Chapter 7

Cassie was going to make sure that the next time they wanted to spend the day walking around shops, she had a scooter of some kind. Smiling to herself, she helped Daniel put some of the things that they'd gotten into the large pantry. It was one of the deciding factors in them using her brother's house over the one that she'd had.

"I'm going to go up and run you a bath. Then I'm going to join you because my body has this idea that it's been run over by several women trying to get to the sale items." He looked pointily at her. "Know anyone's footprints that might match the ones on my back?"

"I told you a dozen times that I was sorry. And I didn't run up your back like I heard you tell Harlin. I simply shoved you out of the way when I heard what they were having on the special. You'll thank me in the morning when someone makes you French toast on that cinnamon swirl bread." He told her that he'd gladly be her leapboard whenever and wherever she needed him to be. "Thank you, I think. Now, tell me what you've been wanting to talk to me about all day?"

"Okay. Luke is afraid that Sen is being abused by her big-muscled boyfriend." She said yes. "Yes, what? He is? If so, you'll have to visit me in prison."

"He only hit her the one time—" He started to cut her off, and she put up her hand. "I know that once is enough but it had been an accident. He'd been trying to open one of those tabby kind of soups for her, and the lid came off faster than he thought and since she was standing there at the time, he socked her in the face. I believe her if that is what you're going to ask me. He took her to the emergency room and had her fill out a report on what happened. He even called the police in so that they could hear what had happened to Sen and begged them not to tell anyone of the men in this family. That's why she's been using makeup. That's why he bought her about three dozen roses since it happened and the reason that she didn't tell Luke the truth. It wasn't really a lie but a form of protection for Lester. I guess he was so terrified that one of you might jump to conclusions that he had Sen meet his mom, and apparently, she is part of an abusive relationship that one of her own brothers had to step in and make right."

"You're sure that's all it is?" She told him that she was. And that she told Sen that she'd make sure that everyone, even her brother, now that it's out, that she knows better than to stay in a relationship that you have to hide from. I swear, I believe every word that she said. "Thank you for that. I also wanted to talk to you about Luke. I'd like for him to stay here or with one of the other men a few more times a week. The kid is seriously lacking in male companionship."

"I can get on board with that. By the way, I'm seriously lacking in male companionship as well. How about we go upstairs, and I undress you? We can have a night of debauchery if you want." He nearly knocked her down, pulling her out of the pantry they were in to drag her upstairs. Laughing, she told him that there was plenty of time.

"No, there's not, I'm afraid. As soon as I hit my pillow, I'm going to be out. I know this, so if we don't start now, I'll be out before I can get you naked." Cassie told him that she was going to get him naked first. "I love that idea. I love you, Cassie Watson. With all my heart."

They went up the stairs slower. Cassie did wonder at some point if Daniel was up for this but he assured her that he was. To prove his point to her, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. The man was devasting when he wanted to be, she thought with a grin. Christ, she might have bitten off more than she could chew.

Once they were in the bedroom, she told him to stand still. Pulling his shirt out from his pants, she unbuttoned it, careful not to touch him too hard, but she did flutter her fingers over his hot skin as much as she could. Getting to his belt, something that she hadn't noticed until then that he wore one with jeans, she did the buckle, and then watching his face, she pulled the leather strap one loop at a time, pausing at each one to breathe on his nipples.

"You're beautiful to me." Daniel seemed to struggle with words when she spoke to him. He said that he loved her. "Oh, Daniel, I love you so much. I struggle with the words to tell you."

Dropping the belt to the floor, she put her hands on the buttons on his pants. She knew that the button-fly jeans were coming back in style, but right then, she wished that they weren't. Undaunted by the five silver snaps, she pulled the first one free. When she had an idea, she looked up at Daniel and asked him if he trusted her.

"With all that I am and then some." He grinned at her then. "Don't hurt me, Cassie. I don't want to die before I see my firstborn." She looked up at him.

"How did you know?" He asked her if she knew what he did for a living. "Yes. I guess I didn't figure you'd be…I'm going to have your baby, Daniel. I nearly called you right then at the doctor's office to tell you. But I thought you'd pamper me too much, and I'd not get to have fun today."

"I'd never…well, I would love to pamper you, but I like my balls right where they are. But you don't want to—Holy good god, Cassie."

Kneeling down in front of him, she put her mouth over the next snap and opened it. It was much easier than she'd thought it would be, and did the next three that way. However, she ran into a block, his thickening cock when the last one was too tight to get open.

Instead of having him do it and take her fun away in the process, she licked along his heavily veined shaft before freeing his cock. It was like she'd freed it just for her mouth. As soon as Daniel begged for her to stop before he came, Cassie pulled his boxers down over his cock and ran her tongue over the dark crown.

She hadn't expected it to be so tasty having a man's cock in her mouth. His cum was there for her to sample, and she found herself swallowing as much of his precum as she could. When he pulled his pants down to his thighs, Cassie followed him to the side of the bed, still licking and suckling at him while he sat down.

With his pants off, she had so much more room to explore. She didn't close her eyes but watched his face as he'd done to her when he'd been eating her. Thinking about how much she had enjoyed him tasting her, she stood up, stripped down, and got onto the bed with him. Her pussy to his mouth and his cock at hers.

More and more of his cum slid down the back of her throat and along his delicious cock. It made for easy strokes for him by putting her hand around him and fuck him with her hand. When he reached between them and tweaking at her nipples, she felt a wave of something, a climax that she'd not expected had her crying out.

"Come again, love. I love the taste of you." Cassie only nodded, not caring if he could see her or not. Right now, she was going to make him come all over her if it was the last thing she did tonight.

Moving her body around so that she was on top of him, still with his cock in her mouth, she rode his mouth like he was riding hers. There was no more gentleness from her, and she didn't think that Daniel was slowing down either. As soon as he stiffened beneath her, she knew that she was in for the rush of her life.

His hot cum touched her on the face, her hair, and her breasts. Lifting up just a bit more, grinding her pussy into his mouth, she screamed, feeling her throat burn with it when her own climax slammed into her. Like her entire body was being flipped up and over several times before she was able to come a second time, then a next. All the while, she felt her body giving all it had. She never stopped making love to his cock with her mouth.

The sudden flip to her back had her nearly crying out again. When Daniel moved over her, pussy to cock, he slammed into her so hard that she felt it at the back of her throat. The next time she came, it was too much, and her body simply gave up trying to keep up with him. Darkness took her under quicker than she could close her eyes.

She must have been out for a few minutes because when she opened her eyes, or eye, one of them was still on strike, she was at the top of the bed on her pillow and a sheet drawn up over her. Daniel was just coming out of the bathroom when she sat up.

"Don't touch me." She had to laugh at the desperation of his voice. "I'm serious right now. You touch me, and I'm not going to be responsible for what happens to me. Right now I feel like I could spin off in space, never to return." She laughed as he got into the bed, staying as far away from her as he could. "I don't know what got into you, but give me fair warning next time. I think perhaps I'm never going to be the same. And if we have that sort of making love again, we're going to test the fact that I'm a young, healthy man who should be in a fit enough state to have sex."

Cassie laughed off and on throughout the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. After lying next to Daniel for about another hour, she got up, showered down the hall so as not to disturb him, and headed out. There was a great deal for her to get done today, and she didn't want to sit around waiting for her sore body—yes, she thought, it was sore to catch up with her mindset on the list she had to get done.

Her top-of-the-list thing was to make sure that the rest of the family got their packages sorted out from the ones they had brought home in their car. Everyone had pitched in where they could, putting things in every car or truck so that they'd not be overly crowded driving home after an exhausting day of fun. While she was out, she was stopped by no less than ten people asking what was going to happen to the old high school now that the new one was being built.

"I don't know about the things going with the high school." Just to make sure she drove by the ancient building just to make sure that there was nothing going on there. Nothing that she could see. "When I get home, I'll ask then and let you know. But right now, I've no idea if there are plans to renovate it or not."

Getting some questions answered about the two buildings in the downtown area that were earmarked for projects, she could tell that construction was working on them. It had been Caleb's idea to use the locals for smaller projects and to hire a construction team for the larger ones. The renovations for the library, as well as the new roof on the courthouse, were being worked on, she could see but the school project brothered her. Just as she was pulling out her cell phone to make a call, it rang.

"I need your help." It took her a second to figure out that it was Sen. "Can you please come and get me. Also, I'd appreciate it if you weren't to tell anyone. This is going to be bad when it hits the fan."

"I'm on my way." She started to ask her what was going on but didn't want to know so that she'd not drive like an idiot and get herself hurt. She was pulling up in front of the big house when Sen came out of it with a large hand towel pressed to her face with what appeared to be blood. As soon as she got in the car, she told her to go to the ER.

"All right, but if this was Lester, his ass is going to prison. If he lives that long." She said it was his father. That she needed to find Lester and let him know what had happened. "What did happen?"

Before she could tell her if she was going to, they were pulling up in front of the hospital. After being briefly seen, Sen was taken back to a room. Not taking no for an answer, she followed her back to the room and sat down next to her while the nurse and a doctor examined her cheek. The cut to it looked like it had been made by a knife but it was hard to tell from where she was sitting. When they left to prep her for stitches, Cassie asked her who she needed to call.

"Lester. Then, if you can't get in touch with him, and I'm going to be so freaked out if you can't, then call the men in. I believe that his father might have hurt him too." She asked what happened, and she started crying, babbling about how she'd not seen it coming and that it hurt her heart that— "I think that Bill, Lester's stepfather, killed his wife. He kept saying something about her not being worth anything to him now that there was fresh blood in the family. I didn't think about it until I laughed at him that he was off his meds. I don't know that he was on meds. It's just…Is it all right with you if you call in Daniel? I love you like a mother, but Daniel is like a father figure to me, too, and I need him here?"

"No, I'm not upset with that at all. He has a calmness about him that… Honey, I'll call him now." Stepping out into the hall, she called him. Cassie was so happy that he was awake and out and about that, she asked him to meet her at the hospital. After giving him a brief rundown as to what happened, he said that he was on his way. She told him not to tell his brothers.

"I'm afraid it's too late for that, honey. The police showed up at our house when Caleb and Martin were there. They're pissed off, as I'm sure that you know." She told him to make sure that they were calm before driving in. "I'm very calm. Pissed as I've ever been but relatively calm too."

She didn't believe him and was glad when he said that of the three of them, he was the calmest. Cassie was afraid that the women would find out what happened then there would be hell to pay.

~*~

Daniel stayed with Lester while he was being examined at the emergency room. He could have treated the younger man but he was asked to keep him calm. Having to hold the man's hand throughout the examination and ultimate cast put on his leg as well as his arm, he told him that he should get the stitches put in his face so that it would heal better. Daniel thought it was very telling that he didn't want anyone to see the stitches or they'd get the wrong idea.

"And what idea was that, Lester? That your stepfather is a bastard. People are going to be very helpful to you from now on." He asked him how he thought that Serenity would take it, glad that he was calling Sen by her full name. "She's had to have a few stitches put in her cheek as well. Doug cut her because he was hoping that you'd not want her again so that he could take her. Did he ever show this kind of behavior before?"

"No. Not even when I wasn't around. At least that's what…are you sure that he killed her? I mean, she does have a bad heart. Could she have died… She was supposed to have a long life now that they'd found out what was wrong with her, and she took things easy. I just don't want to think about her suffering at his hands, I guess." Hugging the kid when he started sobbing, it hurt his own heart to think of the suffering that Milly had suffered before dying. "She's all I had in the world, you know? My mom was everything to me. Then Serenity came along, and I felt like…I love her, Doc. Serenity is everything to me. And now she's been hurt by that fucking bastard, and I'm going to lose her. I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You're going to buck up here and tell her how sorry you were. Not that I think you have anything to be sorry for. You took her to meet your family, and the bastard showed his true colors." He gave a brief thought to what he would say to the other man and decided that he was old enough for the truth. "Your mother has been examined by the staff, and she's been hurt as recently as the last few weeks. The examiner said that she had years of new breaks and bruises on her body that happened in the last few months."

"She didn't tell me. Why?" Luke, who had been lying on the bed next to Lester since he'd brought him in, was finally asleep. He'd been stressed about the young man and was glad that there seemed to be a bond forming between them that they both needed. Thinking about what Lester had said, Daniel said that he didn't know her at all, so he couldn't make that judgment. "Mom told me once that she'd made a mistake in getting married again. I thought she just meant that she missed her freedom. I should have looked into it more when she was alone with him."

"She'd gotten used to hiding herself away from others finding out. I would imagine that it was difficult, too, for her to admit that she'd made another mistake in finding herself caught in an abusive situation again. As I said, I didn't know her but I think I might well have thought the same thing." When his cell phone rang, he saw that it was Cassie.

Stepping outside to take the call, terrified of the news that she might have, he leaned against the wall when she told him that Sen was in surgery and was expected to make a full recovery. After telling her what Lester had told him, the two of them cried a little for the things that the young couple had gone through.

"He told me that he loves her." Cassie said that Sen had told her the same thing about him. "I hope they can get through this together. Who is with you guys now? Hopefully, her sisters. Luke has been lying on the bed with Lester, holding onto him. I think he fell asleep about ten minutes ago. Apparently, he loves the man too."

"Good. They need something positive in their lives for a change. I like this man, Daniel. I don't know what is going to come back on his background or even if there has been one made, but I hope the two of them can work this out, as you said. I think they'll need each other to get through this. And having a good man in their family is something that they all need." He agreed with her and then asked if she'd heard anything about Doug. She said so far as she knew that he'd been arrested, and that was all. "That's good news. I think that everyone will rest easier knowing that he's not out looking for them. We'll keep each other informed about what we hear. Caleb and the others are making funeral arrangements for Milly. These two aren't going to be fit to do it anytime soon, I don't think."

When he went back into Lester's room, the nurse was just finishing up giving him something for pain. In addition to having a nice-sized cut on his face, one on the cheek and the other on his lip, he also had a broken leg as well as a few broken ribs. He'll be down for a while, the nurse told him, as they were going to take him to surgery in a little while, and this was just to take the edge off his pain.

"The little one, he won't be able to go, mores the pity. I think the little guy here is good for Lester. He's been a lot calmer since he's been in here with him. You too, doc, but that boy there, I think he's about as much in love with Lester as his sister is." She asked him how she knew that. "The young lady has been making sure that he is getting the best of care down the hall. When the surgery is over for the two of them, we're going to put them in the same room. I think they'll both heal a good deal better than worrying about each other.

Daniel picked up Luke and wasn't surprised when he woke up suddenly with fists flying. After getting him calmed down a little, and hugging him when he started crying. When he was assured that Lester was going to be all right, he settled him in the other bed so that he could sleep. Again, Daniel was responsible for holding someone's hand, and he couldn't have been happier.

The two surgeries went well. After having their bones set, the two of them were put into a larger room together. As soon as Sen woke up, she asked about Lester and was glad to see that he was in the same room with her. Since little Luke couldn't get into bed with them so soon after surgery, he was glad to be able to sit on the chair between them and keep an eye on them both. The others, all his family and Sen's came in and out of the room to sit with them as well. It was nearly daylight when Lester woke and asked after Sen.

"I would like your permission to ask her to marry me." He started to tell him that it wasn't up to him when he dozed off again. Over the next couple of hours, he asked him again and again, telling him each time that he loved Serenity with all his being. At just after nine in the morning, the police showed up to talk to the couple but left when it was obvious that neither one of them was fit to have a coherent conversation. Daniel was happy for that. He thought that it would be terrible timing, with the two of them still in a great deal of pain, to ask anyone for anything right now.

"They're going to both go home with the daughters. That was the plan anyway. However, I asked, with you being a doctor, if they could stay with us while recuperating. I don't know what you think about it but I do think they'll be pestered less with the sisters around all the time if they're with us. I can imagine that they'd be hovering over them all the time. Can't you?" He agreed, saying that while he was sure that they meant well, it wouldn't help with their healing. "That's exactly what I thought, too. Luke wants to stay with us. I think he'd be better off doing that, too. He's never been so worried about anyone as he seems to be the two of them. I have a feeling that it's not going to be long before they're married and have their own family. What do you think?"

"He told me several times that he wanted my permission to ask her. At first, I wasn't sure why he'd think that I had anything to do with him asking but he told me later that Sen had thought of me as her father figure that she's never had. I believe we're about the same age, so I wasn't sure how to take that. But I did give him permission and am glad that I did." She asked him if she would want a big wedding. "I don't think that she'd want that but I have a feeling that her sisters will want to be bridesmaids for her. They might be a little pissed off if they can't get all dressed up. Lester asked me to give her away already. I believe she's going to ask you to be her matron of honor, too. We might even be asked to be grandparents to their children."

"That's wonderful." He held her to his chest as they sat on their couch. The house was coming along well. They'd moved in a couple of days ago while the last of the renovations were going on. The house that Cassie had had was sold now and they'd gotten much more money than they'd thought they would. He remembered something that he'd been meaning to tell her for a few days. "I heard from the CIA. The ex-president has been put into a deep hole. I'm not sure if that's a literal term or not, but they swear that we'll never have to worry about him again."

When she didn't answer him, he realized that she'd fallen asleep, and he smiled a little. It wasn't often that the two of them could nap anymore. Today was special. They had the entire house to themselves, and he was glad that they didn't have any plans for the evening. It seemed that they'd been running full out since they'd met. Having something normal, like sitting on the couch in their own home, was something that he'd been missing. Closing his eyes, he was nearly asleep when he felt a presence in the room.

Opening his eyes and looking at Luke, he could tell the little man had been crying. Putting out his free arm, he was happy that he didn't say anything but crawled up on his other side and snuggled with them. Daniel couldn't have been happier than he was at the moment.

"Luke?" He answered the whispered question just the way that he'd asked him. "I wondered if it would be all right if I called you dad. I've never had a nice one before, and I really like Lester, but…well, he's going to be my brother. So I'd like to call you Dad."

"I'd be honored, Luke, but you should maybe talk this over with your sisters." He said that he had and that Sen said that she thought he needed a father figure. "I believe you do as well. Do you think that Lester would fit the bill?"

"No. I mean, he's all right, and I really like him, but no, I want you to be my dad. You see, we have this thing coming up at school where we have to bring in our fathers to look around the college with me. Moms can come too, but the professor said that it would be a good bonding time for the two of us. Even though I'm not going to be living on campus for a while yet, I'm taking classes online until I'm a little older. They said that I should know the buildings so that if I have to come in, which I will for testing, then I'd have a good idea where I was going." He told him that he'd love to help him out with that. "Good. And I really do want you to adopt me, Dad. I'll be a good big brother to your own kids, too."

"If I adopt you, which I'm thinking that I will if Cassie is all right with adopting you too, then you'll be my child as much as the one that we're having too." It took Luke a moment, but he sat up and looked at him, then at Cassie. "Yes, she's going to have a baby. Don't tell anyone yet. We're going to keep it a secret for as long as we can. And being our son, you should know too."

The rest of the evening after Cassie woke up was making plans for the holidays. Halloween was coming up quickly, and Caleb had decided to make a huge deal of it. He didn't know what that entailed, but he was just as excited to participate as the rest of them were. It was going to be epic. He knew to have such a wonderful family getting together as one. Yes, he thought, it was going to be the best holiday he'd ever had. And he was looking forward to it with all his heart.