Chapter 18
Lucy
The smell of Theresa’s homemade lasagna filters through the air as Tate and Fern sit on the living room floor playing blocks, and Jack and Levi are at work chopping vegetables for a salad.
I have a mug of warm tea in my hands as I sit nestled on the couch, simply basking in the warm glow from within.
My conversation with my mom earlier in the week went as well as expected.
Breaking the news to her about Matthew was heartbreaking but needed to be done.
And above all, she’s happy that I’m safe and finding joy.
She and a few of my sisters are planning to come out to Montana to see me and explore Cedar Ridge.
And I told them I had someone important for them to meet.
Well, two someones. My gaze wanders over to where Fern is rolling around on the floor giggling over something Tate must’ve said, and my heart swells. I don’t think I could have conjured up a family this perfect if I’d tried.
And not only that—but this whole life. This gorgeous ranch, this beautiful town, the friends I’m making here. Speaking of new friends, I call out, “Hey, Jack—where’s Willow?”
“Oh, she’s on her way. She was over at Anna’s all day, so the two of them are coming from her apartment.”
I smile at the prospect of seeing Anna as well.
“What, we’re letting outsiders in on family dinner now?” Levi quips from beside Jack.
“Lucy’s here!” Jack points out.
At this, Tate looks up, throwing a glare his brother’s way, and I stifle a giggle.
“Yeah, well she’s in a … thing with Tate,” Levi says, his gaze darting between Jack, Tate, and I.
“A thing,” Jack repeats.
“Yes, a thing.”
“So the bar for family dinner entry is a ‘thing’?” he presses.
“Sure.”
“Okay, well I’ve got two single brothers—how about one of you?” Jack dares, and Levi rolls his eyes.
“Lucy and I are dating, by the way,” Tate interjects.
“That constitutes as a thing,” Levi waves him off.
“Okay.” Theresa turns around with a laugh from where she’d been washing her hands in the sink, swatting both Levi and Tate with a dishcloth.
“Enough of that. Everyone is welcome to Sunday family dinners whenever they would like to come.” She gives a distinctive nod, ending the conversation, and Tate snorts from the floor.
Just then, the front door opens. “Hello!” Willow calls, taking off her jacket and boots by the front door. She comes around the corner and into the kitchen, followed by Anna. Jack greets her with a quick kiss, and then Willow turns to me. “Hi, Lucy!” She waves excitedly.
I smile, getting up from the couch to greet them.
“Everyone, this is my friend, Anna,” Willow introduces, and Theresa is the first to come forward and embrace her.
“Nice to meet you,” Theresa says. “You’re welcome here anytime.” She shoots a teasing look in Levi’s direction.
“Tate, you might remember Anna from high school,” Jack says. “Willow, Anna, and I were all in the same class a few years behind you.”
“Yeah, you look familiar,” Tate concedes with a warm smile. “Nice to see you again, Anna.”
“But you’re way too old, Levi,” Jack says with a wave. “You would’ve been long gone by the time we were even in junior high.”
Anna snorts, and Levi rolls his eyes—and is it just me, or does he look a bit flustered? “Nice to meet you,” he mumbles with a curt nod in her direction.
Theresa announces that dinner is ready, and we all pile into the kitchen to dish up our plates before finding space at the dining table. Willow, Anna, and I huddle around one end of the table—Fern in my lap—and quickly start catching up about our weeks.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were Fern’s mom,” Anna says with a sweet smile, gesturing to our resemblance and the way Fern has so comfortably snuggled up in my lap, playing with the buttons on my sweater.
I smile down at her, planting a small kiss to the top of her head. In moments like these, sometimes it truly does feel that way.
I feel someone’s gaze on me, and I look up, expecting to see Tate. But it’s Levi. And he’s not looking at me—but Anna, who’s sitting next to me. As soon as he notices my attention, he looks away, plugging himself back into conversation with his brothers.
I smirk to myself, wondering if Anna noticed. I don’t know much about Levi other than the fact that he’s single and lives all alone in that big house of his. Maybe even a bit of a grump. Seems to be a theme for the Thatcher men.
Until you get to know them.
The rest of the dinner goes well and even ends with Willow, Anna, and I making plans to hang out next weekend.
When Ferns yawns and begins nodding off in my lap, that’s when everyone decides the night is done.
Levi, Jack, Willow, and Anna all say their goodbyes while Tate and I take Fern off to bed.
“Daddy, can we see the baby cows again tomorrow?” Fern asks sleepily as she snuggles into her pillow.
“Sounds like a plan, sweetheart,” he says, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead.
We stand and turn to leave, but Fern stops us with, “I want a kiss from Lucy too!”
I can’t hide the way my heart bursts at her words, and I lean down and press a soft kiss to her cheek. “Goodnight, Fern,” I say softly, brushing her hair behind her ear.
“Night, night,” she mumbles.
Tate and I head back out to the living area where we help Theresa clean up the dining table and kitchen, and I tell them about my plans next weekend with Willow and Anna.
“They’re sweet girls,” Theresa approves with a smile. “I’m so glad you’re making friends here.”
Once we’ve finished, Theresa bids us goodnight with hugs and kisses and heads off to her bedroom. Tate takes my hand and leads me down the hallway to his, where I’ve been spending every night this week. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever return to my own room.
Once the door is shut behind us, he wraps me up in his arms and begins peppering me with kisses, on the top of my head, along my cheek, down my neck. My giggles get louder and louder as his kisses tickle the soft skin of my shoulder.
He chuckles, releasing me and plopping down on the bed where I snuggle up beside him. He immediately begins running his fingers through my hair, caressing my head as I bury my face against his shirt.
“Lucy,” he says after a long moment.
“Hmm?”
“What do you think about being more than just Fern’s nanny?”
This gets my attention. I angle my head upward to see his face. “What?”
“I love you.” He says the phrase so simply. Not as if he doesn’t realize the gravity of the words, but rather as if this truth just needs to be stated.
I sit up, staring down at him in surprise. “You love me?” I whisper.
He nods. I see a glimpse of fear in his eyes—like he’s worried this is all too soon, this is all too much—but he’s also calm, standing in his truth.
I’m surprised to feel tears pricking the corners of my eyes, a wave of emotion washing over me so strongly that I’m shocked I never recognized it until right now. “I love you too.”
Tate reaches for me, grasping my face and pulling me down until our lips meet. He kisses me deeply, moving until I’m lying on the bed, pinned underneath him. He kisses me harder, faster, as if I’m the only air in the room.
“Lucy,” he breaks the kiss to say, staring down at me.
“I know it’s soon, and we don’t have to rush into anything, but this is more than just, a—a thing, like my brothers were joking about,” he says with a soft chuckle.
“I want you forever,” he breathes, running his hands along my body, down my sides.
“I want to marry you. I want you to be the mother of my child.” He kisses my neck, and my eyes flutter closed.
“And I want to put a baby in you so fucking bad.”
I gasp, both at his admission and at how much that turns me on.
He chuckles, kissing along my throat again. “One day.”
I moan softly. “One day,” I agree.
He continues kissing down my neck, along my collarbone, and when he sits up to take off his shirt, I do the same with mine. I fumble with the belt at his jeans, struggling. “Pants,” I murmur in frustration.
Tate chuckles, standing quickly to shed his jeans and underwear, leaving him completely naked before me. “In a hurry, are we?” he teases, reaching down to help me undo my jeans and slide them off my legs.
“Tate Thatcher, if you’re not inside me within two minutes …” I threaten, and his eyes darken.
“Yes, ma’am,” he murmurs, deftly hooking his fingers under the waistband of my panties and sliding them off, tossing them aside. I unhook my bra, and immediately he’s over top of me, kissing my breasts and making me moan.
I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him closer, begging for more.
“You want my thick cock inside you, sweet girl?” he murmurs in my ear, and I just about fall apart.
“Fuck me, Tate,” I beg. “Please.”
I don’t have to ask again. He thrusts into me in one stroke, and I cry out, clinging to him.
His lips find mine and he kisses me as he slowly thrusts in and out, devouring my moans and whimpers.
And then he’s thrusting harder and harder and harder, and I have no control over any of the noises I’m making.
Tate sits up and covers my mouth with his palm, continuing to pump in and out of me.
His free hand finds my clit, and I nearly scream, but my cries are muffled by his hand.
My hands fist the sheets on either side of me, grasping for anything to center me, ground me.
I end up finding the headboard above me and cling to it for dear life as Tate fucks me harder and harder.
“I can’t wait to spend every day of the rest of my life memorizing this body, Lucy,” he pants. “Making you feel good, hearing you moan.”
My whimpers become more desperate, my body on the edge of completely falling apart.
“God, the way you moan,” he groans quietly. “We’ll need to find a place where you can scream my name properly, sweet girl. No holding back.”
I roll my eyes back at the prospect. The idea of completely letting myself go. I’m sure there’s somewhere on Thatcher Ranch’s property where we could find a secluded place. Just me and Tate.
He thrusts harder, picking up his pace on my clit, and he has to hold his palm tighter over my mouth to keep me quiet.
“I’ve got you,” Tate grits out between thrusts. “I’ve got you, sweet girl. Come for me,” he orders.
And I do, shattering around him as stars dance before my eyes.
Tate collapses over top of me, and the two of us cling to each other, panting as we come down from our high.
“I love you,” I find myself whispering through the bliss, the words somehow feeling truer than any other time I’ve said them.
“I love you,” he says back, pressing a kiss to my cheek.
And suddenly I think back to the girl I was when I’d first run away from home. When I came here all those weeks ago. Wondering if Thatcher Ranch would be safe enough for me. Never could I have anticipated this.
Tate, Fern, and me. Forever.
The End