“Yeah, but two more people are hitching a ride with you while you do it, babe. That’d wear anybody down after a while. You aren’t Superwoman, baby. Let me and the rest of the family carry some of the load. I want to pamper you. All you have to do is let me, darlin’.”
Patience frowned. She was accustomed to being self-sufficient and calling her own shots. Letting somebody – even Abel – step in and take care of her… it was a scary proposition.
But, it was necessary, her conscience and kicking babies reminded her.
She needed to let go of her control issues and start trusting the man that was sharing her life. “You know,” she began with a sniffle, “if somebody had told me a year ago that you’d end up being my hero, I’d have given them directions to the nearest loony bin.”
“And now?” Abel asked, his lips smiling against hers as he gave her a light kiss.
“Sometimes, I think I ought to have myself committed for running from you for so long,” Patience shared, tilting her head to offer him a tearful smile.
“Can I get that in writing?” Abel teased, his eyes glittering with humor as he stared back at her.
“Absolutely not!” Patience refused with a watery laugh. “And if you repeat what I said to anyone I have it on good authority that with the right conductor and a live wire, that cock ring you wear can be used as a torture device.” Seeing Abel’s horrified eyes widen, Patience shrugged. “I’m just sayin’.”
And as Abel shook his head in dismay and started his Mercedes, Patience felt just a little bit lighter as they drove toward home.
Chapter Twenty-One
One Little Bitty Month Later
From the time Abel Turner had been old enough to understand the words his father spoke to him, his daddy had told him that there would be a time in his life that would test his mettle as a man.
When he’d been younger, he’d never really put too much thought into those cautionary words. When he’d been a kid – like most boys his age - he’d thought he was ten foot tall and bulletproof and nothing that had happened in his life had ever given him a reason to believe otherwise.
As he’d aged, he’d forgotten that wise warning his father had given him.
Until now.
Now, there was no doubt that his mettle was getting tested in a big way.
By a hormonally challenged, rage infused beautiful blonde bent on his destruction.
It was safe to say that now he knew what his daddy had been talking about.
“Abel!” He cringed as he listened to Patience whine from her mound of pillows in the center of their rumpled king sized bed. Covered with her laptop, cell phone, cordless phone, and all manner of remotes, books, and magazines, he was fairly certain that she could run a small country from the center of her mattress.
“This is ridiculous! I’ve been in bed for over a month already. Just let me up, darn it! This has gotta be something akin to unlawful detainment,” Patience complained, slapping her hands against the covers in frustration.
Abel took a deep breath and prepared himself for their now-familiar battle of wills. “And in that time, you haven’t had a single headache or dizzy spell. Every time we’ve checked, your blood pressure has been on the high side of normal, but normal nevertheless. These are all great improvements, woman! We’re doing something right here. Let’s not rock this particular boat until we get the all-clear from Dr. Daniels. You know he said he thought next week would be your week,” Abel tried to calmly reason with her.
He should have yelled; nothing irritated Patience more than his rare ability to remain unruffled in the face of a fire-breathing she-dragon.
For his efforts, she threw her paperback book at him.
Luckily, it missed.
Well, it missed this time.
She’d nearly knocked him out yesterday when she’d actually been reading one of her hardback novels.
“Look, Hellion, in just a few more days, we’ll go back and see the doctor for your check-up. If he gives the green light…”
“Abel, I need to help Honor hire some help,” she interrupted sharply, her blue eyes darkening as her exasperation built. “I know everybody has been pulling extra shifts to cover for me for the last month and that Zeke, Maggie, Ice and even you have taken turns behind the bar, but that can’t go on forever! We need to get some additional help in here to take some of the pressure off all of you! We can’t expect friends and family to keep filling in for Faith and me. Especially when Faith is due to be popping out her baby any time now. And if we leave the task to Honor alone, she’ll fill the positions with whichever applicants have the saddest sob stories!”
“I heard that!” Honor yelled huffily from her position at the sink where she stood washing their breakfast dishes.
Abel shot a commiserative smile toward the younger woman. The baby of the McKinnon family had been a bona fide godsend these past weeks. From cooking them tasty meals to cleaning the loft when it needed a scrub, Honor had taken his back from the moment the doctor put Patience to bed – often stopping in to check on them before she started work in the morning and staying long after her own shifts ended at the café to keep Patience company while he worked at his law practice. Harmony and Faith had also taken their turns with their sister, but with Harmony having her daughter, Heaven, and her husband, Jake, to take care of and Faith being heavily pregnant, they just hadn’t been able to do quite as much as Honor.
And honestly, Honor and Patience’s bestie, Maggie were probably the only ones left in Paradise that could tolerate his woman’s mood swings without wanting to tape her mouth shut, tie her up, and lock her in a closet until she was ready to deliver.
“Am I wrong?” Patience growled, glaring at her baby sister, daring her with one look to try and lie.
“Well…” Honor muttered evasively.
“Hon, sweetie, the last time you hired a waitress, you let her steal out of the till for a month before you said a word to me about it because you felt bad that the girl was living with an asshole.”
“She told me she was stealing because she was saving up to leave him!” Honor defended her actions staunchly. “I was attempting to do the Christian thing, Pitty Pat! Daddy always said to share with the less fortunate.”
“Uh huh, sure. That girl was real fortunate I didn’t kick her stealing butt all the way to the unemployment line. Tell Abel, Little Miss Christianity, what happened the week after I canned her thieving butt?” Patience asked shrewdly, never willing to be anybody’s fool for a single second.
“I saw her wedding announcement in the paper,” Honor mumbled unhappily as she scrubbed at the pan that Abel had scrambled eggs in earlier.
“That’s right! That shifty little wench lied to you and had been stealing from us to fund her fairytale wedding! Believe me, Abel,” Patience barked, shifting her attention to the man standing beside the bed, “I need to be present for those interviews!”
“What if I agreed to serve as your proxy?” Abel bargained, hoping like hell he’d win this argument. Coming out on top was getting harder and harder where his Hellion was concerned. She was getting more adept at outsmarting him than he liked.
“My what?” Patience snapped, pursing her lips as she stared at him.
“Your proxy,” he repeated, ignoring the scowl on his lover’s face. “I’d be your stand-in during the interview process. Basically, I’d be your delegate. I’d be you for a day.”
“And you’d be making all my decisions?” Patience scoffed, raising her eyebrow as she tilted her head and glared at Abel.
“Yes. But only temporarily,” Abel quickly added, well aware that Patience despised relinquishing her control over the situation to anybody.
“But the employee you help hire while your pretending that you can be me….that’d be permanent, wouldn’t it?”
“Well, yes, but any decision I’d make would be made with your best intentions at heart,” he vowed, his shoulders sagging in defeat as Patience automatically began to shake her hea
d.
“Nope. No. Nuh-uh. Not happening. If I’m gonna be forced to live with the decision that gets made, I’m gonna be part of the team makin’ it. Y’all better come up with something else.”
Abel felt like his head was going to explode. He was an attorney for God’s sake. A good one, damn it. He was good at making arguments. So, how the hell was it that lately he couldn’t manage to win one argument with the stubborn woman staring at him? And why the hell couldn’t Patience ever just allow herself to depend on him without a bloody war erupting between them.
Clearing her throat, Honor’s uncertain voice pulled him from his angry thoughts before he could open his mouth and get himself in trouble. Turning to face Patience’s sister, he asked, “Did you want to say something, Honor?”
“If it’s that you can do this on your own, forget it,” Patience griped.
Not to be cowed, Honor shook her head. “No, but I might have a compromise if you’re interested.”
“We’re all ears,” Abel said before his woman could say anything hateful. “Go ahead, darlin’,” he invited. “Tell us what you’ve got in mind.”
“Well, if we could move around some of these boxes,” Honor said, gesturing at the boxes of baby furniture and equipment that Abel had stacked against the wall, waiting to be put together, “and get this loft in some kind of order, we could do the interviews up here,” she suggested.
“Where would you like us to move them to, sis?” Patience questioned impatiently. “This is where that stuff goes.”
Honor shook her head. “Patience, there’s barely room for you, Abel, and these boxes up here. How do you expect to add two little babies into the mix?”
Abel’s lips twitched as Patience’s face became mutinous. This, too, was a familiar argument between him and the Hellion – one which he’d lost time and time again. Silently, he wished Honor good luck. Patience had yet to cave even a little bit on their living arrangements no matter how loudly he had alternately begged and shouted.
“There’s plenty of room up here,” Patience declared petulantly, sweeping her arm out to encompass the room. “We might have to rearrange things a bit, but….”
“Patience Orla McKinnon, be reasonable!” Honor admonished, tossing her dishrag in the sink as she turned toward her older sister and propped her hands on her hips. “This place is so crowded that I can barely get to the bathroom. I still haven’t figured out how you’re squeezing yourself past half these boxes!”
Patience’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Are you callin’ me fat, Honor?”
“Abort! Abort!” Abel whispered frantically out of the corner of his mouth as he kept one eye glued to the mother of his unborn babies.
Honor rolled her eyes. “That can’t be news to you, Pitty Pat,” Honor remarked lightly, “You’re packin’ around two Turner babies. Cain and Abel aren’t exactly small men.”
“Sure, blame me,” Abel grumbled under his breath. “It’s not like she doesn’t hold me responsible for everything from leaving the lid off the toothpaste to world hunger. A couple more sins won’t hurt.”
Patience huffed. “Where do you expect me to go, Honor. It’s not as if I can get up and go house hunting. I’m on bed rest,” she replied, sneering. “Remember?”
“Oh, I don’t think any of us could forget. You’d never allow it,” Honor retorted, unfazed by her sister’s growls and snarls. “You do realize that Abel has a perfectly lovely house in a very nice neighborhood, don’t you?”
“Oh, I remember,” Patience spat. “Not happening.”
“Why in the world not?” a discouraged Honor asked bluntly. “It’s one of the most expensive homes in town! What fault could you possibly find with…”
“Oh, please don’t ask that,” Abel begged, cringing when Patience’s face flooded with color and her eyes seemed to glow with unconcealed indignation and rage.
“Oh, I’ll tell you how I can fault that house, sister! He’s fucked half of Paradise County’s women in it!” Patience yelled, slapping her hands against the bed as she flopped back against the pillow.
Honor’s eyes flew to Abel. “What? Did she just say….”
“I told him over a month ago that I flat out refuse to lay my head to pillow on a bed in a house where he’s screwed other women,” Patience continued firmly. “I won’t do it. I don’t care what y’all say! He can take his McMansion and burn it to the ground for all I care. I will not live in that house,” she raged.
Nodding supportively now, Honor bit her lip before looking at Abel and wincing. “I can’t blame her. I wouldn’t stay there either knowing all that. Not to rub salt in your wounds, Abel, but you should have known that Patience would never agree to stay there with you.”
“And that’s why I contacted a realtor last week to put the house on the market. The listing will appear in Knoxville’s Sunday paper.”
Both women’s jaws dropped at that bombshell.
“You did? You put it on the market? For me?” Patience whispered, her eyes dilating in surprise.
“Of course, it’s for you,” Abel returned, frowning. Didn’t this crazy woman know that he’d do absolutely anything to make her happy yet? “When I realized just how much you hated the idea of my house, I knew I had to get rid of it. But, baby, Honor is right. We can’t stay here. There isn’t enough room, and I won’t have you going up and down those stairs fifty times a day with two babies. It’s too dangerous. And I want a better class of neighbor for you, too,” he added.
Honor did chuckle then. “Diego is a perfectly kind man, Abel. He’s changed. You know that.”
“Still don’t want him so damn close to my woman. Hell, he can hear everything that goes on in here. I hear him laughing at me all the time when Patience is reaming me a new one.”
“Well, that would be uncomfortable,” Honor laughed. “No man likes an audience when his girlfriend is cataloguing his sins.”
Right on cue, all three of them heard Diego’s deep laughter from across the hall.
“See?” Abel snarled. “That Mexican meathead laughs at my pain on a regular basis!”
“One problem at a time, please,” Honor responded lightly. “I think we’re in the midst of making a breakthrough regarding your current address.”
“Yeah, we are,” Patience agreed in quiet voice, her eyes going soft as they met Abel’s. “Since you’re not trying to talk me into living in that den of sin anymore, I’m willing to talk about our options.”
Turning to look at Honor with wide, excited eyes, Abel lifted one hand to pump a fist in the air. “I could kiss you, Honor!”
“Zeke could kill you, too, but do whatever you think is best,” Patience goaded him. “He still packs that big gun, right, sis?”
Honor rolled her eyes, but those same eyes quickly went wide as she heard Patience say, “We could always move in with Honor until the twins come. She’s got plenty of room since Harmony and Heaven moved out.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Honor asked weakly.
“Well, I know you’ve got to be lonely in that big house all by yourself,” Patience speculated knowingly as she focused her keen gaze on her sister. “And based on the bags under your eyes, I’d say that you’re not sleeping all that well either.”
“I’m fine, Patience,” Honor returned hastily, shaking her head as she took a step backward, bumping into Abel’s chest.
“Bullshit,” Patience returned flatly, crossing her arms over the mound of her belly. “Zeke counted your pills, Hon. You ain’t been takin’ them like the doctor told you to, little sister.”
Seeing Honor’s livid face clench, Abel shook his head. “Patience, maybe this isn’t the time….”
“That doctor was a quack!” Honor declared sharply as her light blue eyes glittered ominously, her voice lashing across the room. “And I can NOT believe y’all have been spyin’ on me again!” she hissed, her chin quivering. “All of y’all promised me that you’d stop interfering in my life if I saw that blasted headshrinker, you traitor!
I just knew somebody had been messin’ about in my bedroom. I thought it was Aunt Orla, but now it turns out it was Ezekiel!” she shouted furiously.
“Technically, I didn’t betray you, Honor. In case you missed it, I’ve been chained to this bed for the last damn month,” Patience yelled right back, thumping her fists against the mattress for emphasis.
“You might not have been the actual culprit, but I’d bet a month of my pecan pies that you were the ringtail leader, Patience,” Honor retorted irately. “You and Zeke are like partners in crime, always teaming up on me, tryin’ to make me do things I don’t wanna do!”
Patience dropped her gaze to the bed guiltily. “We were worried about you, Peanut. You look like death on a Triscuit, girl!”
Honor’s mouth opened and closed as her sister’s opinion of her appearance washed over her. “Well! If that doesn’t beat all! Of course I look like death warmed over, Patience! I’ve got two sisters in the process of bringing forth three new members of this family into the world. Aunt Orla is runnin’ me crazy in our kitchen with all her talk about me bein’ the last little girl she needs to see paired off with somebody. Everywhere I turn, Zeke Monroe magically appears, wantin’ to talk about an ‘us’ that simply doesn’t exist. And finally, I think Uncle Jethro is goin’ senile. Every time I go over to check on him and Aunt Orla at night, he’s misplaced his pants and is walkin’ around with his ding-a-ling flappin’ in the wind! So, YES! I’m a little tired these days!”
“Then why not take the pills that will help you sleep at night?” Patience asked sharply.
“Because they make the nightmares worse!” Honor screamed, holding herself stiffly with her fists clenched tightly at hers sides. “And I’d rather never sleep again than relive everything that’s happened to me when I close my eyes at night! And none of y’all have any right to judge me for how I choose to cope!”
Exchanging a look with Patience, Abel covered one of Honor’s heaving shoulders with one of his hands. “Hey, take a deep breath there, little warrior. You’re right. We don’t have that right, but we care, honey. And if you’re suffering out there in that big house alone, then we need…”
Ready, Willing and Abel (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnon Sisters Book 3) Page 35