Chapter 2

Dusty helped the woman out to the car that they'd all come in. He was getting a kick out of the way the MPs were treating the man who had come to the hospital. He was a pest, Alex told them when she mentioned the restraining order. She put her hands on her hips and asked them what the hell they were doing, not protecting someone in the care of her husband.

He surely did love a woman who had a fire in her eye as Alex had. The other woman, Shipley, looked about as hot, too. Dusty decided that he was going to enjoy working for the woman if only to see her temper flare. He wasn't foolish enough to get her going, nope. But he thought that he might enjoy watching her take a bite out of other people.

She was staying at Erickson Manor, and he was glad for that. Call him a sadist, but he was enjoying watching her take apart the two officers who had been assigned to protect her. The cop had some jurisdiction but not as much as the MPs who listened to her every command.

They didn't either one of them leave their posts right outside of the house when she was in here either. Her command of curse words that she had, in several languages if he didn't miss a beat, was profoundly entertaining.

"What are you grinning at?" He told her, point blank, what he thought of her and her temper. "You won't feel that good about me once I turn it on you."

"I'm not worried about that. I plan on being on my best behavior while around you." She made her way to the living room as soon as Dusty had her signing off on the last of the paperwork to make sure that her sister and her children benefited from her life insurance policy that she'd had since starting her career in the service. "Couldn't you have had this done by one of the men in the army with you? Not that I mind, really, but I was just curious."

"I'm on the front line all the time. Attorneys usually don't make it out to me when I need them." He told her that he could understand that. "Don't you have someplace to be?"

"No. Locke and Alex invited me to dinner but with bringing you here, they've decided to go out and bring something back for all of us." She asked him what it would be, no doubt foo-foo food. "No. I don't even know what that is, but I think that they were talking Chinese when they left."

"From Woo Chow?" He said that it was where they usually got things to go. "I'd kill for a large bowl of their hot sour soup and a couple of dozen egg rolls."

Pulling out his phone, he asked Locke if they'd gotten their food yet. Telling him what Shipley wanted, he said that he'd get some. Then she asked for some green tea. He knew that Alex had a stash of it in the house, but he'd ask her. She told him that she did and would be happy to share.

Putting his phone away, he decided to get to know Shipley. First of all, he did wonder what her name was. When she told him that it was Candace and not Candy, he nodded once. Yes, she wasn't a Candy nor a Candace. He asked her what she wanted him to call her.

"Nothing. I'm not…it's not like we're going to be meeting up socially. Or for that matter at all. Just keep to yourself and we'll be just fine. I'm not here to be social but to help my sister out. She did tell me that your family did a great deal for her, and I can't thank you all enough for that." He leaned back on the couch and regarded her. "You're starting to piss me off. Didn't you just tell me that you weren't going to do that?"

"I'm not trying to piss you off. I was just thinking how much you look like Amanda yet I think I could tell the two of you apart. You're identical, I'm assuming." She said that she was the older of the two. Asking him what he found different about the two of them, as identical twins and he frowned before speaking. "Amanda is softer around the edges. I don't mean physically but just softer. Not that I don't think she could take care of herself as well as you do, but she's not one to fly off the handle when she's upset. Also, you have more freckles. Or she might cover them up with something. You have a natural look about you, while Amanda is more…I was going to say polished, but that wouldn't be right here. I think that given the right circumstances that you could outshine the sun."

"You're assuming a lot right now. And I never dress up." He asked her if she'd ever dressed up in her uniform. "Yes, for very special occasions and only something that I can't get out of. I've only been in my dress-up clothing, what I call people clothing twice in my career. Once when I was given a metal for something that I do for my job, and the second time was when I went to Amanda's wedding. She begged for me to wear it, and I couldn't turn her down. Besides, it kept Fred's mother in line, what with me being armed and all. Now there is what I'd call a first-class bitch."

They were still talking when his brother came home. Alex was on the phone, but his brother didn't seem to care that she wasn't helping him bring things in. As soon as Alex saw Shipley, she handed her phone off to her.

He left her to her call and joined Locke and Alex in the dining room sorting out food. There was a lot of it, too. He asked if they'd bought out the restaurant.

"No. I didn't know what Candace wanted so I got something of every dish. It's not like it will go to waste." He told her no, not if anyone else was coming. "Amanda and the kids are coming over too. That's who Candace is talking to. There was some mix-up about where she was staying, and I let her deal with that."

When Amanda arrived, Dusty could see the differences better. She didn't wear what he thought was called foundation, but she did have fewer freckles than Shipley did. He also wondered if it was because one spent more time in the sun than the other. And if Amanda had the time to do that, would she be as freckled as well.

The kids, even the infant, seemed to love their aunt. Especially Mandy. But the little boy, Fred, he would crawl up into her lap when he was upset more than he did his mom. Mom, he noticed, would tell him he was all right. However, Shipley would pretend that she was going to cut off the appendage or something along those lines, making the kids all laugh. A sudden thought occurred to him and he was dizzy with the thought of it being a reality.

He was just getting up to get something for the kids to drink when Shipley was coming out of the kitchen with her hands filled with juice glasses. He saw her then. Saw Shipley when she was fat with a child. His child, and it made him have to sit down with his head between his knees.

"You all right, dumb ass?" He had to smile. Of course, she'd be no different with treating him than she was a child. "Sit up. You're scaring the shit out of the kids. You heard me. Sit your ass upright before I do it for you."

They were all eating once he was feeling better. Mandy sat down next to him and when she was ready for some more rice, he got it for her. After thanking him, she looked him right in the eyes. There was something about the look that startled him a little.

"Don't hurt her." He asked her what she meant. "My aunt Shipley. Don't hurt her. She's been hurt before. When she came home the last time, she was crying a lot. I don't know what it was, but she hurt really bad, and it hurt my heart because I couldn't fix it for her. She fixes me all the time, but I couldn't help her. So…please don't hurt my aunt."

"I won't. At least I'll try my very best not to hurt her." He didn't tell her that she looked as if she could take care of herself if he did, but he didn't. Something about the innocent request of a child had him trying his best not to be flippant to her. "Thank you for telling me about her last visit. Was it when your dad got sick?"

"No, that dumb grannie was upset that momma wasn't going to let her live in our house so that she could take care of her baby. She meant my daddy. Mom told me, and it hurt her that dumb grannie wouldn't allow her to do what was needed to care for Daddy. Then Aunt Shipley came home, and that was a fight, I tell you. But I could tell that she was sad too. I didn't know from what, but she and Momma cried all night that night, and she was gone the next day. She flew in for a quickie visit she told us."

"That was good that she could drop everything and come to your momma's aide, don't you think? I mean, that might have been all that it was. She was sad for her sister." Mandy assured him that it wasn't just that. But then Fred wanted to go and play, and she left the table with him.

"Don't be getting ideas that you can charm something out of my family." He looked at Shipley and asked her what she meant. "I don't know, but you'll not hurt the kids to do something to me. Come right out with what you're asking me, and I'll tell you."

"She was telling me about her dumb grannie—I have a feeling that she calls her that all the time, not just now. But she was telling me how when your brother-in-law first got sick, she wanted to move in with them to take care of her baby. I believe it hurt her that she didn't mean the kids for their mom." Shipley nodded and said that was true. "Then she told me that you came home and that you and your sister cried all night, then you left her. I don't think that she minded so much that you were there over Grannie, but she did hurt when you left. She didn't say that, but it was in the way that she told me that you were gone the next morning."

"I had a deadline to meet. I did leave without being able to tell her bye. I'll not do that again. Thank you for telling me that." He asked her why she was crying. "You don't know me well enough to ask me about that. Maybe someday, but not now."

"I'll tell you something that I've told very few people other than my family. I have a friend that I care for. Her name is Lila Sheppard. I was supposed to be her date for the prom when we first moved here. I was all set to do it, but the school didn't like the fact that I was nearly twenty years old and too old to be with an eighteen-year-old girl." She asked him what happened to her. "The boy that took her to the prom beat the shit out of her and raped her. She lives in a state of limbo now, not talking or responding to her family. I take care that she's getting the best of care even though I can't see her. Her parents have no idea that I'm the one who is paying for her nursing home." He gave himself a good hard shake. "I don't know why I told you that. As I said, I've never told anyone that but my brothers."

"Thank you for sharing it. I won't say a word to anyone either. You're a very kind man, and I'm glad that my sister has you and your family in her corner." He thanked her. "No problem. But I need to stretch myself out."

They were sitting on the back veranda when she got up to walk in the yard. It was much too large to be called a porch, and the things that were back there made it seem as if it were a part of the house rather than something you sat on to get a cool breeze in the evening.

There were fans that were on all the time but for winter. A small ice box, one that had seen better days that was forever filled with bottled water. And there were several fruit trees right off of it that you could reach out and get a few plums or apples should you wish. And in the early spring, the place was alive with blooms and flowers.

He watched Shipley play with the children. She was good with them, not overly harsh when she spoke to them. Dusty had a thought that she'd make a good mom, but she'd be a little overly protective of them. Then he laughed at himself. She'd be as overly protective of them as he thought that he would be.

It was getting late, and the kids wanted to go to bed. Helping carry them out to her car, Amanda cornered him. She asked him what his intentions were with her sister. It took him several seconds before he could form an answer.

"I have no intentions of hurting her. If that's what you mean." She said that she honestly didn't know what she meant but saw the way that he looked at her. "Like what, if you don't mind me asking you."

"Like you're the big bad wolf, and she's little Red Riding Hood." He laughed. Actually threw back his head and laughed. "Are you laughing at me?"

"No. Not at all. I was just thinking that I'd be the little girl, and your sister would be the wolf. I'm just a man who'd like to see your sister in another way than when she's hurt or upset. However, I have a feeling that she'd be upset about something all the time. Would that be correct?" She told him that she didn't know. That she missed so much of her life. "I'm sorry about that as well, Amanda. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have my brothers right there for me all the time. I'd miss them so much."

"I miss her as well. But she has this sixth sense about when to call me. I think that it's a twin thing. But she'll just call me out of the blue, and that'll make me feel better." He told her that he was glad that they were so close. "We are. More than I think any other twins that I know of."

"She said that she's only home for a few weeks now. Is that right?" She said that she had four weeks, but one of them had been getting better. "All right. We'll have a good time while she's here, and you can reap all the love that you can while she's visiting. I have a feeling that she's missing you as well."

"Good. Maybe when she retires, she can buy herself a little home and be close to me again. What do you think?" He said that he had no opinion on that as he didn't know either of them very well. "Well, get on the stick, Dusty. She only has three weeks left of her vacation."

She kissed him on the cheek and got into the car. It looked to him like all four of the people in the car were asleep, including Shipley. He wondered if he'd call Shipley that all the time when…he let that thought go and decided that he was going to let things go for now and make sure that Amanda and her sister had as much time together as they could get.

~*~

Shipley missed the banter that she'd had with Dusty. He was funny at times and an irritant the other times. But she liked him. And that, she realized, was something that she didn't much care for. Just as she was going out to her car, she was running errands for her sister when she saw Scott standing next to her car.

"I've come to propose to you, Candy. And I do hope that you'll realize that I've put a great deal of thought into this. You're going to have to retire, however. My mother isn't too keen on you living with us but she'll come around once she sees you for what you are. You're going to be able to take care of her in ways that she told me about." She asked him what that was supposed to mean. "That you're a mushy person and that you put on this fa?ade of being bad assed in order to keep me at bay. I don't much care for you seeing that Derick person either."

Just as she was ready to pull out her gun and end her trouble with Scott, Dusty pulled into the drive and got out of his truck. However, he didn't so much as come to her defense but seemed to be letting her handle things.

She had no idea why, but she really liked him for that. She wasn't going to use the ‘L' word. Shipley had been telling herself that she wasn't in love with the moron for the last several days. Walking to him, he stood up straighter, and she pulled his face to hers and kissed him.

He hesitated for just a second, and she started to pull away, feeling foolish for doing this to a near stranger. But he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to his body and deepened the kiss to the point of her needing to strip him down and take him right there on the hood of his truck.

Gently, he pulled away from her, not, however, letting her go. She could see the lust in his eyes and she knew that he was seeing the same in hers. Turning in his arms, barely able to stand on her own, she looked at Scott. The look on his face was priceless and she was glad that he might well be getting it through his thick head that she wasn't going to be marrying him. Ever, if not longer.

"What is the meaning of this?" Scott stomped his way to her and got down on one knee. "I've gotten you a ring. Though with your showing off right now, I don't know why I don't get you something smaller. But momma said that if I was going to do this, then I might as well go big. I got you the biggest ring. It's not a diamond, I'm not spending that kind of cash on you just yet but it's the biggest looking diamond that I could find."

Dusty turned her around and looked into her eyes. She could see that he had a strange look on his face, and while she'd not known him all that long, she knew that it wasn't going to bode well for Scott.

"You're not a diamond person, are you?" She shook her head, wondering how he knew that. "I have a ring for you as well. It's perfect for you. It belonged to the greatest woman that I knew, right up until you came into my life. If you would consent to saying yes that you'll marry me, I'll slip it on your finger right now."

"You have it on you?" He nodded, pulled away from her long enough to reach into his car, and put a small blue box in her hand. "You have to do it right. Will you?"

"Yes." He moved back again but didn't let her go. Getting down on both his knees he took the box back and kissed her hand before opening the box. "Candace Lynne Shipley, will you consent to being my wife? Allow me to pamper you when you need it? Your sounding board when you need that, too. I will follow you to the ends of the earth, either on this soil or wherever your job takes you. I have fallen in love with you so quickly that it took my mind longer to figure out what my heart already knew. I'm so deeply in love with you."

"There are no takebacks, Dusty. You get that, right?" Scott interrupted them and said that he'd asked first. Shipley turned to him. "Shut up, you idiot. This wasn't a contest or a game that you can play. This is forever. This is love." She looked at him again. "Right?"

"Yes, no contest, no game. Yes, I want you to marry me forever and a day. Forever be my wife. I'd also like to have children if you're willing to do—" Scott cut him off.

"There will be no children. Never. I don't like them, and I hate the way that they smell. No, I refuse to allow you to have any children." She looked at Scott while he spouted off his demands, and he could tell that he was seriously thinking that she'd not have children if she wanted them. "You should take me more seriously, Candy. I swear, if you don't, then things might happen to your lovely little family."

"Did you just threaten her?" He kissed her hand and then stood up, but not before slipping the ring on her finger. "Did you just threaten my future wife? And our families?"

"I don't know that I'd call it a threat but more like a promise. It would be a big shame that your brother would suddenly lose his job. And that I'd have to make sure that the hospital never treats anyone in your family again. Momma told me to tell you that. While I'm not sure how I could make that happen, I want you to know that I will do whatever my momma tells me to do." Scott smiled at them. It was evil-looking. Pure evil. "Yes, a right shame if one of those little kiddies that your sister has was to fall ill and have to be taken to a bigger city with less new equipment to—who are you calling now?"

She wanted to know that as well. But when he started talking, she was never so proud of anyone as she was at this moment. He called his brother to tell him what was going on.

While she had no idea what was being said on the other end of the call, she was happy when he said that Shipley had consented to marrying him. Then he went on about how Scott Landry had threatened them. Kissing her quickly on the mouth, her sister came out to see what was going on.

"He's asked me to marry him. And dumb fuck here just threatened you and your kids with not getting any care if you're ever hurt." She hadn't any idea what she had expected her sister to do, but she couldn't be happier.

The punch to Scott's face not only knocked the man back, but it also knocked him out. The silence was golden as she so often heard during her life. The police were pulling into the drive about the time that Locke showed up with his wife. If she didn't know better, she'd swear that the troops were called in, and there was going to be a lot of shit hitting the fan tonight.

Locke and his brother left after all of them showed up and left their cars in the drive. Within minutes, they were back and kissing her on the cheek to tell her congratulations. Then the idiots left again. Someone said they were headed to the bank. Whatever that meant.

Scott was taken away, and the officers looked at her sister's hand to make sure that she didn't need medical help. The two officers who had been to the house before when Scott had shown up also kissed her on the cheek, welcoming her to the Erickson family, and left with Scott. They didn't even check his wound, even though he had bitched about the pain he was in for so long. After they all left, all of them leaving with her and her sister promising not to leave, the two of them sat on the first porch and waited for them to return.

"Is it a lovely ring, Candace? Please don't make me beg to see it." They both laughed, and she got her first look at the ring. "It's the same color as our eyes. Do you suppose that he picked it for that? Amethyst are about the closest thing that I've ever seen to judge our eye color." She told her sister that he'd come here with it. "I don't suppose he told you why he was coming here in the first place?"

"No. But he didn't butt in when Scott was spouting off his mouth about the rules when I marry him. He said that he wanted to have kids but would leave the decision up to me. I never thought about having them before, but now that's all I can think about." Amanda asked her about her job. "I don't know what to do about that. I want to retire, I told you that but I only have six months until I can retire with all my benefits. That's not a long time, is it?" She told her no, it wasn't if they had the rest of their lives together. "I'll talk to…I never thought that I'd think that I'd have to talk about myself and what I'm doing with anyone before. It's kind of a heady thing. Did you and Fred talk all the time?"

"Rarely. I mean, I suppose we talked about things…Can I tell you something? Something I'm only just figuring out." She told her sister that she could tell her anything. "I don't know that I ever loved Fred. Not the way I think that I should have. I see the love you have for Dusty, and I think the world would know that you love him, but it's also the way that Locke talks to Alex. The way they talk to each other. From the beginning, it was more arguments than anything between Fred and me. Then I got pregnant with Mandy, and it was sort of like we had to get married. I don't know that I'd do that today if I knew what real love was like."

"That's really sad, don't you think?" She nodded, then shook her head. "What do you mean? You would have done it all over. You just told me that you'd not."

"I'd not have Parker and Fred if I hadn't stayed with him. And they were worth every second of the things that I had to endure. That's sad, too. I had to endure my marriage to someone else. But I'm not going to think about that. I'm going to get on with my life. Perhaps date a little and move on. I have my health, my kids, and a good bit of money in the bank. Also, I have you and the Erickson family. They're a good group to have on your side if you were to ask me."

The house phone was ringing when they stepped into the house. It was the police and they wanted to talk to her. Taking the phone from her sister, she said her last name and asked what she could do for them.

"Did you at any time pull out your weapon and aim it at Mr. Landry? He said that you threatened him, and that was why he said what he said in the heat of the moment." She told him what happened and then said that her sister had cameras all around the house, and it had sound if he wanted to hear it. "No, that's all right. I just wanted to ask you. I would have shot him myself, but then he's not saying anything to us. By the way, he is saying that he asked you to marry him first and that you did him dirty. But when Dusty asked you, you had an answer. Congratulations on that. He's a great man. By the way, Scott said that he's going to sue you for that. Just a heads up."

"Thanks. He did ask first." She relayed what he'd said about children as well as how he wasn't buying her a diamond. "I didn't even want a diamond. The ring that I got from Dusty is so much more wonderful than a diamond. He said that I wasn't…I have no idea why I'm telling you this."

"You're a friend, that's why." He cleared his throat. "I was wondering something. And you can tell me to fuck off or not. But when do you think that your sister will be ready to date again? I know that I sound insane for asking you that, but I've had a major thing about your sister since before she married Fred. He was a good guy and all but I don't think he treated her all that well. I'm sorry if you think that I'm out of line."

"You're not. And I'd say…give her a month. If she doesn't ask you out, then you ask her. I think that the two of you would make a good couple. I think that she's not really into getting married or anything but she might date you for a little bit. However, remember, I'm never too far away to make you pay if you hurt her or one of her children." He said he'd never hurt any of them. "Good. Then you have my blessings to ask her out."