“We’ll help you,” Pete insisted.
“Besides, I think it’s locked.”
Pete shrugged. “Describe the latch for me.”
She did.
“Go to the window. I’ll be right back.” He took the flashlight and jogged off into the night.
She looked at Sam. “What is he up to?”
“Probably going to grab a slim Jim from his toolbox. Come on. Which one is your bedroom?”
She led him around the house to her window. It was a few feet too far off the ground for her to climb into by herself, but if the men boosted her, she’d be okay.
“I’ve never done this,” she admitted.
“What?”
“I never snuck out or in while I was in high school. I was too afraid of what my parents would do to me if I got caught.”
Sam grinned. “Well, time for you to make up for lost time, huh?”
Pete returned a few minutes later with a long, slender piece of metal in his hands. Sure enough, after they popped out the screen, Pete was able to jiggle the window latch and get it unlocked. They opened it.
“Voila,” Sam said. He bent over and held his hands cupped for her. “Now to get you safely insi—”
They all froze at the unmistakable sound of a shell being racked into a shotgun behind them.
Walt Heckman’s voice boomed out of the darkness. “If you boys want to date my daughter, you damn well will do it through my front door and face me like men. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”
* * * *
The cousins sat on Walt Heckman’s couch on either side of Sarah, each one holding one of her hands, while her dad stood in front of them, glaring.
He held the muzzle of the shotgun in one hand, the butt resting on the floor in front of his feet.
At least he’d removed the shell from it.
She hoped.
“Look, I don’t know and I don’t care what the hell you three were doing tonight,” he said. “You three are adults. You should damn well act like it instead of sneaking around like a bunch of stupid teenagers.”
“Told you it was just like high school,” Sam muttered.
Sarah fought the urge to let a nervous smile slip through.
Walt jabbed a finger at him. “You shut up,” he ordered.
Sam complied.
“What were you three thinking?” he asked.
“To be fair,” Pete said, “it’s not Sarah’s fault. We suggested it. She was worried about waking you up.”
“And how did that work for you?” Walt asked.
Pete didn’t have a response.
“Daddy, I’m—”
“You be quiet, too,” Walt ordered.
Her jaw snapped shut.
He took a deep breath as he stared at the three before letting it out again. Then he lowered himself into his recliner, the gun propped in front of him between his legs. “So let’s hear it.”
“Daddy, you didn’t see me giving you a hard time about walking in on you and Betty in the barn.”
She sensed both cousins swivel their heads to look at her. “What?” they asked.
Walt shook his head. “That’s irrelevant. And it was a totally different situation. You didn’t hear a noise and think I was a prowler and nearly shoot me.”
Well, he does have a good point there.
“Um, if you saw it was us,” Sam said, “why did you rack the shell?”
“To scare some damn sense into all three of you,” he said. “I didn’t even have it pointed at you.” He rubbed his face. “So what the hell is going on?” He held up his right hand and pointed his index finger at them, waving it in a circle. “You three together now, or what?”
Her face grew supernova hot. “Daddy!”
“Oh, stop it, Sar,” he said. “I read the stuff on your momma’s Kindle after she died. I’m not an idiot.”
She clamped her mouth shut again, speechless.
“Well?” Walt asked.
The two cousins exchanged a look, then looked at Sarah. Pete squeezed her hand before speaking up.
“We don’t know what it is,” he said. “But we know we both love her.”
It felt like her heart stopped beating. Shocked, she looked at him, to Sam, who nodded, and back to Pete.
Apparently, that was good enough for Walt. He nodded, too. “Okay, then. You boys realize Jason is part of the deal, right?”
“Yes, sir,” they parroted.
“He’s a great kid,” Sam said.
“And I think,” Pete said, “that we have a lot to talk about with Sarah.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, not that you three need my permission, I’m okay with it.”
Sarah, now beyond the point of forming coherent words for a totally different reason than during her hot sexy time with the cousins on Friday night, stared at her father in shock.
He noticed her expression and laughed. “Sar, I’ve known these boys most of their lives. They have good families, and they’re good, hardworking men. Alone, either one of them is better than that whole d’Antonio brood put together.” He nodded again. “I guess together the two of them are worthy of you.”
She tried to speak but nothing came out.
He hauled himself out of his chair and walked over to kiss the top of her head. Then, with his free hand, he shook with both men. Shouldering the gun, he said, “I’m going to bed. Lock up when you boys leave.” He jabbed a finger at them again. “And no more sneaking around, dammit.” He turned and left the living room.
Sarah stared at the floor, her emotions swirling around inside her like a crazy vortex she couldn’t escape.
Truth be told, while she’d been in love with Michael and thought she had the perfect husband, those emotions even at the best of times paled in comparison to the passion and depths of emotion she already felt for these two men.
But she’d never in her wildest dreams thought they might feel the same way about her.
Pete squeezed her hand. “So, what do you say, Sar? Will you go steady with us?”
Sam laughed as he shook his head. “I’m tellin’ ya, it’s just like high school.”
* * * *
Pete wished he could reach across Sarah and smack the crap out of Sam for joking around at a moment like this. She looked overwhelmed and he hoped they hadn’t just irreparably screwed things up with her. He knew she felt insecure and vulnerable and terrified about her future and all it entailed.
He didn’t want her to feel that about either of them.
Ever.
He wanted them to be the solid rock in her life, the guaranteed stability she so desperately deserved, her and Jason both, after everything they’d just been through over the past several weeks.
He wanted her to know they weren’t just playing her, that they could stand on their own, and that they were strong enough to walk beside her through any level of hell or fire her ex-in-laws wanted to throw at her.
“Sar,” he said, “please, say something.”
Wide-eyed, she looked from him to Sam and back again. “You…you both love me?”
He dragged her into his lap while Sam edged closer and draped her legs across his. His gaze roamed her face while he reached up and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
“We love you,” he softly said. He glanced at Sam, who now gently grasped her hands. Sam nodded.
“I don’t know if I’m ever going to be ready to get married again,” she said.
Sam smiled at her. “That’s okay, because I think the two of us would kill each other to figure out which one of us you’d marry.”
Pete did smack his shoulder that time, making her smile.
“Look,” Pete softly said. “We’re not asking for anything other than for you to trust us and let us be the ones you can lean on. You and Jase both. No one else for us but you, and no one else for you but us. Nothing more. Nothing complicated.”
Sam snorted. “This is complicated.”
“Can you please be serious for a minu
te?” he asked before returning his attention to her. “No pressure. Even if you want to back up a few steps. I know this all happened fast for you. It happened fast for us, too. Believe me, we never expected to fall in love with you like this. But I promise you, Sar, we’ll never let you down.”
Sam brought her hands to his lips and kissed them. “Never,” he solemnly said. “We promise.”
“What will people say?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t really give a damn, to be quite honest.”
Sam nodded his agreement with that sentiment.
At least on this point they could agree completely.
“But what do we tell Jason?” she asked.
“Right now,” Sam said, being serious for a moment, “we don’t need to tell him anything except that we’re friends. Good friends. Considering how much he keeps asking us to come over for dinner, I think he’s going to be okay with that.”
Finally, Sam had found his inner sensitive guy.
“And think of it this way,” Pete added, “there can be times one of us can take Jase out to do something and give the other one alone time with you. It’s the best of everything in all ways.”
Sam grinned. “And you’ve already seen our financials.”
Aaaannd there goes the sensitivity.
But it made Sarah smile, so he wouldn’t fault his cousin for it.
“And it’ll give your dad and Betty some private time, too,” Sam added. “We already know he trusts us with Jason and with you, so they can have more time to—”
She covered her face. “Oh, my god, please don’t say ‘bump uglies’ because I don’t want to think about that. It was bad enough walking in on them in the barn.”
Pete gently pulled her hands away from her eyes and leaned in to kiss her. Tenderly, sweetly, not a sexy, spit-swapping snog like they’d had before.
“All we’re asking for is a chance to show you how good it could be. The worst is over, isn’t it? We have your dad’s blessing.”
Sam leaned in and kissed her next. “Please, Sar?”
Pete thought Sam sounded choked up but decided not to bust his balls about it. It touched him to see Sam be so vulnerable around Sarah and Jason, in a way he hadn’t seen him act in years.
And here I thought he’d turned into a soulless bastard beyond redemption years ago.
She took a deep breath and nodded, a hesitant smile curving her lips. “Where do we go from here?”
“How about you and Jason and your dad and Betty come over to our place tomorrow night for dinner?”
Her brow furrowed. “All of us?”
“All of you. If we’re going to be a family, then let’s start being one.” He stroked her cheek. “We don’t just want sex. We want to be a part of your lives, and we want all of you to be a part of ours.”
“What are your families going to say about this?”
Sam laughed. “Hell, they think we’re gay and we’re hiding it. This will probably be a relief to them. That, or they’ll think you’re our beard.”
Pete was back to wanting to kill Sam. “For chrissake, dude, can you please be serious?”
“I am! My dad flat-out asked me last year if you and I were secretly partners.”
Now it was his turn to frown. “He did? You never told me that.”
“It was no big deal.”
“No big deal? Your dad asks you if we’re gay partners and you don’t think it’s a big deal?”
“No.”
Speechless, he stared at his clueless cousin.
Then Sarah giggled, pulling his attention back to her.
She reached out and stroked his cheek. “You guys are really too funny.”
Everything else fled his mind except the smile on her face.
“Yes,” she said.
He blinked. “Huh?”
“Focus, dude,” Sam said. “I think she was accepting our proposition to go steady.”
She nodded.
He kissed her, then let Sam pull her all the way into his lap so he could properly kiss her, too.
“I’d say we’ll walk you to your room, but I suspect that might be pushing your dad’s good nature a little too far,” Sam said. “So how about walking us to the front door and locking it behind us?”
She nodded. Pete helped her to her feet and at the door they both hugged and kissed her again before pausing on the front porch to listen for the sound of the deadbolt shooting home.
She peeked out the window at the side and waved at them before the lights went off inside.
Sam, who’d ended up with the flashlight, switched it on and shined it up into his face, illuminating his silly grin. “No, I won’t do anything to screw this up. Don’t mistake me being goofy for me being clueless, cuz.” He turned and headed toward the gate.
Pete followed him. “Sometimes with you it’s too damned hard to tell the difference.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sweet dreams blessed Sarah all that night. She awoke feeling refreshed and hopeful in a way she hadn’t since the whole damn mess started.
Okay, so Jason wasn’t the only good thing to happen from all of this. Having Sam and Pete in her life…
She grinned.
And it felt good to have her secret out of the way with her dad, at least. And they were going over there for dinner tonight. All of them.
She threw herself out of bed and got the coffee started. She’d already woken Jason up and got him moving when her dad walked out into the kitchen.
“Good morning, Dad,” she said with a grin.
He arched an eyebrow at her. “You really need to tone down the cheery before I’ve had coffee, sweetheart. I’m retired.”
She handed him a cup. “Sorry.” She snickered.
“I’m guessing your talk with the boys last night went all right after I went to bed?”
She nodded.
“Good. If you’re going to spend the night, just tell me. No more sneaking in like that.”
“If I’m late I’ll use the front door, I promise.”
He offered her a smile. “Make sure you get those two boys a key.”
Jason walked in, dressed for school and ending their discussion.
“I will, Dad.”
Jason sat at the breakfast bar. “Will what?”
“Nothing, honey. We’re all going over to Sam and Pete’s tonight for dinner.”
“Cool. I really like them.”
“Good. I’m glad you do. I like them, too.” She picked up her coffee mug and took a sip.
“Are they your boyfriends?”
Unfortunately, her dad was standing right there when she started choking, spewing her mouthful of coffee all over him.
Jason burst out laughing while Sarah continued coughing.
Her dad grabbed a dish towel and wiped the coffee off his face, taking his glasses off to rinse them under the faucet. He handed her the towel when he finished. “Here, sweetheart.”
She nodded her thanks, still trying to catch her breath, as he put the towel in her hand.
“Are you okay, Mommy?”
She nodded again and held up a finger to Jason to hang on for just a minute.
Mommy’s choking right now, sweetie.
That thought almost started her laughing. Then she happened to catch a glimpse of her dad’s amused expression, and that started her laughing.
Dammit.
Her dad came to her rescue. “What kind of cereal do you want this morning?” he asked Jason.
“Frosted Mini-Wheats.”
Her dad grabbed the box from the pantry and got him started on breakfast while she poured herself a glass of water. Fortunately, her dad turned on the morning news and kept Jason distracted so he didn’t ask anything else about Sam and Pete. After her dad changed his shirt and got back from walking Jason down the driveway to catch the bus, he returned to the kitchen.
“You’re going to have to come up with an answer for him sooner or later. I guarantee you he’ll be asking you again.”
“Why? Did he ask you about it?”
“No, thankfully.” He pointed a finger at her. “Are you ashamed of those men?”
“No! But…” She knew she couldn’t—wouldn’t—give them up. “How do I broach the topic?”
“Don’t make a big deal about it. And for chrissake, don’t go choking when he asks you about it. Yeah, like that won’t make him suspicious.”
She felt heat fill her face, and not the fun, sexy-time kind, either. “He caught me by surprise.”
“Kids tend to do that. Get used to it. It won’t get any easier.” He laid a hand on her shoulder. “And here’s a little fatherly advice. It’s better he gets to know them now, while he’s younger. It won’t get any easier explaining it to him when he’s older.”
He headed for his den.
She grabbed her own shower and spent the morning working in her office. She was about to break for lunch when a knock on the door startled her.
What the frak?
She looked to find their mail carrier standing on the doorstep.
She opened the door. The man offered her a quick, worn smile. “Certified letter, return receipt requested. Sarah d’Antonio?”
“Yeah.” She reluctantly took the pen from his hand and signed.
“Thanks.” He ripped off the receipt and handed her the envelope.
He returned to his car as she stared at the back of the envelope. She was afraid to turn it over, knowing it had to be a bill collector finally tracking her down.
She kicked the door shut and started toward the kitchen, coming to a halt as she finally read the return address.
A law firm in Long Island.
“Dammit,” she whispered.
She ripped the envelope open and as she scanned the paperwork inside, her irritation turned to rage.
“That motherfucking cunt!”
Her dad showed up. “What? What’s wrong?”
She shook the pages at him. “That fucking bitch, Isabella! She’s challenging Michael’s will and is going to bring it up at the hearing next week.” She headed toward her bedroom, past her dad, but he grabbed her arm and swung her around as he snagged the paper.
“Whoa, hold on. Don’t go calling her. Let me read.”