Heather Rainier

by His Tattooed Virgin

  Softly, Teresa said, “Eleazar?” With her Spanish accent, the name came out like a caress. Eleazar turned at her voice, and Teresa whispered, “Respectfully.”

  Eleazar smiled and nodded then turned back to Jayne. “I’m fine, Jayney-baby.” Then he gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek, hugged her neck, and wiggled to be put down.

  Jayne raised an inquiring eyebrow to Teresa, and her friend whispered, “He sees Joaquin and Angel kissing me all the time and we noticed he’s…got very low boundaries where women are concerned. We want to make sure he’s showing proper respect to ladies of all ages.”

  Joaquin chuckled as he walked up and laid his hands affectionately on Teresa’s shoulders. “What she’s not telling you is that Eleazar laid a wet one on one of his preschool classmates and we got a phone call about it. He’s a lover, not a fighter,” he said with a chuckle. “He gets it from me.”

  Teresa swatted him playfully then spooned up another bite of applesauce for Toby, who was sitting with his little mouth wide open, waiting expectantly.

  “Where’s Michael?” Jayne asked, inquiring after their five-year-old.

  “He’s running errands with Ash this morning at the feed store. Ash said he could use the help if Michael had the time,” Angel said with a smile. “He likes listening to Ash tell about his bareback bronc riding days.” Jayne could just picture their son sitting raptly listening to the big sandy-haired cowboy tell about his days on the circuit. Both of Michael’s dads had also been rodeo cowboys and were now retired from that life and were running the Andalusian horse breeding operation at the Divine Creek Ranch.

  “Has Lucy seen Toby yet?” Jayne asked as she opened the oven. Her mouth watered at the scent of the breakfast tacos warming inside.

  Seth shook his head. “I haven’t heard a peep from her and we haven’t exactly been quiet.” He pointed at Angel and Joaquin, who had been assembling the crib and were bringing in another load of boxes from their truck parked outside.

  “Hey, Jayne, is this yours?” Joaquin held out a pale straw cowboy hat with a silver-studded hat band embellished with a colorful feather decoration. “It was in the flowerbed beside the door.”

  Seth took it from him. “This is Lucy’s.”

  A door rumbled in its frame down the hallway, as though the person behind it was having trouble opening it, then shuffling was heard and the quiet closure of the bathroom door across the hall.

  Lucy was awake.

  Everyone proceeded like normal when Lucy stumbled blearily into the living room, dressed in rumpled clothes, with her eyes still mostly closed and her brows drawn together like she was in terrible pain. Her hair was a wild tangle, and her eye makeup was smeared, making her look a bit like a raccoon. She paused when the parts of the crib stacked neatly against the couch came into view, and she squinted.

  Poor Lucy. I’m not sure she’s up to this surprise.

  She frowned and stared at the crib like a calf looking at a new gate, rubbed her head, which evidently ached ferociously. Jayne held back a giggle when she noticed there was a note pinned to Lucy’s blouse. In a masculine hand was scrawled, “Call me when you’re sober, darlin’. I’d love to pick up where we left off before you passed out. Vance.” A phone number was listed next to Vance’s name.

  Lucy rubbed her head, peered around, and gradually focused on all the faces turned her way. A pained smile came over her face until her eyes came to rest on Toby, and then her face went blank. Glancing at the baby, Jayne noticed that Toby’s expression matched hers, though his mouth was open like a little bird’s, absently searching for the next bite of oatmeal from Teresa.

  Lucy put her hand down and noticed the sheet of paper pinned to her blouse. She pulled it off and read it, swaying a little on her feet. She groaned, and Jayne’s heart went out to her.

  Seth cleared his throat. “Lucy—”

  Lucy cringed as though he spoke too loudly and cut Seth off. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I got some ’splaining to do.” Turning back to her bedroom, she muttered, “I’ll ’splain when this weird-ass dream is over.”

  As her door quietly slipped closed, Seth chuckled. “All I was going to do was ask if she was okay.”

  “I’ll take her a cup of coffee and the painkillers,” Jayne said.

  She heard a groan when she tapped on Lucy’s door a minute later. Lucy sat on the edge of the bed, shielding her eyes from the morning sunlight shining in through the window.

  After gratefully taking a sip of the coffee, Lucy took the meds and drank the bottle of water Jayne offered her. “Oh, my aching head.” She put her hands back over her eyes and pressed then suddenly pulled her hands down and looked at Jayne. “Did I just see a baby who’s the spitting image of Seth in the kitchen, or did I hallucinate that?” She grimaced and cradled her head in her hands.

  Shaking her head, Jayne softly replied, “Nope. We had a little surprise show up last night.”

  “Tamar!” Lucy said and then cringed, as the word evidently echoed around in her brain like Big Ben’s bell ringing at full blast. “Tamar. A baby?” she whispered.

  “Yep. And kept it a secret. It was a big shock to Seth.”

  “Where is she, so I can kill her ass, after I can move, that is.”

  “She’s gone. She left him.”

  “Left him? For how long?”

  Jayne shrugged. “For good.”

  “She abandoned him? That fucking whore!”

  “Tamar said she couldn’t handle him anymore. She made it clear that if Seth didn’t want him she’d find someone else to give him to.”

  The thought made Jayne shudder. If neither of them had been home, would she have abandoned him on their doorstep, or worse, left him somewhere else defenseless just so she could be on her way? Fruitless anger filled her, but she pushed it aside, realizing Seth needed her and those feelings would be counterproductive. They couldn’t afford to labor on the whys because it looked like they might never know.

  Jayne patted Lucy’s shoulder then leaned forward to remove the safety pin from her blouse. “Why don’t you get cleaned up and dressed and you can meet him.”

  Lucy absently stared down at the note and then, as though realizing Jayne was talking to her, said, “Oh, yeah. I’ll be right there.”

  “There’s breakfast tacos.”

  Lucy made a faint gagging noise.

  Returning to the living room, Jayne smiled as Seth approached her with Toby in his arms. Toby gave her a little smile as he laid his head on his dad’s shoulder. The two of them together was almost more than Jayne could handle, a lump coming into her throat. She was totally in love with both of them.

  “She okay?”

  “A little embarrassed, maybe, and definitely in pain, but she’s okay. She said she’d be out in a few minutes, just needs time to wake up properly, I think. Give the caffeine and ibuprofen a chance to kick in.” Turning her attention to the boxes and bags, she said, “You have a lot to sort out. Would you like some help?”

  Seth seemed so relieved that it was almost comical, coming from someone who was normally so serious. “Yes, I’d love help.”

  “And that’s our cue to skedaddle,” Teresa said as Angel hefted Eleazar into his arms. “We don’t want to start World War III when a certain little angel sees things getting passed down.”

  Joaquin shook his head decisively. “No. We’re a little possessive.”

  Seth and Jayne thanked them for their generosity, and Eleazar kissed Jayne good-bye, gave Seth a high five, and waved at Toby.

  Sitting on the rug in the living room, with Toby playing with his toys nearby, they began sorting through the boxes and bags of clothing.

  “Wow, it’s a good thing I found an apartment yesterday,” Lucy said in a rusty-sounding voice as she took a seat beside them on the couch. “You’re going to need the second bedroom, aren’t you?” She looked like she felt a little more human after her shower. Smiling tenderly at Toby, she murmured, “Well, hello, you little handsome man.”

  “L
ucy, this is Toby,” Seth murmured, pitching her a baby toy.

  “Welcome to the family, Toby.” She shook the rattling toy for him.

  Toby couldn’t resist the toy or Lucy’s winsome greeting and crawled to her with a half smile on his face. He studied her with big, serious blue eyes, so very much like his father’s, as she studied him in return, and then used her pant leg to pull himself up to a standing position.

  Seth gave her a big-eyed look and said, “I’ll visit the hardware store today.”

  Baby-proofing this house just skyrocketed up the priority list.

  Glancing at Lucy, Seth said, “Joaquin found your cowboy hat in the flowerbed.”

  Lucy held Toby to her and hugged him gently as she said, “I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t embarrass you in front of Teresa and her men.”

  Seth and Jayne both made dismissive noises, and Jayne felt her cheeks heat as she said, “I can’t speak for the others, but I’ve tied one on, recently, and it’s good to know people will be there for you.”

  Seth took a stack of board books out of a box as he said, “Vance is a pretty nice guy. I appreciate that he got you home safe without taking advantage of you. What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

  Jayne detected the barest hint of a big brotherly tone in his words and could tell he was holding back for her sake. She also recalled that he’d told her Lucy had been hurt by somebody in her past as well.

  Toby squirmed to get down and went to investigate what Seth had, and Lucy picked up a stack of clothes and started absentmindedly sorting them. “I found a little house I liked, and dropped by Madeleine’s to introduce myself and make out an application. She set up a time for me to come for an interview. To celebrate, I went out to The Dancing Pony. I wanted to give the two of you some time alone, you know?” They nodded and she continued, “It was a quiet night, at least until Vance showed up. My gosh, that cowboy can dance. And just my luck, the two jerks were there too.”

  She knew Lucy was referring to Beck O’Malley and Patrick Owen because Lucy had already told Jayne about her first meeting with them. Even though they were going through some hard times at the moment, neither man was needlessly cruel. Jayne wondered if there hadn’t been a misunderstanding.

  Lucy sounded even more miffed as she said, “So, they were there, watching me, I have no idea why, since I’m not good enough. I decided to have a good time with Vance, and just show them that some men appreciate a curvy woman. Unfortunately, I guess I had one too many of those kick-ass margaritas that Ben and Quinten make.”

  Seth chuckled and Jayne felt her cheeks warm up again as she murmured, “Oh, I know a thing or two about those margaritas myself.” Her head even twinged a little in sympathy.

  “The last thing I remembered was leaving with Vance. I guess I passed out in his truck. I can’t believe he gave me his number, considering what a lush I am.”

  Seth chuckled again and said, “Vance is a pretty good guy. He may have been thinking with his small brain last night, but he wouldn’t take advantage of you. And you’re not a lush. A barfly, maybe”—he dodged when Lucy swatted at him—“but not a lush.”

  “So what’s the plan with little Mr. Toby?”

  Seth and Jayne exchanged a long look and then Seth replied, “I’ve rearranged my schedule and taken today off. I’ve got to think over my options and make some phone calls.”

  Jayne squeezed his hand when he laced their fingers together.

  Jayne had no doubt about Seth’s resolve. The emotion in his eyes said it all. “He’s mine. Anyone who says differently will have a hell of a time getting him away from me.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Late August…

  Jayne sat at the conference table in one of the library offices enjoying a little solitude while she ate her lunch. Rowena and Daisy were manning the checkout counter while she ate and relaxed. It had been two weeks since Toby had arrived and she missed Seth and Toby as well. It hadn’t taken her long to grow attached to him but she’d felt it was important that he have time to bond with his father without interference or distraction so she’d tried to give them their space.

  She’d planned to write in her journal while she ate lunch but found that she’d spent most of the time just thinking about them. As she flipped the page, rereading what she’d written earlier, two folded sheets slid from the pages of the journal.

  “What’s this?” A flush heated her cheeks as she unfolded the first sheet. It was a sketch of her, curled up, sleeping with Toby. Tears clouded her vision as she fumbled to unfold the other paper, only to find that it wasn’t a drawing.

  For Jayne

  Underneath the clear Divine Sky

  You’ve given me a reason to try

  A living canvas on the woman to be mine

  You listened to the story of my past

  To let it go, I guess that it was time

  Now with this work of art in your perfect skin

  And the gentle love you give, I finally have peace of mind

  Life is switching lanes and changing gears

  We will go together from here

  I’ll spend my days and nights showing you I care

  You’ve answered for me

  My one and only prayer

  We’re adding to each other

  Layer by beautiful layer

  -Seth

  The worries that she’d had over the previous two weeks settled as she reread the poem and looked at the sketch. It was a fine line she’d been walking with Seth and Toby, since he’d arrived. Her cancer physician and Dr. Hawks had confirmed a few years before that she couldn’t have kids. She’d worried that Seth might think she was trying to step into the role of mom to Toby. She pulled out her phone and sent a text message.

  “I love you so much.”

  She giggled at his reply when it came, even though tears still streamed from her eyes.

  “You mean it’s not just the red-hot sex you’re after?”

  She snickered as she replied, feeling more relaxed with each word. “Oh, you’re still my boy toy but I really, really love you. I just found the sketch and poem in my journal. I love them.”

  “I love you too. You seemed out of sorts the last few days. Me and Toby getting to you?”

  “No! I can’t seem to get enough, actually. I was worried.”

  “About what?”

  “That I’ve been wearing out my welcome. Getting in your way, maybe?”

  “Never. He asks for you when you aren’t here at night.”

  She’d helped wherever she could when Seth had a conflict in his work schedule and needed her to watch Toby. She’d made it a priority to give them time alone in the evenings to bond, even though it meant missing Seth…and Toby too. Another text followed on the heels of that one before she could finish typing her message.

  “You still coming to the studio tonight? Lucy is picking Toby up from day care for me. He’ll be at home with her until we get done. You could come and have supper with us after I finish working on you.”

  Her pussy tingled at the way she wanted him to work on her. Her last tattoo session was scheduled for late that afternoon, after work. Seth had been so busy with Toby that it had left them only the rare moment alone, because she’d felt that Seth needed time with Toby. He’d worked on Jayne’s tattoo in mid-August and had completed the script lettering. When he’d suggested one more session to add a few little details and flourishes, she’d readily agreed.

  “Yes, I’ll be there.”

  Even though she knew he had to be exhausted from dealing with a little one, and all the changes in his life, he’d still given her all the personal attention she’d craved when they were together. Thankfully, Toby tended to be a heavy sleeper.

  “Good. And plan to stay overnight.” She could almost see the wicked gleam in his eyes.

  “Bossy! Are you sure?”

  “I have a good idea what’s been bothering you and I know the cure.”

  “Oh yeah? Bring it on, Mister Domi
nator.”

  “Grrr. Love you.”

  She replied in kind and put her phone away. After checking the time, she wrote for twenty minutes, her muse fueled by the excitement Seth created inside her. Maybe she’d read what she’d written to him later tonight.

  * * * *

  “Tell me what’s going through that pretty little head of yours, baby,” Seth murmured as he feathered in a shadow behind one of the roses on Jayne’s tattoo. The shading disguised what had remained of the light bronzing which had been one of the lasting signs of the radiation therapy Jayne had undergone. The scars from her lymph node biopsies on her abdomen were hidden as well.

  “Lots of stuff. What do you want to know?”

  “Well, when you stayed away from my place most nights the last couple of weeks, I could’ve worried that you didn’t want me anymore.”

  Jayne scoffed and rolled her eyes. “That’s sounds so ridiculous coming from you.”

  “Almost as ridiculous as you thinking that I might feel like you were usurping the role of mother to Toby by spending time with us?”

  Her jaw dropped and then she snapped it closed, making him grin.

  “Busted. I wanted you to have time to bond.”

  “We’re bonding just fine. I’ve missed you at night.”

  “I figured you’d be exhausted. Kids are hard work.”

  “That’s no lie. But I’ve still missed holding you at night. You know, the boy does sleep pretty soundly, and I’ve always been a night owl.”

  “I just didn’t want you to think I was inserting myself into your home in the role of ‘Instant Mommy.’”

  “If I was a less secure man, I’d have been worried that you felt threatened.”

  “Oh, brother. Now you’re being silly.”

  “So we’re done with these silly ideas.”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” He held the tattoo machine away from her skin. “We’re done.”

  Jayne’s eyebrows shot up. “We are? Really done?” She bit her lip in excitement as he laid the machine aside and helped her sit up. She hopped naked off the table, which he particularly enjoyed, and went to the mirror. She bobbed with excitement until she looked in the mirror. He smiled with great pleasure when she made eye contact with him in the reflection, and with her lips trembling, she said, “I love it. It’s perfect.”