by Marla Monroe
“Oh. Goodness, I need more books to read then,” she said.
“Told you that you would,” Marcus teased her.
“You can get some when we go into town. Start another grocery list of what you need. It may be the last time we get there for awhile,” Randall told her.
“What do you all do when you can’t go anywhere, but it’s not actually snowing?” she asked.
Marcus laughed. “Well, we used to work outside some and then inside some. Then we watched a lot of movies on DVDs. Now, I think we might spend a good part of it in bed.” He laughed when she slapped his arm.
“Seriously!” He insisted.
She shook her head then turned to Randall. “Since it’s not actively snowing and it’s sunny outside tomorrow, will you take me around to see the horses and cows? I’ve never seen Montana cows. I want to see if they look any different than Mississippi cows.”
They smirked and tried to hide their laughs but didn’t succeed.
“You two are terrible.” She turned back to Randall. “Well? Can I?”
“We’ll see how cold it is tomorrow around noon. If it isn’t too cold for the clothes you have, we’ll make a quick run through for you to see the cows,” he agreed.
“And the horses,” she reminded him.
“And the horses,” he said.
* * * *
Several days later, after the snow plows had cleared the roads to town, one of the hands ran the mini-dozer they had up and down the drive so they could get to the street. Darla woke up not feeling well for the second day in a row. She’d quickly gotten over the sick feeling, and it didn’t come back the rest of the day. Now, once again, she felt ill. She hadn’t said anything to the men. She’d managed to make their breakfast without throwing up. She would do it again.
An hour later, the men thundered down the staircase and into the kitchen. They took turns hugging and kissing her as if they hadn’t seen her in days. It all made her feel loved and cherished, but was a little hard to take with the way she was feeling. She swatted away their hands and turned back to the stove.
“Uh-oh, must be coming up on that time of the month,” Marcus teased.
Randall laughed. “If I were you, I wouldn’t be saying anything, little brother.”
Darla nearly dropped the egg she was holding. Dear Lord. Her period. She hadn’t had one last week.
Oh, God. Could I be pregnant? Surely not after only a couple of weeks. Besides, we used condoms.
She sighed and assured herself that she couldn’t be. It was all the changes in her life that had her off schedule.
After breakfast, the men bundled her up within an inch of smothering her and led her outside to the truck. Randall had already started it and left it running to get warm. By the time they managed to shove her into the truck, she was already sweating from the thick layers.
“I’m going to suffocate if you don’t let me pull some of this off in the truck,” she complained.
“I’m not taking a chance you get sick. It’s dangerous. You’re not use to this kind of weather yet.” Randall climbed in on the driver’s side and checked her seat belt.
She felt like a little girl with all their hovering. She pouted just for good measure when Marcus settled in beside her grinning.
“Oh, stop it,” she fussed.
“Stop what?” Marcus asked with an innocent look.
“Smirking.”
“You look so cute. All trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey,” he chuckled.
“Just wait till you are hungry again. See if I fix you anything sweet to eat.”
“I’m sorry.” He truly sounded it, too.
They talked all the way into town. The long ride was slow and took nearly twice as long as usual, but Randall was being careful. She knew he was worried about going in, but they needed more feed, as well as fresh produce.
When they drove into town, it looked like some sort of disaster area. There were piles of snow over the top of her head along the road and around the buildings. The snow plows had shoved it off the roads but had nowhere to put it, so the piles lined the streets. How in the world they were going to get anything was lost to her.
Once they parked, she could see that there were paths to and from the different stores where snow had been cleared. Marcus jumped down from the truck and reached in to get her. He carefully set her down on the ground where there was gravel for her to keep her footing.
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” he said.
Darla heaved out a heartfelt sigh and stayed where he had planted her. She didn’t want to get them riled up in town, that was for sure. He circled the truck then came back around.
“Okay, I’m going with you, and Randall’s going to see about the feed,” Marcus told her.
“I can shop on my own, you know,” she groused.
“I know, but you can’t negotiate the snow drifts with packages alone.”
The fact that he was probably right only fueled her fire of indignation more, but she would pick her battles, she decided. Instead, she held out her hand and let him lead her through the snow to the department store.
“What do we need here? I didn’t have anything on my list,” she said as Marcus opened the door for her to go in.
“You need more clothes. You don’t have enough of the right ones for winter.”
Panic set in. She didn’t have enough money to buy a shirt, let alone anything else. She hadn’t received her first paycheck yet.
“Really, I can get it later,” she tried.
“May not be back to town for weeks or even up to a month depending on the weather. Another storm like the last one could cover us up for a long time, Darla. You need more clothes.”
She pulled his head down toward her so she could reach his ear.
“I don’t have the money to buy clothes right now.” It embarrassed her, and she could feel her face growing red.
Evidently, Marcus saw it and understood. He hugged her and placed a kiss on her forehead before whispering in her ear.
“You don’t pay for anything anymore, baby. You belong to us. We pay your bills for you.”
Her heart dropped into her stomach. What did he mean by that? Was she their concubine or something? Maybe their mistress. Anger flashed at the idea she meant no more than that to them. When she started to open her mouth and tell him what he could do with his clothes, the nice woman who’d helped her with choosing boots before strode up.
“Hey, Marcus, what can I do for you today?”
“This is our fiancée. She needs some of everything.”
“Well, congratulations. I bet your folks are happy that you’re finally settling down,” she said.
“Well, keep it a secret for now. We haven’t told them yet. We kind of wanted to be able to do it face-to-face.”
Darla swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. Fiancée? Had he really just called her his fiancée? They hadn’t said a thing about getting married. Dare she hope? Darla drew in a deep breath and let it out quietly. As soon as Marcus stopped talking with the saleslady, she jerked at his coat arm.
“What, honey?” he asked.
“Fiancée? We haven’t talked about marriage, Marcus. Don’t you think we need to talk about this before you go telling everyone in town?”
“Sorry, baby. It just slipped out. I know we haven’t actually asked you yet, but you said you loved us.” He stared into her eyes. “You do love us, right?”
“Yes, I do love you both. I just think I should have been consulted before you start the rumor mill running.”
“Okay, here we go, Darla. I can call you Darla, right?” the lady asked.
“Yes, that’s fine.” She gaped at the underwear the sales lady had brought over for her to look at.
“I think you can find what you like in this. It’s all the latest in lingerie.”
“Um, I don’t think I need underwear,” she began.
“Sure you do. Yours is all worn out,” he said.
Oh,
he really didn’t go there, did he? She glared at him, and the saleslady cleared her throat behind her.
“Let’s move on to the jeans.”
An hour later, she had an entire new wardrobe much to her embarrassment. He carried the bags to the truck but made her wait inside the department store. The saleslady walked over and stood next to her as she looked out the window.
“They’re good boys. You’re mighty lucky they fell in love with you. Been a lot of women around here trying to trap those two for quite some time.” She smiled at Darla then hurried over to help another customer.
Marcus came back in and hugged her. “Let’s go on over to the grocery store. They have a little of everything if you remember. Should have some books and DVDs we can get.”
“I have my list of things we need,” Darla said.
“We’ll get those after we look at books and DVDs. We have plenty of time.” Marcus drew her along the salted sidewalks, making sure she didn’t trip or slide.
When they entered the grocery store, she immediately got the feeling someone was staring at her. She looked around as they each grabbed a buggy. Standing at one of the cash registers was the same teenager—well, she could be twenty-one, she supposed—who’d glared at her before when they had been there. She obviously had a thing for Marcus if not both of the brothers. If looks could kill, Darla would be six feet under. She smiled at her and pushed her buggy behind Marcus since he seemed to know where they were going.
He stopped in front of a large display of books and magazines. Darla sighed. There would be plenty to choose from. She’d get a couple of books and choose one or two DVDs. She was used to rereading the same books, so two books would do her just fine. She walked over to the shelves and began browsing.
When Marcus returned some time later, she had two books and two DVDs in her buggy.
“I wondered if you had gotten lost,” she teased.
His buggy was almost full. He’d obviously been gathering groceries while she wasted time looking at books.
“Nope, just gathering what we need. I have a few questions about the list though.” He held out the well folded list. “What does this say?” He pointed to Karo syrup.
“It’s Karo. You cook with it.” She looked at where he’d crossed out most of the groceries. “You should have let me help. I thought we didn’t have to be in a hurry.”
“We don’t. I just didn’t think you would want me watching over your shoulder, so I kept busy.”
She felt petty now. He was being considerate, and she had fussed at him. What was wrong with her? That small kernel of a thought bubbled up inside of her again. Could she be pregnant? Surely not. She shoved the thought to the back of her mind and smiled up at Marcus.
“Good idea. Thanks. I found what I needed.” She indicated the items in her buggy.
“Only two books? You need more than two,” he fussed. “Find a few more. You should have at least six or seven.”
“That’s too many. They cost an arm and a leg.”
“Money doesn’t matter to you, Darla. We have plenty of money for you to get a few books.”
“I got a few.”
He huffed out a breath and walked over to the books pulling down a handful and dropping them into her buggy.
“Now, if you don’t want to read those, you better replace them with books you do want to read. We’re buying that many, so you might as well have what you want to read.” He frowned at her and jammed his hands in his pockets.
Darla stared down into the buggy at the books. He was serious. She didn’t need to look at his face again to know he was pissed. She picked up the books and replaced them on the shelves then chose four more books that she would enjoy and placed them in the buggy.
“I honestly didn’t see any DVDs I wanted to watch that you don’t already have. I picked out these two anyway.” She raised her chin daring him to argue with her now.
“Fine,” he said. Then he sighed and grabbed her.
He kissed her as if they weren’t in the middle of a grocery store in town. She couldn’t help but respond until someone cleared their throat behind them. Darla felt the heat suffuse her face. Marcus didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable about being caught making out in the store.
“Howdy, Marcus. Heard tell that you and your brother had found yourself a woman.”
The man could have been fifty or seventy. He had work roughened hands and permanent squint marks around his eyes. His skin appeared leathery, probably from being out in the sun.
“Darla, this is Sheriff Tom Hobson. He’s ornery and mean as a snake, but honest as the day is long.”
Darla frowned at Marcus and held out her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Same here, little lady. What you see in them two boys is a mystery to me. Sometime when you’re in town without these two underfoot, you stop by my office and I’ll tell you some stories about them that will have you running for the hills.” He smiled and nodded his head to Marcus.
“See you around.”
“Bye, Sheriff Hobson.” Marcus squeezed her against him. “We better get a move on now. See if you can find what’s left on the list.”
Darla quickly located the few items he hadn’t been able to find or decipher. They wheeled their buggies to the checkout lanes. Much to her disappointment, he chose the line with the young woman who obviously wanted Marcus for herself.
They piled everything on the belt, and Marcus went to the bottom of the conveyer belt to bag up the groceries as the jealous woman checked them out. Every time she looked up, the girl with a name tag that read “Kristy” glared daggers at her. She looked down at Marcus, but he seemed oblivious of it, so she ignored it, too.
When everything had been checked out and bagged up, Kristy smiled over at Marcus and gave him the total. Marcus walked back up to where Darla stood and pulled out a check which he filled out, then accepted the mile long receipt. He put his arm around Darla and ushered her out of the grocery store. He’d already pushed the buggies outside.
“Did you know that Kristy has a crush on you?” Darla asked.
“The girl at the checkout? She’s just a kid,” he said as they waited for Randall to make the short drive from the feed and seed store.
“Well, she obviously has a major crush on you.” Darla liked the way his face turned pink. It wasn’t hers turning pink this time.
Before she could say anything more, Randall drove up with the truck. He jumped out and gave her a big hug and kiss before helping his brother load up the groceries. She glanced toward the grocery store and noted that Kristy was at the window watching them. She couldn’t help it, she waved at the girl. With obvious disdain, she turned away from the window and returned to her post.
“You ready, honey? I thought we would stop by the diner and have dinner,” Randall said.
“Sure, that will be fine. I’m kind of hungry.”
“You didn’t eat much at breakfast. I figured you would get hungry fast in these temperatures,” Randall said.
“I wasn’t really hungry this morning.” She shrugged and let Marcus swing her into the truck next to Randall. Then Marcus followed her up and strapped in. When she fumbled with her belt, he fastened it for her.
They each got the diner special of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Darla was starved, but found she could barely eat. Every time she put a spoonful in her mouth, she nearly gagged. It took her twenty minutes to take five bites. If the men noticed, they didn’t comment on it, for which she was eternally grateful. She moved her food around on her plate to make it look like she’d eaten more than she had.
“You ready to go?” Randall asked.
“Yeah, I’m full.” She prayed he wouldn’t call her on it.
“Marcus, you pay up and I’ll get her out to the truck.” Randall stood up and helped her from her chair.
“Got it.” Marcus dug in his pocket for tip money then headed with the ticket to the front counter to pay.
“You look a little worn
out. Are you feeling okay?” Marcus asked.
“Yeah, just overwhelmed, I guess. It’s like we bought out the entire grocery store.”
Randall chuckled. “I’m sure it’s like a foreign land to you. You’ll get use to it in time.” He helped her into the truck then followed her. “I sure hope you got some warm clothes. You didn’t get nearly enough last time.”
“I think you’ll be happy. Marcus bought out the underwear section of the store.”
Randall laughed and squeezed her. “Did you model it for him?”
“No! Are you crazy? There were other people in the store. I was embarrassed as it was.”
“Now what do you have to be embarrassed about?” Randall asked, his brows furrowing across his forehead.
“He told the sales lady my underwear was worn out,” she hissed, indignant all over again.
“Oops. I am sure that didn’t go over real well.” Randall tried to keep the smile off his face but failed miserably. She punched him in the arm, and Marcus opened the truck door to climb in.
“Is there anything else we need, Marcus?” Randall asked.
Marcus fastened his seat belt and shook his head. “Can’t think of anything.”
“Guess we can get on the road then. It’s going to be a little tougher getting back since we’ll be going uphill.”
Darla didn’t say anything. She was still trying to calm down after getting all upset over the underwear thing again. She wasn’t usually so emotional about things. That kernel of an idea tried to gain a foothold in her subconscious, but she shoved it back down again. She wasn’t pregnant. She couldn’t be. They’d used condoms.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” Marcus asked her. His arm hugged her closer to him.
“Nothing, really. Just going back over the grocery list in my head to be sure I didn’t forget something.”
Marcus looked like he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t challenge her on it. Points for him. Randall, on the other hand, wasn’t so believing.
“Looks like something more serious than that if you ask me.”
“I wasn’t asking you,” she huffed out.
He harrumphed and continued putting all of his concentration on the road.