Authors: Destiny's Surrender
Outside, it was still a perfect May day. Blue sky. Gentle winds against her cheek. Not too hot. “So you two had a good day?” she asked him.
“We did. I enjoyed myself, he seemed to enjoy it as well. I want to get to know him, and so . . .” His voice trailed off.
“That was nice of you.”
“When he gets up would you like to ride out and see where I want to build our house?”
He’d said
our
, which immediately grabbed her attention. Had he changed his thinking about not living with them? She wanted to ask but feared the heartache, so she didn’t and replied instead, “I would.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
She was rattled to say the least. A quick glance showed him watching her, so she quickly focused elsewhere. “How long will it take get the house built?”
“Depends on the size, how much land we need to level, the number of workers Max and I have to hire.”
“Your mother’s Max?”
“Yes, he’s one of the best carpenters in this part of the state. Does good work.”
“I see.”
“How many bedrooms do you think we’ll need?”
Was he rattling her on purpose? There was nothing in his manner or tone to suggest that but something in his eyes radiated suspiciously like mischief. “Whatever you think is best.”
“We can decide when the time comes. We’ll get Max to draw up some plans and talk about it then.”
She thought about having a house of her own and fought down a sudden welling of emotion. “Never had a home before, not a real one. You’ve lived here all your life though, haven’t you?”
“Yes, but the ranch was nowhere near as prosperous as it is today. After my father’s death, life here sort of fell apart. My mother did her best, but she didn’t really know how to run the place.” He quieted as if thinking back. “When things hit bottom, we had nothing, no food, no money. I remember her loading us into the wagon and driving to her uncle’s home downstate. She’d always been such a rock, but after we arrived there, she got on her knees and begged food for us. I’ll never forget it. I wanted to go to her, but Logan latched on to my arm and made me stand still. I remember crying for her.”
“How old were you?”
“Eight, nine.”
Billie’d always assumed he’d been wealthy since birth. The idea of Alanza begging for anything was sobering. “You love your mother very much, don’t you?”
“We all do. She was both mother and father at one point. Max was my father’s best friend, and he helped out around here as much as he could, but she raised us and made us the men we are today. We’d walk through hell if she asked us to.”
Even marry a whore.
“I wonder if Tonio will love me as much.”
“From what I’ve witnessed he already does.”
“That’s a nice thing to say, Drew.”
“You’re an excellent mother, Billie, don’t ever doubt that. I may not know much about being a father, but I know a good mama when I see one.”
She saw an honesty in his eyes she’d not seen since his apology for his cruel words on their wedding night. “Thank you for that, too,” she whispered.
“You’re welcome. What was your childhood like?”
She hesitated.
“If you don’t wish to talk about it, I won’t hold it against you.” His eyes held that same honesty.
“You may as well know. It was hard and painful. After my mother left, I ended up in an orphanage, where the owners rented us out for day work from dawn to dark. If the employers didn’t think we worked hard enough or if we accidentally broke something in their home, we were beaten or sent to bed without supper. Sometimes both. After about six months I ran away.” She glanced over to gauge his reaction before continuing. “I lived on the streets. Slept in alleys. Scrounged for food wherever I could find it. Even in refuse cans sometimes.” Her lips tightened as the awfulness of those days resurfaced. “Then I fell in with a band of street urchins and they taught me how to pick pockets and cut purses and steal fruit from the street vendors. We even stole some guns from a home one time, which is when I learned to shoot.”
Drew now had the answer to the question as to when and how she’d acquired her skill.
“I practiced every night until I became very good at it. In the end, we wound up selling it off.” She continued her story by telling him about living in a ramshackle cottage with an old confidence woman named Mrs. Bean.
“We’d give her our take at the end of each day and she gave us food and let us sleep on the floor. When I was about twelve, my body began to change and she introduced me to her son. I was too young to know it at the time, but he was a pimp. He promised me a dime if I’d lay with him, and back then that was a fortune to someone like me.” She looked his way again. “And that’s how it began.”
“You did what you had to do to survive. There’s no shame in that.”
“I know, but many people think there is, so I keep my past to myself.”
“What gives you joy?”
“Never had anyone ask me that before.” She quieted and thought about her answer. “Our son. Being here. Planting roses. I can’t wait until they all bloom. Why?”
“Just curious. It’s one of the things a man should know about his wife.”
She was rattled again. “What brings you joy?”
He seemed caught off guard so she pointed out. “Turn around is fair play.”
“I suppose you’re right. Had you asked me a year ago, I would have given a ready answer.”
“But now?”
“Life’s different and so am I. Antonio gives me joy. Watching the two of you together does, too.”
Billie held on to her racing heart.
“And on that, I’m going downstairs and see what Bonnie will let me steal from the kitchen. You relax and I’ll see you when he wakes up.”
He stood, inclined his head and left her alone to wonder what it all meant.
Had she asked, Drew would’ve told her it meant he wanted to move forward, to do away with the thorns separating them and try and make something of this marriage of theirs. He also wanted Billie in the myriad ways a husband wanted a wife, because in the aftermath of all she’d faced, he was now willing to admit that she was still as special to him as she’d been before the baby. Yes, he wanted them to share a bed, but he also wanted to read to her, hear her laughter, and enjoy the awe on her face when he gifted her with a surprise. She was feisty, proud, and had a backbone as strong as some men he knew. Her strength was reminiscent of Alanza’s and he’d be a bastard to continue to lay all the blame at her door. They’d both given life to Antonio and it would take them both to make sure his life was a good one, so, he planned to use that legendary Spanish charm Mariah teased him about to woo her and court her, and if he had to employ his son as his second in command, he would. It wasn’t going to be an easy undertaking. She could be skeptical to a fault, and truthfully he’d armed her with enough ammunition to withstand a year-long siege, but he loved a good chase and was counting on her to give him a run for his money.
“T
his is beautiful country,” Billie said. She had the awake and squirming Tonio on her lap as Drew drove them away from the house. The vastness of the ranch always filled Billie with awe and she hoped she’d always appreciate its richness.
“That it is.”
They rumbled over the open grassland. Off in the distance to her left were the orchards and corrals and the workers who maintained them. Up ahead were the mountains, and the closer the wagon got to them the more majestic they became. After a few more minutes, he finally stopped the team and pulled back on the brake. The quiet was like a thing alive. “So, what do you think?” he asked.
“Is this the spot?”
He nodded.
Her eyes swept the river below and the tall pines lining the far side of the bank. They were sitting in a wide open meadow that was backed by a large stand of pines a few hundred feet away. “I like this.”
She saw his smile.
“Then let’s get unpacked,” he said.
“Unpacked?”
“Yep. Thought we’d spend the rest of the day here—have dinner, talk, let Antonio get tuckered out.”
“Did you bring food?”
“Of course. That’s why I went down to see Bonnie.”
To say she’d not been expecting this was an understatement. Once again she wondered at his intent. His kindness made her want to surrender and enjoy it, but inwardly, she was still wary.
He climbed down and came around to take the baby. Once Tonio was secured, Drew held out his hand and guided her to the ground. His grasp was firm and warm and she fought off the way his nearness singed her hand.
Leaving her there, he carried his son to the back of the wagon. “Let’s see what we have in the bed, Antonio.”
He handed her the baby, and unloaded a couple of blankets to sit on. Out next came a crate filled with a skillet, plates, tableware, what appeared to be a fishing pole, and lord knew what else. He even produced three good-sized potatoes and an onion. Crate in hand, he said, “Now to find a spot. Let’s get closer to the river.”
She set Tonio on his feet and let him follow his father. Carrying the blankets, she brought up the rear.
“How about here?” he asked.
They were just a short walk above the riverbank and had a clear view of their pristine surroundings. “Perfect,” she told him.
After laying the blankets out, and setting the crate down, and while she sat and basked in the sunshine, father and son went looking for sticks and branches to make a fire. They returned a short time later with an ample supply.
“So, what are we having for dinner?”
“Those potatoes, and”—he pulled his pole free—“salmon maybe, or for sure some bass. You ever fished?”
“No. How about I handle the potatoes?”
“That’s fine.”
He spent the next little while readying the sticks for the fire, a task made more difficult by the curious toddler who kept claiming the sticks as his own. “Would you go away.” Drew laughed while attempting to block the sticks with his body. “Go see your mama.”
“Tonio. Come here.”
But he wasn’t paying her any attention. He was dead set on the sticks. She got up to move him away but paused when Drew handed him one of the smaller twigs. “Here, this is yours. Now let me do this.”
Looking at the stick in his fist, he smiled and babbled and pointed it and moved off to poke at the rocks in the bank. But of course, the peace offering didn’t satisfy him for long and as soon as Drew was done, Tonio was back.
Drew gave up. “Okay. I’m going to let you wreak havoc here, and I’m going to fish. We’ll make the fire when I’m done.”
“That might be a good plan.”
Tonio was now hunched down and removing the underpinnings of the carefully erected pile.
She shook her head and kept an eye on him while Drew walked to the water’s edge, which of course drew his son like a magnet. Billie got up to retrieve him. Otherwise there’d be no fish to go with the potatoes, and the oranges he’d also taken out of the crate.
In hindsight, she could’ve allowed Tonio free rein because his father caught nothing. Not salmon. Not bass. He did manage to snag a turtle but it wasn’t on the menu so he let it go. Finally, after nearly an hour or more of frustration and Tonio’s wails of hunger, the grumpy Drew surrendered. They ate the potatoes and onions she cooked in the skillet over the fire and a few slices of orange for the inaugural dinner on their future home site. Billie hid her smile.
Drew was silent driving back.
What kind of a man am I?
Couldn’t even catch one lousy fish to feed his family? He could tell Billie wanted to crow, but she blessedly remained silent, hopefully out of respect for his pierced pride.
“Maybe you should teach Tonio how to fish.”
He cut her a look and she turned her smile to the passing landscape.
“And here I was just silently praising you for not making fun.”
“It’s just refreshing to know that underneath all that wealth and charm you’re human like the rest of creation.”
“You think I’m charming?”
“You’re fishing for compliments because you couldn’t fish for fish?”
“You’re a cruel, cruel woman.”
“Be glad this cruel woman knew how to cook potatoes or your son may have starved to death.”
He chuckled in spite of his mood and felt better.
She told him in a voice that was both gentle and honest, “Your son doesn’t care if you’re perfect, Drew.”
“What about his mother?”
“His mother knows you aren’t perfect, and it’s okay.”
Their gazes held and lingered. Something arced between and more than anything he wanted to stop the wagon and pull her into his arms. Instead, he simply nodded. “Good to know.”
He dropped them off at the door and drove around to the stables to hand the wagon and team off to the hand on duty. With that accomplished, he hurried up to Billie’s room and spent the rest of the early evening hours learning how to give his exuberant son his bath. After the drying and the dressing for bed, Drew tried to read him more of the adventures of Queen Calafia but Tonio was too wiggly to sit in his lap for more than a few minutes, so Drew closed the book and watched him toddle away. He never knew a child could instill such joy. He looked forward to spending every evening with him from then on.
When it was finally time for Antonio Andrew Yates to end his day, Drew watched with love in his heart as Billie placed him in the crib. “Come say good night,” she beckoned to him softly.
He walked over and looked down. His son was having trouble keeping his eyes open after his exciting day, but then, Drew reckoned every day was exciting for someone his age. “Night, mister. Get some sleep. More worlds to conquer at sunrise.” He ran a hand over the small brow and although he was a bit self-conscious placed a kiss on his cheek.
Billie said her good night, gave him his final kiss of the day and led Drew out of the room.
“Thanks for your time with him today, Drew.”
“He’s my son. It’s the least I can do. Maybe next time I’ll even provide fish for our dinner.”
She walked over to the closed doors that opened onto the verandah and looked out at the gathering dusk. “That’s the second time you’ve used the word, our—first
our
home, now
our
dinner. Is there a meaning to that, or am I just reading more into it than I should?”
Taking in the seriously set features evaluating him from across the room, he heard:
You will love her until there is no tomorrow.
“What if said I want us to be a family in every sense of the word. That I want us to try and work things out so that our son will grow up with parents who care for him and for each other.”
She searched his eyes.
“That when we get the house built, we share a bedroom so I can make love to you until sunrise and wake up with you beside me.” He saw tears. “Why are you crying?” he asked with concern.
“Because if you are pulling my leg, I swear I’ll shoot you dead.”
He crossed to where she stood. Come here,” he whispered and took her into his arms, and held her tight against his heart. “We started out on a rocky road but I’d rather work on making it level and have some fun doing it.” He tilted up her chin and brushed a tear from her cheek. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry before.”
“Nothing to cry about before.”
He eased her back in against him. “And hopefully, there’ll never be again. Unless they’re tears of happiness.” He enjoyed the feel of holding her close.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked quietly.
“I am.”
She gazed up. “You won’t come to me tomorrow and say you’ve changed your mind?”
“No. Promise.”
They resumed the embrace and savored each other’s nearness. “I’d like you and Antonio to move into my room, if you want.”
“I do.”
“Tonight?”
Her soft chuckle ruffled the silence. “You aren’t wasting any time, are you?”
“No, I’ve wasted enough. I have a verandah too, you know. We can move him in and sit out under the stars once it gets good and dark.”
“Can I take a bath first? It’s been a long day.”
“Tub’s big enough for two.”
“Such a tempting man, but you always were.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Still fishing, are you?”
He gave her a playful swat on the behind. And before either of them could think or speak, they were drowning in a slow kiss that reignited a passion so familiar and longed for they groaned from the pleasure it gave. Hands roamed and desire began its siren call. His mouth set fire to the skin of her throat while his palms moved over the tightened buds of her breasts and played until she moaned lowly. Lowering his head, he bit each pleading nipple through the thin cotton of her dress and she melted like butter in the sun.
“Let’s go move Antonio.”
Billie thought that a good idea but his hands and lips were so potent she didn’t want to move.
He captured her mouth again. “Come on. Let’s go.”
But he couldn’t seem to turn her loose. Her dress was rising up her legs and his hands were slowly mapping the bared length. He lovingly squeezed the flesh on the back of her thigh then circled a warm palm over the drawers encasing her hips.
Dazzled by this opening prelude, Billie followed blindly as he took her hand and led her back into her room. They kissed their way over to Tonio, then paused long enough for her to pick up their sleeping son and carry him out while Drew followed with the crib. They settled him in one of the smaller rooms and left the door ajar so they’d hear him if he cried.
Only then did they start their kiss-filled journey to the bathing room and his tub large enough for two.
For Billie the night was as memorable as their wedding night, only this time, there’d be no parting at sunrise. He brought her to her first orgasm while they waited for the tub to fill. “I plan to make you come for the rest of the night,” he husked out against her ear while she stood shuddering in the steamy room with her back against the wall. Her dress was pooled at her waist, her bared nipples damp, and his wicked hands between her thighs made her hips rise greedily in scandalous delight.
“The next one will be in the tub . . .” he promised.
And the promise was kept. After washing her with an erotic slowness that nearly drove her mad, he coaxed her to stand and fit himself against her back. She raised her arms, braced her hands against the wall. He slowly introduced his splendid readiness from behind and she died and went to heaven. Later, she realized they could have slipped and broken their necks with their spirited intertwining, but at the time, she was too busy enjoying the decadent rhythms set by his powerful thrusts to worry about safety or the water that lay in puddles on the floor. Her entire existence was focused on being pleasured and giving him pleasure in return. When they finally collapsed, they slid into the tepid water remaining in the tub, then he dried her, carried her to his bed and the lovemaking continued.
As on their wedding night, he loved her tenderly. His kisses made her feel adored and his touch moved over her as if she were born of the finest silk. Their couplings had always been uninhibited and that coming together was no different. It was hot, raw, and filled with positioning lusty enough to make the Kama Sutra blush—positioning that had her panting one minute and him growling the next. Needless to say they enjoyed themselves.
Hours later, the sated and pulsating Mr. and Mrs. Yates slid into sleep, and when Tonio awakened at sunrise, Billie was still by her husband’s side.
Struggling awake, Billie sat on the edge of the bed and willed herself to open her eyes. Nothing in the room seemed familiar and it took a few seconds for her dulled brain to assist her memory. Once it did she glanced over her shoulder at her gloriously nude husband entangled in the sheets and she smiled
. Lord what a night.
Tonio was in the other room talking to the sunbeams as he did each morning. She ran her hands over her still sleepy face. “Time to get up, Drew.”
He didn’t move. If anything the soft snoring became more intense. She chuckled. “Hey. You. Father. Our son’s awake and it’s time for his parents to report for duty.”
He didn’t move. She now understood where his son got his sound sleeping habits, but she’d be damned if Drew was going to be allowed to loll around until noon, as was his habit, while she got Tonio washed up and ready for the day. They’d only been asleep a few hours, and she refused to suffer alone. “Morning, Drew!” she yelled. Leaving the bed, she padded nude over to his armoire. The last time she saw the dress she’d worn last night it was lying on the wet floor of the bathing room. She looked through his things for a robe to cover herself. “It’s a glorious day, Drew!”
From behind her, she heard a sleepy male voice grouse, “Woman, if you don’t stop all that screeching.”
“Your son’s calling. Time for us to get up.”
“What time is it?” he mumbled.
“Seven.”
“In the morning!”
“Yes.”
“Tell him to go back to sleep,” and he huffed back beneath the sheets. Billie stuck her arms into a black velvet robe that was many sizes too large and tied the belt. Crossing her arms she studied his sprawled form. Truthfully, she couldn’t force him to join her, and by society’s standards it was her job as Tonio’s mother to shoulder the lion’s weight of his care, but being as untraditional as a woman of her times could be, she wasn’t happy. “Fine,” she said quietly and left him in the room.