14.

D UB

“You did great, buddy,” I said as I helped Robert off of Hercules’ back.

“Again!”

“I think your mom is more than ready to go,” I said as I put my hand on his shoulder and directed him toward the gate. His mother was sitting in the gazebo holding a fussy baby, and I could tell by looking at her that she’d had enough nature for the day. As always, though, she was bright and cheerful when Robert started toward her to give her the play-by-play of his ride as if she hadn’t watched every minute of today’s session. As soon as we were close enough, Robert grabbed the water bottle she held out for him and started sipping on it, so I took the opportunity to tell her, “He’s getting much more comfortable on his pony, so I gave him a treat and let him ride Herc.”

“I saw that,” she said as she stood and put her hand out to shake mine. “He’s going to be over the moon for days.”

“How long before you’re allowed to continue your riding lessons?” I asked as I looked down at the baby in her arms.

“At least a month.”

“Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll put you back on schedule. Did you have a good visit with Powder?” Like many of the customers who took riding lessons from us, she had a horse boarded here. “She’s doing great. As a matter of fact, when I was exercising her yesterday, I took her for a ride, and she seemed to be in great spirits.”

“Thank you for taking care of her,” Alexis said as she laid the baby down in its carseat. “Robert, honey, let’s go.”

I high-fived the young man who was so eager to learn everything there was to know about horses and carried the diaper bag for his mother as I walked them to the car. Once they were on their way, I went back into the pen to take care of Hercules and get ready for the trail ride scheduled for this afternoon.

While I got the tack ready for the trail horses and waited on my nephews who would be helping me this afternoon, I thought about the events of the last week. The girls and I had stayed with Elizabeth for the last six nights and had fallen into a comfortable routine straight out of a sitcom. There was plenty of arguing between the girls, which Elizabeth worried about. I knew from growing up in a large family that this was completely normal. And more than the arguing, there was laughter . . . lots of it.

I thought about how different the girls were now compared to their demeanor when they got here with our mother. They had begun to come out of their shell with me and Charlotte, but in the last week, they had absolutely blossomed under Elizabeth’s attention. The timid girls who had arrived and the feisty ones who bickered about who got to ride in the front seat while they accompanied Elizabeth to town this morning were like night and day. They had transformed into confident, outspoken young ladies who had finally started making plans for the future instead of just dreaming about it.

Last night before bed, I heard Elizabeth talking to the girls and wondered again how she didn’t have any children of her own. I knew she’d given birth to twins, but even Elizabeth referred to them as someone else’s children. It was hard to believe that she had never raised children, considering how caring and maternal she could be. She nursed me back to health when she barely knew me, treated Mary and Laura like they were her own daughters, snuggled my sister’s twins every chance she got, gave advice and friendship to my younger brothers who worked for her, babied a two-thousand-pound horse like he was a miniature pony, and loved and cared for other people’s dogs as if she were their owner. I wasn’t sure I’d met anyone else who had such a capacity for motherhood. It was almost a shame she was squandering it on everyone else’s pets, children, and the adults around her.

I might understand that it was a shame she didn’t have children, but what baffled me was my urge to make them with her. Every night in bed together, I wanted more than anything for my seed to take root and create a child, but I knew it was impossible because she’d taken steps to prevent pregnancy. I wondered if she might someday change her mind and have her IUD removed so we could go on that adventure together.

And that was another thing that shocked me - my conviction that she was the one for me after knowing her for such a short time. It wasn’t like me to form an attachment so easily, but then again, I’d never met a woman like Elizabeth before and probably never would again. It only made sense that my soul would recognize its partner. And that’s what she was - the other half of my soul.

I heard voices approaching the barn and recognized my nephews' easy banter but could hear they had two other men with them. From the sound of their voices, I could tell they were young, too, but didn’t recognize the timbre as any of my little brothers. I set another saddle on the rail and then waited for the newcomers to appear in the doorway. I was surprised when the two young men I’d seen with Elizabeth at the diner in Rojo walked into the barn with David and Andrew.

“We’re not late are we?” David asked when he looked around at the progress I’d made so far. “Shit! Why didn’t you call us?”

“You’re not late,” I assured him. “I just had some free time after my last lesson, so I went ahead and got started.”

“Don’t tax yourself, old man. Maybe you should sit down and rest while we finish getting everything together,” Andrew teased.

“This old man can still whip both of your asses without even breaking a sweat,” I threatened good-naturedly.

The black-haired young man laughed before he said, “That sounds like something one of our uncles would say.”

“But we’re smart enough to make sure those threats aren’t aimed at us,” the auburn-haired guy said through his laughter.

“These two aren’t that smart,” I said as I stuck my hand out to introduce myself. “I’ve seen you guys before when I was in Rojo visiting family. I’m Dub.”

“Dub, this is Sway, and this is Sobie,” David said as he motioned to first the redhead and then the other. “I’m surprised you haven’t met them before. Their mom is Sin Westland.”

I’d met Sin through her sister Freya. Freya and her husband Cohyn helped young men and women as they were trying to learn to navigate the world after being raised in the same cult that had chewed me up and spit me out as a young man.

“Are the two of you joining us on the trail ride today?” I asked.

“No. We came to see Elizabeth, but she’s still at Charlotte’s with our mom and Aunt Freya.”

“We’re smart enough to know we shouldn’t interrupt that sort of meeting. We might get roped into something we’d rather not.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like taking someone’s daughter to the movies,” the redhead answered.

The dark-haired twin said, “Move all the Christmas decorations to the other side of the attic to make room for . . . something.”

“I don’t remember either because I zoned out.”

“You’re Elizabeth’s godsons, right? I saw you with her at Martha’s diner.” The dark-haired young man smiled as he nodded. The light in his eyes and shape of his jaw looked so familiar that an idea suddenly struck me. I couldn’t help but ask, “Are you twins?”

“Yes, sir,” the redhead, Sway, said as he nudged his brother’s shoulder with his own. “Not that you can tell since we look like night and day.”

“We get that a lot,” Sobie said with a grin. “Poor guy couldn’t look this good if he tried, genetics or not.”

When the redhead smiled, I saw it in him, too, and knew without a doubt that these were the twins Elizabeth had told me about - the children she’d given birth to and then was too afraid to meet until it was almost too late.

“It’s a small world, I guess, since you remember us from Gamma’s diner in Rojo and we’re running into each other in Colorado now. Who were you with at Gamma’s?”

“I thought it was called Martha’s Diner.”

“It is, but she’s our grandmother, so that’s not what we call it,” Sway explained.

“I was there visiting my cousin Lisa and her husband Zeke.”

“It really is a small town,” Sobie said with a bark of laughter. “We’ve known Zeke and Lisa our entire lives but had no idea they were related to anyone here.”

“I’ve only met them once or twice, but Lisa, Warren, and Addie are some of our cousins,” David explained. “We don’t know them very well at all, but they keep in touch with Dub.”

“There are at least six thousand of our cousins out there, so it’s not like we can be close to all of them,” Andrew muttered.

“We’re right there with ya, buddy,” Sway joked. “Sometimes it seems like we’ve got about that many in our family, too, but we’re still close.”

The four young men kept talking, making comparisons about the size of our families, and the longer I observed them, the more of Elizabeth I could see in their features. From the shape of their eyes to the way their lips curved into a half-smile when they were joking about something, it was obvious to me that they were hers. I wondered why she hadn’t told me that the young men she was visiting with in Rojo were the boys she had given up for adoption.

From the second she told me that she was still close to the twins who were created from such a horrible experience in her life, I knew that Elizabeth was a much stronger person than I’d ever be. The fact that she’d given them away to be raised by someone else but still managed to keep them close to her heart told me that she was the kind of woman a man like me didn’t deserve. I knew that I’d go to my grave trying to change that.

For once in my life, luck had been on my side and thrown me into the path of goodness. I wasn’t about to squander that gift.

◆◆◆

ELIZABETH

“Now that the girls are out of earshot, tell us what’s going on,” Freya insisted. “When Sin told me that you might need some help, I knew I had to come with her today to get the details.”

“I’m not sure what kind of help you can give them,” I said sadly. “Dub offered her money for them. He asked her to name her price, but she hasn’t given him one yet.”

“Will he pay her?”

“He will. He wants to do whatever he can to keep them safe, and so do I. If he doesn’t have enough to cover whatever amount she comes up with, I’ll help him as much as I can.”

“So will I,” Charlotte said firmly. “I’d rather not give any of them a dime, but I’ll do it for Laura and Mary.”

“But originally, Dub was worried that they were going to come and take them away?” Freya asked. When I nodded, she said, “I don’t think that worry should be set aside just yet. If the elders of that cult figure out that the prizes they want aren’t available anymore, they might do something desperate.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“They’re not above kidnapping,” Sin said sadly. She winced before she glanced at me to gauge my reaction to her words, and I laughed. “That was kind of insensitive.”

I smiled and shook my head. “It’s just a word, Sin. I’m not going to have a meltdown. Okay, not about the word, but if that happens to the girls, I can assure you I will.”

“Can we send the girls away for their own safety?” Charlotte asked.

“Technically, that would be kidnapping since none of us have custody of them,” Freya said as she shook her head. “Not only could you get in trouble for that, but whoever you send them to would also.”

“Dub’s got some friends who probably wouldn’t give a shit,” Charlotte insisted. “I know that they’d do whatever it took to help keep Laura and Mary safe.”

“So would I,” I assured her. “Since we can’t send them out of state . . .”

“Or even to another town here in Colorado. You can’t take them anywhere, ladies,” Freya insisted. “We’ve got family who would gladly take them in, but I’m not willing to put them in that sort of spotlight with the authorities.”

“I’ll just keep them here with me.”

“And what happens if Aleta insists that they go somewhere with her?” Sin asked.

“I’ll go toe to toe with that bitch and won’t be the one that ends up bloody.”

Charlotte barked out a laugh and then winced and put her hand on her belly before she said, “You really are perfect for my brother.”

“ That is another thing I want to talk about,” Sin said with a knowing smile. “Do tell.”

“Dub and the girls have been staying with me for the last week,” I explained. “I think they’ve officially moved in.”

“And how do you feel about that?” Sin asked.

“I can’t imagine living here without them,” I admitted. “It hasn’t been very long at all, and we’ve already developed quite a routine. The girls are so much fun to have around.”

“There are probably going to be some rocky areas once the new wears off,” Freya warned.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, right now, you and Dub are in that magical perma-grin phase that’s caused by constant orgasms but . . .”

“I’m feeling a little queasy,” Charlotte warned.

Sin and I laughed, but Freya kept talking. “That only lasts for a limited amount of time. Don’t get me wrong, though - if he’s doing things right you’ll have that smile often, however, some of his more basic traits will start to come to the surface and dim that light.”

“Preach it, girl,” Sin said grimly.

“I love my husband, but I have to say that there are times when the sound of his breathing pisses me off,” Charlotte admitted. “He sniffed the other day, and I wanted to beat him to death with a box of tissues.”

“Why do they do that? Blow your fucking nose, man!”

Charlotte nodded at Sin and said, “Exactly.”

“Or go to the doctor and get that shit fixed,” Freya snapped. In a deep voice, she mimicked, “It’s just allergies.” In her normal tone, she said, “And if you keep making that noise, my allergy to the sound is going to give you a black eye.”

“Dub has never been to a doctor,” I blurted. “He’d never been to a dentist until I made the appointment and insisted that he go.”

“I’d never been to one before I moved here. Neither had my children. That was one of the first things Freya did for us was get us appointments for vaccinations, eye exams, and dental checkups.”

“The fact that you had healthy children is a miracle,” Sin said without thinking, falling back on her history as a RN. “And then going through childbirth with no drugs? Just no.”

“I didn’t get the prenatal care, but at least I had the drugs.” I couldn’t help but laugh as I said, “Twenty-four hours of labor with no painkillers is fucking ridiculous.”

Charlotte tilted her head in question as Sin said, “If I’d had anything good in the house, I would have dosed you up in a heartbeat.”

“Honestly, as exhausted and in pain as I was, that shower felt so good that it was beyond description.”

“I said something to Blaze about showering with you, and he got this weird look on his face that made me want to smack the shit out of him.”

“I’m lost,” Charlotte said. With a confused look at me, she said, “First of all, why were you showering together? And second, you can tell me to mind my own business if you want, but how did I miss that you have children?”

“My twins are Elizabeth’s biological children. I adopted them at birth.”

“Oh!” Charlotte exclaimed uncomfortably. “Well, it’s good that you . . . Open adoptions can be wonderful.”

“The twins are half-siblings to Sin’s children. Her first husband kidnapped me and held me hostage in a secluded cabin until I went into labor,” I explained matter-of-factly.

Charlotte gasped in shock. “That was you? I saw a documentary about that.”

“True crime junkie, huh?” I asked. “Gotta love the internet.”

Since Freya and Sin had known Charlotte long before I moved here and Sway and Sobie hung out with Andrew, I mistakenly assumed that she knew I was the twins’ biological mother. It made me happy to know that my connection to Sin and her family hadn’t been common knowledge - not because I was ashamed of it but because it cemented the fact that the twins were such an integral part of the family that no one thought to mention that they were adopted.

Once again, I thought back to how it had felt twenty years ago when I’d lain in that hospital bed after months of living hell on earth and tried so hard to find a connection to the two boys I’d just given birth to. I knew in my heart that I couldn’t be the mother they deserved, so I made the decision to give them a woman who would. It made perfect sense to me that the woman who had been my salvation should be the woman who could raise the twins without holding the circumstances of their birth against them.

Luckily, Sin was just that kind of woman and had been the best mother any child could dream of having. As an added bonus, she came with a huge family that welcomed Sway and Sobie with open arms, just like they had done for me, although in a much different way.

“After the boys were born, Sin and her family helped me get settled in Rojo. She kept in touch with me so I could hear about the boys and . . .”

Sin reached across the table and squeezed my hand as she interrupted, “And in the process, we became friends who are now more like family.”

Charlotte had tears in her eyes when she asked, “Will you be that woman for Laura and Mary?”

I didn’t even think about my answer, but instead, blurted out what was in my heart when I said, “I’d like to be.”

Charlotte smiled through her tears when Sin said, “Then, ladies, I think it’s time we start planning for every contingency.”

“How?”

“What happens here at this table today stays between us,” Freya said firmly. When we all nodded in agreement, she put her hand out and rested it in the middle of the table. Sin reached out and rested her hand on Freya’s, and I put mine on top of hers. Charlotte tried to maneuver around her belly to get her hand out to the middle of the table but couldn’t manage it. Frustrated, she scooted her chair back and spread her thighs out so she could bend forward a little more but still wasn’t able to get close enough. With a giggle, Freya slid our hands closer to Charlotte. She let out a relieved sigh and rested her hand on top of mine. “The Old Norse word for promise is heita. It isn’t lost on me that the word for threaten is hóta because those two things can certainly go hand in hand.”

“No doubt,” Sin said gravely.

“I promise to do whatever it takes to keep those girls safe,” I said firmly. “And I mean whatever it takes in the harshest sense of the word.”

“Same,” Charlotte promised. “We can’t let my mother do to them what she did to me.”

“What we say stays between us,” Freya reiterated.

“I promise,” the rest of us chorused before we took our hands off the table and sat up in our chairs again.

Sin was the first to break the solemn silence when she said, “I say we do whatever we can to keep the girls away from Aleta, even if that means using the contact we have in Texas through my family and Dub’s club family to hide them until the threat is eliminated. My friend Stassi did me a favor and hired Aleta when Dub insisted that she learn about the outside world by getting a job. I asked Stassi to keep an eye on her while she’s there because I just had a bad gut feeling, and the last time I talked to her, I had to apologize for all the shit Aleta has stirred up since she’s been working at the grocery store. I’ll talk to some of my other friends and see if they can help us out when she’s anywhere else.”

“Dub has had cameras and listening devices installed all over the house. They’re equipped with motion and sound sensors, but that’s a lot to comb through every day. He’s afraid he might miss something important.”

I agreed with Charlotte and said, “He listens to them in the evenings, and you’re right. He’s worried that there’s something they won’t pick up and he’ll miss the details of what she’s planning.”

“That is, if she doesn’t find one of the devices and figure out she has to keep her trap closed,” Sin warned.

“Can we bug her phone?” Freya asked before she looked at us. When we shrugged, she said, “There’s gotta be a way, but I’m not sure I want to Google that question.”

“Don’t do that,” Sin ordered. “Let me get a few things in order, and if they don’t pan out, we can explore that route.”

“I’ll make sure the girls are right by my side when they’re not with Dub. Even though they seem to love every minute of it, no more running around like feral children for now.”

“They love it because where we came from, little girls never really get to be children. When they’re not working, they’re being trained in all the things it takes to run a household. That starts when they’re about two, so the girls have a lot of time to make up for,” Charlotte explained. “Laura is doing that by exploring the world and climbing every tree she can find, and Mary is making up for lost time by reading her way through the entire library.”

“We didn’t get a lot of playtime when we were children either, so I understand where they’re coming from,” Sin said.

“I’ll make sure they can still be kids but never out of sight while they do it,” I assured the women. “It helps that Laura loves animals and is all about hanging out with me and the dogs.”

“Speaking of dogs, it sounds like . . .”

I heard Charlie barking outside and jumped up from the table as I said, “That’s an alarm bark, not a happy bark.”

Sin and Freya were right behind me as I sprinted out the back door to find the girls playing with a few of their brothers and Charlotte’s twins. I was shocked at the sight in front of me.

Aleta was in the yard trying to maneuver around Charlie who kept moving so that he was between her and the children.

“I’ll go get a gun and shoot that animal if you don’t call him back,” Aleta threatened. Charlotte called for the children to come into the house, and Aleta shook her head. “Laura! Mary! I told you to come here, and I meant it.”

Mary and Laura ignored her and took off running toward the house as I stepped up beside Charlie and rested my hand on the top of his head. He stopped barking, but his menacing growl was enough to keep Aleta away.

“What do you want, hag?” I asked.

“You will not steal my children from me.”

“I thought you were coming up with a price.”

“I haven’t yet, so that means they’re still under my care. I want them to come home.”

“Why?” Freya asked.

Aleta narrowed her eyes and asked, “Who are you?”

“She asked you a question,” I said angrily as Aleta’s glare snapped back to me. “Answer it.”

“I don’t have to do anything.”

“There’s not a soul watching this encounter that I wouldn’t trust with my life, Aleta. Can you say the same?”

“Are you threatening me?”

“She’s not the brightest bulb on the string, is she?” Freya asked.

“Why do you want the girls to come home? It’s obvious they don’t want to be there, and Dub said you complain about their behavior all the time so . . .”

“William doesn’t know what he’s talking about and has poisoned their minds against me.”

“He should have just poisoned you,” Sin said with a laugh. “That’s still an option, though, right?”

“We do know some people,” Freya said mysteriously. “What’s that saying? When one door closes, another one opens.”

“No, when one door closes, you kick that bitch in and start swinging,” I said as I started walking closer to Aleta. “Get the fuck off this property, and stay the fuck away from this family, Aleta, or the one I’ll be swinging on is you.”

“I’ll call the authorities and tell them you’ve kidnapped my children,” Aleta threatened as she walked backwards, keeping pace with me to maintain the same distance away from Charlie and his menacing growl.

I ignored her threat and asked, “Isn’t that what you’re trying to do?”

“They’re my children!”

“You don’t give a shit about any of your kids, Laura and Mary included. You only want them because you can barter them for something that benefits you. We’re all on to your bullshit and will do whatever it takes to stop it from happening.”

“You’ll regret putting your nose in my business, you . . . you . . . you trollop! ”

“Oh no! She called her a trollop! Them’s fightin’ words,” Sin said with an exaggerated drawl.

“Pelos!” I commanded under my breath to make Charlie stay so I could get closer to Aleta. When she realized that he wasn’t going to come any closer, she stopped walking, but I didn’t until we were almost nose to nose. In a voice so low that I knew Aleta was the only one who could hear me, I warned, “I suggest you slink back into whatever hole you crawled out of before you came here, Aleta, because I’ll do whatever it takes to keep those girls safe and away from you and your selfish plans.”

“You think you’re mighty tough with your friends here,” Aleta hissed. “I’ve got the prophet on my side, and he’s got soldiers that will do what’s right when the time comes.”

“Well, they’re gonna need a fucking army if they’re going to come up against us,” I warned. “And, just so you know, if that happens, I’ll make damn sure that you’re one of the casualties.”

“You won’t get away with it.”

“Bet me. There’s not a single person that gives a fuck about you, and that includes every one of your children. Keep that in mind when you’re stirring up whatever bubbling cauldron of shit you’ve got planned.”

“You should know better than to mess with the Kingstones, you . . . you . . . apostate.”

“You’re really not good at insulting people, are you?” I heard Freya call out from behind me.

Aleta’s glare never left me, so I ignored Freya and said, “I don’t give a fuck what your last name is or who you’re connected to, Aleta, and you can call me every name in the book but that shit will roll off my back like I’m made of Teflon. I’ve been through things in my life that would break a normal person and have come out smiling on the other side. I’ll make sure you experience at least a little bit of that same shit before I kill you.” Aleta could tell by the look on my face that I wasn’t bluffing and backed up a step with a terrified look on her face. “Keep that in mind when you’re making plans. My suggestion would be to sign the paperwork Dub had prepared for you and then go far, far away.”

Without another word, Aleta spun around and walked away, glancing over her shoulder now and then to make sure I wasn’t following her. I heard Sin and Freya walk up behind me, and together, we watched Aleta make her way across the field that connected Charlotte's house to her brother’s.

“Do you think she wears those shoes because they’re comfortable?” Sin asked.

“How in the hell does she get her hair to poof up like that in the front?” Freya asked, ignoring her sister’s question.

“I have a feeling vanity might be her downfall, ugly shoes or not.”

“Vanity?” Freya asked.

“Yeah. All I can think when I look at that woman is how easy it would be to choke her to death with that fucking braid hanging down her back.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Sin said as she rested her arm over my shoulders. “I’m glad you found Dub, but it really surprises me that one of our Rojo family didn’t snatch you up and make you their queen.”

I laughed softly and put my arm around Sin so I could turn us back toward Charlotte’s. “They’ve already got a queen, and what makes you think I didn’t sample some of those Rojo goods before I left?”

“Holy shit,” Freya whispered. “Who?”

“Let’s just say that there might be one or two who miss me a little bit more than you may think.”