Just Her Luck (86 page)

I winked at them from over my shoulder, turning around.

“I’ll be in there if you need me…” I tossed out.

They didn’t respond immediately, tripping over their own tongues as I made it all the way to the back patio.

“You two wouldn’t happen to know where Bowen and Sawyer are, would you?”

“Like fucking hell!” Ephraim barked.

I heard Reeve growl before I heard them move, laughing as I hurried ahead of them, glancing back to see them barreling out the slider door.

Yep,
I thought as they caught up to me, taking turns telling me in great detail what they planned to do to me as they frog marched me towards the old barn,
it’s just my luck.

The Bump Draft

I was in my last month, waddling around everywhere, as opposed to walking, miserable with a bulge in the front and a back ache from hell.

“I am officially in nesting mode,” I murmured out loud.

“And the last few months don’t count because…?” Thatcher took the hamper out of my hands and with a grin and a kiss and walked off with it.

“Because I say so.”

“Whatever you say, my little tack shelter.”

I rolled my eyes and got up, stretching my back.

The doorbell rang, so I got up to go answer it.

“Hey, guys!” I called, “I think Ten and Eustice are here! Did you ever find the poker chips?”

“NO!” Sawyer shouted back.

“Check the…” the words died in my throat as I opened the door and stared at Vern, the mad, redheaded drunk that had assaulted me.

I backed up, my voice caught in my throat, scrabbling behind me for a weapon.

Shit!
There was nothing.

A garbled noise popped out of me when he looked right at me, his hair neatly combed, a somber expression on his once mottled face.

He started to lift his hand up, but I screamed and reached for the door, ready to slam it in his face and run for help.

“NO! Wait! Please! You don’t understand!” he pleaded.

Thatcher came hauling ass down the stairs at all the racket I made, Sawyer tripping over himself to reach the living room.

“YOU!” Sawyer boomed, rage darkening his face the instant he saw what had me freaking out.

“Reeve! Ephraim! Bowen!” Thatcher shouted, followed by the sound of a gun cocking as Sawyer placed himself in front of me.

I had to give Vern credit, he was either really smart, not making any sudden quick movements, or really stupid, for not moving at all.

He looked a little petrified at the murder in my lion man’s eyes.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t shoot your dick off, asshole?” Thatcher pointed the rifle at the intruder’s love bits.

Vern cupped himself and squeaked, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I was just comin’ by to say I was sorry! It’s part of my… it’s part of… Ah! Please, don’t shoot! Good god, please don’t shoot me! I swear,” he babbled, stumbling down the porch steps, falling flat on his ass. “I got sober. I… I… fuck! Keep that one away from me!”

He threw his hands over his head protectively when he caught sight of Ephraim, Bowen and Reeve, staring at Reeve.

His eyes widened alarmingly when he saw they were all carrying shovels.

“What’s goin’ on?” Ephraim asked, frowning, Sawyer blocking his view of Vern.

“I said I was sorry. Holy fuck! Don’t kill me!” Vern cried.

I watched, fascinated as he scrambled to get back up, his body shaking uncontrollably, poking my head out the front door, the rest of me still safely inside.

He’s sober? He wants to apologize?

How does that work? Sorry I tried to choke your ass and everything else?

Thatcher smiled nastily when he figured out what Vern was thinking, Vern’s eyes glued to the guys and the shovels.

“Hey Reeve! He’s back! You finish diggin’ that hole you made for him?” he shouted over his shoulder.

“What are you yammerin’ on about?” Reeve grumbled, his jaw clenching when he saw our unwelcome guest.

His hand tightened reflexively on the shovel.

“No, but
I
did. I made it plenty deep too.”
Leave it to Bo to catch on fast.
“That way, if he’s still alive, I figure it’ll be a fuck of a lot harder for him to claw his way out.”

I cupped my mouth with my hand so I didn’t laugh out loud at the shit your pants look on red headed Vern’s terrified face.

“Claw my way… no! No! Please, I…”

“You got no business comin’ here,” Ephraim snarled.

“Give me one good reason why we shouldn’t shoot your ass for trespassin’ and frightenin’ my wife?” Reeve took a step closer to him and Vern quickly scurried back.

“Yyyoooo…. your wife?”

Sawyer glanced over at his brothers.

“He’s not so tough when he’s all sobered up, now is he?”

“Guess he’ll think twice before he goes around treatin’ women like dirt then, huh?” Thatcher kept the gun trained on him.

I had to give them props, I would have been scared shitless in Vern’s shoes too, especially if I didn’t have a clue that they were kind of fucking with him.

They can be very intimidating, my men.

“No! No! See, that’s why I’m here! I’m apologizing. I wanted to tell, um… her,” He pointed at me, “I wanted to say… just...” Looking down, he took a deep breath and looked back up. “I know it doesn’t make it better and I’m not asking you to forgive me. I just came by to say I’m sorry. And I am, I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m, uh… really sorry. I was wrong. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Sawyer leaned down, getting into the man’s personal space.

“Did you touch her, you little shit? You made her scream?”

“NO! NO! I didn’t!” he squeaked.

Sawyer looked to me for confirmation.

“He didn’t touch me,” I said quickly.

He nodded in acknowledgement, turning back around.

“Get the fuck outta here.”

“Uh… wha?” Vern blinked, puzzled, thinking they were ready to kill him.

“You heard me, you piece of shit. Now hurry up before I change my mind, ass wipe. And if you ever come on our property again or anywhere near our woman, they’ll never be able to find all the pieces of your sorry ass, ya hear?”

“Got it.” He gulped, not needing to be told twice, running towards his truck, hopping in and gunning it out of there.

Once he was gone, Sawyer came up to me and cuddle me close.

“You alright, honey?”

I buried my face in his chest.

“Yeah.”

I gave his ribs a squeeze, looking up at him.

“I hope our next one’s a girl,” I laughed.

He kissed my forehead and gave me a crooked smile.

“And what made you think about something like that right now?”

“Because,” I teased, “could you imagine when she goes on her first date?” I chortled, loving when he jiggled me as his chest vibrated with a deep chuckle, “I’ll have to video tape it or something. The poor guy won’t know what hit him.”

“Who says any baby girl of mine will ever date before she’s thirty?” Reeve asked gruffly, setting his shovel by the door.

“I do.”

“Oh?” Reeve looked over his shoulder at his brothers.

“What do you guys think?”

“Who says a little girl of ours would dater
ever
?” this from Bowen.

I rolled my eyes.

“Do they still make chastity belts?” Thatcher asked thoughtfully, unloading his gun.

“Now you’re just being ridiculous!”

“We could look on the internet. They sell all kinds of crap on there.” Ephraim came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, boxing me in with Sawyer.

A Genevieve sandwich.

“Be serious,” I laughed.

“Who says we aren’t, prison bait?” Reeve somehow managed to keep a straight face.

At least, I hope he’s kidding.

“Me.”

“And what are you, the authority on such things?” he demanded.

I gave him a haughty smirk.

“Are you kidding?” I sniffed, flouncing into the house, “I’m the boss.”

He barked out a laugh, kissing me before he left down the hall to wash his hands.

“You hear what I have to put up with?” he groused, grumbling down the hall, ruining it with the shit eating grin he had plastered all over his sexy mug.

The others chuckled as I went to the bureau in the living room, rummaging through it for the lost poker chips.

“Oh, yes,” I muttered dryly, “A real hardship.”

I smiled triumphantly when I found them, holding up my prize.

The doorbell rang again, this time probably Eustice and Ten for real this time, but Bowen went to answer it, motioning for me to stay back.

“Hey, guys,” I said, “I found your…
Uh-oh.”

I carefully set the chips down back where I’d found them and looked up, surprised.

“What, uh-oh?” Ephraim looked at me expectantly.

Stunned, it took me a minute to answer.

“My water broke.”

Everyone stopped what they were doing, going ‘slo-mo’.

“My water broke.” I said it again, drawing a blank.

Ten looked around, panicked, the first one to speak up.

“I don’t know nothin’ about havin’ babies! What do we do?” he burst out.

Eustice walked up, not missing a beat, glancing down at the evidence of my first born’s impending arrival.

“Well, Mrs. Harrison, while these jack asses are all having a quiet melt down, let’s see about gettin’ my favorite cousin to the hospital, shall we?”

I took his proffered arm.

“Can I change first? I have a suitcase in the hall. I could just get something out of there and change in the spare bathroom.”

“Of course.” He looked at over at his cousins. “Hey, assholes! Wake up, this is your babe not mine! Get her suit case and hurry up about it!”

They all clambered at once, moving en masse, bumping into each other in their haste.

We were part way down the hall when Tice muttered, “Amateurs.”

I laughed, patting his arm.

“Don’t worry, Tice, they’ll do better with the next one, I’m sure.”

“I hope so,” he grinned, “otherwise you’re gonna have to get used to the idea of either havin’ it at home or driving yourself to the hospital.”

“What’s going on?” Reeve opened the bathroom door as I was reaching for the knob.

“My water broke.”

His eyes widened and he cursed.

“Shit!”

Jumping a little, he ran past me down the hall, making Eustice shake his head at him sadly.

I changed by myself, opening the door to find a sheepish looking Reeve and a very amused Eustice.

“How far did you make it before you realized you’d forgotten something?” I asked my frazzled daddy to be.

“You mean
someone
,” Tice chuckled, snorting.

Reeve glared at his cousin while I looked at my husband expectantly.

Face flushing, he cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Not far…” he said sheepishly.

I teased them all mercilessly about it, that is, until about half way to the hospital when I started having strong labor pains.

Yeah, then it was more along the line of me cussing them all over existence, promising to pull off protruding extremities if they were ever dumb enough to approach me with said organs ever again.

Other than that, I’d say the whole thing went rather swimmingly.

You Do The Math

Epilogue

“Mama!!!”

My eyes almost crossed as I scrambled out of Thatcher’s room, buttoning my shirt up hastily as I hauled ass down the hall.

“Its fine, baby! I got her!”

I slowed down when I heard Ephraim’s voice, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Wait up, my love. I’m comin’ too.” Thatcher caught up to me, zipping his jeans up quickly, wearing nothing else but denims and a grin.

“No rush now,” I told him, “Ephraim has her.”

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back against him, purring in my ear.

“In that case, let’s go back and play,” he whispered huskily, licking the shell of my ear.

I giggled as he pressed his body into mine, nipping my ear and licking along the shell.

I shivered, turning my face for a kiss when I suddenly stopped, hearing the small thudding footsteps signaling one of the kids was running up the stairs.

I pulled back a tiny bit, nudging Thatcher.