Six Months Later
Grandpa died.
It’s just another Tuesday, and Sol is strapped over my chest while I feed the chickens when Dominic calls to let us know. I don’t ask how, but I know it wasn’t a natural death. No one dies of old age with the number of enemies my grandfather collected over the years.
I never truly grieve for him. Not the way I grieved the mother he took from me, and the baby he ripped from my arms. I grieved so many things he did that I don’t have it in my soul to spare him with any.
What does arrive is money. A lot of money.
Our first reaction is not to touch the St. James dirty money.
It sickens me to even think of using the money from Omega trafficking, but Dominic reminds me that I have a daughter now.
Grandpa was the ranch’s biggest customer, and with him gone, the harvest wasn’t completely sold.
There wasn’t enough time to find new customers, and it killed me to see those flowers going to waste.
So I took some money to keep the ranch afloat, but I set most of it aside to aid with the Omegas rescue. It’s only right that the dirty money goes back to them, to make sure the ones rescued can start a life on their own.
Mom falls to her knees when she hears the news. The man who tortured her for over twenty years is finally dead. I think, even if she knew rationally she was safe at the ranch, there was still the fear that everything could fall apart at any moment.
His death brought some kind of closure to us. I see it in my mother. She’s ready to finally live her life. She’s not so afraid, and is in Brazil right now. Not forever, just for a visit. She has Mirasol and me here, and all my missing siblings to come back to.
Dominic has info on all the babies Mom gave away, and he promised to find them. It’s kind of crazy to think of the amount of responsibility that man just shouldered, but he doesn’t look bothered. He looks determined.
It feels like something will always be missing for Mom as long as her children are out there, but she’s closer to getting them than she ever was.
Faith. That’s all we need now.
The house is empty when I return from feeding the chickens. Sol is already fussing, looking to be fed. I loosen the swing around me, enamored by her chubby little legs.
She has changed a lot in the past few months. Big, strong, and has her three daddies wrapped around her finger.
After grabbing a bottle, I bring her to the porch. We love watching the sun set and breathing the clean air while I wait for my men to come back. Mirasol drinks all of her bottle and sits up on my lap, burping between giggles. She’s a delicate flower, really.
“Look at you,” I coo at her, rubbing her back.
We watch the sun going down on the horizon, the orange hue tinting our piece of land. My heart is full of love, my child is bouncing over my knee, and when I think it couldn’t be more perfect, my three cowboys arrive on their horses.
Damn, they look good like that.
Butterflies explode inside my belly. Even after all these months, they still make me feel like a teenager with her first love. Even after I made them parents, the fire still burns pretty high just as if I’m in heat.
“Howdy, Miss Sol,” Derrick jumps off Champion with a smile on his face.
My girl goes crazy because she’s a daddies’ girl through and through. Her arms reach for him as her legs kick, as if she’s determined to jump into his arms. He doesn’t leave her waiting, of course. He takes her in his arms, laughing when she slobbers all over his face.
“Hey, sweetheart.” Jesse sits beside me with a soft kiss.
“How was everyone’s day?” I ask.
They have been running around in this ranch since the sun broke the night, and damn, I miss my men.
“Missing you,” Major says, sitting on my other side.
His hand goes to my neck, a small pressure that makes me tingle all over. I smile and drop my head on his shoulder.
“We are missing you, too,” I tell them.
“Give me my daughter.” Major takes Mirasol from his brother.
It never gets old when they call her that. I trust them with my life. I knew they were always going to do the right thing, but still, asking someone to become a parent is a lot.
They never hesitated. It was like they always were her dads. We just needed our baby home to start life. She put all of us together, holding our futures in her tiny hands.
“My turn,” Jesse practically growls and plucks the baby from Major.
It’s always like that. They love her, and she loves them just as much.
For a girl who needed a stranger to hold her hand in a moment of need, things changed a lot for Sol and me. There’s so much love at Wilde Ranch, and for the first time, our future looks bright just like the sun.
“Let’s go in. We need dinner.” Jesse stands up, baby against his chest.
“What are you making me, cowboy?” I ask, fluttering my lashes.
Derrick chuckles. “Cake is not dinner, darlin’.”
I laugh. Well, they know me too damn well. We move to our house, and they start making dinner. Sol plays on her playmat, while I ask what is for dessert.
Life is so freaking good.