Steel Country Boxset

by Fields, MJ

  “No, bud. He’s gonna live here and get to know you. He’s better now and wants to be a part of your life, too.”

  “So, you’re really my...” He pauses and scratches his head in thought. “My uncle?”

  Those words feel like a fucking knife through my chest, but I nod. “Yeah.”

  “Gage is your family. Always has been, and always will be,” Mags tells Brand. “Garrett’s home now, he’s better, and now that you’re older, it was time to tell you. But nothing changes, my boy; just more people around to love you and help raise you.”

  “Like you do, Dad.” He pauses and swallows hard. “I mean Gage?”

  “Pretty much.” Mags smiles sadly as she looks between him and I.

  He sits still, looking down at his hands quietly.

  “Brandon,” Juliana says quietly, and he looks up at her. “I’m so sorry I haven’t always been here. I really am. But please don’t be mad at me. Please don’t. I love you so much.” She stops and sniffs.

  Holy shit, the ice queen is going to fucking cry.

  “I am begging you, Brandon. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You’re the best part of my life.”

  He nods and looks up, lip quivering as he continues to nod.

  “I’ve gotta tell you, Brandon...or do you like to be called Brand?” Garrett asks.

  “Dad...Gage...Uncle Gage”—he wipes his eyes, and I see a smile. That smile takes away the pain of all the names he just called me except Dad—“calls me Brand.”

  “What do you want me to call you?” Garrett asks, and I see some fucking light return to his eyes.

  Fuck, I want to like it; want to love it. It’s been gone for so fucking long.

  Brand looks at me. “Brand?”

  I nod. “Yeah, Brand suits you.”

  He looks back at Garrett. “Brand.”

  “Okay then, Brand.” He pauses and smiles. “I gotta tell you as fu—”

  Mags elbows him hard, and Brand laughs.

  “Sorry, Mags. Sorry, Brand. It’s gonna take some getting used to.”

  Brand smiles and giggles.

  “Like I was saying; as messed up as things are, you sure gotta lot of people who love you in this room. We all want to be part of Brand Falcon’s life. That’s sayin’ something great, right?”

  Brand nods as his smile seems to grow.

  “Not one of us wants you to be sad or upset, either. Gage, my big brother, your daddy-uncle.” He pauses and smiles at Brand, and Brand smiles back. “He’s someone to look up to. I hope someday you can look up to me, too.”

  “You’re tall; I think it’ll be easy to look up to you.” Brand giggles at his own joke.

  Garrett lights up right along with him.

  I look over at Mags, who’s looking at me. She smiles sadly, and I do the same.

  I watch out the window at the dock where Brand, Garrett, and Jules are sitting and fishing.

  “How you doing, my boy?” Mags asks from behind me.

  “I’m doing, Mags.”

  “You did well today, really well,” she says, pushing her walker beside me and wrapping her arm around my waist.

  I lean down and kiss her cheek. “Thanks for helping us out with that.”

  “Anything for you, my boy.”

  I nod. “Don’t know what I did to deserve you, Mags, but I’m damn lucky to have you.” I look over, and she smiles.

  “I feel the same. Blessed. The love of my life, he couldn’t give me kids. When he died, I didn’t want any. Your daddy and the other men under his command became my children. When they...” She pauses and shakes her head slowly back and forth. “When they died, your mother was a mess, and I needed to do what my husband would have wanted me to—be strong for the survivors. You, you reminded me of what I could never have, and while she worked, while she tried to find a way for a twenty-three-year-old single mother to move past her loss and build a future, I got you. You were my light in the darkness. When you left, it was hard, so hard, but you all came back. And when your mother offered me a job, I took it. I would have taken it without pay because I got my boy back.”

  “And we got the best mother on the planet,” I tell her.

  “You have two very different mother figures,” she tells me.

  “You can say that again,” Gray says as he sneaks up behind us.

  “Come here,” she says, holding out her arm to him.

  He stands on the other side of her, and she sighs. “I love you, four boys.”

  “We love you, too, Mags.”

  “You love me enough to do something for me?” She looks at me then him.

  “Yes,” we say at the same time.

  “Forgive her. Forgive her because she did what she needed to do to keep you boys fed and loved. And you’ll never have to worry about putting food on any of your tables. Forgive her because she was once just as lost and as scared as you have ever been in your lives. Forgive her because, if you don’t, it will ruin you. Forgive her so that little boy knows how to do the same when he goes through whatever he may in the future. Forgive her as a gift to yourselves and her. Forgive her.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Turning Tables

  Phoenix

  I walk into the diner to see three waitresses standing at the counter, talking, and less than half the tables are occupied. It’s dead. Hell, it’s always dead here until lunchtime and very rarely is it busy enough for me to stay and make any decent tips.

  I walk in the back and grab an apron, putting it on and deciding to get to work.

  No, I don’t stand around and chat with the others. I fill salt and pepper shakers, ketchup bottles, refill the napkin dispensers, and wait on a total of four customers in two hours, which makes me a whopping sixteen dollars. With my regular pay, that’s barely over minimum wage and nothing compared to the amount I make at the bar three nights a week.

  I shoot Mandee a text.

  - I need one extra shift, preferably during the day, lunch crowd. Ask your old man if he has anything.

  Three minutes later I get a response.

  - He says, if you can behave, he will give you Thursday afternoons. I say take it. You and I can work together. But that means you’ll be here for ten hours.

  - I’m in.

  Another hour, there are no side jobs to do. I have only had three more customers and made eight more dollars.

  I walk back into the kitchen and look at Andy, the owner.

  “I’m out,” I tell him.

  “Been slow. Should pick up. See you tomorrow?”

  “No, Andy, I’m out. Done. I’m picking up another shift at the bar.”

  “No two-week notice?” he asks in shock.

  “Andy, look around. You have three waitresses standing around and drinking coffee; you don’t even need me.”

  “Who’s gonna do all the other stuff?” he asks, scratching his head.

  “You’re the boss; tell them to.” I turn to walk out and look back. “Thanks.”

  “Yeah, you, too,” he says, still scratching his head.

  I park the Jeep at my place, go in, and toss the keys on the table. Then I head right back out the door.

  Walking down the road, I think about the fact that in one month’s time, I feel like a totally different person. This place has changed my life, just like I knew it would.

  I just didn’t know how much.

  Mags was the first person I saw, and she immediately put me at ease. I love that woman.

  I laugh, thinking about the first time I saw Gage and how pissed I was at him. Then, one month later, that filthy talking serial dater has become a man I respect, admire, and am head over heels in love with.

  I walk into the house and see him standing at the window, his arm around Mags, and his brother on the other side of him. I shut the door as quietly as I can so I don’t disturb them and what I assume is a moment they have needed for a long time.

  He looks back and sees me standing against the door, his eyes narrowing at m
e. When I give him back the same look, he shakes his stubborn but beautiful head at me.

  He sets a kiss on Mags’ head then starts toward me.

  He stops a foot away. “You’re home.”

  “Yeah, well, I wasn’t making enough money at that place, so I quit.”

  He smiles conceitedly like he just won a battle of some sort and steps toward me.

  I hold my hand out. “I took another shift at the bar.”

  He closes his eyes, his shoulders slouching slightly, not a look I have seen on him before.

  “Gage?”

  He opens his eyes and looks at me.

  “You good?”

  He shakes his head.

  I take his hand and lead him to his office. Once inside, I close the door.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Brand knows.”

  I gasp. “Already? Did she tell him. That bitch. I’ll—”

  He grabs my hand as I start walking back toward the door, and then he takes my face in his hand. He pulls me closer and kisses my forehand, letting his lips rest there as he takes in a deep breath. I stand as still as possible and put my hands on his hips.

  “Talk to me,” I whisper.

  He pulls back and grabs one of my hands, walking us around his desk where he sits and pulls me down onto his lap.

  I reach up and run my nails lightly up and down his scruff, and he sighs.

  “He overheard a conversation when Garrett and Jules followed me into my office.”

  “They were together?” I ask.

  He nods. “Walked in on some sort of fight this morning. Kept on walking; they followed. He said he wasn’t ready. He wanted to wait longer. Brand overheard part of it. He wanted the truth, so I had to give it to him.” He sits quietly for a few moments. “He called me Uncle Gage. They’re on the fucking dock fishing. And Phoenix, I’m happy as fuck that it’s going okay for them, but that shit hurts.”

  I lean in and kiss him, not knowing what else to do. “Gage, this has happened so fast—you finding out, him finding out. I can’t imagine how hard it is to sit back and watch, but you raised him. You’ll always be the man who raised him, regardless of what he calls you. And believe it or not, someday, you’ll have more kids calling you Daddy, and he will be like a big—”

  “I’m counting on that. I hope you want about twenty because I am a good fucking dad, Phoenix, and I am gonna get you so fucking pregnant that—”

  “Hold up.” I almost laugh.

  “I’m not fucking joking, and you know what. I’m never putting a fucking rubber on again, either, so you fuck me, you run the chance of getting—”

  “Gage,” I say, putting my fingers over his lips. “You and I just started out, and you’re very emotional right now—”

  “I’m in love with you.” He looks at me like I have three fucking heads. “Do you know what that means?”

  “I think I do.”

  “There is no thinking. The first time I saw you, you caught my eye, then you pissed me off, challenged me, and you haven’t stopped doing any of those things since. No one, and I mean no one, has ever had me this way. I’m a fucking catch, Phoenix. And you, you’re a hard woman to love. No man in their right goddamn mind would be able to handle you. No woman in their right goddamn mind would still be here with me. We, you and I, we got something. Unless you’re planning an exit, this is fucking it for me. You tell me when it’s the same for you.” He stands, and I slide off his lap.

  When he walks toward the door, I’m pissed. So pissed I won’t even stop him.

  But I do.

  “You walk out, my crazy ass will do the same!”

  He turns and looks at me.

  “You and I don’t have shit if you think you can lay something like that on me and walk away. I don’t know if it was a compliment or a dig, Gage.” I sit in his chair. “I’m not someone who takes kindly to being told what to do.”

  “That makes two of us, sweetheart,” he snaps.

  “Care to let me know exactly what it is I demanded out of you?”

  He stiffens, scratches his head, and runs his hand up and down his sexy yet infuriating scruff. Then he walks over to me, kisses the top of my head, and with his lips still on it, he whispers, “We’re going to have babies. Lots of fucking babies.” Then he walks out.

  Totally fucking crazy in love with that man.

  I grab the sides of my hair. “God help me.”

  Mags and I sit at the table silently as Gage paces from room to room.

  “Known that man since he was in diapers. My boy loves you.”

  “I love him, too, but he’s a little cracked right now,” I whisper.

  “Got every reason to be,” she whispers back.

  I nod.

  She chuckles. “You two are gonna be a hundred and still fighting to be on top.”

  I look at her quickly, ready to defend myself, but I can’t.

  “What are you waiting for?” she asks.

  I consider her question, but there is nothing, not one thing. He’s told me everything a girl needs to hear, showed me everything one would want to see, and he’s clearly a man of his word. Regardless, he’s going through hell.

  “What happens if he wakes up in a week, a month, a year and decides that all these feelings between us were brought on by circumstance?”

  “Oh, honey girl, he’s never gonna do that. Can’t you see it in him? It’s clear as day. That man is far from confused. He’s done right by everyone around him. Not an easy thing to do, but he’s done it. Then add falling in love, no wonder he’s a little cracked.”

  I watch him walk into his office.

  “My boy’s in love. Love don’t happen like that too many times.” She takes a sip of her coffee. “My girl got stars in her eyes and is in love, too. Go get that man.”

  “Mags, he just told me he is going to knock me up,” I whisper-hiss.

  She laughs so loud I’m surprised all of them aren’t in here, worried about her. Hell, I am.

  “Oh my,” she says, still laughing. “Then what the hell are you doing sitting here with me? Go make a baby.”

  I kiss her head as I stand. “You’ve cracked, too.”

  She laughs again as I walk toward the stairway, heading up to go hide in Gage’s room.

  I lie on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, when Brand walks in, looking exhausted.

  “Hi,” he whispers.

  I turn and smile at him. “Crazy day, I hear.”

  “Yeah,” he says, yawning.

  “Tired?”

  When he nods, I pat the bed beside me.

  “Me, too. Come hang out with me.”

  He climbs up and lies down next to me.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  “Dad, Gage, Dad.” He turns his little face toward me. “I don’t know what to call him.”

  “Well, what is he to you, Brand?”

  “He’s Dad,” he says, eyes filling with tears. “But Garrett is Dad, too.”

  I rest the side of my head against his. “Then you call them both Dad.”

  He yawns again.

  “Brand, there is no rush to figure it out. They both love you, right?”

  He nods.

  “You are so lucky.”

  He nods again.

  “I’m kind of jealous of you. I only have one.”

  “Yeah.”

  Within minutes, he’s asleep, head against mine. And within minutes, I am falling asleep, too.

  When I wake up, Brand is still out. I look at the clock and see Gage standing in the doorway, watching him. His eyes shift to me, and he sees I’m awake. He looks exhausted, too.

  I pat the spot beside me in the huge bed, and he pushes off the wall and walks over, lying down and moving closer to me.

  Not a word is said. Not one.

  I lie there, looking at the ceiling, Brand on one side of me and Gage on the other. I try my best not to imagine how many more babies could fit in this bed, but it’s impossible.

 
; I lay my hands on my belly, and his covers mine.

  “I’m not gonna push. We have plenty of time. But Jesus, Phoenix, how perfect is this?”

  I start to tell him that he’s pushing, but he covers my lips.

  “I’m exhausted.”

  “Okay.”

  When I know he’s asleep, I slide down the bed very slowly and climb out.

  I use the bathroom then head downstairs.

  Looking for my shoes brings me to Gage’s office where I see his is computer on. I sit down and see the website for Falcon’s Landing. Browsing the photos, I am a little off put. It’s so much more beautiful here than the pictures show.

  Home.

  I can’t imagine leaving this place...ever.

  I click on the reservations link to find out how much the cabins rent for and see that there are five new reservations, all for July fourth weekend.

  Less than a week away.

  I open a drawer, searching for a pen and a pad of paper. I need to go to each of the cabins and see exactly what is needed since they are supposed to have a fully stocked kitchen and linens.

  I smile as I head out of his office with something to do.

  “Where you heading?” Mags ask.

  “I was going to get online and found that somehow the website for this place opened. I don’t know if Gage is aware, but five of the cabins are rented for the week of the fourth. I’m just going to check out what they may still need.”

  She smiles and nods. “Get to work, then.”

  I do, and it feels good to be doing something meaningful.

  Within an hour, I see Gage and Brand walking up toward the four cabins on the west side as I am walking out of one.

  “There she is,” Brand says, smiling as he runs toward me. “Hey, Phoenix, Mags said we’re gonna have campers.”

  “Well, if I saw it right, yes, you will.”

  “You saw it right?” Gage asks, looking slightly annoyed.

  I laugh. “What?”

  “Dad’s friends are coming. He called and told them they’d hate it, but they don’t care. And they’re bringing kids, too. So now, we gotta get to work on the playground.”

  “Playset, Brand,” Gage corrects him.

  Brand laughs. “Yeah, whatever.”

  Brand takes off down the road, and Gage calls after him, “Where are you going?”