Page 5 of Dusty

It was getting late, and the kids wanted to go to bed. Helping carry them out to her car, Amanda cornered him. She asked him what his intentions were with her sister. It took him several seconds before he could form an answer.

“I have no intentions of hurting her. If that’s what you mean.” She said that she honestly didn’t know what she meant but saw the way that he looked at her. “Like what, if you don’t mind me asking you.”

“Like you’re the big bad wolf, and she’s little Red Riding Hood.” He laughed. Actually threw back his head and laughed. “Are you laughing at me?”

“No. Not at all. I was just thinking that I’d be the little girl, and your sister would be the wolf. I’m just a man who’d like to see your sister in another way than when she’s hurt or upset. However, I have a feeling that she’d be upset about something all the time. Would that be correct?” She told him that she didn’t know. That she missed so much of her life. “I’m sorry about that as well, Amanda. I don’tknow what I’d do if I didn’t have my brothers right there for me all the time. I’d miss them so much.”

“I miss her as well. But she has this sixth sense about when to call me. I think that it’s a twin thing. But she’ll just call me out of the blue, and that’ll make me feel better.” He told her that he was glad that they were so close. “We are. More than I think any other twins that I know of.”

“She said that she’s only home for a few weeks now. Is that right?” She said that she had four weeks, but one of them had been getting better. “All right. We’ll have a good time while she’s here, and you can reap all the love that you can while she’s visiting. I have a feeling that she’s missing you as well.”

“Good. Maybe when she retires, she can buy herself a little home and be close to me again. What do you think?” He said that he had no opinion on that as he didn’t know either of them very well. “Well, get on the stick, Dusty. She only has three weeks left of her vacation.”

She kissed him on the cheek and got into the car. It looked to him like all four of the people in the car were asleep, including Shipley. He wondered if he’d call Shipley that all the time when…he let that thought go and decided that he was going to let things go for now and make sure that Amanda and her sister had as much time together as they could get.

~*~

Shipley missed the banter that she’d had with Dusty. He was funny at times and an irritant the other times. But she liked him. And that, she realized, was something that she didn’t much care for. Just as she was going out to her car, she was running errands for her sister when she saw Scott standing next to her car.

“I’ve come to propose to you, Candy. And I do hope that you’ll realize that I’ve put a great deal of thought into this. You’re going to have to retire, however. My mother isn’t too keen on you living with us but she’ll come around once she sees you for what you are. You’re going to be able to take care of her in ways that she told me about.” She asked him what that was supposed to mean. “That you’re a mushy person and that you put on this façade of being bad assed in order to keep me at bay. I don’t much care for you seeing that Derick person either.”

Just as she was ready to pull out her gun and end her trouble with Scott, Dusty pulled into the drive and got out of his truck. However, he didn’t so much as come to her defense but seemed to be letting her handle things.

She had no idea why, but she really liked him for that. She wasn’t going to use the ‘L’ word. Shipley had been telling herself that she wasn’t in love with the moron for the last several days. Walking to him, he stood up straighter, and she pulled his face to hers and kissed him.

He hesitated for just a second, and she started to pull away, feeling foolish for doing this to a near stranger. But he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to his body and deepened the kiss to the point of her needing to strip him down and take him right there on the hood of his truck.

Gently, he pulled away from her, not, however, letting her go. She could see the lust in his eyes and she knew that he was seeing the same in hers. Turning in his arms, barely able to stand on her own, she looked at Scott. The look on his face was priceless and she was glad that he might well be getting it through his thick head that she wasn’t going to be marrying him. Ever, if not longer.

“What is the meaning of this?” Scott stomped his way to her and got down on one knee. “I’ve gotten you a ring. Though with your showing off right now, I don’t know why I don’t get you something smaller. But momma said that if I was going to do this, then I might as well go big. I got you the biggest ring. It’s not a diamond, I’m not spending that kind of cash on you just yet but it’s the biggest looking diamond that I could find.”

Dusty turned her around and looked into her eyes. She could see that he had a strange look on his face, and while she’d not known him all that long, she knew that it wasn’t going to bode well for Scott.

“You’re not a diamond person, are you?” She shook her head, wondering how he knew that. “I have a ring for you as well. It’s perfect for you. It belonged to the greatest woman that I knew, right up until you came into my life. If you would consent to saying yes that you’ll marry me, I’ll slip it on yourfinger right now.”

“You have it on you?” He nodded, pulled away from her long enough to reach into his car, and put a small blue box in her hand. “You have to do it right. Will you?”

“Yes.” He moved back again but didn’t let her go. Getting down on both his knees he took the box back and kissed her hand before opening the box. “Candace Lynne Shipley, will you consent to being my wife? Allow me to pamper you when you need it? Your sounding board when you need that, too. I will follow you to the ends of the earth, either on this soil or wherever your job takes you. I have fallen in love with you so quickly that it took my mind longer to figure out what my heart already knew. I’m so deeply in love with you.”

“There are no takebacks, Dusty. You get that, right?” Scott interrupted them and said that he’d asked first. Shipley turned to him. “Shut up, you idiot. This wasn’t a contest or a game that you can play. This is forever. This is love.” She looked at him again. “Right?”

“Yes, no contest, no game. Yes, I want you to marry me forever and a day. Forever be my wife. I’d also like to have children if you’re willing to do—” Scott cut him off.

“There will be no children. Never. I don’t like them, and I hate the way that they smell. No, I refuse to allow you to have any children.” She looked at Scott while he spouted off his demands, and he could tell that he was seriously thinking that she’d not have children if she wanted them. “You should take me more seriously, Candy. I swear, if you don’t, then things might happen to your lovely little family.”

“Did you just threaten her?” He kissed her hand and then stood up, but not before slipping the ring on her finger. “Did you just threaten my future wife? And our families?”

“I don’t know that I’d call it a threat but more like a promise. It would be a big shame that your brother would suddenly lose his job. And that I’d have to make sure that the hospital never treats anyone in your family again. Momma told me to tell you that. While I’m not sure how I could make that happen, I want you to know that I will do whatever my momma tells me to do.” Scott smiled at them. It was evil-looking. Pure evil. “Yes, a right shame if one of those little kiddies that your sister has was to fall ill and have to be taken to a bigger city with less new equipment to—who are you calling now?”

She wanted to know that as well. But when he started talking, she was never so proud of anyone as she was at this moment. He called his brother to tell him what was going on.

While she had no idea what was being said on the other end of the call, she was happy when he said that Shipley had consented to marrying him. Then he went on about how Scott Landry had threatened them. Kissing her quickly on the mouth, her sister came out to see what was going on.

“He’s asked me to marry him. And dumb fuck here just threatened you and your kids with not getting any care if you’re ever hurt.” She hadn’t any idea what she had expected her sister to do, but she couldn’t be happier.

The punch to Scott’s face not only knocked the man back, but it also knocked him out. The silence was golden as she so often heard during her life. The police were pulling into the drive about the time that Locke showed up with his wife. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear that the troops were called in, and there was going to be a lot of shit hitting the fan tonight.

Locke and his brother left after all of them showed up and left their cars in the drive. Within minutes, they were back and kissing her on the cheek to tell her congratulations. Then the idiots left again. Someone said they were headed to the bank. Whatever that meant.

---