“I’m glad you did, Son,” Da said. “This is a good place to raise a child.”
Ruben smiled and nodded, dropping his head to stare down at his hands as he clasped them together. “I’d like to bury Mahra here on the ranch, if I can.” Ruben drew in a deep breath. “Her remains are being shipped here.”
“Son,” Da said as he sat forward, “how long ago did Mahra die?”
“Ten days ago.”
“Ten days?” Ma snapped.
Ruben groaned when Alani’s face suddenly scrunched up and she let out a cry that grew louder by the second. He quickly jumped to his feet and grabbed the baby from Ma. Placing Alani against his shoulder, he began pacing as he gently patted her back and made nonsense noises to her.
Alani quieted after a moment and closed her eyes, fading back to sleep. Ruben sighed in relief and turned back to find everyone staring at him. “What?”
Ma chuckled. “You do that very well.”
“I’ve had a lot of practice.”
“She seems like a good baby.”
Ruben smiled. “She is. She just doesn’t like loud noises.”
“Sorry about that,” Ma said. “You just surprised me. I had the impression that Mahra had passed away a few months ago.”
“No.” Ruben shook his head. “After she died, I just wanted to get Alani and get back here. I had already lost Mahra. I couldn’t lose Alani, too, and I knew this was the safest place in the world for her.” Lachlan suddenly burst out laughing. “You do remember that this is a ranch, right?”
Ruben frowned. “Yeah.”
“Then keep her out of the barn.”
“And off horses,” Matty added. “She could fall off.”
“She shouldn’t go down to the creek,” Quaid said.
“The forest might not be a safe place either,” Billy said.
“Geez.” Ruben blinked. “Maybe I should have kept her in Africa.”
“She’ll be fine,” Ma said as she stood up. “I raised all of you boys on this ranch, and not a one of you is dead—yet.” Ma wagged a finger at each man in the room. “That could change if you don’t mind your manners.”
Ruben grinned when every Blaecleah son swallowed hard and replied, “Yes, ma’am.” His family would never change, and he would be forever grateful for that.
“I think it’s time to get this little girl down for the night,” Ma said.
“Ruben, your room is still set up upstairs. I’ll have Da bring the cradle down from the attic. Boys, go get your brother’s luggage out of the car.”
Ruben laughed softly as Lachlan, Asa, Rourke, and Quaid jumped up and hurried out of the house. Billy and Seamus followed Da up the stairs. Ruben frowned as he glanced around the living room, just then noticing that one of the Blaecleah brothers wasn’t present. “Where’s Neason?”
“Oh, he’s with Brody at the church,” Matty said. “They’re helping set up for a wedding.”
“Brody?” Ruben’s eyebrows shot up. “Isn’t he the minister that married you?”
“He is. They built a place back in the trees, but between church and the shop they never seem to be there.”
“They?”
Matty frowned. “Yeah, didn’t you get my letter? I sent it like two years ago.”
“What letter?”
“Neason married Brody.”
“Neason’s married?” Geez, was he the only one
not
married?
“They never really discussed the specifics with me, but I guess they met at Rourke and Billy’s wedding. They hooked up then, but there was some sort of issue between them.” Matty shrugged.
“Whatever it was, it made Neason freak when Brody came out to talk to him. He drove his truck into a tree and suffered a head injury.”
“Oh my god,” Ruben whispered. “Is he okay?”
“Oh yeah,” Matty replied. “He was blind there for awhile, but the doctors were able to do surgery to give him back some of his sight.
He’ll never be a brain surgeon or anything, but he does okay. He has to wear the thickest damn glasses I’ve ever seen, though. He’s blind as a bat without them. And he’s not allowed to drive, so he goes everywhere with Brody.”
“Damn.”
“Oh, he’s okay now.” Matty smiled. “In fact, I’ve never seen him happier. Brody seems to be exactly what Neason was looking for. I swear the two of them are never more than two feet apart.”
“I’ve missed so much.”
“Well, you’re home now,” Matty said as he patted Ruben’s shoulder. “That’s all that matters.”
“And I don’t ever plan on leaving again.” Matty’s eyes widened. There was a hesitant look of hope in their coppery depths. “Do you mean that?”
“I do, Matty,” Ruben said. “I’m home for good.”
The one moment in time that Elijah hoped would never come had arrived. He stood on the sidewalk outside of Cade Creek’s café, watching through the window as the one man he hoped to avoid waved at him.
This was so not happening. It couldn’t be happening. Elijah had done everything in his power to avoid Ruben and every single Blaecleah in the area since learning of Ruben’s return. It was coming around to bite him in the ass.
Elijah nodded at Ruben, acknowledging his greeting, and then forced himself to turn away. If he didn’t, he was afraid he might plaster himself against the window like a rabid teenager so he could get a better look at the man.
Ruben Blaecleah had filled out and in all the right places, even if he did look a little on the thin side. What used to be the lean body of a barely legal young man was now the hard-muscled, toned body of a man in his midtwenties. Elijah was even pretty sure Ruben had grown a few inches. He looked nothing like he had when he left Cade Creek three years ago.
He looked better.
Damn.
“Hey, Elijah.”
Elijah’s eyes closed briefly when he heard his name being called out. He considered not stopping. The urge to keep on going was strong, but so was the need to turn and look at the man he’d been dreaming about for ages.
Elijah drew in a deep breath then turned around, plastering a small smile on his face. “Hey, Ruben, I heard you were coming back to town.”
“Yeah, I’ve been back for a few days.” Ruben had his hands shoved in his pockets, and he seemed to be doing his utter best to avoid Elijah’s eyes while not looking like he was doing it. “I was wondering if you had a few minutes.”
“Uh.” Elijah racked his brain as he tried to figure out an excuse to escape. Panic started to set in when he couldn’t think of anything. “I really need to be getting back to the office. I have some paperwork to finish up before the end of the day.”
“Oh, well, then could I—”
Elijah’s jaw dropped when Matty walked out of the café with a screaming infant in his arms. Matty quickly handed the baby off to Ruben.
“Sorry, bro, but she won’t calm down.”
“It’s past her naptime,” Ruben said as he settled the small baby against his shoulder and started patting her back. “She always gets a little cranky if she doesn’t get her beauty sleep.”
“Well, it’s not like it will harm her to miss a few winks.” Matty chuckled quietly as the baby calmed down and started sucking on her tiny fist. “She’s already too cute for words.”
“You’re her uncle,” Ruben replied. “You’re biased.” Matty stuck his tongue out at Ruben.
“Now who’s the child?” Ruben rolled his eyes. He waved back toward the café. “Just go inside and get me the chest carrier.” Matty blinked. “The what?”
“That carry thing I had Alani in earlier, the one that straps to my chest.”
“Oh, that.” Marty twirled around and walked into the café.
Elijah couldn’t help but look at the small bundle in Ruben’s arms when the man turned back to face him. “You have a baby?” he whispered.
“Yeah.” Ruben smiled when he looked down at the baby. “This is my daughter, Alani. I named her after Ma.”
“What about her mother?” Elijah didn’t really want to know about the woman, but he couldn’t keep the words locked behind his lips.
“Where is she?”
The sadness that came into Ruben’s eyes when he looked back up nearly brought Elijah to his knees. Ruben loved someone else. He could see it in the sheen of tears that filled Ruben’s eyes.
“Mahra died two weeks ago.”
“And that’s why you came home?”
“Before she died, Mahra made me promise that I would bring Alani home and raise her here.”
His half-baked plan to leave Cade Creek and move somewhere else was looking better and better to Elijah. He knew that he had held out a small sliver of hope that Ruben had come back because of him.
Well, that had just been blown out of the water.
Elijah cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to hear that, Ruben. You have my condolences.” Was there anything stupider to say to someone that had lost a loved one? Elijah felt tongue-tied, like he couldn’t string two coherent words together, let alone two intelligent thoughts.
“Thank you.”
“It was nice seeing you again, Ruben.” Elijah pointed his thumb over his shoulder as he began backing away. “But I really need to get back to the office. Maybe we can catch up another day.” Elijah heard Ruben call out to him as he spun around and took off down the street, but not even a locomotive would have stopped him from walking away. Ruben held the proof of his love for someone else in his arms.
Elijah couldn’t compete with a living, breathing representation of the woman Ruben had loved. And he wasn’t stupid enough to try. He was going to walk to the nearest bar and drown his sorrows in as much alcohol as he could get his hands on. And tomorrow, he’d start looking for a new town to move to.
* * * *
“Ah, come on, Fred, jus–just one more?” Elijah whined as he waved his glass at the bartender.
“Hell, no!” Fred snapped. “I’m going to have to pour you into a cab as it is.” Fred grabbed the glass out of Elijah’s hand slammed it down on the bar. “You’re not getting another drink, Elijah.”
“Fine.” Elijah burped and blinked his eyes as Fred’s fuzzy form blurred and became two men instead of one. “I’ll…I’ll just…just go to a”—
burp
—“a bar down the street.”
“Damn it, Elijah, if you—”
“I have this, Fred.”
Elijah’s head rolled on his shoulders as he turned to see who was talking. “Ru,” he whispered.
Burp.
Elijah chuckled as he covered his mouth. “Tha–that’s what I get for drin–drinking rotgut whiskey.” Elijah frowned when Ruben moved and disappeared. He glanced around in confusion. Was he dreaming again? “Ru? Where’d ya go, Ru?”
“I’m right here, sweetheart,” said a strong whisper from beside him.
Yep, dreaming.
Elijah liked dreaming. In his dreams, Ruben was home where he was supposed to be. He wasn’t off traipsing the world, finding other people to love. He was here in Cade Creek, loving him.
“Ru, Ru, pretty, pretty Ru,” Elijah started to sing softly.
Ruben chuckled. “You are so going to hate yourself when you sober up.”
“Don’t wanna be sober.”
“Looks like you got your wish then.” Elijah’s eyebrows drew together again. “No, no, didn’t get my wish.” He started to shake his head, but that just made the room spin faster—and it was already spinning really, really fast. Elijah grabbed his head and groaned. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea.
“Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you home.” Elijah blinked again and raised his head. “Will you come home with me, Ru?”
“How about I drive you home, hmm?”
Elijah leaned into Ruben when he felt an arm wrap around his waist. He tilted his head up and inhaled deeply. Ruben smelled of man and musk and…and…baby powder? Elijah mentally shrugged. It was a nice combination, even if it was an odd one. He liked it.
“That was my wish, you know.”
“What was?”
“Al–always wished you’d come home with me.”
“Eli.”
Elijah smiled at the sound of that pet name on Ruben’s lips. No one ever called him
Eli
except Ruben, not even Thomas. He had missed hearing it. “Miss you, Ru.”
Elijah heard a soft sigh from beside him.
“I missed you, too, Eli.”
Elijah’s grin grew wider. He liked this dream. It was turning out to be one of the better ones he had had. “Come home with me, Ru?”
“Eli.”
“Please?” Elijah wasn’t above begging his dream man. If all he was ever going to have of Ruben were his dreams, he damn well wanted them to be perfect.
“Let me get you home, and we’ll discuss it.” Elijah grinned and started doing a little happy dance with his arms and legs. “Pretty, pretty Ru is coming home with me.”
“Wow, man, you are so drunk.” Ruben chuckled.
Elijah held up his hand, his thumb and finger an inch apart. He blinked then peered closer. Yep, they were just an inch apart. “I’m just a little tip”—
burp
—“tipsy.”
“Sorry, honey, but you are way more than tipsy. You’re pretty much blotto.”
“Nope, nope,” Elijah said. “Not bl–bl—” He frowned and turned to look at Ruben. “What’s blotto?”
“You.” Ruben laughed and shook his head. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
Elijah was all too eager to follow along with Ruben as he was half carried out of the bar to the car outside. He sat down in the car when Ruben directed. When Ruben leaned over him to buckle him in, Elijah couldn’t help but run his fingers through the man’s beautiful light-brown curls.
“Always loved your hair, Ru.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s so soft,” Elijah said as he ran his fingers through a few strands. “And it smells like you. I like how you smell, Ru.” The thick strands were long and luxurious. Elijah wanted to bury his face in it.
He had dreams about it. “Want to bury my face in your hair and sleep there all night long.”
Ruben suddenly squatted down beside the passenger seat. His hand cupped the side of Elijah’s face. “Honey, you really have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Do, too.” Elijah’s eyebrows drew together as he grumbled. “Not that drunk.”
“Yes, you are.” Ruben stood up, but he didn’t remove his hand from the side of Elijah’s face. “You’d never say these things if you weren’t drowning in liquid courage.” Before Elijah could reply, or argue, Ruben stepped back and shut the door. A moment later, he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. “Do you still live in that little cottage down on Stewart Street?”
“Yep.” Elijah nodded his head vigorously. Boy, that had been a mistake. Everything in the car swerved around and then settled back into place. He grinned when Ruben reached over and checked his seat belt. He tried to kiss the man, but Ruben moved away, leaving Elijah sitting there with his lips puckered.