Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
JESSE
Later…
B y the end of her pregnancy, she was living with the men even though she returned to Virginia every couple of weeks for work and still had her condo there. Chris and Mark usually took turns flying back with her when she had to make the journey.
The hospital in Bozeman was great, her OB team wonderful, and Jesse’s delivery was picture-perfect. The men stayed at her side for every minute of the nearly nine hours, and they celebrated together as they welcomed their daughter.
“Who do we put down as the father?” Mark asked. “Sweetheart, we need to figure that out. Calling both of us her fathers is one thing, but they won’t let us list both of us on her birth certificate.”
Jess squeezed his hand. “Flip a coin, I don’t care.” She studied his hazel gaze. “Because for the next baby, we’ll list the other one as the father.”
It took him a moment to process that and a beaming grin filled his face. “The next baby?”
She smiled. “Yeah. Not sure beyond that, but at least two.”
Chris leaned in, cupped her head in his hands, and kissed her. “You got it, sweetheart. whatever you want.”
Mark nudged in for a kiss of his own from her. “What he said.”
“So how do we decide?” Chris asked. “Flipping a coin seems, I don’t know, too random.”
Jesse was about to answer when someone knocked on the door. “Come in,” she called out.
It was Josie, bearing a beaming smile and an adorable teddy bear. “How’s the new family?” She walked over and kissed Jesse on the forehead.
“We need to decide who to list on the birth certificate as the father,” Chris said.
“I said flip a coin,” Jesse added. “And whoever it’s not, we’ll list him as the father for the next baby.”
“We could roll dice or something?” Mark suggested.
Josie snorted. “Guys, you’re complicating this. Who’s older?”
Mark hooked a thumb at Chris. “He’s thirty-four. I’m thirty-two.”
Josie pointed to Chris. “There you go then, Dad.”
The men exchanged another look and shrugged. “Fine with me,” they said in unison, making Josie laugh.
“That,” she said to Jesse, “sounds like it’s fun. Two guys catering to you in unison.”
Jesse smiled. “It seems so.”
They’d flown in late the night before, arriving less than an hour before Jesse gave birth. “I figured I’d visit while your father’s distracted arranging logistics,” Josie continued, sitting back in her chair and getting comfortable. She motioned to Jesse. “Tell me what the plan is so I have your back.”
“He wants to helicopter, doesn’t he?” Josie asked.
“Girl, just call him Huey, because you’ve never seen rotors spin so fast as he’s going right now.”
“Oh, boy,” the men said in unison.
“So, I need guidance from you,” Josie said. “Are you moving out here permanently? Vacation home? Do we need a new corporate jet so you can commute? What’s the plan?”
“I mean, I can build a lab out here to handle the next stage of testing,” Jesse said, well aware her men were watching and listening. “I can work anywhere I have a lab and the available infrastructure. Since I’m focusing on seismology, I guess it actually makes sense to live out here.”
Josie pulled out her phone and started taking notes. “Build or buy a house? You can’t keep living in that cabin. It’s too small.”
“I-I don’t know.” She had another thought. “Will Daddy want to move out here, too?”
She snorted. “He’ll live where I tell him to live, honey. I’ve nearly got him convinced to retire, or at least to step back from daily ops. The question is, do you want him living close by? I know he can be a lot when it comes to you. But that’s because he loves you.”
“I know.” Jesse looked at her men. “Well?”
They exchanged a glance then turned back to her. “Your choice,” they said together, scowling at each other.
Another snort from Josie. “Yeeaah, they’re adorable, Jesse. I love them.” She looked up from her phone. “And despite what your father might say, or how he acts, believe me, he loves them, too.”
“He…does?”
She stopped taking notes and looked at Jesse. “They saved your life. They kept you alive, they brought you home safely, you love them, and they’re giving him his first grandchild. Of course he loves them. But he feels he needs to act…”
“Fatherly?” Jesse suggested.
“Yeah, that.” She returned to tapping on her phone. “Oooh, there’s a couple of nice parcels available for sale north of Gardiner. Plenty of acreage.” More tapping. “Even more properties available with houses on them.” She looked up. “Your call.”
Jesse took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let the options spin through her mind. “Yes,” she said. “I want to move out here permanently.”
She opened her eyes and looked at Josie, who nodded. She screen-capped something, sent a text, then made a phone call. “Kelly? It’s Josie. … Yeah, I just sent you a text. I want to close on it by end of week or sooner. … Yes, it’s in Wyoming.”
She winked at Jesse. “Well, we’ll be buying more property and building out here, but for now I want something large enough where we can all stay without making people sleep on air mattresses. … No, Brand doesn’t know about it yet, but I’ll tell him. Please let me know when the closing is. … No, don’t haggle it down, just find out their buy-now price and meet it. If you need to offer more, do it, and tell them it’s cash. I’ll even toss in an extra twenty grand if they close by end of day tomorrow. … That’s what I said. … Good, thanks.” She hung up, smiling. “There. So that happened.”
Mark and Chris looked understandably stunned. “You just…bought a house?” Mark asked. “Without even looking at it?”
“Over the phone?” Chris asked.
Josie held up her phone. “Real estate website, great pics. We can turn around and sell it once we don’t need it.”
The men exchanged another look.
Josie laughed. “I was making sixty grand a year as an admin assistant at a brokerage when I met Brand. That’s what a liberal arts degree gets you in the finance world, but I’d started working there in college and I could pay my bills. The first time Brand saw my car was on our sixth or seventh date, I think. He literally stopped in his tracks, called the dealership, and by the time we returned from our date he’d had an SUV delivered. Paid cash. I’d honestly thought he was joking until we returned and it was sitting there. That’s when I realized how much he was worth.”
Josie waggled a finger at them. “Don’t freak out over this, but yeah, you’re now part of a family with money. I liked Brand even before I knew who he was or how much he was worth. I thought he was a nice guy who worked at a tech company. Frankly, it freaked me the hell out in the beginning once I learned how rich he was. But he’s a good man, an even better philanthropist, and three times that a fantastic father and husband. That’s a rare combo in our income bracket. He wouldn’t cheat on me if forced to at gunpoint.
“My point being that we can’t take it with us. There’s no fun in having ‘fuck-you’ kind of money if you can’t use it for good or spoil your deserving loved ones rotten. So that’s what I’m doing.” She grinned. “My little sister nearly puked in shock when I surprised her by taking her to a house she thought we were attending a party at and I handed her the keys.”
She stood and leaned in, kissing Jesse’s forehead again. “Don’t worry about your father. I’ll handle him. You just start planning your nursery. I’ll text you the house deets.” She kissed the men on their cheeks and exited the room.
Mark and Chris still looked like they were in shock.
“Did…did she really just buy us a house ?” Mark asked.
“She did,” Jesse said. “And, surprise, it’s not a meth house.”
Chris immediately brayed with laughter.
It took Mark a few seconds longer, then he swore and kissed her. “I’m never going to live that down, am I?”
“Nope,” Chris said, slapping him on the back. “That will be a family story passed through the generations.”
The End