“You really should make the time. And don’t feel bad, I was here more than six months before Matt and Steven finally succeeded in dragging me to the place.” Her cheeks turned a light pink, and Carrie wondered what private reminiscence had emerged from her memory.
Of course, Carrie would never ask. To ask another about their secrets was to invite inquiry in turn.
So she simply said, “All right, I will.”
“Oh, good, we’re not late.”
Carrie turned and smiled at the woman who’d said that.
Holding the hands of Richard and Trevor Benedict, with Kevin following close behind, Maggie Morrison huffed out a breath and nodded to her and Kelsey. “One of my guests cornered me in the kitchen and seemed to want to chat the day away. Thank God Kevin rescued me.”
“That’s what I’m here for, baby.” Kevin Benedict grinned, the kind of grin that Carrie had learned to recognize in life as trouble of the fun kind.
“You should be up here, since you’re Ginny’s aunt,” Carrie said. She was quite prepared to step back, but she was overruled before she could make the offer.
“There’s plenty of room for all of us.” Henry Kendall nudged his brother, Morgan, and before she knew it, the line that formed the semicircle behind the bower became much longer. Then Matt and Steven Benedict joined them, squeezing into place, flanking their wife.
For just a moment, Carrie had the sense of being alone in a room full of loving families. Loneliness and sadness warred with wisps of memory, painted photographs, and still-life snapshots. She had wisps of seeing her mom and dad at some sort of party, her and her older sister Chloe all dressed up, their outfits complete with pretty dresses, crinolines, and shiny Mary-Jane shoes. Stupid to wish for what never was. Life was what it was, and pining over what “might have been” was a waste of time.
A shiver caressed her, and she recognized it as the sensation of being watched.
Fear flickered to life within her and then died almost immediately. It wasn’t a specter of the past that caused that skittish kiss of nerves on flesh. She shifted her position just slightly, and sought out the source of the feeling.
Chase and Brian Benedict stood to her left in the row behind her and stood out even in this crowd of damn fine-looking women and men. She didn’t mean to really look so openly or let them know she was doing so, but they’d both dressed in crisp white shirts open at the collar, and between the two of them they made a mouth-watering sight. She couldn’t help but stare at them—and blush when she realized they’d both had their gazes fixed on her even before she’d turned around.
Caught, unable to tear her eyes away, Carrie felt her nipples tighten and her pussy become moist. Chase flicked his gaze down, then back up. His lips slid into a slow and sexy smile. She realized that one small lapse on her part had just put paid to all the times in the last two months she’d told those two cowboys that she wasn’t interested in them in the slightest.
Now what the hell am I going to do?
That question was abandoned in the short term when applause erupted in the hall.
Carrie turned her attention to the back, clapping with the rest of the crowd. It didn’t take long for Ginny and her men—all three of them—to reach the front.
Carrie’s eyes immediately went to Benny. Nearly seven, towheaded and gap-toothed, Benny Rose had been blessed with more than his share of charm. He’s gonna be a handful when he turns sixteen. Carrie imagined that there might be some extra-vigilant daddies watching their daughters in this town in about nine years’ time.
At the moment, Ginny’s boy wore the biggest grin, and his chest was puffed out as if he’d never been so proud.
Carrie looked at Ginny, and couldn’t help but feel a little bit teary-eyed at the sight her new friend made. Wearing a wedding dress of white silk with a halter top that gathered just below the bust, Ginny was a vision of elegance and beauty. At four months pregnant her baby bump barely showed, and in the gown, it showed not at all. She’d swept her brown hair up into an intricate chignon, with a coronet of tiny white rosebuds decorating her hair, instead of a tiara. Around her neck, on a delicate chain, a golden angel sparkled in the lights of the hall.
The happiness and love in Ginny’s eyes far outshone the beautiful gown she wore.
The guests of honor greeted their families, and then turned to Kate Benedict who had quietly moved to the front and stood on a tiny raised platform, under the bower.
“This is such a happy day for all of us!”
Although her voice didn’t sound loud or booming, Kate’s dulcet tones proved enough to quiet the entire assemblage.
“For those of us who have been privileged to always call Lusty home, who have grown up, or grown old here in this special place, surrounded by the love of family, we cannot know what it is to face the world alone. We can, none of us, even imagine the courage and strength of character it takes to raise a child alone, without family or friends, because we’ve all been blessed with an abundance of both.
“But we do, every single one of us, understand love when we see it. We understand and respect the depth of a mother’s love, and that she would go to any lengths to protect her child.”
Kate paused, her eyes shiny with tears, as she turned her attention to the bride. “Ginny, from the moment you came to Lusty, you belonged to us—although it did take you some time to understand that fact.”
Carrie saw the grins on the faces of the Kendalls and Benedicts on either side of her. She knew a little of Ginny’s story, of course. The young woman had been very open and frank about how she came to be here.
She’d heard from others about the way Ginny had, not all that long ago, taken down the bastard who had abused her, and then stalked her. Carrie felt a special kinship for the woman, based on that alone.
She turned her attention back to Kate.
“And now, finally, we’re here to celebrate that you belong to us in name, as well as in heart.”
Carrie thought Kate looked right at her then, although she knew it must have been the family surrounding her that had the matriarch’s attention.
“The history of our families is rife with tales of women and men who have defied the odds, and convention, and have dared to love. This town was created as a sanctuary where that love could be indulged and nurtured. Our forebears, in their wisdom, and yes, in their love, saw to it that we not only had a place to call home, a place where we could live freely as our hearts demanded. They also provided a solid moral, legal, and financial foundation for their children, and their children’s children. This legacy remains strong even to this day. And it is in the tradition of those first Kendalls, Jessops, and Benedicts that we are gathered here, for this very special occasion.
“Today, we celebrate the marriage of Ginny Rose to Adam and Jake Kendall.”
“Me, too, Grandma Kate!”
Everyone laughed, but that laughter didn’t faze Benny Rose one bit. He wore a huge smile, and positively preened under the attention of the adults surrounding him.
Kate Benedict smiled. “Oh yes, my darling, and you, too.” Then she looked to the celebrants. “Mom and Dads, are you ready to give and receive your vows?”
“We are.” The three of them answered as one.
To Carrie their tone sounded reverent. She marveled that just that simply, the three adults who stood there stepped forward, and seemed as one. The men each held one of Ginny’s hands. Benny stood in front of his mother, close enough to lean on her, but clearly included.
Adam brought Ginny’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “My darling Ginny, I was a man who always saw things only in black and white. I was rigid in my thinking, and although I always did my duty, in truth, there was very little joy in my life. And then I met you. You brought the color, and the joy—so much more joy than I could ever have truly hoped for, or I can ever truly deserve. I love you, my sweet Ginny, and I will until the day I die. I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you and taking care of you. And I prom
ise to turn to you when I need someone to lean on, too.” Then he looked down at the young boy gazing up at him. It seemed he so naturally squatted, put himself on eye level with the child. “Benjamin Joseph Rose, I love you with all my heart. I promise to be a good father to you. You’ll always be able to count on me to be there for you.”
Adam straightened and then met Jake’s gaze. “Jake, as kids we were inseparable. You’re my closest brother, my best friend, and it pleases me more than I can say that you’re my partner in caring for our wife and our son, and however many more children we add to our family. We’ve been best friends all our lives, and there’s not another man I could count on more, and not another I’d want at my side.”
Carrie was certain everyone standing as close as she was could see the emotion on their faces. Even Benny seemed to understand the solemnity of the moment, for his gaze rested on Adam. When Jake began to speak, the little guy gave him his full attention.
Jake raised Ginny’s other hand to his lips and kissed it. “Ginny, I never truly believed I would ever find you. And, finding you, I didn’t know if I could win your heart. You, and Benny, are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t have words good enough to tell you how much I love you. I’ll be a good husband to you, and a good father to Benny, and the children we have together.” Then he looked down at Benny and, as his brother had done, got down to his eye level. “I love you, Benjamin, and I’m so proud to call you my son. I’ll be here for you, always.”
When he stood, he looked at Adam. “You became my favorite brother the day you dumped Morgan in the mud for picking on me.”
That got a chuckle out of almost everyone and raised his mother’s eyebrow. Samantha shot Morgan what could only be called an “annoyed mother” look. Morgan, of course, grinned unrepentantly.
“I’ve traveled some, and seen what lies beyond the horizon, for until Ginny came into our lives, I was a restless soul. So I know how lucky I am to have you for my brother, and how blessed we both are to be as close as we are. Today, I pledge to you, that I’ll never let you, or our wife and children, down. You’ll be able to count on me to have your back, just as I’ve always been able to count on you to have mine.”
Both men turned their attention on Ginny. Carrie wasn’t surprised to see the young woman’s eyes glistening with tears.
“I stopped believing in good things for me. I had my baby, and he was the love of my life. I wanted more, and I sought, foolishly, without considering love, to make a family for him. Y’all know how wrong that turned out to be. And then, just when I had given up, just when I’d gotten so I figured I was in the worst place I could ever possibly be and things would never ever get better, I looked up and there you were, the two of you.
“I don’t figure there’s another woman in all of creation as lucky as me. I’m going to be the best wife to you both. I’m going to be the best mother to Benny, and to the baby sleeping right now, under my heart—and to all the rest of our babies, if we’re blessed to have more.
“I never believed in forever, or happy-ever-after, but I believe in them now. I believe in them, and I’m claiming them both—for all of us. Mostly, though, I believe in the two of you.
“Adam, I love you with all my heart. I will love you and honor you for all the days of my life.” She stretched up and kissed him, very lightly, on the lips. Then she turned to her other husband. “Jake, I love you just as deeply, and just as surely as I do your brother. I’m proud to call you both husband, and the fathers of all my children.” She kissed him, too, and laughed a little when he took a moment to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
The three adults faced Kate once more. Benny reached up to Adam, confident in his acceptance. Adam, of course, scooped him up easily and set the little guy on his hip.
Carrie had been doing pretty good hanging on to her composure until that moment. Benny was a few years younger than she had been when her parents had been killed in that tornado. She and her sister Chloe had been separated and placed into foster care, miles apart from each other.
In all her childhood years after that tragedy, she’d never once had a moment like this one, the kind that she believed Benny lived every day. She’d never known a moment of reaching out, needing to be held, and finding unqualified acceptance.
Carrie felt such elation that this child was loved so completely.
Kate Benedict spread her hands, palms up. “And now your journey begins, and your adventure awaits. May you forever remain steadfast, one in the others, and may love light your way, always.”
The crowd erupted in cheers and applause and shouts of “Congratulations!” Everything had blurred for Carrie. She felt the people around her moving, and realized she should get out of the way. She wanted to get herself under control before she greeted the celebrants. She wanted to escape to someplace private so she could pull herself together.
She stepped back and hit something solid. Two solid warm walls of hot man bracketed her. She looked up into Chase Benedict’s amazing aqua eyes to encounter a tenderness she didn’t know how to take.
“Here, sugar.” He handed her a folded white square, and she realized it was a cotton handkerchief.
Who the hell carries a cotton handkerchief in this day of the pop-up tissue pack? Carrie almost asked that out loud. Instead, she murmured her thanks as she took the hankie and blotted her eyes. She could make nice for a moment or two, and then she’d get busy and tend the buffet.
Kelsey hadn’t asked her to be on duty to such an extent today, but at the moment it seemed like a hell of a good idea. She’d hide in her work.
I’m getting awfully damn good at hiding.
“It’s good to see you so emotional over your friend’s ceremony,” Chase said.
Brian nodded, and grinned, flashing his pearly white teeth and making his aqua eyes—identical to his brother’s—gleam with humor. “Kind of makes us wonder how you’ll be for your own, with us.”
Chapter 2
Chase pulled his hat off and used his arm to wipe the sweat from his brow. The sun burned with that special Texas intensity, but despite being hot and sweaty and bone-tired, he felt damn good.
From where he sat on the back of Jasper, a two-year-old gelding they’d purchased a few weeks before, he could see for miles. Every inch of land that lay before him was family land—belonging to Benedicts, Kendalls, and Jessops alike.
Yes, the Parkers had come once the town had been founded, as had the Jones—there were Sanchezes and Mendezes in there, too. There’d been acceptance, and then romances and marriages. More souls arrived, drawn by the promise that was Lusty. To come to a place to live life as you chose, to love whomever the heart loved, without fear of derision—that was a special thing. Though they’d lived quietly, generation upon generation, people who’d needed Lusty generally tended to find her.
The Lusty Town Trust of today had a lot of names affixed to the official rolls, and really, they were, all of them together, family, and an eclectic group at that.
But the cowboy in Chase never lost sight of the fact that, in the beginning, it had been just six people, and each one of those six were his and Brian’s ancestors.
He knew his own family history, knew that Caleb and Joshua Benedict had worked this land that had originally come to Sarah on the death of that blackguard, Tyrone Maddox.
Those first Benedict twins had been raised to be ranchers, before the call of conscience and duty and the guns of war had drawn them away from home.
They’d joined the Union Army, an unpopular action to have taken for two Texan men, and a course of action interpreted by many who’d known them, at the time, as treasonous. Certainly, the decision had cost them their original ancestral home.
When their mother died before the end of the Civil War, their sister and her husband had taken over the land that had been Caleb and Joshua’s birthright.
They’d let it go, cutting their losses, and had instead embarked on careers as lawmen—gunslingers, some would have sa
id. They’d roamed, not settling anywhere, until they’d met Sarah, and together had fallen in love. But ranching had called them back, and they’d been happy, according to the letters and journals left behind, to become ranchers once more when they’d settled here with their wife and founded Lusty.
“Do you recall how, when we were kids, we used to pretend that we were them?” Brian had joined him on his own horse, Critter, and Chase turned in his saddle slightly so he could look at his brother.
Brian appeared as hot, sweaty, and beat as Chase felt. He didn’t have to ask his twin to explain what he meant, because they were twins and more often than not, their thoughts followed the same path.
Chase turned his attention back to the view. “Yep, I do. There were times when I wondered if we somehow weren’t truly them, re-incarnated into this modern age.” Chase put his hat back on. “But in all our games, all our talking out loud about our dream to be here, doing this, I don’t reckon we ever imagined how much damn hard work it would be to try and become them.”
Brian snorted. “I know. My mind was in that exact same place just now, and then it hit me. Think about it for a minute.” Brian removed his own hat, wiped his sweat, and then put his hat back on. “Just a few short months ago, we went to work every day wearing Armani suits, carrying double espresso lattes with an extra shot of chocolate and a dash of cinnamon, worked in air-conditioned comfort, hunkered down in plush wheelie-chairs, juggling appointments with clients and business partners—folks we barely knew, and often didn’t even like. And all the while the sun shone down on Manhattan through an almost constant haze of smog.”
Chase nodded. Brian had painted a fairly accurate picture of how it had been for them. Chase said, “Thank God we got our sorry asses out of that hellhole.”
“Amen, brother. Amen.”
Chase turned his attention from the view at large to his more immediate concern—the fence line.
“It’s taken us a good three weeks, but that bitch is nearly done. I’ll tell you, I’m beginning to wonder about Uncle Jonathan,” he said quietly.
Love Under Two Cowboys [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 2