Chapter 37 Zane
Zane
“All right, plans for the day,” Luna says, slapping the dining room table. “Produce boxes need to be packed, then loaded onto Zane’s truck for delivery.”
“I want to do the delivery!” Bellamy says excitedly.
“I promise it’s not that much fun,” I tell her.
She scowls and pouts.
“Bella,” Hope cautions. “No thank you with that face.”
“No thank you with that face,” Bellamy says right back.
Hope’s eyebrows lift.
“Sorry, Mommy,” Bellamy whispers.
“That’s better, boo. Maybe we’ll go into town and do a special delivery to Mercy soon.”
“Do you want to take her box to her?” I’m surprised. Hope hasn’t shown any interest in going into town on her own yet.
She’s been in twice, once to see Dr. Tailfeathers for a prenatal check-up, and once for therapy. But both times I drove her. No questions asked, that feels like my job.
But if she’s ready to venture out, it might be good for her to do a safe test run with a friendly face.
“And then we could…” Oh, I have a great idea. “We could go to the L-I-B-R-A-R-Y to get more bedtime B-O-O-K-S?”
Hope’s eyes light up and she nods.
Bellamy’s head swivels. “More bedtime what?”
“Stand up rule applies,” I say. “Go put your boots on. We need to do some work, get the truck loaded, and then I’ll tell you.”
She doesn’t let me forget it, either. As soon as the boxes are packed and the truck is loaded, she puts her hands on her hips like a tiny tyrant and says, sounding five times her age, “Well?”
“Bellamy!”
The three-year-old smiles. “Sorry, Zane.”
“You catch more flies with honey, just remember that. Anyway, we’re going to get you a library card so you can sign out some bedtime books.”
Her mouth drops open. “Books? For me?”
“Mm-hmm.”
She claps her hands and spins around in an excited circle.
We move her carseat back to Hope’s little SUV, then they follow me into town. When I pull into the medical practice to drop off the first box, Hope drives past, Bellamy’s frog waving out the window at me.
By the time I finish the deliveries, they’ve had a visit with Mercy, and are ready to head down the street to the Dragonfly Creek Public Library.
Bellamy is already holding Hope’s hand. When we hit the sidewalk, she takes mine, too, so she’s between us.
“Swing?” she asks as she skips along.
Across the road, Cash comes out of his garage and waves as we figure out how to do a synchronized arm swing, sending Bellamy flying ahead of us, her legs kicking in the air.
“We’re going to the library,” I holler, lifting my voice to reach my brother. “You feel like getting literate?”
Even from this distance, I can see him rolling his eyes.
“I read plenty,” he yells back.
But he still says something to Riley, then jogs across the street.
“I never miss an opportunity to go to the library,” he says when he joins us.
I scoff. “Since when?”
But when we step inside, the answer becomes immediately obvious.
It has been probably fifteen years since I last stepped foot in the library. So I could be forgiven for not knowing that Haven Bingham works here. But Cash is right across the street, and since he just said he comes here all the time…
“What are you doing?” I growl under my breath as he smiles at the pretty redhead.
“She's not like the rest of her family,” he says, not tearing his eyes away.
Yeah, he doesn’t want to fuck the rest of her family. He just wants to fuck them over, and I don’t blame him for that.
But messing with a religious girl isn’t the way to do that.
“Leave her alone.”
“Aren’t you here to get a library card for Bellamy?” Cash herds us closer to the counter. “Focus on your task at hand, brother. Don’t worry about me. Haven and I are just friends.” He lifts his voice. “Isn’t that right, Haven?”
She blushes.
Jesus Fucking Christ. I give her a tight smile. “How are you?”
“Great, Zane. Nice to see you again. And who is this?” She leans over, seeming unaware that Cash is eyeing up the top of her cleavage.
“I’m Bellamy.”
“And this is Hope,” I say. My… Just mine, but that doesn’t work great for introductions.
But after the drama that went down on the ranch, with first responders crawling all over the scene, zero explanations are needed.
Haven’s eyes go wide. “Hope,” she breathes.
“Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a bit about you, just a tiny bit, not a lot, I swear.
But you know how small towns are. It’s, um, nice to meet you.
” And then she lets out a flustered laugh.
“I said that twice, so please just believe me when I say I mean it twice.”
Hope’s mouth falls open, then snaps shut, and nods.
Before she can reply, the front door of the library swings open, and Jessika Foote walks in, a book in hand.
She takes one look at Hope, then slides her gaze to Cash, and finally to me.
“Can I help you?” Haven asks.
And we all notice the tone shift. Cooler, more professional.
Hope smiles.
I step closer and pull her in against me, my hand wrapping possessively around Hope’s far hip.
Jessika’s eyebrow shoots up.
Yes, mine.
Cash suddenly gets very interested in a display of animal books, drawing Bellamy in that direction.
“This book was damaged when I took it out,” Jessika says, thrusting it across the counter before she flounces out.
Haven stares after her.
As soon as the door shuts behind her back, Hope—my shy, sweet, surprising girl—reaches for the book and picks it up. “It looks like it fell in a bathtub,” she says as she lifts it to her nose. “Smells like it, too.”
Haven sighs. “It’s not worth being the centre of a town meeting debate to charge her for it, but the lying is obnoxious.”
“I’ve only met her twice, and both times she struck me as obnoxious,” Hope confirms. “But it’s important to pick your battles. Hey…do you have any books about midwifery?”
Surprising on many levels.
“Yeah?” I ask as Haven types something into her computer.
“Just researching my options,” Hope murmurs.
“Good for you.”
I think about that for the rest of the afternoon. I think about how I didn’t know how to introduce her to Jessika. Girlfriend sounded insufficient. We aren’t officially engaged yet. My woman feels right but in a private way. Mate even more so.
I want to be able to shout from the rooftops that she’s my wife.
And to do that, first I need to take her back to Lover’s Canyon. Not yet. No rush, but…soon.