Chapter Twenty-One

Josh held up the pudding cup as Nicole groaned.

"I would rather have a cheeseburger," she said with a frown. "Christa will totally bring me one."

"Says the woman who recently had abdominal surgery," Grim replied with a shake of his head. "You're on a soft foods diet for the next two weeks, and don't think you can get our momma on your side. She used to be a nurse, and she will watch you like a hawk."

He wasn't wrong about that. Mom had been up here every day since Nicole had been admitted. She went over her charts with the nurses and discussed the physical therapy Nicole would need. Their mom was taking care of her newest baby bird, and Nicole was about to find out how fierce Abby Barnes-Fleetwood could be when protecting someone she loved.

Oddly, he thought Nicole wouldn't mind, her cheeseburger cravings aside. "I got you chocolate and butterscotch."

"No vanilla?" Nicole asked.

He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers. "Baby, you left vanilla a long while back. You're never getting vanilla again."

She blushed but winked at him. "Yeah, I guess I did. It's a good thing I've got a taste for butterscotch. Has anyone checked in on Harlow? Did she make it back to Dallas?"

That had been fun. "Oh, yes, but I think she should have hidden out here for a while. Uncle Chase was a paranoid bastard before. He's vowing to get her out of the PI business."

"And Harlow is basically not speaking to him. She might have just had surgery, but she knows how to use her middle finger." Grim sat up, stretching.

The cots they'd been sleeping on were hell on a man's back, but they weren't about to leave her. Luckily there was an actual Barnes-Fleetwood wing to this small rural hospital, so no one tried to keep them out. "It didn't help they brought Greer along. Greer is the perfect child. Or at least that's how Harlow sees her. Greer is perfect, and she's the wild child everyone worries about. She loves her sister, but it's an interesting dynamic. Kind of like ours. Grim is the perfect one in our case."

His brother merely grinned. "I can't help it."

Nicole picked up her spoon and the butterscotch pudding. "Well, you weren't perfect a couple of days ago. You could have been a little faster finding me. I think I'm going to avoid getting shot again. All my girlfriends used to say it. Go to a small town. Get shot. It's so much fun. They were wrong."

His stomach took a dive even at the thought. "You are never leaving the ranch again."

"That'll be hard to do since I start work soon." Nicole looked so much better after a couple of days of healing. "Also, Kim told us everything is cleared up now. The Holloways don't care about me at all anymore. They blame Laura for everything."

"Kim is helping her." They were all worried about Nicole's sister-in-law. She'd risked a lot. "She's safe, and they've hired a lawyer to ensure they can't get to her. There's nothing they can do."

"And there's nothing they can do to me, either, so I'm going to enjoy my new car when I drive Buddy and me to work in a couple of weeks. He's going to be my work friend," Nicole announced.

"I thought we would drive in together," Josh pointed out.

"I'm sure we will sometimes, but I'm going to have meetings to attend. Abby wants me to join the historical society and a couple of her charity boards. I'm also thinking about going back to college. Either online, or I can drive into Tyler a couple of times a week. I'd like to finish my degree."

"I think that's great." She wouldn't have to worry about money for the rest of her life. She wouldn't have to work. But he wanted her to pursue all of her dreams. He would happily support her in everything she did.

He loved this woman, and the fact that she was alive and whole was everything.

There was a knock on the door and then his parents were invading. If Olivia hadn't had a meeting in South Texas she would have been here, too. His sister seemed to have shoved all her problems aside in favor of keeping her almost sister-in-law company. And Harlow, before her paranoid dads had come with a private helicopter to take her home.

He would have to watch those situations. Just because he was happy and starting his own family didn't mean he would leave the old one behind. It was a lesson he'd learned from his dad.

Who was walking in and had some things to answer for.

"You want to tell me what I'm wearing that has a locator device in it? At first I thought it was probably my phone, but then I remembered you're a ruthless bastard and I can leave my phone behind." Josh wasn't at all pissed at his dad. Merely curious. The truth was they might have been screwed without Jack Barnes's determination to keep an eye on his loved ones. Also, Josh was thinking of the future. He could use some pointers.

His dad had stopped, at a loss for words for once.

Not so his pops. "I think you'll find it's in your watch. You remember. He gave it to you for your sixteenth birthday. And when you switched to a smart watch, he got you a new wrist band. Yeah. It's there. Grim's is in his watch as well. He put two on Olivia. The first one was a necklace, but when she decided to get a belly button ring, Jack saw opportunity."

His mom laughed. "Yes, he used that bit of rebellion against her."

"Not against her." Dad sat down next to Grim and looked a bit defeated. "It's a hard world, and you kids can be made targets."

"I'm so glad you did it, Jack," Nicole said, all her humor pushed to the side. "I don't know I would be here if you hadn't. Is it in the necklace?"

His father nodded.

"I like to change my jewelry. I might need a locator where I know what it is so I don't accidently not wear it one day. I was married to a man who would do something like that in order to control me. You wouldn't, but you have to let me know." It was obvious Nicole was going to put up some logical boundaries. "I'll be happy to share my location. I don't want you to worry."

"Dad, I'm not mad. Grim's not mad," Josh said.

Grim leaned against their dad. Damn but he'd come a long way. He used to be stiff and formal, and now he leaned against the old man like he had the right to comfort him. Because he did. "I like my watch, too. Don't worry about it, Dad. My main question is where did you put the one for Pops? He loses everything."

Pops chuckled. "He had Big Tag…well, tag me a long time ago. It's in my right butt cheek. If it helps, he's got one in his butt, too."

"Well, mine is in my everyday collar," his mother announced.

Josh shook his head. "Necklace. Can we call it a necklace?"

"Prude," his mother admonished. "Now we can share the app he uses and all keep track of one another."

"I only use it in emergencies." His father had put an arm around Grim. "I promise. I know I call Chase paranoid, but I've seen some things in my time I can't forget."

"And apparently Pops has too," Grim said with a whistle. "He knew exactly what to do when we needed to close Harlow's wound."

His mom shook her head. "Yes, we all remember how to do that. It's burned in my brain forever. But let's talk about more pleasant things. I know you guys are happy with the guest house, but we thought you might need more room."

"We're fine." Grim looked horrified at the thought. "The guest house is perfect. It's great."

"They're not kicking us out." Josh knew exactly what scared his brother. "And those three bedrooms with no office and no…space for other things is going to feel tight after a while. We might take some time before we talk about having kids, but we'll want more room when it happens. I was going to suggest finding some land close by."

They'd sat by her bedside the night before and talked about the family they wanted to build. Nicole had told him she wanted at least two kids, and maybe three, and she wanted them close together so they wouldn't feel alone. Like she had.

"We bought the ranch next door, and it's our wedding present to you," Dad announced.

Grim's eyes went wide. "You bought Ezekiel's land?"

Dad nodded. "I told you he would leave when he realized the town is changing. The sheriff had a long talk with him about the fact that he's going to start ticketing him and the boys when they harass the citizens. I made him a good offer, and he'll be out in three weeks. Grim, I hope you're not upset about your brothers leaving."

"My brother is here," Grim said quietly. "My brother would never leave me."

From here on out, he thought Grim wouldn't worry about his family. The universe had made a mistake, and he'd been born to the wrong people. It was corrected now. Or maybe there was no fate at all, merely a wide-open willingness to let more love in. Like his parents always did.

"So you bought us a ranch for a wedding present? You know when you go over the top, you go way over the top," Josh said with a grin since he knew exactly what his dad was doing.

"We're so grateful," Nicole began.

"Yes, and Olivia will be, too, when she moves into the guest house and our parents can go back to their pre-children naked time," Josh said with a shake of his head. "You better change the locks because we'll still walk in at all times of the day."

"Oh, I'll keep a robe in every room," his mom said, her arm around Pop's waist. She cuddled against him. "I remember how to do it. And it's going to be a while because you're going to need to build. That ramshackle old house needs to come down, and I would prefer you built a wee bit closer to the big house. I don't want my grandbabies having to walk miles to see their mimi. Who will be dressed for the grandbabies. But I have to admit, I'm looking forward to some privacy. Just a little."

He might joke about his parents' sex life, but he was happy for them. They were still so in love. It was everything he and Grim wanted with Nicole.

"I get to build a whole house?" Nicole asked.

His mother nodded. "Yes. It's going to be so much fun. We'll bring in a designer and get it perfect. But we also have to start talking about the wedding. I assume there is going to be a wedding."

"Not that anyone has asked me properly," Nicole replied with a grin.

"I think you should be patient, baby. We might have plans," Grim offered. "We're going to do this right. How about you get better and we go back to Austin for a weekend? I bet you come home with a ring on your finger."

Because they'd already found the perfect one. It was being resized for Nicole, and they intended to slip it on her finger when she was healed. They had sat in the waiting room while Nicole had been in surgery, and they wouldn't even think about something going wrong. They'd planned the future because there wasn't much of one without her. They had a whole game plan on how they were going to make it an engagement night to remember.

"I have some magazines with wedding ideas," his mother was saying.

"We're going to have to up our prices," Pops said with a shake of his head. "She's going to turn this into a royal wedding."

His mom and future wife were off, planning and laughing.

"I think we can handle it," his dad said with a satisfied smile. His smile suddenly turned upside down and super serious. "Now we only have to worry about Olivia."

Pops groaned. "Yeah, that's a whole different story. That girl's going to give me a heart attack."

His sister finding her partners was likely to be an adventure. She'd picked out the boys she'd wanted when she was very young. She barely knew those boys and knew even less about them as men, but she was stubborn.

He had to hope she could adapt because his sister deserved every bit of happiness she could find.

She deserved all the happiness he'd found with Grim and Nicole.

"Well, at least we're in the right place for it," his dad said, giving his pops a wink.

Flirtatious parents. He was surrounded by them.

He was going to be one. Someday.

But for now he was going to focus on her. On their amazing future.

"What do you say we head down to the cafeteria and grab some coffee?" Dad stood up, stretching. "We can bring back some more snacks for the ladies. Planning is hard work."

Work he was willing to do, or to leave in Nicole's hands since he wanted this to be her perfect day. He wanted her to have a fabulous wedding. All he wanted was a fabulous marriage.

"Sounds good, Dad."

He walked out, joking with Grim, who looked, well, Josh was pretty sure his nickname was only that because Grim looked happy all the time now.

"She's going to make Buddy our ring bearer, you know," Grim said with a shake of his head. "We're going to have to get that dog trained and fast."

Somehow Josh thought it would all work out. After all, he and Grim had met in preschool, became best friends, and decided one day they would find a wife together. Then they were apart for years and years, and yet here they were.

The universe worked in mysterious ways, but Josh was finally where he wanted to be.