. How did you get started doing this?”
“Honestly?”
“Of course,” I nodded. “Did you take a class or something?”
“The first one I made was with Leia’s Play-Doh.”
