Colters' Lady

Chapter Nine

Nervousness fluttered in Lily’s chest as Seth drove the winding road toward town. Michael had made good on his desire to fashion a sling, though she’d tried hard to convince him it wasn’t necessary.

Her arm was now secured to her side and dressed in a fresh bandage thanks to Michael’s careful attention.

After breakfast, Seth had asked her to go into town with him. Startled, she hadn’t known how to respond. Indulging in normal activities seemed so…normal. Domestic.

When they pulled into the small town of Clyde, she looked around curiously at the buildings, small shops and rustic charm. Seth parked in front of a corner pub that encompassed a third of the block. She glanced up at the sign over the entrance to see the words Mountain Pass in neon blue.

She glanced to the side to see the parking lot empty and then saw a closed sign against the glass of the front door. She cast a questioning look at Seth as he cut the engine.

“We’ll just be a minute. There’s someone here I need to talk to,” he said. “Then we’re going to buy you some clothes.”

Heat suffused her cheeks, but before she could argue, he got out and walked around to her side. He took her free hand and helped her from the truck and then took her inside the pub.

The floor was littered with stray peanut hulls and the smell of cedar, and the lingering scent of cooked food hovered in the air.

“Callie?” Seth called.

Silence greeted him. He led Lily over to the bar and helped her onto one of the stools.

“I’ll be right back. Just make yourself comfortable. Callie must be in the back.” Lily tucked her feet under the rung of the stool and rested her free arm on the scarred wood. Seth rubbed his hand over her shoulder.

“I won’t be a minute.”

Lily made a shooing motion. “I’ll be fine. Go talk to your sister.” He leaned over and kissed her temple, his lips lingering for a minute before he backed away and walked around the counter to the door on the other side.

Michael pulled up to his parents’ cabin and glanced over to see whose trucks were in the drive. The dads were either gone or out on the land because only his mom’s SUV was there.

He got out and walked to the door, not bothering to knock. It irritated his mom when her sons acted like guests.

“Mom?”

He closed the door behind him as he stepped into the living room.

“Michael?”

Holly Colter hurried around the corner, her smile warm and welcoming.

He met her halfway and let her lean up on tiptoe to hug the daylights out of him. He grinned when she squeezed extra hard and then patted his cheek as she pulled away.

“Where have you been? Adam dropped by to see you yesterday but couldn’t find you anywhere, and you weren’t answering your cell phone.”

“I went down to see Seth.”

At that, his mom’s eyes widened, and she latched on with both hands. “How is he? Is he doing okay?” Michael smiled. “He came back with me.”

“What? Where is he? Why isn’t he here now?” she demanded.

He held up his hands. His mom could be ferocious when her chicks were involved. “He’s in town checking on Callie.”

“Oh.” His mom’s face fell and worry creased her brow. “It’s good that he’s talking to her. Maybe she’ll tell him what’s wrong.”

Michael didn’t tell her about Lily. He wasn’t sure what he’d say anyway. He needed to talk to the dads.

“Are the dads here?”

“Ethan and Adam are down in Callie’s Meadow, and Ryan is out in the barn with the horses.” Michael leaned forward to kiss his mom’s cheek. “Okay, thanks. I’ll head out. I need to talk to him.”

“Michael?” she called, halting his progress as he made his way toward the kitchen.

He turned to look at her.

“Is everything okay? With you I mean?”

He smiled. “Yeah, Mom. Fine. I’ll come find you before I leave.”

“And bring your brother out for dinner tonight,” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Michael went out the back door and took the familiar worn path to the barn. Ryan was inside talking in low tones to one of the horses who was nuzzling affectionately at his chest.

“Hey, Dad, you got a minute?”

Ryan looked up and dropped his hand from the horse’s neck. “Michael, where the hell have you been?

You had your mother all worried, and Lord knows she’s worried enough about her other kids.” Michael chuckled. “Have I ever been any trouble?”

Ryan snorted. “You and Dillon. It’s a wonder I survived your childhood. You tortured poor Seth endlessly and made us all crazy in the process.”

He walked toward Michael and put his arm over Michael’s shoulders. “What’s up, son?” Michael allowed Ryan to walk him outside into the bright sunshine. As nasty as it had been the day before, spring had won the battle once again, and it was marginally warmer.

They walked to the far edge of the fenced section that overlooked the drop-off to Callie’s Meadow.

Ryan leaned on the newly replaced wooden fence and glanced sideways at Michael.

He didn’t say anything, but then Ryan had never been particularly verbose. He simply waited for Michael to say what was on his mind.

“I’ve met a woman,” Michael said, surprised by how nervous he was having this conversation with his dad. Thirty years old and he still felt like a teenager crushing on his classmate.

Ryan lifted one eyebrow in Michael’s direction. “You say this like it’s a bad thing.” Michael ran a hand through his hair and blew out his breath. “It’s complicated.” Ryan chuckled. “Meeting a woman is always complicated. So, tell me about her. How in the world did you manage to meet a woman when you spend more time with your animals than you do people?” Michael shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I met her when I went down to Seth’s yesterday.”

At that Ryan frowned. “What were you doing down there? Is anything wrong?”

“No. I wanted to talk to him about Callie. Talk him into coming up so maybe he could find out what’s going on with her.”

“And did he?”

“Yeah, he’s in town now.”

“Your mom’s worried about her.” Ryan’s eyes flickered, and he focused his gaze on the distant patch of land that was Callie’s namesake. “I’m worried about her.” Ryan turned back to Michael. “So where did you meet this woman? She must have made a hell of a first impression if you only just met her and she’s got you tied in knots.”

“There’s no easy way to ask this,” Michael muttered. “I wanted to know about you and the dads. And Mom.”

Ryan shot him an inquisitive look but didn’t interrupt.

“I met Lily at Seth’s.”

He stared at Ryan, waiting for his dad to make the connection.

Ryan’s lips came together and understanding dawned. “Ah. Damn. I take it this woman is important to Seth.”

“He just met her too,” Michael said in frustration. “The day before I did. Christ, this is complicated, Dad. You have to know, none of us have ever batted an eye over the way we grew up. But none of us ever imagined that we’d go the same route. I mean, it sounds crazy. Two days ago I would have laughed in your face and said not only would it never happen, but it would never work. And then I met Lily, saw how Seth was with Lily, and I knew that neither of us is going to back down an inch.”

“So you want to know what? If it works? If we threatened to kill each other in the beginning? What?”

“I want to know what kind of fucked-up gene you passed on to your kids,” Michael grumbled.

Ryan threw back his head and laughed. He sighed and slapped Michael’s shoulder then squeezed.

“It’s not funny. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“The question is less about what you’re going to do and more about how Seth is handling this.” Michael sighed. “He isn’t any happier about it than I am.”

“Seems like you’ve got a problem then.”

“Anyone ever tell you that you have a gift for understatement, Dad?” Ryan chuckled. “Your mother might have accused me of not being overly helpful in the conversation department.”

“Did you and the dads have…problems? In the beginning? When you met Mom, I mean.” Ryan shook his head. “We already knew, I mean before we met your mom, that we’d have the same wife. I can’t speak for Ethan and Adam, but well, we just knew. I can’t really explain it. It sounds pretty damn stupid now, but when we were much younger, we formed our business, lived together. It’s the kind of situation we grew up in, so it just seemed inevitable. That and we didn’t really form any strong interest in a woman, well beyond sex. Shit, I’m not having this conversation with my son,” Ryan muttered.

Michael winced. “God no, I don’t want to hear about your sex lives before or after Mom.”

“Look, I understand you didn’t expect or even want this. But what you have to ask yourself is if this woman is worth it. If neither you nor Seth is going to budge then either she has a choice to make or you do.”

“You make it seem so simple.”

“It is. The decision is the easy part. Making it work is the hard part.”

“I always remember you and the dads and Mom being so…in love. Did you have problems in the beginning?”

“Other than your stubborn mother deciding she needed to leave us in order to protect us?” A scowl darkened Ryan’s face. Michael smiled. Even after so many years, it was guaranteed to piss off the dads to talk about the past.

“We went into the situation with our eyes wide open. We knew what to expect. We also knew that we had to do more work than even your mother because while we only one had spouse to please, she had three very distinct personalities to contend with, and we didn’t want to overwhelm her. It required some patience, some tongue-biting, but most of all it required compromise on all our parts. We all wanted time with your mom even with our unusual arrangement so each of us had to be sensitive to that and not be an asshole when one of the others wanted time with your mom away from the rest.”

“You knew she was the one. I mean, the moment you saw her.”

“Yeah. Kind of a cross between an ‘I’m fucked’ and a being struck by lightning sort of thing.” Michael’s lips twisted into a rueful smile. “Yeah, that about describes it.”

“So when do we get to meet this woman?” Ryan asked casually.

“It’s complicated.”

“So you’ve said. Anything I should know about?”

“She’s homeless.”

Ryan’s face darkened. “What?”

“She’s homeless. Seth served her in the soup kitchen where he volunteers. He about lost his mind over the idea of her being on the streets. Took her home with him and then I showed up the next morning. She disappeared. We went looking for her, and she took a bullet in some drug dealer war downtown.”

“Well, hell,” Ryan muttered. “So you two don’t know anything about this woman.”

“About as much as you knew about Mom when you pulled her out of the snow,” Michael said pointedly.

Ryan held up his hands. “Point taken. I just think you should be careful.”

“That’s all well and fine to say, but I’m already all rolled up in this thing, Dad. It’s crazy, but from the moment I looked at her, I recognized her. She’s mine. I can’t walk away.”

“Not crazy,” Ryan said. “I know exactly where you’re coming from.”

“I just hope to hell I know where I’m going,” Michael muttered.

Seth poked his head into the small office to see Callie with her head bent over a stack of papers.

“Hey, kiddo.”

Her head whipped up and joy lightened the deep shadows under her eyes.

“Seth!”

She leaped up and hurled herself across the room at him. He caught her and staggered back, laughing at her exuberance.

“What are you doing here? Are you okay? How is your shoulder?”

“Whoa, one question at a time. And I’ll do the asking, missy.”

She frowned and stepped back. “Who ratted me out?”

“Take your pick,” Seth said. “They’re all worried about you, Callie. What’s going on? And what’s with you coming through Denver without stopping by? I didn’t even know you were home until one of the dads told me.”

She sighed and ran a hand through her long, dark brown hair. “I’m fine. Really.” Seth pinned her with his stare.

“Seth, don’t. Okay?”

“Don’t lie to me, Callie. Not me. I know you better than that.” Pain flashed across her eyes, and panic snaked down his spine.

“What happened to you, baby?”

Tears glistened for the briefest of moments before she blinked, and the vulnerability was gone, replaced by a hard shell.

“I’ll be all right. I just needed…I just needed to be home.”

“I understand that, and I’m glad you’re here. You know you can talk to me about anything.” She smiled. “I know. What about you? Are you home for a while?” It was then he remembered Lily, sitting at the bar by herself. He glanced at his baby sister, and whatever she saw in his expression, she latched on with both hands.

“Tell me,” she demanded.

“You hold out on me and then expect me to spill my guts?” She rolled her eyes. “I’m down, Seth. Not out. I need to get over it before I can talk about it. Now what about you?”

He sighed, knowing Callie would find out in a few minutes anyway. Better to prepare her now.

“I’ve met someone,” he began. “Her name is Lily.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Mom will be over the moon. I can practically hear her breathing the word grandchild.”

“Yeah, well there’s a slight problem.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah. Michael met her too.”

For a moment her eyes were blank and then understanding flashed and her mouth rounded in surprise.

“Oh shit,” she breathed.