Chapter 9
Ville
After the stellar surprise fuck, I made my way to the cabin. I’d been checking out Hawk’s “horsey pool”—Gemma’s words, not mine—and discussed with him the security he wanted there, when Emery had detoured me.
It wouldn’t be just for regular reasons, either; he wanted to make sure there were cameras inside his pool building, just to record the goings on indoors.
I could understand that. Having horses and a pretty deep pool with humans on the sides of the… I wasn’t sure what he’d called it, but it was basically a round pool with the middle filled in like a… reverse donut hole? Jesus, fucking Emery had scrambled my brain.
I chuckled as I went to grab a bottle of water from my fridge. I was relaxed, loose-limbed in the way great, regular sex and interesting work tasks would make a man.
After sitting down on the couch and checking some details on the tablet, I was about to text Hawk about the cameras I thought would work best for him, when a message from Emery came in.
Mom heart attack. Taking to hospital. Update later.
I gawked at the message. Jenn? The woman who was a fucking powerhouse and seemed healthy as a horse? A heart attack?
Christ. I stood and took a few steps toward the door, then stopped. What was I going to do? Drive to a hospital? Which hospital? Why? She wasn’t my mother, even though I would’ve preferred that.
Groaning, I forced myself to calm down. I couldn’t do shit, and it wasn’t my place. I wasn’t family.
I shot a text back at Emery.
Let me know any news when you have it. Not telling Wren yet.
Not until I had something concrete. There was no need to derail his recording session that, as per this morning, was going really well.
I thought for a moment, wanting to send Emery another message. Something supportive. Something… heartfelt. But we weren’t that. Right? And what was I going to say? I had no answers, so I grabbed my tablet and my phone, then marched out, soon finding myself jogging toward the house.
Just as I got to the porch, I saw Russ’ truck park in front of the house.
Frowning, I went to see what was going on.
Before I could say anything, Isley got out and then a pretty young woman joined him.
“Ville?” Isley asked, as if I had changed as much as he had in the… probably four or five years since I’d seen him last.
“Yeah.” I gave him a strained smile and went to shake his hand.
By then, Russ had gotten out of the truck. “What’s going on?” he asked, reading my expression.
“Nobody told you?”
They all looked puzzled, then Isley pulled his phone out and frowned. “Mine’s dead.”
The girl, Jerrica, I thought, was already looking at hers. “Holy crap, we’ve got to go,” she gasped.
Russ leaned back into the truck to bring out his much older phone. He fiddled with it and then frowned, before this terrible clarity entered his gaze. “Get back in the truck, kids,” he said, then nodded toward the house and looked at me. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Yeah.”
“What’s going on?” Isley asked, then scrambled into the truck when Jerrica showed him whatever family group chat they’d been alerted on.
I walked to the porch and up the stairs. I had no idea who was there.
I could hear Payton’s voice first. “But Mimi’s gonna be okay, right?”
“Right, buddy. This is just a thing they need to do to make sure,” Mal spoke in a gentle, firm tone. I could tell how much he wanted to be right.
“Hey, Isley and Jerrica just got here, but Russ is taking them to the hospital,” I said, making a very educated guess.
Mal frowned. “They hadn’t heard before?”
“No. Isley’s phone was—out of battery, and I guess Russ didn’t notice his going off while driving or something?”
Mal noticed me correcting myself to not use the D word and despite the worry in his eyes, he looked amused for a second. “Russ has his muted while he’s driving. A friend of his got into an accident a few years ago because he was distracted by his phone.”
“Ah, makes sense.”
Juanpablo started to bray.
“That’ll be Luke. He’s dropping off the kids.”
Right. Because Demi would’ve gone to the hospital with everyone else.
“I don’t know anything about kids, but I can help out?” I could make snacks or do something equally as easy.
Mal grinned. “Thanks. Carter is coming over, too.”
Carter was Hawk’s man. I had met him briefly the other day, but he’d been busy working from home, apparently.
Two cars parked in front of the house, and I went outside to meet them. Carter got out of his vehicle and rounded it to go help Luke with the kids. I found myself walking closer to see what I could do.
“Hey, man,” Luke said as he leaned back to let Carter pick up Aria who was babbling and clinging to the guy who had managed to get through Hawk’s dislike of people according to Emery.
“Hey. How can I help?” I asked, peering into the car where the two little ones were in their seats.
Luke nimbly unlocked a tiny seatbelt and pulled a kid out, handing him over. “Grab a baby.”
I chuckled but took the little boy a bit awkwardly. “Okay.” I was a bit startled, but what else could I do. “Which one is this?”
Luke smiled as he went to the other side to grab his other son. “Yours is Little Em.”
Emerson, not Emery. I locked eyes with the baby. “Hello, Emerson.”
He looked at me with his big eyes and contemplated on whether to cry or not. Then he was distracted by Mal’s voice.
“There are our boys!”
Clearly, Mal had managed to get Payton settled or Carter was watching him—did a six-year-old need watching still?
I handed Emerson over, and the boy cuddled right up to him. It was clear they were family.
Luke came to me with the other twin. “Now, Phinneas, this is Ville. He’s going to take good care of you with Mal and Carter, okay?”
I wasn’t sure why he was explaining things to a kid that young, but okay. I took Phinneas whose lip wobbled as I managed not to drop him.
“Let us know any news ASAP, okay?” Mal told Luke as he accepted a gigantic diaper bag from him.
“Of course. Talk to you later.”
As Luke got back into the SUV, Mal began to hum a tune to Emerson, bouncing him in a way that was a clear distraction to his dad driving off.
I took Phinneas inside, feeling supremely awkward, because I was not someone who would bounce, let alone sing, to a baby.
Or were they toddlers already? What was the age range for that definition? How old were these new humans anyway?
Their big sister was smacking Carter’s face with both of her palms at the same time, and he seemed to… enjoy it?
“You can put Phinn down in the playpen over there,” Mal said, nodding toward the thing at the other end of the family room.
I gingerly carried the boy there, setting him down so carefully, Carter snorted.
“What?” I asked over my shoulder as I handed Phinneas some of the toys that were behind him.
“He’s not a hand grenade.”
I rolled my eyes and blushed a little. “Hey, I don’t know where the pin is in these things!”
Mal laughed as he walked in with Emerson. “It changes place. That’s the tricky bit.”
Payton looked at all of us from his spot on the couch like we were speaking a foreign language. For a moment, he seemed as if he was going to ask, and then he just shrugged and went back to reading his book.
“Coffee, anyone?” I asked, just to feel useful.
“Yeah, thanks. That’d be great,” Carter said, smiling at Aria.
They were cuddled in Mike’s armchair and she was playing with the buttons of his shirt, looking a bit droopy.
Mal noticed the same and glanced at the clock on the wall. “She’s due for a nap and so are the boys. I’ll go make the boys’ bottles.”
Good. Because I didn’t know how to make them.
I fixed us coffees and juice for Payton—Mal told me that was what he’d want—while Mal made sure the babies were nourished.
“What about Aria?” I asked, peering over toward the family room.
“She’s going to be asleep on Carter by the time we get back.”
Mal was right. I very carefully handed Carter his coffee, because the little girl was asleep in the crook of his arm, sandwiched to his side in the chair. It was cute as fuck.
As soon as we were all settled, with the babies now tucked into cushions on the couch next to Mal and sucking down their bottles, we got serious.
I glanced at Payton who was concentrating on his book, juice, and some carrot sticks and apple slices, wondering what I could say while he was there.
“So, everyone went to the hospital?” I asked.
Mal nodded. He had his mug in one hand and his phone in the other. “Everyone dropped everything and ran.”
“It’s really impressive, if you look at it that way,” Carter murmured.
I shrugged. “They have a dedicated staff to take care of everything at a moment’s notice and they’re good people.”
We fell into silence. The boys finished their bottles, Mal got them to burp, and then settled them back in the playpen to sleep. I began to think about lunch. At least Payton and Aria needed more sustenance soon and they’d likely be hungry even if the adults weren’t.
I wandered into the kitchen and tried to figure out what Jenn had been doing before everything went south. Luckily it was straightforward and I was able to make sure at least everyone here would be fed.
Juanpablo alerted us to an arrival, and soon enough Russ walked in, frowning ever so slightly. He came into the kitchen after greeting the others quietly, and I gestured at the coffee machine.
“There’s pasta salad and garlic bread soon,” I told him.
Russ was a good man. Wren had always talked about him as if he was as big of a character as any Harrington and just as vital for the ranch.
“Good.” He clapped my shoulder as he went to get his coffee.
I didn’t ask if there was news. He would’ve said if there’d been any.
A moment later, everyone but the smallest three kids gathered around the table. Carter had put Aria in a little nest on the couch and she hadn’t stirred.
Payton was subdued, and picked on his food in a thoughtful way.
We were eating, when Mal perked up. “Wait, has anyone called Ora?”
Carter asked the obvious. “Who’s Ora?”
“Fern’s girlfriend.”
“Fern has a girlfriend?” I asked, because I was sure Emery would’ve told me in his family update.
Russ cleared his throat. “I called Samuel as soon as I got Isley and Jerrica to the hospital. He said as far as he knew Ora hadn’t been called, so he did that for us.”
These names were not familiar to me, which was weird. I was pretty sure I would’ve remembered them, even in the long list of names of staff and acquaintances I’d been given.
It wasn’t my business, though, so I didn’t ask any further questions.
The babies woke up right after we’d eaten, and Russ went to pick up one of the boys, while Mal handled the other. Aria woke to one of her brothers crying and was upset until Carter took her into the kitchen for some food.
Payton helped me clear the table for the most part, then he said he was going to watch some TV and went to the living room. Soon enough, we heard some cartoon or other start, and Aria perked up.
“No, Miss Thing. You eat first. You know what Mimi always says.”
“Gotta eat,” she said in a very put out tone.
“Good girl,” Carter rumbled.
“So I’ve been thinking,” I started. Once I had his attention, I said, “We’ll have to figure out food for everyone for… however long this thing is going to last.”
I could tell that he wasn’t keen on how I phrased myself, but he understood.
“Right.” He looked thoughtful for a moment.
“I have an idea for the next week or two, depending on what happens. But for tonight, I was thinking of going easy and getting pizzas for everyone. Even if it goes cold, it’ll be good for everyone. ”
“’Za!” Aria gasped with stars in her eyes.
“Yes, later, baby girl,” Carter confirmed, smiling indulgently.
She clapped her hands, sending bits of mayo and whatever else around her. “Yay!”
I finished wiping the table everywhere but the part Aria was making a mess of. “True. Okay. Let’s do that, then.
“You can call the pizza order in, but I’ll pay for it,” Carter said firmly.
“Okay.” That was fine by me.
Wren would’ve done it in a heartbeat just to feel like he was helping, but I didn’t have enough news yet to call him.
That changed in an instant about the time Aria was done eating. Mal walked into the kitchen with his phone in hand, reading a message out loud to everyone.
“Crew says ‘She’s got a blockage. They’re going to go in and put in a stent. They’re doing it tonight, so she’ll stay overnight. We don’t have an exact time yet, but once she’s out of the surgery, most of us will come home. I’ll let you know when.’”
I exhaled, my whole body relaxing. I hadn’t known I’d been so damn tense, but getting this news was good. I could get to ordering the pizzas once we knew the timing. That made me feel better, too, somehow.
“That’s good news,” Carter murmured.
“A stent is nothing,” Russ rumbled from the armchair he’d overtaken. “I had one put in nearly a decade ago. Most friends my age have more than one.” He was probably exaggerating on Payton’s account, but I could tell Mal appreciated the thought.
“Daddy can we look up what all that means?” Payton asked, looking a bit worried still.
“Yeah, of course. Let me text your Dad and we’ll google it together, okay?”
“Okay.”
The boys started to fuss, and Russ went to pick up one, then handed him over to me. And that’s how I was put in charge of Little Em again. How Russ could tell them apart, I didn’t know, which I told him.
His weathered face scrunched up as he chuckled, then pointed out the letter E in the tag on the rolled-up tiny sweatpants leg.
“Oh….” I snorted, but didn’t have enough time to feel stupid about it, because Emerson wanted attention and took it by grabbing onto my hair.
I sat on the floor next to the playpen and did my best to be a baby person for a while. He’d tire out soon, right?