Grant was up the stairs by this time and hurried quickly to the master bedroom. Sitting on the side of the bed, he held Stacie and let her cry it out. He couldn’t imagine how devastating it must be to have her own mother betray her like the woman had.
His mother had been wonderful and he still missed her like it was yesterday. He had been very close with both his parents and could remember his mother’s loving arms. His father hadn’t been much of a hugger, except with his mom, but had shown his affection in other ways.
He remembered how in love they were and both of them telling him and his brothers how much they loved them every day. Stacie had now lost both her parents. Not that her mother had ever been involved in her life, but he was sure she had always had a glimmer of hope that someday the woman would want to interact with her. That glimmer was now gone.
Seth and Jake knelt on the floor in front of them, gently touching and stroking Stacie, murmuring soothing words, trying to calm the sobbing woman.
“Let her cry it out. She needs this,” Grant said softly, rubbing Stacie’s back. “Jake, go start the bath. Make it warm, but not too hot, and put a handful of Epsom salts in it. I need to look at her ankle and the salts will help the swelling go down. Seth, you help me get her out of these clothes. Then we want to burn them. She doesn’t need any reminders of today, and get a couple boys to clean up the mess downstairs. She is not to see that.” Grant didn’t take charge often, being the youngest, but there was no stopping him when he got on a roll, and he was.
After he and Seth had Stacie undressed, Grant carried her into the master bath and set her gently in the tub, checking the water first to make sure it was the right temperature. Not that he didn’t trust Jake, he just wanted everything to be perfect. Setting her in the water and propping her head on a pillow, Grant turned to go and get what he needed for her ankle.
“Don’t leave,” Stacie said quietly.
Grant turned around and knelt by the tub, taking Stacie’s hand and kissing it. “We’re all here for you, honey. It’s going to be tough going for a little while, but we will all be here with you,” he told her.
Stacie had stopped crying and was in a state of shock. She couldn’t believe that her mother had pointed a gun and shot at her. The woman really didn’t care about her at all. Stacie had always secretly hoped that one day her mother would reappear and want to know about her life, and maybe one day they could have a relationship. Her dad had been wonderful, but she had missed her mother growing up. Watching her friends with their mothers, she had always envied those relationships and longed for her own mother to teach her the things other mothers taught their daughters, but now she knew it was never to be. It was as if the woman was dead to her.
“Baby, do you want to talk about it?” Grant asked, sitting on the side of the tub.
“I was just thinking, I really am all alone now. I have no one, no family. It’s just me.” Stacie sounded pitiful.
Jake and Seth walked into the room just as Stacie finished. They both walked to the tub and knelt down beside Grant, then reached out and took the hand Grant was still holding, so that they were all holding her hand now.
“Honey, you’ll never be alone again. We will always be here for you. We are a family now. All of us,” Seth told her. Looking at his brothers, he took a deep breath and then said, “Stacie, this isn’t how we planned it, but I can’t wait any longer. We want you to marry us. We want you to have our babies and grow old with us and have grandchildren with us. Our future is with you and we want you forever. Will you marry us and belong to us only, for the rest of your life? Be our family.”
Tears started running down Stacie’s face again, but they were happy tears this time. This was something she had always hoped for. She didn’t know how it would all work and was sure they would have some bumpy times, but couldn’t think of anything that would make her happier. “Yes, I’ll marry all of you. This is my forever. I could never leave you all and I want lots of children.”
“Good, babe, we do, too. A house full of them,” Jake told her, leaning down to kiss her.
As soon as Jake let her go, Seth, then Grant each kissed her passionately. Then Grant cleaned her knees and the heels of her hands, and carried her to the bed to look at her ankle. While he was helping her in the tub, Jake went to get Grant’s medical bag and Seth went to the safe to get their mother’s ring to give to Stacie. The ring had been in their family for generations and it was tradition for the oldest son to give it to his wife. Often, the men in the family shared a wife, though sometimes not, but it was always the oldest brother that passed the ring on. It would n
ow be Stacie’s, until it was time to give it to their son.
Seth carried the ring into the bedroom where Grant and Jake had Stacie sitting on the side of the bed, dressed in a robe, while Grant wrapped her ankle with an elastic bandage. He had decided it wasn’t broken, but she would need to stay off of it for a few days until the swelling went down. Seth sat down beside Stacie and pulled the ring out of the box. Taking her hand, he slipped it on the third finger of her left hand. It fit perfectly.
“This was our mother’s, and our grandmother’s before her. It’s been passed down in the family for several generations and no one knows how old it is for sure. We would like you to wear it. We can get you something newer if you want that, but we would really like you to wear this one.”
“No, it’s perfect. I love it and it means more that it was passed down than it would if it was new. Thank you,” Stacie said reverently. It really touched her heart that they would trust her with something that had so much senimental value and obviously meant so much to them. The ring was simple a gold band with a single diamond set with a small stone on each side. Looking closer at the ring, it looked like there was scrollwork or writing embedded in the band.
Seth saw Stacie studying the band and answered her unspoken question. “It says ‘I love you.’ I’m not sure, but I think it’s Old English. I had to have it appraised when I got it insured and the jeweler made an impression of the writing and blew it up. I’ll show it to you one day.”
Seth, Jake, and Grant each admired the ring on her hand and each kissed the palm of her hand. Then they all helped settle her in the bed to rest. Jake was going to stay with her while she rested. Grant and Seth were going to talk to the sheriff and see how progress was going on cleaning up the mess from what had happened. Seth also wanted to call and check on Luke. Since they had found out who he was and what he was doing, the men had become close friends and Seth was worried about his injury.
Chapter Twelve
Luke Ryder wasn’t happy about going to the hospital until he got a good look at Avery Chance, the paramedic assisting him. The woman was beautiful, with long, dark-blonde hair and the bluest eyes he had ever seen. A man could get lost in those eyes. He wondered if she had anyone in her life. He probably didn’t have a shot, though. A woman like her wouldn’t have time for a man like him, but she was very attractive.
As they rode along, Luke had time to think. He and Ron had decided long ago that when they were both ready to settle down, they would look for a woman to share, and he wondered if Avery could be that woman. Before he could even consider that possibility, he needed to retire and move his things into Ron’s place, and the two of them needed to find a place to call home.
Ron was living in a rented house now, and it was fine for him and the occasional visits Luke made, but they both wanted some land and a huge house. They were both in their late thirties and had been talking about settling down. Luke just needed to figure out a way to get Avery and Ron together.
* * * *
Avery was very professional, but Luke was a handsome man and she was instantly attracted to him. It was too bad she wasn’t meeting him under other circumstances. She thought she saw a glimmer of something in his eyes, but it was probably her imagination. A man this gorgeous had to have someone at home.
Trying to be professional and work in the cramped space in the back of the ambulance was difficult, but somehow she managed it. Radioing to the small clinic in Deadwood—the town of Ransom was too small to have anything other than a general practitioner—she was given instructions that they were to continue on to the trauma center in Rapid City. Luke was to be treated there.
“Mr. Ryder, we’re taking you on to Rapid City. I’ve been instructed to start an IV and give you some fluids. What is your pain level? I can give you some morphine if you need it,” Avery told him.