Divine Charity (37 page)

“Seriously? Like she’s going to be doing some grunt work? Cleaning out stalls?”

Grace nodded. “The guys won’t let her hurt herself and they said they all started when they were young, too. Ethan suggested she might have less of an attitude about it later if she grew up accepting that mucking out stalls was part of the job. I’ll admit I was resistant at first about that. But they convinced me they’d watch out for her. And I know they love her and want only the best experiences for her. The bottom line is she needs an outlet for all that sass.”

Charity nodded, knowing that for a certainty. She found another pair of jeans in the right size and then helped Grace look through the belts. Grace said, “We need to find her a couple of good pairs of kid’s work gloves, too.”

“How are things at Teresa’s?” Charity asked, having a pretty good idea after Justine had told her about the condition of their house the previous weekend.

“I think the more pertinent question is how is Teresa? When I found out what had happened, I talked them into staying with us. They had to rush home in the middle of the night, with the kids and the baby. And once Luka and Matthias’s parents found out, they came, too. It was a mess.”

“I know how I’d react under the circumstances. So how is Teresa?”

“She’s quiet, you know? But I’ve never seen her
that
quiet. She walked through the house and then she asked to go see the guys at the jail.” Grace shivered. “Ethan told me she didn’t say a word to them. I don’t think she could. They promised they would clean the house up for her and fix everything and she finally told them that she would no longer welcome them in her home. When the two of them asked if Angel had come to bail them out, he laughed. He told them they were safer where they were for the time being. Then their mother walked in.”

“Oh, boy.”

“I heard all of this secondhand from Jack and Ethan but they said when she was done there was a mushroom cloud. Their mother is a passionate woman and judging from what Jack could pick up of what she said in rapid Spanish, it sounds like they aren’t welcome in her home either. That even the barn was too good for them. They could sleep in the goat shed, or something like that.”

“What about the house?” Charity asked as she held a pair of jeans up for Grace to look at.

“The wall-to-wall carpeting is ruined and will have to be ripped out. There’s structural damage and property damage. Insurance should cover most of it, but they really didn’t need this headache. They’d only just recently finished with the house.”

“It’s a shame.”

“The guys won’t let me near it, both because it pisses me off and because I wanted to help clean up.”

“Ding-dong. You’re in a brace. You have a broken collarbone—”

“Had a broken collarbone. Emma said I can come out of this next week if I agreed to use a sling.”

“Which still excludes you from helping with that big mess.”

Grace shook her head. “Luka and Matthias have always been such sweet guys. I’d heard they’ve been sowing a lot of wild oats but I figured they would’ve settled down a bit by now. Something’s not right there. They were up here to work for a little bit at the ranch but since last weekend the ranch hands don’t even want them in their house.”

“That sucks. Where will they live?”

Grace shrugged. “Angel was going to bail them out today, but I have no idea where they go from there. They’re lucky none of those parents are pressing charges against them so far.”

“They’ve got a guardian angel watching over them,” Charity said as she held up a pretty tooled leather belt.

Grace shook her head, rejecting the belt. “No, it needs to be plain. Look in the boys belts, too. If she wants a pretty tooled belt, she’ll have to wait until Christmas. It’ll give her time to really appreciate it. Luka and Matthias aren’t interested in rodeo. All they seem to be good at is partying and flirting…and horse ranching. They better pull their heads out of their asses before they’re not welcome on the ranch at all.”

Charity found a plain belt and held it up. “How ‘bout this one.”

“Better.”

“So I take it this means the guys are not giving Sassypants a horse just yet?”

“No. I think Adam thought about it, the big softy, but Ethan and Jack brought it up and talked about why it wasn’t a good idea yet. She needs to earn that privilege with a little sweat equity and show them she really wants it first.”

“I think it’ll be good for her.”

“I know it already has been. You know why?”

“Why?” Charity asked, growing more curious as Grace laughed.

“Because when I told her that I wasn’t sure she was big enough to help with the horses, the first words out of her mouth were, ‘But Mommy, I’m a big girl now.’ So I’m counting on the guys to all help her learn. If she catches ‘horse fever,’ then I’ll get to shop for fancier duds for her later. Let’s go look at boots and hats.”

“Awesome. I also need to shop for jeans before we leave. You’re not going to believe what I discovered this morning.”

“New jeans?” Grace asked as they walked over to the hat department. “You know, I wondered why you were wearing those jeans cuffed up like that. I know how much you spent on those and you always wear your pretty boots with them, not cuffed up with sandals. What happened?”

“Val and Ransome decided to do my laundry.”

The look on Grace’s face was priceless. “Were they still breathing when you left?”

“Yes, and I have Val’s debit card and permission to replace all the clothing they inadvertently ruined.”

“He’s not going to know what hit his bank account,” Grace replied with a giggle. “Are you talking to them?”

Charity nodded. “To be honest, I felt a little silly about the whole thing once I had a chance to calm down. I almost expected them to laugh at my reasons for being upset. They didn’t do that, though, but
still
, I’ve told them,
several times
, and Justin has even warned them. They didn’t listen to me. I guess I should be grateful that they didn’t just slough it off as no big deal, you know? Like it’s just clothing. They don’t understand I can’t always find my sizes, and I have to save up to shop. It’s not easy.”

Grace smiled at her, compassion in her eyes as she patted her shoulder.

Wondering out loud, Charity asked, “Did Jack, Ethan, and Adam ever do something like that, that just made you lose your cool?”

Grace got a faraway look and chuckled softly. “Remember that white corset I wore on our wedding day?”

“The one you wore under your wedding dress?”

Grace nodded. “We got back from the honeymoon and Adam was unpacking our luggage. He found it in the bedroom where I’d left it after our wedding night and wanted to be helpful so he did some laundry. He put it in the washing machine, not realizing it had steel stays in it.”

Charity cringed. “Oh no. Did it get ruined?”

Grace’s whole body shook as she nodded. “Along with the washing machine. One of the stays got ripped out and wedged.” She let out a contagious peal of laughter and Charity joined in.

“What did you do?” Charity asked when she could talk.

“Well, it was the corset I wore in my bridal portrait and on my wedding day, so it had sentimental value. He told me he thought it was ruined but I hadn’t seen the totality of the mess yet.”

“What did you do? Cry?” That was the natural assumption since Grace was so even tempered, especially where her men were concerned. Her sister was a total soft touch.

“No! I was so pissed off I couldn’t see straight. I mean, it had
steel stays
in it. You could feel them if you checked, but he didn’t. He just put it in with
all
my other delicate stuff.” She nodded and arched an eyebrow when Charity gasped.

“
All of it
? Loose in the washer?” At Grace’s emphatic nod, she asked, “Did he ruin all of it?”

“Mmm-hmm, everything they’d bought for me that I wore when I posed for the portraits, and items I’d purchased for the honeymoon. It was all a tangled, unraveled, steel-boned lingerie
suicide
, there in the ruined washing machine. The three of them couldn’t believe it when they saw what’d happened.”

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t have to do anything. I watched while they tried to get the mess he’d made all unknotted and didn’t say a word.”

“No?”

“Not a
word
. After a while they gave up. They replaced it all, same as Ransome and Val are doing for you.”

“And you made them swear to never touch your shit again, right?”

Grace grinned. “No, after they replaced it, I showed them the proper way to handle all my lingerie. You should’ve seen their eyes—like a new calf looking at a gate. They’ve never touched any of my lingerie ever since.”

“That’s one way to handle it. I think I traumatized my guys.”

Grace shrugged. “They’ll never forget again, will they?”

“Nope.”

As she inspected a small straw cowboy hat, Grace said, “Don’t worry, sis. They’ll get the hang of being with you. Something’s bound to go cock-eyed every now and then. You talk about it and move on, right? Next time, when Justin gives them a heads-up about something, they’ll listen better.”

Charity nodded, smiling as she recalled the apology that had been so obvious in their eyes. “It’s not like I won’t screw up occasionally, too, I suppose.”

An hour later, they were standing at the cashier register while Bernadette got all of their purchases ready to total up.

“Have you heard from Jessica Bright?” Charity asked.

“Yes. Bella is nearly a month old and growing like a weed.” Grace was quiet for a second and then softly said, “I think Tank and Troy are a little smitten with both Jessica and Bella, although Jessica seems oblivious. She’s helping Lydia in the ranch kitchen when she can and I think she has put out feelers for a job.”

“What does she do?” Charity asked as she held open the door and carried their purchases out for Grace, who was under orders to not lift anything.

“She’s an optometrist. She’s considering staying in the area since she likes it here so much. At least she seems like something is holding her here in the area. I like knowing she’s with Lydia and LuAnn and they seem determined for her to stay in the area. Jessica and the baby are safe out there for now. She thinks they may have figured out how Dornan traced her to Divine.”

“How?”

“The guys and Lydia took her to Houston to check her mail and her apartment.”

“Was it broken into?”

“Not in an obvious way, but her desktop computer was missing.”

“Oh, so he must’ve found proof of where she was staying somehow?”

“That’s what they think anyway. It makes me nervous to think of him still out there somewhere. Jessica deserves a chance to have a normal life for her and her baby.”

Charity keyed the remote on the trunk of her new vehicle as they walked up to it.

“You talking about that cute little Jessica Bright?” a man Charity didn’t recognize said as he climbed out of his truck and walked up as if to offer them a hand. He was dressed like a ranch hand but Charity didn’t recognize him. “Here, let me help you with these. They look heavy.” Charity didn’t release the bags as she looked him full in the face.

The man wore a cowboy hat, jeans, boots, a barn jacket, and a plaid shirt but something was off about him. The attire didn’t seem quite right on him. And no one in their right mind would wear a heavy barn jacket on such a warm day. He was clean cut but there was a wiliness about him and he held eye contact with them too long, which she found disconcerting.

Grace and Charity exchanged a look and Grace said, “I was talking about my sister who recently moved to Ohio.”

“Nice try, bitches.” The menace in his growling voice made shivers run up Charity’s spine, followed by cold fingers of fear when he parted the front of his jacket to reveal a gun tucked in his waistband. “We need to have a talk. You cooperate and you’ll both live, no problem.” His eyes shifted around the half-full parking lot as customers came and went.

“What do you want?” Grace asked in a measured tone.

“Jessica Bright. She have that baby yet?”

“Yes.”

“Boy?” he asked sharply.

“Girl,” Charity replied, frowning when he ground out a low, filthy curse. “We won’t take you to her, if that’s what you want.”

“Got no use for a girl. You Grace Warner?” he asked, peering at Grace’s abdomen. Charity wanted to stop her but Grace nodded. She had a really bad feeling about this.

“Perfect. You’re coming with me. Climb up,” he gestured toward his jacked-up truck.

Grace shook her head. “I can’t and why do you want me?”

“I did my research and had a backup plan in case that little bitch whelped a girl. I heard through the Divine grapevine that you’re carrying a boy. I’m not leaving this town empty-handed. Val Teller and Ransome Cross cheated me out of my kid so it only makes sense that I replace my kid out of their family.”

“Cheated you?” Grace slid both arms around her abdomen and gaped at him. “You’re not serious.”