Page 103 of Single Mom's Mountain Men
"Did not!" Katie denies. "He’s just my friend."
"Yeah right." Maddie sniggers.
"Every day, it's a new one. Can’t even blame the poor SOB," Wes says, sauntering in from his bedroom with Wiley on his tail. Those two have become besties ever since they saved Patty. "Our Katie is so adorable."
She blushes. "Thank you, Daddy Wes."
"So am I, Daddy!" Maddie demands. "I'm adorable too."
"Yes, you are," Wes stops to ruffle her hair on his way to the kitchen. Wiley also stops to give me a few licks to the face, before lying on his back so I can rub his belly.
"Exactly like your momma," Wes completes and drags Patty from the stove to plant a laughing kiss on her lips. I’m not jealous when I see it, only irritated that I didn't get to her first.
I stand, carrying both girls, and head over to Patty. Wes releases her and she turns that glittering smile and it’s like my own ray of sunshine beaming down on me. She smells like cinnamon, which means she's been baking my favorite rolls today.
"Hey baby," she greets going on her tippy toes as I leandown to kiss her. I try not to get too lost in her kiss, but I still groan when she pulls away.
"How was your meeting?" she asks.
"Good," I say and finally allow my girls to wriggle down and go back to their TV show. "I got the property."
Her eyes widen. "You did?"
I nod and she claps her hands in excitement. "Oh, I’m so happy."
"I know. So am I." It’s been a little bit of a hassle trying to find where to set up my garage since I didn’t necessarily want it so close to home. I don't want clients coming in and out of the place, because my daughters and my wife are here, now guarded by some of the best security systems money can buy.
Luckily I found a piece of land right off the road about fifteen minutes from here that would work just fine.
And it was land that ironically used to belong to Banker. He had to sell it to cover his legal fees from all the charges he's facing after colluding with Keegan. Banker has been fighting the charges in court for the past four months already, but it doesn't seem to be going his way and he's losing everything.
As he deserves.
And speaking of Keegan, the case was recently released to the public and the FBI identified Lottie Wood, a high-level agent, as one of the people who helped Keegan escape. They're slowly rounding up all of Keegan's accomplices, and Lloyd, Mitch, and I are helping. In return, the FBI is looking the other way on our weapons and the fact that we wiped out about five of Banker's goons. They did demand we give up the Javelin anti-tank launcher and missiles though, which we somewhat reluctantly have agreed to. Still, it’s probably for the best. Itwasoverkill for any local difficulty we might ever find ourselves in.
In any case, everything is wrapping up nicely. At first, I was concerned that seeing Keegan die would impact Patty negatively, but she doesn't seem to be having any nightmares from it. And I should know because we sleep together every night, on a large custom-made bed that we had to make specially for the four of us.
The only thing Patty complains about lately is back pain, understandable given that she's heavily pregnant.
I lay my hand over her belly, imagining the baby kicking. I felt it once and it was the most amazing thing I've ever felt.
The front door opens and Mitch walks in shrugging off his coat, an annoyed look on his face.
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing. Just a client on the phone who can't seem to understand that production is going to decline thanks to the holiday period. He's trying to throw his weight around threatening to go to another supplier. I told him he was free to do so and he settled right down."
"Of course," Wes sniggers as he heads to the living room. "He won't go anywhere. No one offers more competitive prices than us and we've the best quality timber in the state."
"You know it," Mitch says, and the mill is indeed experiencing explosive success thanks to Mitch's marketing. He's hired even more workers, but ironically, despite all the success, Mitch has wound down a little and he's not quite the workaholic he used to be.
Perhaps the obsession with work was only to fill up an emptiness in his life. But now that Patty's here, he likes to spend more time with her, and she’s even convinced him to see a therapist to help with his nightmares.
Mitch was resistant at first, claiming that therapy wouldn't help, but then he finally agreed when Patty recommended a therapist who was also a former special ops vet. He went forone session and since then he's been going once a week and always seems in a good mood when he's back.
"That man is an asshole, with the delicacy of a bull in a china shop," he mused once. "But whatever he's doing is working."
Mitch isn't having his nightmares as much anymore and he seems happier, and lighter.
