They fell into a deep sleep and didn’t wake until Destiny began fussing in the morning.
Grady got up and took Destiny from the room, letting Autumn sleep in. He knew she needed the rest.
They were in Mrs. Lane’s small house and Shirley was staying there too.
She was downstairs in the kitchen when Grady got there and she poured him some coffee.
“How did you sleep?” she said.
“Like a dead man.”
Her eyebrows rose, disapproving of the reference to death so soon after a funeral, and Grady cleared his throat.
“Like a baby, I should say,” he said, but it was too late.
“I suppose you and my niece will be looking to sell this house as soon as possible,” she said.
“I don’t know a thing about that,” Grady said.
“Well, you might as well know, you’re timing has been impeccable. My sister had her will amended after your visit. She left everything to you and Autumn together.”
“Why would she do that?”
“You tell me,” Shirley said.
“I’m sure I don’t know,” Grady said, getting ready for an argument.
He didn’t know Shirley well but he knew enough to know she got jealous easily and that she wouldn’t take it well that he and Autumn were getting probably the only valuable piece of property in the entire Lane family.
“Sure you do. I saw you and my sister talking conspiratorially when you came to visit. What were you doing? Cutting a deal?”
“A deal is the last thing we were cutting.”
“What did she offer you? Pay for her hospital treatment and propose to her destitute daughter in exchange for a free house?”
“I have zero interest in a free house, Shirley. I assure you of that.”
“But you’re going to marry Autumn, aren’t you?”
“I reckon that’s something for me and Autumn to decide without you.”
“Oh, you’re so sure of yourself, aren’t you? You’ve got this all planned out.”
Grady rolled his eyes. Stealing her family inheritance was about as far from his mind as a thing could be. During his years in the Brotherhood he’d taken part in so many high-stakes robberies that he’d managed to amass a fortune that would make Shirley’s eyes water. The house wouldn’t even cover his accountant’s bill for the year. It certainly wasn’t on his radar.
He heard a sound from the door and looked up to see Autumn coming down, still dressed in her pajamas. She looked well rested and a lot less emotionally vulnerable than she had the day before. He knew his assurances that she’d never be alone, that she’d have him forever, and that her mother had died knowing it, had comforted her.
His mind flashed over the orgasm he’d had inside her a few hours earlier and he gave her a quick wink.
Autumn gave him a smile, but she made sure her aunt didn’t see it.
“Aunt Shirley?” she said.
Shirley looked at Autumn.
“Yes?”
“The lawyer gave me a document. I know my mother left this house to me and Grady.”
“It just doesn’t make a bit of sense to me,” Shirley said. “My family has nothing. Not one of us is secure. And yet she left this house to you. You, who left us all for destitute when you started your fancy new life in Montana.”
“I did not leave you for destitute. I went to help pay the doctor’s bills.”
“And Grady? He’s a complete stranger.”
“Grady’s going to be my husband, Aunt Shirley, so you might as well start treating him like a member of the family.”
“Your husband?”
Grady smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”
Shirley’s lip quivered. Grady felt sympathy for her. She was an insecure woman, petty and jealous, and with her sister’s death, she must have felt as if her world was falling down around her.
“I suppose congratulations are in order,” Shirley said.
“Thank you,” Autumn said, but there was a firmness in her voice that everyone knew hadn’t been there before.
It was a strength. All her life, Shirley had been able to count on Autumn deferring to her, even when she was trying to bully her. Autumn had been a complete pushover. But now, just when her principal protector had died, she’d found a strength of her own and wouldn’t be pushed around by her aunt.
“Now,” Autumn continued, “there’s no need for you to get your panties in a twist. My mother left this house to me and Grady because she saw something in him, something in my relationship with him, even before I did. She knew he and I were going to end up together, even if I couldn’t see it, and she was entirely within her rights to leave her property to him and to me.”
“But …” Shirley said.
“But,” Autumn said, holding up her hand, “obviously I need this property a lot less than if I was alone.”
“Yes,” Shirley said, as if Autumn had plucked the idea straight from her mind.
“I’ve got Grady and he’s got me. Neither of us is ever going to be alone or destitute. We’ll provide each other with our own security in the world. And that’s why we’re going to sign this house over to you. You need it to look after yourself and your family, and I know my mother would have been happy knowing you were safe.”
“Oh, Autumn,” Shirley said, her eyes filling with tears.
“I love you, Aunt Shirley.”
“Oh, Autumn,” she said again, crossing the room and embracing her niece. “I know I’ve been hard on you. I know I’ve been mean at times. Believe me when I say that’s not because of anything you ever did wrong. It was just my own issue. My own weakness. And I took it out on you.”
“It’s okay, Aunt Shirley. You’re family and I’ll always love you.”
“You’ll forgive me for being horrible?”
Autumn held her aunt tight and Grady knew she was taking on a role in her family she’d never known while her mother was alive. She was growing up right in front of his eyes and it made him love her even more, if that was possible.
“There’s nothing to forgive,” Autumn said, her eye catching Grady’s.
He winked at her.
Chapter Forty-Three
Autumn
As Autumn sat next to Grady on the drive home to Montana, she felt like a completely new person. Gone was the girl she’d been her entire life. Gone were the fears and worries she’d grown up with. Gone was the sense of loneliness she’d always had, the craving to have a father in her life.
The hard part was that her mother was gone too. That left an ache in her heart and an emptiness.
Luckily she had Grady. All she had to do was look to her side and there he was, strong and sure and present. With him next to her, she knew she’d never really be alone.
“That was a nice thing you did for your aunt back there,” Grady said, bringing her out of her thoughts.
“It was the right thing,” she said.
Grady nodded.
“I know my mother would have given me everything in the world if she could, but she’d also want me to help out a family member if I had more than I needed.”
Grady reached over and took her hand in his. Their hands rested in her lap as he drove and she felt such a comfort, such a love in her heart, and she knew her mother would have been happy.
She looked out the window and wondered if her mother was looking down on her at that very minute. Was she happy for her? Did she believe in this new life her daughter was embarking on?
She knew the answer was yes.
“I love you,” she said quietly, still looking out the window.
Grady squeezed her hand and she knew he felt the same way about her.
They drove on, passing mile after mile of highway, and the further they got from her hometown, the less grief she felt at her mother’s passing. She’d never forget her mother for as long as she lived, and she’d never stop missing her or feeling the loss of her presence in her life, but with the new life she had to look forward to, she fe
lt that she’d be able to think fondly of her mother without being overcome.
“Want to stop and get something to eat?” Grady said.
She nodded and they pulled into a highway service area. She got out with the baby and went into the restaurant while Grady filled the car with gas. She took a booth by the window where she could look out at him as he pumped the gas.
“Is that your man?” a voice said from behind her.
Autumn looked up to see a waitress, about her mother’s age but in much better health, looking down at her.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The waitress nodded in what appeared to be approval.
“And that’s your baby?”
“She is now,” Autumn said, unsure why this waitress was looking for so many answers.
“She is now?”
Autumn nodded. “I didn’t give birth to her, but I’m marrying her father and I’m the only mother she’s got.”
The waitress nodded. “Well, you know what the Lord says about that?”
Autumn felt a pang of worry. She was afraid the waitress was going to scold her, to make some comment on her decision to be with a man who had a child already, maybe judge her for getting so involved before being married.
“No,” she said nervously. “I don’t.”
“He says anyone who raises the child of another, raises a child of mine.”
Relief poured through Autumn.
“You have a child of your own?” she said to the waitress.
“I did.”
“You did?”
“She passed on.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Happened a long time ago,” the waitress said. “She’d have been about your age now if she lived.”
Autumn nodded. “My mother just passed on. We just buried her.”
The waitress nodded as if she already knew this information. Autumn had a very strange feeling about the woman. It was like she knew everything that was going on in the farthest depths of Autumn’s heart just by looking at her.
“If you were my daughter, I’d be right proud to see you with a man like that, raising a little baby like this,” she said.
Autumn looked up into her eyes and felt tears forming.
“Thank you,” she said.
The waitress nodded as if she’d just said the most ordinary thing in the world, then left two menus on the table and walked away.
Grady came right at that moment and sat down.
“I washed the windscreen,” he said as he picked up the menu.
“I watched you,” Autumn said, “with that waitress.”
“What waitress?”
“The one who was standing here when you arrived.”
Grady looked puzzled.
“No one was standing here when I came up.”
“Yeah, that older lady,” Autumn said, turning to point her out.
But she couldn’t find her. She wasn’t anywhere in the restaurant. Not out front or in the back.
“Strange,” Autumn said, shaking her head.
Grady shrugged. “It’s been a big couple of days.”
Autumn nodded.
“What are you getting?” she said, changing the subject.
Grady smiled at the thought of food. “The steak. You?”
“Same,” she said.
A different waitress came by to take their orders and Autumn wondered if she’d imagined the conversation with the older woman. She couldn’t say for certain.
They both ordered coffee and looked at each other over the steaming cups as they waited for the food.
“You sure are pretty,” Grady said.
Autumn let out a little laugh. “You always say that.”
“Because it’s the truth.”
“Well, you sure are handsome,” she said. “My mother was very proud to see me with you.”
Grady nodded.
“Shame she couldn’t have lived to see our wedding,” he said.
Autumn smiled, thinking of the older waitress.
“Oh, she’ll be there, Grady,” she said.
Chapter Forty-Four
Autumn
When they got home to the cabin, Autumn knew it was the real beginning of a new life. She was with the man she loved, she was engaged, they had a home, and they had a child to look after and care for.
Every day was a joy. She woke up next to Grady and could rely on his strong, masculine presence. He was a comfort to her. He made her feel like she didn’t need to worry about the future, the world, and her place in it. Security, real security, was something she’d never really felt before.
She spent the day looking after the cabin, cooking, watching Destiny, and helping Grady with the various projects he dreamed up for the property. He built her a swing on long ropes that hung from a huge oak tree and swung right out over the stream. He also built a gazebo that gave a sweeping view of the valley and the town. Autumn planted flowers around it, hundreds of them, and she couldn’t wait for summer to come so she could see them in full bloom.
There was another reason she couldn’t wait for summer to come. Her wedding.
She planned every detail with all the excitement of a young bride. She ordered flowers, sampled caterers’ offerings, and tried on dresses. She insisted on doing everything herself and wanted it to be a surprise for Grady. Her heart fluttered when she thought about him. She couldn’t believe he was going to be her husband, lawful and wedded, until death did them part. It was a miracle, a dream, and she thanked God every day for giving her such a blessing.
She thought of her mother often as she planned the wedding. Her mother would have loved to see it all, to see her daughter end up in a good place with a good man, but she reminded herself that her mother was watching everything.
She also knew that Grady had a few tricks of his own up his sleeve. He’d been working quietly on a secret project and she still wasn’t sure what it was. She knew it was going to be a surprise for the wedding.
Every night she tried to find out what he was planning. At first she’d asked him outright, but when he stubbornly refused to give her even a single detail, she grew more crafty. She tried to trick him into revealing information, or get him to unwittingly give away clues that she could piece together to get an idea at least of what the surprise was going to be.
“You’re home early,” she said one spring evening as he kicked the mud off his boots on the porch.
“It’s not that early,” he said, grabbing her in his arms and lifting her into the air.
He brought his lips to hers and kissed her passionately.
“Every minute feels like an hour when I’m not with you.”
He winked at her and she hit him playfully on the arm.
“Aren’t you a real charmer,” she said.
He spun her in his arms and put her down by the porch rail. The view was spectacular and it was only getting more beautiful as winter gave way to spring. The evenings were growing longer and the views over the valley, the sky ablaze, brought a joy to Autumn’s heart that no view ever had before.
“So, where were you, the hardware store?” she asked, as innocently as she could.
She knew he’d rented some workspace down in the town but she still had no idea what he did in there. If he admitted going to the hardware store she’d have an idea that he was building something, although she couldn’t guess what it was he might be building.
“No,” he said, “why?”
“Oh, I just assumed that’s why you’re home so early. You usually don’t come back until six.”
Grady looked at his watch. It was five on the dot. Autumn wondered if he knew what she was trying to do and decided to change the subject.
She put her hand on the bulge in his pants and gave his cock a gentle squeeze.
“Oh, you naughty girl,” Grady said, grabbing her again and pulling her close.
“What?” she said innocently. “I’m your wife to be, aren’t I?”
“Are we alone?” Grady sa
id, putting his hand inside her dress and grabbing her ass, giving it a squeeze.
“Destiny’s still down for her nap.”
“Oh is she?” Grady said.
He lifted her up and carried her into the cabin, kicking the door closed behind him. He brought her into the bedroom and threw her down on the bed.
She looked up at him and couldn’t believe how much love, how much fire, burned in her heart for the man in front of her. She would have died for him. She would have given anything for him. And most importantly, she knew he’d do the same for her.
They’d formed a bond the moment they first met and it proved to be stronger and more durable than she’d have dared to hope. She’d never been sure if she believed in love at first sight, or fate, or destiny, but when she thought back to the first moment she set eyes on Grady it was hard for her to imagine that anything else had been at play. She’d needed him right at that moment. She’d come to Montana trusting that things would work out for her and her family, but she had no idea how they would. Grady coming into her life was God’s answer to the trust she’d put in Him.
“I love you, Mister,” she said.
He pulled her down so that her legs hung over the edge of the bed and got down on his knees.
“Uh oh,” she said, knowing what was coming next.
He pulled up her dress and took off her panties, using his mouth to pull them down over her ankles. When his lips touched the lips of her pussy, when his tongue slid inside her, she clenched her legs around his neck and threw her head back. A minute later she was in complete ecstasy, with waves of orgasms rushing through her.
After making her cum with his mouth, Grady entered her with his cock and came forcefully inside her.
She never did find out what he’d been up to all day.
Chapter Forty-Five
Grady
Grady was sure of many things on his wedding day. He was sure he was marrying his soulmate. He was sure he was madly, deeply in love with her, and he was sure he was grateful to God with every breath for giving him a woman as beautiful and kind as Autumn.
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