Caleb's Blessing (13 page)

That ought to shut her the hell up; the thought that she wasn’t the center of attention tonight should keep her ass too preoccupied to start shit.

“Very becoming Caleb.” My crack had apparently gone right over her vain head. Her eyes and her voice lost some of their fake warmth when she noticed the family jewels adorning my girl’s neck and hands.

If I remember correctly, she’d once made a joke that they should all come to her since I was never gonna get married. Everyone else had laughed it off at the time, but I knew she wasn’t joking.

I held Amanda’s hand a little more securely and ran my thumb along her palm. She’d told me about their conversation the day Diane had visited the ranch, and there hadn’t been anything to send up any red flags, but still I didn’t let down my guard.

Things only got worse when mom’s friends, probably tired of waiting for an intro, started coming over to introduce themselves. Each and every one of them expounded on her beauty in some way, and I could see it was bugging the hell out of my sister in law.

Drake noticed it too, but he just smirked and shrugged it off. We were all accustomed to her behavior by now; she always has to be the center of everything no matter what. It’s one of the reasons I’d banned her from coming to any more of my shows.

“Why don’t I take Amanda upstairs to freshen up a little?” she tried taking her out of my hand.

“She’s good thanks, I think I see someone I’d like to introduce her to if you two will excuse us.” I hadn’t seen a damn soul but I wanted her all to myself.

So far things were running smoothly as was to be expected where mom was concerned. She’d gone above and beyond just as I’d asked, and even the governor and his wife were on hand to meet my new fiancée.

When word of the party spread as I was sure it would, I didn’t want anything left undone. I can’t and won’t forget that crack Cecily had made about her being the help. By the time word got back to her, she and everyone else will know the truth, that Amanda was the future wife of the heir to half the damn state.

“Are you having fun yet baby?” I turned her into my arms for a slow dance after passing her empty champagne glass off to someone.

“Oh Caleb’s it’s great, everyone seems so nice.” The tension was gone from her body as she rested her head on my shoulder and squeezed the hand that was holding hers.

“I love you, and you are, the most beautiful woman here. Then again I think you’re the most beautiful woman anywhere.” It felt good holding her in my arms like this, feeling her so relaxed when I’d been expecting to spend most of the night easing her out of her shell.

“My turn I think.” I looked over at my dad who had waltzed his ass into the middle of the ballroom floor to annoy me.

“Dad, go away.” The song wasn’t even finished yet.

“Boy didn’t I teach you about sharing? Now get out of the way.” He actually muscled me aside and took her from me. At least he makes her laugh.

I headed back to the wall and the guys, who didn’t seem to have left that spot. “You idiots plan on standing here all evening?”

“You gave us a job remember?”

“Yes Adrian, but you can see her from the dance floor can’t you? I see that Denise girl eyeing you over there why don’t you go ask her to dance?”

“No thanks, that one has wedding bells in her eyes.”

“What’s so wrong with that?”

“So it’s true, as soon as one of you saps bite the bullet you try to drag all the rest of us down with you.”

“Shut up and go dance with the girl you ass.”

“Fine, but I’m expecting the rest of you assholes to come save me if I start sending out signals.”

“Sure you do that.”

“There’s been no sign of the Crane girl, and no one’s been buzzing about that business in town, which is surprising. I guess your mom put the word out or something.” Simon shared as soon as we were all through laughing.

“Good we’re still on rotation though, I’m not expecting anything but I would rather be prepared. Every hour until we leave one of us will check the perimeter.”

“We know boss you’ve told us like a thousand times before we left.”

“Fine let me go rescue my girl from dad and the rest of you find a partner for heaven’s sake before mom does it for you, you know it’s only a matter of time.”

“Damn.” They started scanning the room for prospects of which they were plenty, my boys never suffered for female company, whether that of the soiled doves they preferred, or the more genteel breed of which there were plenty here.

I had taken my eyes off of dad and Amanda for a split second and they were gone. I started to panic until common sense kicked in. “This fucking guy.” I knew exactly where he’d taken her and could only shake my head.

If what she’d told me about her reaction to champagne was true, then a few swigs of dad’s illegal shit will have her tongue more than loose. Fuck.

She wasn’t where I’d expected them to be, which was downstairs in dad’s little moonshine lab, but I didn’t panic.

I knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to mine but I still needed to have her where I can see her, with all these strangers around.

I checked a couple more rooms before I heard her giggle through the study door upstairs, away from the party. I was about to barge in until I heard them through the door.

“Oops, sorry.”

“Uh-oh, why didn’t you tell me you can’t handle your liquor girl? You better give me that.”

“Uh-uh, I like it, it has...character.” She giggled again and I watched through the crack in the door as she took a swig of his concoction.

The last time I’d messed with his nonsense I was seventeen. It was the first and the last time for me, because dad didn’t know what the fuck he was doing quite frankly.

“Take it easy, you want my son to kill me?” She giggled again so I knew she was tipsy. Remembering her words about her reaction to champagne, I decided to stay back and see what I see.

She was in no danger and she sounded more relaxed up here than she was downstairs, so why not let her have it?

“Now this one is when he was three, you see, he always knew what he wanted to be when he grew up.”

What the fuck? Another good look showed exactly what the two of them were up to, old family albums. Of course my mind went to all the embarrassing photos I could remember.

“He’s so adorable, even then.” She ran her fingers over the plastic that had to be at least twenty something years old.

“He was a pain in the ass same as now.” He spoke with gruffness but there was affection in his voice.

“No, I can’t imagine my Caleb being anything but perfect.”

“Sure, are we talking about my son?”

“Of course who else?”

“Well the Caleb I know got up to more shit than half the damn county. If I told you the sleepless nights his mother and I’ve had.”

“But your wife said he was the best behaved.”

“His mother lies for him, she always did. The boy was always part criminal in the making. There was a time there when I had a bail fund going.

I finally bought Marjorie a yacht with it last year, because that was the first time I started to believe that he wasn’t headed for the hangman’s noose.”

She laughed so hard she almost fell out of her chair. “You’re making it up.”

“If I lie I die.” The old lying ass put his hand over his heart and one in the air. I was grinning silently to myself because I’d never seen her this relaxed. I should bag some of dad’s hooch for later.

“Now you see this one here, where he’s covered in a cast from head to foot? He was seven, first time he went wrangling with a bull. Sent his mother to her bed for a week. Poor woman hasn’t had a sane moment since.”

“But he only has a cast on one arm.”

“Okay you caught me, I think he got that falling out of a tree if I remember correctly.”

He knows very well that I got it from him egging me on when he knew that mom didn’t want me to climb the tree, because it was too big and I was too little. Then again mom always thought we were too little to do anything.

Dad on the other hand would sneak and let us do it, as long as we didn’t involve him when shit went south.

It was the first time that I learned that as big and bad as my dad was in my eyes, he was scared shitless of mom, especially when it came to her kids.

For some reason it taught me to respect them both more. It also gave me a stronger sense of family.

Dad never became weak in my eyes because he deferred to mom in some things, no more than I found her weak those times when I saw him put his foot down and mom did as she was told.

As a kid I didn’t understand all the dynamics, I just knew I felt safe with these two people, as an adult I get it.

“Aww, my poor Caleb, he’s so little here.”

“Don’t let the little rascal fool you, he was always up to some shit. I slept with one eye open until he left for college.”

“Caleb went to college?”

“What do you think, that I raised an idiot? Of course he went to college.

It was hard on him doing both and of course he didn’t take regular classes like the rest of ‘em after his first year, but my boy sure did get his degree.”

“Wow, that must’ve been something, doing both at the same time, and so young.”

“I’m sure it was, his mother and I are very proud of him, now we have something else to be proud of him for.”

“What’s that?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yes you. I always knew he would choose the perfect gem. His mama worried forever about that boy settling down. His brother’s been married for a while now, and he’s younger you see, so she got nervous. But I knew and I was right.”

She was silent for so long that I almost walked in, but then I heard her softly spoken words and I couldn’t move if I wanted to.

“But I’m not a gem.”

“What do you mean?” his voice had gone soft too.

“He hasn’t told you?”

“Told me what sweetheart?”

“About me, about my past.”

“I know enough, I don’t see what that has to do with it. Were you the one running around shooting people and beating up on someone you thought was weaker than you?” She shook her head but kept it down.

“Well then tell me, tell me why a bright, beautiful and kind young lady doesn’t think she’s a gem?”

“Because...don’t you think your son deserves better than my past? Don’t you think he deserves someone like that Cecily girl?”

“Who? Listen I’d like to be sure of the lineage of my grandkids when they finally get here. I’ll thank you kindly not to wish that person on me and my family, thank you very much.”

“What do you mean?”

“Never you mind all that now, you just listen to your father in law, I know about these things. You’ve seen my wife? She’s a gem.”

“Oh but I’m nothing like her, she’s perfect.”

“It’s good that you think so, as her daughter in law it will make life easy. But I tell you I see some of the same qualities I saw in her over thirty some odd years ago in you. She’s another very strong female.”

“But I’m not strong like that as you know.”

“What’re you talking about? You’re here aren’t you? Do you know how much strength it takes to walk away from the known into the unknown? It takes a lot of guts and courage.

It takes even more guts and courage to let anyone else in and you’ve done that too. You should be proud of yourself young lady, I am.”

I knew she was going to cry, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand out here if that happened, but before I could move forward he was on it again.

“Don’t start that crying mess because both my son and his mother would have my ass. Now drink up and let’s get back before one or the other of them comes looking. I’m surprised the boy hasn’t started tearing down my place already.”

“Do you really think that I...that I can make him happy?”

“You already have girl. I know my boy, the only time I’ve ever seen him remotely close to this happy, is when he was in one of those damn rings trying to get his dumb ass killed.”

She was back to laughing and snorting as the old reprobate put it on thick.

“You’re laughing but I’m telling you, that boy came out the womb looking for trouble. From the time he could walk he was always looking for shit to get up to.”

“I hope our sons are just like him.” There were still tears in her voice so I pushed the door in alerting them both to my presence.

“I’ll take her dad.”

“Shit, give me that.” He took the glass jar from her but it was already empty, which was a surprise. How had she finished that shit and was still standing?

I hid my smile as I walked over and picked her up from the chair and into my arms. He slipped out of the room when my seemingly tipsy baby face planted into my chest with a heavy sigh.

“You okay baby, how much of that crap did you have to drink?” I lifted her chin with my finger to gauge the situation. Her eyes were a little bright, but she didn’t seem any worse for wear. It could be from all the excitement.

“You ready to go back downstairs to the party?”

“Uh-uh, I wanna stay here with you.”

“No problem, you wanna sit down?”

“No.” She held on tighter and buried her face in my chest again.

“I wanna stay just like this. I like the way it feels when you hold me like this.”

“Oh yeah, and how is that?”

“Safe, loved. Like nothing else matters.”

Damn, she would pick now to say this shit to me when we were miles away from home and our bed, and there was a houseful of people down there waiting to see us.

“We can stay as long as you’d like.” I held her that much closer, wishing that I could read her mind.

I don’t know how long we stood there before she finally lifted her head and smiled up at me.

“I don’t think your sister in law likes me very much do you?”

“Come again?” Totally out of left field. “I thought you said nothing happened when she came by the ranch.”

“It didn’t, not really, besides, I didn’t want to worry you, not to mention I didn’t want to sound like a cry baby.”

“But?”

“Well, that day I kinda got the feeling that she was fishing for information you know. Like she was trying to learn as much about me as she could.”

“And what did you tell her?” I wasn’t panicking as yet, but the less people who knew about her past the better. It was the only way I could keep a handle on shit until I dealt with the asshole.

“Nothing really, I just gave her the basics but I don’t know, I think she’s very crafty that one.”

“I see.” I decided not to say too much, to let her do all the talking since I wasn’t yet sure how this phenomenon worked.

It proved to be the right move, because in the next twenty minutes she gave me a rundown of what she thought of everyone so far.

I was extremely pleased to learn that she was no longer going to fight her feelings for me, but was going to have faith that we would work.

She got a long lingering tonguing for that one before she went on to tell me even more of what was hidden in her heart.

I saw a true glimpse of the girl that she was. Not that I hadn’t already seen into the heart of her behind the walls she’d built up, but this was another little piece of her that she’d given to me.

I wanted to bundle her up, all that she was, and keep her safe for all time. We stood there whispering to each other as she shared her deepest fears through tears that tore the heart out of me.

“No one is ever going to hurt you ever again baby, this I can promise you with everything that is in me, and believe me your ex is the last person you have to worry about because he’s number one on my hit list.”

That got me a laugh and a confession, that had I not already fallen head over heels in love with her, I would’ve then.

“I’m not really afraid of him anymore. I know you’d never let him get me and I know that you’d stand in front of me; that’s my new fear.

You’re so good and principled, nothing at all like him. I’m afraid that if you two ever did face each other that he would use his usual tactics, he’d fight dirty and you’d get hurt because you’re so...sweet.”

I didn’t mean to laugh in her face at that one, but fuck if that shit didn’t tickle my funny bone.

“You think I’m a big ole softie huh.”

“Well, not that exactly but you’re not mean.”

“I’m glad you think so love, you’re supposed to, but since I don’t want you going through life believing that shit about your future husband, let me share this with you.

I’ve only shown you one side of me because you don’t need to ever see the other. That one’s reserved for assholes, and I promise you, if I should ever see that fucker in this life he’d be lucky to leave that encounter with his life.”

Damn, and here I was thinking that she was afraid for her and all this time she was afraid for me. I’m not sure I liked her thinking that I was a chump, but if that’s what got me past her guard to her heart, then I won’t complain.

Hopefully she’d never see the other side of me and still not lose respect for me. I have to remember to share this one with the guys though. Or maybe one day she’d get curious as to why I never went into town with them even before she came into my life.

“You ready baby? I think my mom will be up here soon if we don’t go down.”

“I’m ready, just one more thing.” She lifted her wet eyes to mine and I felt that shit in my gut. There was so much love shining through her eyes in that moment.

“Fuck baby, you’re so fucking perfect, how are you this perfect?” Whatever it was that she was about to tell me got lost as our tongues played against each other.

***

We got downstairs just in time to head mom off. We were both a little mussed and her dress was a little crooked from where I’d pushed it aside to take her nipple in my mouth because I just couldn’t help myself.