Chapter 24
CHEWIE
“I can’t believe your mom sent you guys over here to fetch and carry for me,” I complained. “You guys didn’t need to cart me all over town and carry all that shit into the post office. I know you’ve got a company to run.”
“We’re due some time away from the office,” Blaine said obstinately.
“Dad’s there,” Brandt explained from the back seat.
Blaine sighed before he said, “Dad has suddenly taken an interest in the everyday running of things, which makes sense since we know he’s been skimming money out of the accounts to give to his girlfriend to help raise our newest sibling. He’s afraid Mom’s going to lose her shit when she finds out.”
“Whoa. Really?”
“Really,” Blaine said in disgust. “Dad’s fine. He’s on crutches. It was just a graze,” Brandt explained.
“Looks like our new sister’s aim is as bad as Mom’s.” He chuckled before he said, “I can’t believe we’re joking about this shit.”
“You either have to laugh or cry, and laughing is better for your health,” I assured him. “Besides, this will give Ollie a new playmate and all of you will have a new pen pal!”
“I wish Mom’s aim had been better,” Blaine muttered.
“Dad moved into the office yesterday,” Brandt explained. “Kathleen has finally had enough of his shit and filed for divorce this morning.”
“He’s having a really bad week, isn’t he?” I asked.
“He brought it all on himself. Kathleen is his third wife, so you’d think she would have sensed a pattern, considering she was the side piece when he was with his second wife.”
“The man is like a walking ad for Viagra!”
“I’d like to think he’s learned his lesson, but I know that’s bullshit.”
“If he’s not careful, he’s gonna piss some woman off enough so that she loses her shit and shoots him,” I joked.
“It’s so fucked up that we keep laughing about this,” Blaine exclaimed through his laughter. “So fucked up!”
“I know, but it’s fucking hilarious,” Brandt agreed from the back seat. “It’s like one of mom’s books.”
“Mom would never shoot a main character,” Blaine argued. He looked at his brother in the rearview mirror before he asked, “Would she?”
I cackled and then yelled, “She already did!”
“Oh my God, we’re terrible,” Brandt moaned as Blaine turned down the lane leading to Taya’s.
“There’s someone following us,” Blaine said as he slowed the truck down to almost a crawl. “What the hell?”
I looked in my rearview and saw that the truck behind us was hauling a trailer and yelled, “Fuck! He’s early!”
“Is that them?” Brandt asked excitedly.
“It is,” I told him as Blaine parked beside the house.
I jumped out and hurried back to talk to the man delivering Taya’s gift and directed him to follow the gravel road around the other side of the house to the barn.
Once he drove off, I rushed up the steps and followed Blaine and Brandt into the house and called for Taya.
She came out of her office and leaned over the banister before she asked, “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself? Boys, I told you not to let him . . .”
“Come downstairs, Tay. Your Christmas gift just arrived.”
“You’re going to give it to me today?” Taya asked before she squealed in excitement. As she hurried down the stairs, she looked at my hands and then at her sons’ empty hands and asked, “Is it in the truck?”
“Nope. It’s not in the truck,” I told her before I asked Blaine, “Will you get something I can use as a blindfold?”
“I need a blindfold? How big is it? Where is it? On the porch? It’s not in the truck, so it’s gotta be on the porch,” Taya rambled as she started to walk past me toward the front door.
I reached out and took her hand, and rather than pull me along, she stopped suddenly so she didn’t pull at my wounds.
“Let’s wait right here for a few minutes. Brandt, will you go outside and let me know when we should come out?”
“Will do,” Brandt said as he walked through the house to go out the back door.
Since Taya and I were alone now, I carefully pulled her into my arms. Yes, my arms were tender and the stitches were pulling, but it wasn’t a horrible pain. That had a lot to do with the fact that Taya had kept on top of my meds, something I would have never done if I had been on my own.
It really hit home when I saw how she reacted after I was injured.
She felt horribly guilty that she had caused my injuries even though it was accidental, but last night, I realized that her biggest worry had been what would have happened if I had been moving just a little faster or the shot had been even just the slightest bit to the right.
The bullet would have gone straight through my ribs and pierced my heart - an almost certainly fatal injury.
When she told me that was all she could think about, I reminded her that I was whole and healthy, or at least I would be soon. I’d even have some really gnarly scars to show off when I told anyone the crazy story of what had happened that day.
I also reminded her that I’d be using these injuries and her guilt about the matter as often as I could, which prompted her to remind me that she’d been a mom for a long time and would become immune to that trick in no time flat.
It was still fresh in her mind now, so I was careful when I was near her so she didn’t start to worry even more than she already was.
“What did you get me, Chevy?” Taya asked.
“Something you would probably never get for yourself.”
“A weeklong Caribbean vacation with John Cena?” Taya asked. When I frowned, she said, “He’s a little clean-cut for my taste, but have you ever listened to that man when he’s being interviewed? He’s hot, fit, and smart! He even speaks Mandarin!”
“Excuse me if I don’t appreciate it when the woman I love touts the qualities of another man,” I said as I pretended to be hurt. “Maybe I should return your gift and shoot John Cena an email letting him know he’s up to bat.”
“I’d leave John Cena on the side of the road if I knew you were waiting for me at the end of my journey.”
“You say the sweetest things,” I murmured before I gave her a kiss. “It almost makes up for the fact that you shot me a few days ago.”
“I bet John Cena wouldn’t be a whiny pussy about it!
” Taya retorted. Her eyes got wide, and I knew she was about to apologize, so I kissed her again to stop her before she started.
When I finally let her come up for air, she smiled and said, “See? You’ve already overused the guilt trip, and now I’m immune. ”
With a sassy tilt to her head, she spun around to walk away, and I hissed before I bent forward. In a split second, she was back in my arms, whispering her apologies and swearing she didn’t mean to hurt me.
“Immune, huh?” I asked with a grin.
“You know what? The doctor said you needed to take it easy until your stitches are out. I think that probably means you shouldn’t risk your health doing anything strenuous . . . like having sex with the woman who is worried about you.”
“Oh, threats now. I see where this is going.”
“It better be going to wherever you’re hiding my early Christmas gift, if you know what’s good for you.”
“You’re right. I should stop while I’m ahead.”
“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all week, but it would have been sexier if you’d said it in Mandarin.”
“John Cena can suck it!” I snapped, which caused Taya to burst out laughing. I smiled at her before I said, “I love you, Tay.”
“Love you, too, Chevy. Let’s go already!” Taya ordered.
“I found a few things that may work,” Blaine said as he walked into the foyer holding a knitted scarf in one hand and a kitchen towel in the other. “Let’s try this . . .”
Blaine’s eyes got wide, and Taya’s mouth dropped open in shock when there was a loud moo from outside.
“You got me a cow?” Taya screamed. She completely forgot about my stitches and grabbed me by both arms to yank me closer so she could give me a hard kiss. When she let me go, I was really in pain, but she didn’t notice. She was already sprinting through the house toward the back door.
“Well, that worked out well,” Blaine said sarcastically as he turned to follow her. “Maybe next time you buy her something, make sure it doesn’t talk so loud.”
“Keep talking shit, and I’ll buy her an entire goddamn zoo and make sure we’re out of town for at least one week a month.”
“You know, you’re my favorite stepfather so far.”
“Have I ever told you how much I hate kids?”
Blaine knew that was bullshit. I’d become fast friends with his son, so he was still laughing when we walked out onto the back porch to find Taya standing in the middle of the yard staring at the corral Brandt and Blaine had helped me prepare.
“You got me four?” Taya yelled.
“Go big or go home, right?”
“You are so getting the good stuff tonight,” Taya muttered as she started walking toward them.
“I just threw up in my mouth,” Brandt said as he screwed his face up in disgust. He shook his head and said, “You’ve turned her into a monster.”
I was smiling as I watched Taya hop onto the bottom rung of the fence and extend her hand out to coax one of the mini Highland cows over so she could pet it.
“Wow. You haven’t created a monster; you’ve found the light inside of a woman who has been living in the shadow of assholes for a long time.”
“I’m gonna keep that light burning until my dying breath.”
“Good,” Blaine said before he slapped my shoulder, which jostled my arm and made me wince. I knew he’d done it on purpose when he smiled and said, “Oops. My bad.”
◆◆◆
TAYA
“Aren’t you cold, babe?” Chevy asked when he walked out onto the porch.
As he draped a blanket over my lap, I looked up and smiled at him and scooted over so he could sit on the swing beside me. Once he was settled, I leaned my head against his shoulder and asked, “Aren’t they beautiful?”
“I suppose they are in a hairy, smelly kind of way,” Chewie said hesitantly. “Have you decided what to name them yet?”
“Look at Rose. She’s such a good mama,” I said as we watched the dog nip at one of her puppies to get him in line when he wandered too far away. “I went from no domestic animals to more than a dozen in just a few weeks. How crazy is that?”
“Wait until next week before you . . .”
“Chevy, no! This is enough!” she interrupted. Her face transformed with a smile when she said, “But I wouldn’t fuss if you got Rose a companion after her puppies move away.”
“I bet we can find one at the shelter,” he suggested.
“Let’s give her a little time to relax after they’re gone, and then we’ll see what’s available.”
“What else do you want?” Chevy asked.
“To spend the rest of my life with you.”
“I’ve got that same dream.”
“Speaking of dreams, where do you think we’ll be in ten years? Let’s imagine what our lives will be like.”
“Hmm,” Chevy hummed. “Ten years. My guess is that we’ll be sitting here on the swing, listening to the kids insult each other while their spouses wonder how they got lucky enough to join such a wonderful family and our grandchildren run wild out in the yard.”
“That’s a wonderful dream,” I said as tears filled my eyes. I let them fall as I whispered, “Where do you think we’ll be in twenty years?”
“My guess is that we’ll have replaced this swing with a new one by then, but we’ll be sitting on that one while I thank God for bringing my Bookstore Beauty back into my life.”
“If I hadn’t found that picture of you, I probably would have been able to convince myself that you were a dream,” I admitted. “You are, you know? You’re my dream.”
“No, baby, I’m the man that is going to make it his mission in life to make all of your dreams come true. That’s what I am.”
“You’re doing it already,” I said as I looked up at him and waited for a kiss.
“Don’t cry, Tay. I don’t ever want to be the reason you cry.”
“This is the best kind of crying. It’s all the love I have for you leaking out to make room for more.”
“There you go with those pretty words. I bet you’d make a killing as a writer.”
“You think so?”
“I’m pretty sure.”
“Smartass,” I muttered before I touched my lips to his. “I love you, Chevy.”
“I love you, too, Tay.” Chewie looked back out over the grass and the grazing cows before he asked, “Have you decided what to name them yet?”
“Well, before I met you, I thought that I’d get four mini Highland cows - all the same colors that you got me, by the way, and that I’d name them after The Golden Girls.”
“Okay. That sounds good.”
“But we’ve got Rose, so that’s out. We can’t have two Roses in the family.”
“Is it against the law? I thought they usually came in an even dozen,” Chewie teased.
Taya rolled her eyes before she said, “Well, I could have a dog named Rose, a cow named Rose, and when you buy me some alpacas, I can name one of them Rose, and I’ll have to have a goat named Rose, of course. I’ll need at least a dozen different breeds of animals or birds to . . .”
“Let’s not get carried away,” Chewie hurriedly interrupted.
“Well, since you’ve made my dreams come true I’m going to stick to my original plan and welcome Rose, Blanche, Sophia, and Dorothy into the family.”
“Just like you welcomed Jodie, Jaimee, and Donner?” Chevy asked.
“And just like I’ll welcome any of your other friends that come to visit.”
“God, I love you.”
“I love you too.”