by Rose Nickol
Dancing around the kitchen, she did what she needed and quickly had the casserole in the oven. Knowing she had a while for it to cook, she set the timer on her cell phone and stuck it in her pocket. Then, grabbing her e-reader, a cup of coffee, and a sweater, she went out to sit on the porch in the sun and read for a few minutes. It wasn’t long before she was absorbed in her latest erotic BDSM novel and totally unaware of her surroundings.
Immersed in the interaction between her latest book boyfriend and his woman, she didn’t notice what was going on until she heard the voice. “Good morning, Stacie. It’s been a long time.”
Knocking over her cup of coffee, she looked up. There she stood in the flesh, her mother. “What are you doing here?” she asked very loudly, hoping her voice would carry to someone, her men or one of the hands, and help would come. She knew she couldn’t fight Ramona on her own. Even though the woman was a little shorter than Stacie at five feet five inches, she was built like a body builder and you could see the muscles in her arms and legs. Stacie was fit, but didn’t have a chance. The woman had to have twenty-five pounds on her to boot.
“I came to see my daughter. Can’t a mother want to see her only child? Keep your voice down. The whole ranch doesn’t need to know I’m here. As a matter of fact, we should go somewhere quiet and talk so we don’t disturb anyone.”
“I have a casserole in the oven. I can’t leave.” Talk about lame excuses. That had to be on the top of the list.
Ramona laughed and pulled a gun out of her pocket. “I could give a shit less about your casserole. Get your ass out of that chair. We’re going for a walk,” she told Stacie, pointing the gun at her.
Stacie sat for a minute, trying to figure out what to do next. Would her mother really shoot her?
“I said get your ass up!” Ramona had had to walk in from the border of the ranch. She was hot and tired and not in any mood to put up with any shit. She waved the gun in her daughter’s face, hoping she wouldn’t have to shoot the bitch. That was no way to get the mother of the year award. She laughed to herself. Ramona would never be candidate for that particular award.
“Let’s go, I said get up!” Ramona reached out and grabbed Stacie’s arm, pulling her out of the rocker and knocking it over in the process. Keeping a tight grip on the girl’s arm, Ramona started dragging her toward the road leading off the ranch. “I had to walk my ass up here and leave the car behind. Move it!” she said, still dragging Stacie.
Stacie stumbled along behind Ramona, trying to figure out what to do. She needed to get away and run, but on this part of the ranch there was nowhere to hide, and if she ran, she was afraid Ramona would shoot her. She hoped her mother wouldn’t do that, but the woman seemed deranged enough to do anything at this point.
Ramona was muttering and Stacie could barely make out most of it. “Lame-ass man should do what I asked him to. I should have known better. I have to do everything myself. If the little slut would have just given me what I was due, I would never have had to go this far.”
Ramona reached around to backhand Stacie, but she missed. “It’s all your fault. You just had to be selfish with all the money your dad left you. I know that house was worth some money and I know the bastard had life insurance policies. You should have just given me my due and I would have never had to do this.” Ramona trudged even faster down the road, not caring that Stacie almost fell.
Out of breath, but knowing she had to do something, Stacie asked, panting, “Why didn’t you want me?”
“You were an accident. I never wanted kids. I just wanted your dad’s money, and he wasn’t bad-looking. I was never what he wanted me to be. I was young and stupid and let myself get pregnant. You were the result. You were better off with him than you ever would have been with me. I’ve never stayed in one place for long and the life I’ve lived was nothing for a kid to be involved with,” Ramona said, continuing to drag her along.
“Where are you taking me?” Stacie asked, still trying to come up with an escape plan.
“Somewhere I can stash you until those men of yours give me the money I want. What kind of slut are you, anyway? Three men? I’ve done some kinky shit, but never three at once. I guess you are my daughter. Lord knows your dad is spinning in his grave at the thought of you with three men, but you did good, girl. I did some checking and your boys are loaded, and they will give me a pretty penny to keep your ass alive and unmarked. They sure will.” Ramona started laughing uncontrollably and had to stop and bend over, she was laughing so hard.
Stacie saw her chance and pulled free, then ran for her life. She had read somewhere that if you ran in a zigzag pattern it was harder for someone to hit a moving target, so she started running for the house, zigging and zagging all over, trying to avoid being shot. As she ran for the house, she saw one of the men step out onto the porch. She was too far to see who it was but screamed for help.
Running for your life in a zigzag pattern and screaming wasn’t as easy as they made it sound on television and in books, and before she realized it, Stacie had fallen flat on her face. Struggling to get up, not knowing how far away Ramona was and trying to see how much further she had to go to the house, Stacie lost her balance and fell again. Both knees were now scraped and bleeding and her ankle hurt like hell, but she had to get up and get to the house and safety. Once she made it back to her men, she would be safe.
Struggling to get up again, she felt arms come around her and haul her off the ground. “No, let me go!” she screamed, thinking it was Ramona.
“Shh, I’ve got you, relax. We have to get to cover,” the male voice said as they heard a gunshot and Ramona scream out.
She looked to see who had her. It was Luke. He was covering her with his body and moving them swiftly toward the house and her men. He was holding her so close her feet didn’t touch the ground, and they were moving fast.
Stacie heard another gunshot ring out and felt Luke stumble. He was hit, but kept moving. “You have to put me down. You’re hurt, you can’t keep this up. Let me go!” she screamed. They were closer to the house now. She could make it.
“Have to keep you safe,” Luke panted and kept moving. It was getting harder and harder for him to keep this up, but they were so close and it was the only cover around.
Seth was running toward them and Stacie was scared he would get shot, too. Behind Seth was Jake. Grant stood on the porch with a shotgun, aiming toward the road.
Stacie heard gunfire again, but she couldn’t tell whether it was Grant or Ramona. Several of the hands had come out of the bunkhouse and they were all armed, too. Ramona was outnumbered. She turned around and started running back toward where she had parked her car. She knew when it was time to get the hell out.
“Go after her,” Grant yelled to the men from the bunk house. Several started running after her, while several more went to the barn to get horses. Ramona didn’t have a chance.
Grant came running to join Jake and Seth. He picked Stacie up in his arms and carried her to the house, while Jake and Seth helped Luke.
Sitting with Stacie on his lap, Grant dialed 911 on his phone, getting both an ambulance and the sheriff heading the ranch. The next call he made was to Ron Ayers, telling him what was going on. He now knew that Ron was good friends with Luke and would want to be there for the man.
Jake and Seth got Luke settled on the couch. Jake took Stacie from Grant so Grant could go look at Luke’s wound. Grant wasn’t a people doctor, but had treated all the animals on the farm and could at least stop the bleeding and clean the wound. Seth ran to get Grant’s medical kit.
It wasn’t long before two of the men dragged a screaming and spitting Ramona into the house. Stacie cringed in Jake’s lap and he wrapped his arms around her protectively.
“What do you want us to do with this, boss?” one of the hands asked.
There were several things Jake wanted to do with Ramona, but he coldly told the men, “Tie her up and sit on the porch with her until the sheriff arrives. If she
keeps making that noise, gag her.”
“You fucking asshole, I’ll show you a gag!” Ramona screamed as one of the men stuffed a handkerchief in her mouth. The men carried Ramona out to the porch and quickly had her hogtied and sitting in the rocker she had pulled Stacie out of. There were four of them watching her. She wasn’t going anywhere until the sheriff arrived.
Grant looked at the wound in Luke’s leg and it wasn’t as bad as he had first thought. Cleaning it of the blood and debris, he saw it was a small flesh wound. The bullet had missed the bone and major arteries. It looked like it had gone clean through. All Luke would need was a few stitches. Grant wanted to send him to the hospital for X-rays, though, to make sure there were no bullet fragments in the wound.
Luke grumbled and protested but gave in when the ambulance arrived. One of the paramedics was a woman, and very attractive. He wanted to see more of her.
Jake, Grant, and Seth all tried to convince Stacie to go to the hospital, too, but she adamantly refused.
“Look,” she told them, “they probably won’t do anything but clean my knees and send me home with a bandage. Grant can do that and it will be a lot cheaper.”
“We don’t care what it costs. If you need to go, you’re going.” Seth stood with his hands on his hips, ready to battle.
“It’s not about money, you big dummy. I don’t want to be away from all of you.” Stacie started crying. She was at her breaking point. She’d almost been kidnapped by her crazy mother, one man had been shot because of her, and now Seth was starting a fight. Not fair at all.
Jake held Stacie tighter and stared Seth down, something that didn’t happen often. “Seth, think this through. Do you really want her in some hospital where we can’t hold her and be with her, or do you want her here where Grant can take care of her and we can protect her?” If Jake had his way, he’d chain her to the furniture or one of them so she was never out of the house or their sight.
Seth crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at Stacie in Jake’s arms. Turning to Grant, he said, “You look at her wounds. If you think it’s something you can safely treat, I’ll reconsider and let her stay, but I don’t want to do anything more to endanger her.”
Seth was feeling guilty because none of them had been there when Ramona took Stacie. It was their job to protect her and they had failed. She had almost been shot, for God’s sake. It was something he would never forgive himself for.
After the paramedics had Luke loaded up and were headed to the hospital, Grant turned to Stacie. “Where do you hurt, baby?” he asked as he took her from Jake’s arms and started to carry her up the stairs, his brothers trailing behind. He could have looked at her on the couch, but didn’t want to put her there until they had a chance to clean it.
“My knees and the heels of my hands are pretty scraped from falling, and I twisted my ankle running,” Stacie answered with a soft voice, her head on his shoulder.
“Okay, baby, we’re going to put you in a warm tub of water and soak those knees before I clean them. Then I’ll look at wrapping your ankle. We may have to take you for an X-ray, and I will not have any protests, understood?” he told her firmly.
Stacie just nodded. She was starting to come down from her adreline rush and the tears were running down her face. Wrapping her hands tighter around Grant’s neck, she buried her face in his shoulder and started to cry.
Grant was up the stairs by this time and hurried quickly to the master bedroom. Sitting on the side of the bed, he held Stacie and let her cry it out. He couldn’t imagine how devastating it must be to have her own mother betray her like the woman had.
His mother had been wonderful and he still missed her like it was yesterday. He had been very close with both his parents and could remember his mother’s loving arms. His father hadn’t been much of a hugger, except with his mom, but had shown his affection in other ways.
He remembered how in love they were and both of them telling him and his brothers how much they loved them every day. Stacie had now lost both her parents. Not that her mother had ever been involved in her life, but he was sure she had always had a glimmer of hope that someday the woman would want to interact with her. That glimmer was now gone.
Seth and Jake knelt on the floor in front of them, gently touching and stroking Stacie, murmuring soothing words, trying to calm the sobbing woman.
“Let her cry it out. She needs this,” Grant said softly, rubbing Stacie’s back. “Jake, go start the bath. Make it warm, but not too hot, and put a handful of Epsom salts in it. I need to look at her ankle and the salts will help the swelling go down. Seth, you help me get her out of these clothes. Then we want to burn them. She doesn’t need any reminders of today, and get a couple boys to clean up the mess downstairs. She is not to see that.” Grant didn’t take charge often, being the youngest, but there was no stopping him when he got on a roll, and he was.
After he and Seth had Stacie undressed, Grant carried her into the master bath and set her gently in the tub, checking the water first to make sure it was the right temperature. Not that he didn’t trust Jake, he just wanted everything to be perfect. Setting her in the water and propping her head on a pillow, Grant turned to go and get what he needed for her ankle.
“Don’t leave,” Stacie said quietly.
Grant turned around and knelt by the tub, taking Stacie’s hand and kissing it. “We’re all here for you, honey. It’s going to be tough going for a little while, but we will all be here with you,” he told her.
Stacie had stopped crying and was in a state of shock. She couldn’t believe that her mother had pointed a gun and shot at her. The woman really didn’t care about her at all. Stacie had always secretly hoped that one day her mother would reappear and want to know about her life, and maybe one day they could have a relationship. Her dad had been wonderful, but she had missed her mother growing up. Watching her friends with their mothers, she had always envied those relationships and longed for her own mother to teach her the things other mothers taught their daughters, but now she knew it was never to be. It was as if the woman was dead to her.
“Baby, do you want to talk about it?” Grant asked, sitting on the side of the tub.
“I was just thinking, I really am all alone now. I have no one, no family. It’s just me.” Stacie sounded pitiful.
Jake and Seth walked into the room just as Stacie finished. They both walked to the tub and knelt down beside Grant, then reached out and took the hand Grant was still holding, so that they were all holding her hand now.
“Honey, you’ll never be alone again. We will always be here for you. We are a family now. All of us,” Seth told her. Looking at his brothers, he took a deep breath and then said, “Stacie, this isn’t how we planned it, but I can’t wait any longer. We want you to marry us. We want you to have our babies and grow old with us and have grandchildren with us. Our future is with you and we want you forever. Will you marry us and belong to us only, for the rest of your life? Be our family.”
Tears started running down Stacie’s face again, but they were happy tears this time. This was something she had always hoped for. She didn’t know how it would all work and was sure they would have some bumpy times, but couldn’t think of anything that would make her happier. “Yes, I’ll marry all of you. This is my forever. I could never leave you all and I want lots of children.”
“Good, babe, we do, too. A house full of them,” Jake told her, leaning down to kiss her.
As soon as Jake let her go, Seth, then Grant each kissed her passionately. Then Grant cleaned her knees and the heels of her hands, and carried her to the bed to look at her ankle. While he was helping her in the tub, Jake went to get Grant’s medical bag and Seth went to the safe to get their mother’s ring to give to Stacie. The ring had been in their family for generations and it was tradition for the oldest son to give it to his wife. Often, the men in the family shared a wife, though sometimes not, but it was always the oldest brother that passed the ring on. It would n
ow be Stacie’s, until it was time to give it to their son.
Seth carried the ring into the bedroom where Grant and Jake had Stacie sitting on the side of the bed, dressed in a robe, while Grant wrapped her ankle with an elastic bandage. He had decided it wasn’t broken, but she would need to stay off of it for a few days until the swelling went down. Seth sat down beside Stacie and pulled the ring out of the box. Taking her hand, he slipped it on the third finger of her left hand. It fit perfectly.
“This was our mother’s, and our grandmother’s before her. It’s been passed down in the family for several generations and no one knows how old it is for sure. We would like you to wear it. We can get you something newer if you want that, but we would really like you to wear this one.”
“No, it’s perfect. I love it and it means more that it was passed down than it would if it was new. Thank you,” Stacie said reverently. It really touched her heart that they would trust her with something that had so much senimental value and obviously meant so much to them. The ring was simple a gold band with a single diamond set with a small stone on each side. Looking closer at the ring, it looked like there was scrollwork or writing embedded in the band.
Seth saw Stacie studying the band and answered her unspoken question. “It says ‘I love you.’ I’m not sure, but I think it’s Old English. I had to have it appraised when I got it insured and the jeweler made an impression of the writing and blew it up. I’ll show it to you one day.”
Seth, Jake, and Grant each admired the ring on her hand and each kissed the palm of her hand. Then they all helped settle her in the bed to rest. Jake was going to stay with her while she rested. Grant and Seth were going to talk to the sheriff and see how progress was going on cleaning up the mess from what had happened. Seth also wanted to call and check on Luke. Since they had found out who he was and what he was doing, the men had become close friends and Seth was worried about his injury.