Wilde Love (The Brothers of Wilde, Nevada 6)

“Not even two. Grant was trying to change Heath’s diaper and Greg was feeding Nate and Seth at the Horseshoe in the middle of the day. Tobias had run outside without either of these cowboys knowing it. The door to the place shut, and Tobias couldn’t get back inside. I found him sobbing at the door. I walked him back in, and these two bumblers insisted on buying me lunch.”

“Sweetheart, you saved me that day, and then you saved me for the rest of my life.” Grant kissed his wife.

“Your life sure needed changing, just like Heath’s diaper.” Maude smiled lovingly into her husband’s eyes.

Greg cupped her chin and turned her to face him. “Me, too, love. I don’t know how I would’ve ever survived without you.” Then he kissed her, too.

“Now, you’ve both got me rattled. You two finish the story.”

Grant laughed. “You could never be rattled, Mrs. Strong.”

“Oh yes, I can. Often by you.”

“Good.” He continued, “Jessie, Greg, and I lost our wives on the same day.”

“Wives?” Jessie blurted out and immediately wished she could take back the too-personal question.

“It’s okay. What you’re thinking is true. We weren’t in a plural marriage back then. We each had our own family, a wife, and two boys.”

“Heath and Nate are mine.”

Greg chimed in, “Tobias and Seth are mine.”

“I hate when you say that.” Maude frowned. “They’re all yours and mine.”

“We know, sweetheart.” Greg continued, “We’re just stating the biological facts.”

Jessie shook her head. “I wouldn’t have guessed that.”

“In Wilde, not everyone is in a plural marriage, Jessie,” Grant stated.

“I know, but your boys look so similar to each other.”

Grant rubbed his chin. “Well, we’re brothers, and our late wives were sisters.”

“Makes more sense. The twins, Dax and Drake, are yours, Maude? Biologically speaking, I mean?”

The woman nodded and grinned. “Tell her the whole thing.”

“Our wives had gone together to Elko to shop, leaving the boys with us for the day. We liked doing that for them, to give them a break.” Grant’s face darkened, as he recalled the old memory. “On the way back, a drunk driver hit them head-on. They both died instantly.”

“Oh my God. I can’t imagine how tough that was for you.”

“Horrible.” Greg shook his head. “We did our best to be both father and mother to our boys, but they were all still in diapers, and we were both in a grief-stricken haze.”

“Then about a year later, our angel came to town and our whole life changed.” Grant looked at Maude with such adoration that it made Jessie happy for all of them.

“She fell in love with the boys first,” Grant stated. “We fell in love with her the moment we met her.”

“But you’d never been in a plural marriage yourselves. How did that come about?”

Grant stated, “You’ve met Uncle Jack.”

“I have? Oh, you mean Pappy Jack. Yes.”

“Well, he and our other two uncles and aunt had been married for a few years. We were very familiar with plural marriages and how they worked. Even our cousins—Daniel, Craig, and Dillion—were about to marry Maude’s sister, Mary.”

“I’m beginning to piece together the extended family tree,” Jessie offered.