Chapter 47

47

Dylan was definitely not on her home planet here. For one thing, there was no irritating beeping in her room at home. For another, this bed was kind of narrow—she had an extra-long king bed at home and a Fletcher to snuggle.

And she heard people walking around now.

“Baby?”

Dylan’s eyes flew open, and she turned her head. Hospital. Why was she in the hospital? “Wow, Mama, the last thing I really remember was air-guitaring with a hot Tyler twin guy after adding the beans to the chili. Where is Fletcher? Is he okay?”

She was in the hospital, he was freaky over hospitals, and he wasn’t there right next to her. She was about to panic here. Where was he?

“He’s out in the lobby. Your father overruled him on getting back here to you. Dixie and Devaney are dealing with Fletcher now. That young man seems to think he has a right to be right next to you, sweetie. At all times. I am not even sure he’s left you to go to the bathroom—and it’s right there.”

“Well, he does.” Why deny it? They’d been loving each other for four days now. A lot. It was far too special to just call it boinking like her sisters and cousins did. She hoped they’d be together again and again and again—just…not anytime soon. Her abdomen was on fire here. “I really want him back here, actually. I need to make sure he’s okay. He gets freaked over hospitals. What exactly happened to me?”

“Your appendix ruptured, sweetie. Fletcher and three of his cousins were there and brought you here.” Her mom was fussing over her again. She did that sometimes. It actually surprised Dylan her mom had made it back here to a hospital room without a total meltdown and everything. She was uncontrollable when her girls were sick, after all.

But while her mom’s eyes were red-rimmed, she wasn’t in total mom-meltdown mode.

Talk about some serious progress here. The counselor her mom went to twice a week now was really making a difference. Tears hit Dylan's eyes. Her mom had gone through so much.

“How long were you ill, Dylan Geraldine?” a male voice demanded.

Of course. Poophead Dad would be right there too. But this time Dylan didn’t care. She was in the hospital, and her parents were there to make sure everything was okay. It helped—she wasn't too much of a hardhead to admit that.

“I don’t even remember really being sick, Daddy. I woke up with a little bit of fever, but I thought I was just getting the flu from Dorie and Mom, so I took some fever reducer and felt fine after. Can you get Fletcher? I need to make sure that man is okay. He gets really freaky over hospitals, since his mom died so suddenly when he was a kid and then his dad four years later.”

Her father’s face tightened. Well, he would just have to get over this ridiculous Tyler-itis he had. Dylan looked at him and batted her lashes. “Please, Daddy? Please go get my Cowboy Fletchie for me? Please, please, please?”

She stuck her lower lip out for the hell of it and kept batting her eyes.

“You have been nothing but trouble since the day you were born,” her father told her. But he stood and kissed her forehead. He smelled the way he always had, felt big and reassuring and safe. Just like he always had.Dylan resisted the urge to cling. “I’ll let that boy back here if he behaves himself and doesn’t tell me what to do this time.”

“Technically, I think I am the one who gets to let him back here. You just get to be my Fletcher-fetcher.”

He was grumbling when he left the room. Dylan snickered—then looked at her mom. “So how long am I stuck here anyway? I have things to do at home. Fletcher’s partner in Texas is sending our drones this weekend. I need to figure out the instructions and translate them into Fletcher-speak, and I need to get some more seeds started for a trial I am doing for an agronomist in Texas now, and I am trying to get him to paint the living room soon, and?—”

“He makes you happy, doesn't he?” her mom asked, watching Dylan in that way she had sometimes. Like she was reading Dylan's soul or something. “Like you haven’t been since we came here. That makes me happy, baby. I have been worried about you.”

Dylan and her mom had always had a different kind of relationship. Mental illness almost ensured that. Sometimes, her mom’s anxiety had made her unable to be the kind of mom Dylan knew her mom had wanted to be. And that would depress her mom occasionally, which would cause her to spiral. But Dylan had always known her mother really loved them. Her mom’s mental health struggles just made it difficult to put that love into play every time. “He…does. He understands me too. Respects me to make my own decisions. I’ve signed up to take another class. Well, if this little vacation doesn’t zap my savings, anyway. It’s an agricultural business class. It will count toward my degree—but it will help us with what he’s doing with his partner too.”

“I thought the position of housekeeper was just for six months?” There was such a mom-knowing look right there. “And then you were coming back to the inn?”

Well, it was. But they didn’t talk about it that way any longer. The plans they had made…were for long-term. He hadn’t mentioned a time limit even once since long before Finley Creek.

No. He’d said he wanted her forever. That implied a lack of time limits, after all. “Mama, I think…technically I may be living in sin with Fletcher Tyler here.” Dylan shot her mom a wry look. As exactly what she’d said sank in. “I just now caught on. Seems I may have just missed it.”

“As long as you are enjoying it, sweetie,” her mother gave a wicked grin of her own, showing that spirit that snuck through sometimes when she wasn’t too afraid. “Do not tell your dad, but I actually like Fletcher quite a bit. He gives your father hell when needed too. Brings him down off his high horse.”

“So I have noticed.” Dylan’s fingers wrapped around her mom’s. “So, when am I getting out of here? I want to go…home.”

Home.

To Fletcher. With Fletcher.

Forever, if he’d have her.

Talk about terrifying.

Then there was movement at the door.

The two most important men in her life stood there right now. And they were only glaring at each a little bit now. Could she call that progress, maybe?

But one look at her particular Tyler and Dylan burst into tears out of nowhere. And reached for him like a great big baby.

* * *

Dylan Talley’s tears would always destroy him.

Fletcher knew that with one look.

He looked at her father and stepped in front of the taller man when Talley shifted toward his daughter. It was Fletcher she was reaching for. It was Fletcher that was going to be there to hold her while she cried.

His arms went around her—the side of the bed was down, but it was awkward. He was trying not to touch her abdomen as best he could. But he was going to hold her. No matter what.

Skinny arms hooked around his neck and she pulled him closer. He cupped the back of her head and just held her while she cried.

“I’m sorry. I’m being a lunatic. But this is definitely not where I expected to wake up this morning,” she said into his neck.

“I know. You scared me, brat. Haven’t we already decided you are going to stop doing that? How are you feeling?”

“Sore. A bit confused. Tired. I really am not sure how I even got here. I don’t remember much,” she said, leaning back against the pillows. Her mom was there with a tissue. He leaned back. Her mom fussed over her, getting her settled back under the blanket. Fletcher kept her hand in his and just got out of her mom’s way.

Talley stood in the door and glowered a little. He didn’t like Fletcher being there. And he was making that known. He didn’t think Fletcher was good enough for his daughter, any more than he thought Ben was good enough for Dusty—but he’d just have to get over it. He’d made his feelings perfectly clear, but Fletcher didn’t give a damn.

“We walked in and found you sleeping in the kitchen,” he told her. “You stood up, did a facer right into Martin’s arms, I think you gave him actual gray hair with that one, and then we brought you here. Dixie was already here. She stayed with you when they wouldn’t let me.”

“How bad is the scar going to be? Is it very big?” Dylan threw back the blankets and tried to look for herself. Of course, she did.She was Dylan, pure curiosity, and he loved her more than words could ever say. The words almost slipped out, but her father was right there. He did not want witnesses when he told her for the first time—especially her father.

“It was laparoscopic,” her mother told her. “It won’t be very big.”

“How long are they holding me hostage here? I really don’t want big hospital bills.”

“Don’t worry about the bill,” Fletcher told her. “We’ll find a way to pay it eventually.”

“I will pay it, dear. I will.”

There was that stubborn look again. She wanted her independence—he just wanted her. But as far as he was concerned, they were in this life thing together now. Her bill was his. Period.

“You have health insurance through the inn’s family policy,” her father told her after glaring at Fletcher. “I will cover whatever it doesn’t.”

“I’ll cover it,” Fletcher said. He was going to be the one to take care of Dylan now. “I’ll take care of her just fine from now on, Talley.”

The man had been snarling at Fletcher for hours. Ever since one of her sisters had told him that Dylan was boinking Fletcher and that Fletcher got to stay for the decision-making-for-Dylan side of things whether her father really liked it or not.

Fletcher was still trying to wrap his head around the word “boinking” coming out of Dorie’s mouth so openly like that. Did all of them know he and Dylan were sleeping together?

Apparently so.

The rest of the green-eyed demon brigade had agreed, ganging up on their father. At any other time, it would have been fun to watch.

But all Fletcher had cared about was getting back to her.

“Boys, not now. Dylan needs to concentrate on healing, not refereeing you two,” Geena said firmly. She did have a bit of a stubborn streak, Fletcher had realized. And she was good at keeping her husband under control. Real good at it.Well, Dylan could keep Fletcher under control as much as she wanted too.

He helped her pull the bandage back to look at it for herself. He knew how she was—she’d be insistent. Geena called for the nurse to let her know Dylan had wakened. Fletcher moved to stand by the window.

He wasn’t going anywhere. Boinking a woman he loved gave him some privileges, after all. Her father was just going to have to learn to deal.

The nurse was one they both recognized. Laney Hodson was the sister of Fletcher’s cousin Chandler’s wife, and had been best friends with Dixie since the dawn of time, he was certain.

“Hey, Laney. Wazzup? Love the threads.” Wonkus McBubbles was printed on the scrubs top. Of course, Dylan would notice—she’d received giant stuffed Prince Rufus and Princess Rikkie dolls an hour ago, courtesy of one Wonkus McBubbles himself. They looked remarkably like Hunter and Nikki. “When can I get out of here? I have stuff to do.”

Laney checked the bandage herself and did all the things nurses did.

Fletcher just stayed back, out of the way.

Then her surgeon came in. He looked at the crowd. “I’m going to do a quick exam here. If you would all like to step out of the room?”

Fletcher did what he was told, but only after Dixie—who’d snuck in behind the surgeon—gave him a look. One that told him if he didn’t behave she’d see to it he was given his walking papers. Dixie was kind of scary—but she was very protective over Dylan now. That was hard to miss.

He looked at Dylan. “I am going to head down to the cafeteria, and grab breakfast. I will be right back.” He looked at the doctor. “How long will this take?”

“Just a few minutes.”

“Fletcher dear, go eat. I do not want you wasting away before I get to go home. We have things to do when I get out, remember? Have they shipped the drones yet?”

“I haven’t checked. Had other things on my mind, babe. Other things.”

“Go, right now. Check in with the Texas peeps. I am going to talk to a nurse I know about helping me wash the wacky hair and everything. I feel a little grubby. Go.” She pointed to the door. Then grabbed his hand and pulled him closer. “But…kiss me first. Right here on the cheek. I have anesthesia breath, so that is all you are getting.”

“I don’t care.” Fletcher pressed his lips to hers, just once. “I’ll be back. I’m not going too far.”

He loved this woman, and first moment they were alone, he was going to make that clear.

* * *

Dylan looked at the doctor after the room cleared of everyone but Dr. Paterson and Laney. What a pretty man he was too. All the men in Masterson County were quite beautiful. But Fletcher still took the top trophy for that. “So…how long am I in here for?”

“Probably a few more days,” Dr. Paterson said after looking at the incision and her chart. “I’m seeing signs of infection. Not uncommon, but…you may be here two to four days.”

“But I have stuff to do, dude. I have stuff to do.”

“I’m afraid it’s just going to have to wait,” Dixie told her, bluntly. “If you try to escape, I’ll just tell your boy toy out there. And when you do get out, it’s rest time, not Dylan-full-speed-ahead time. I’ll definitely tell Fletcher that myself.”

“He is a rather overprotective Dylan keeper.”

“No kidding. That Tyler boy is hooked.”

The doctor slipped out of the room, taking Laney with him.

“You scared us, toots,” her sister said. “I have a bottle of dry shampoo here. We’ll get you presentable before that gorgeous man gets back in here. That guy is seriously gone over you, in case you’ve missed it. So…how long have you actually been boinking him? No chance you are pregnant? Bit too late to ask, but he just gave me this wild-eyed Fletcher-stare when I asked earlier.”

“Four or five days—not so sure what day today is, actually—and no. We were careful and always used something. He said…forever. I’m still getting a bit used to that part.”

“How did that make you feel?”

Her sister was good at this whole nursing thing. She was a fusser—Dixie had gotten it from their mother. No denying that. “A little excited, not nearly as scared as I probably should be, either. I can see forever with him, and that part is a bit terrifying.”

“Not the fact of it, but that you can actually see doing it?”

“See it easily. What if it gets all screwed up? I am not exactly like Dusty, now am I?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, isn’t obvious? Dusty has life all figured out. I’m just not there yet, Dixie. Don’t think I ever will be.” But for the first time in a long time, she was starting to think that maybe she would eventually. At least now she felt like she was probably going in the right direction.

“You don’t have to have life figured out, little sister. I have told you that before. Just…worry about today. And maybe tomorrow. Whatever you figure out, that man out there—he loves you. Just as you are. And just as much as his brother loves our sister. Now, do you want me to go rescue him from our father?”

“Please. Fletcher has a bad habit of wanting to needle Daddy just for the hell of it. Even more than Ben does. Without me there to keep him, I’m not sure Fletcher will behave himself. Fun, but…probably not the most appropriate place for it.” Dylan yawned and settled against the pillows, feeling partially human now that she had brushed her teeth and put on deodorant and washed up a little, at least. Still, Fletcher had seen her in her jammies after she’d just woken many times before.

She was ready for him to come back. They had things they needed to talk about, after all.

As Dixie left, Dylan was honest with herself. Who was she kidding?

She just wanted Fletcher with her, period.