Authors: Kimberley Reeves

BROKEN (30 page)

I told you once that when I was broken
,
I went back to her, that Jessie fixed it and made me whole again.

Now I have to ask myself, who will be there to fix Jessie when she’s broken?

Take care of her for me, Mitch, and let her take care of you.

Find strength in your love for each other.

Mitch closed the journal and set it on the nightstand, choking back the pain.

“He knew one of us wasn’t going to make it back
alive
.

He was safe, Jess.

If he hadn’t come back for me…”

His voice broke; he thought maybe his heart had too.

“Don’t do this to yourself, Mitch.

You know how Adam was; you couldn’t have stopped him if you
had
tried.

I think he knew full well what he was doing when he came back for you, and it wasn’t just to save your life, Mitch, it was to save mine too.

He knew you
would
never quit being an agent and that I
would
never give up on him, which meant none of us would ever truly be happy.

Don’t you see," Jessie said softly, "he died so that we could live.

Adam saved you for
me
, for the future he knew we could have together, for those little boys in the room next door, and for…”

She stopped abruptly.

This wasn’t exactly how she
planned on breaking the news, but it was too late now because Mitch was giving her a curious look.

“Finish what you were saying, Jess.”

“For this, Mitch.”

She took his hand and placed it on her belly.

“This is what he died for.

So you and I could fall in love and get married and have children who would carry on the Kincaid name.”

She smiled softly.

“Of course, these two won’t be any help with that.”

Jessie waited for him to put it together.

“Twins again?

Girls?”

Joy surged through his heart when she nodded.

“Oh, Jess, Jess.”

He eased her back onto the bed, kissing and caressing and ultimately making love to her.

Afterwards
,
they held to each other, doing as Adam had asked; drawing strength from their love for one another.

He missed his brother fiercely, but having Jessie and his sons helped fill the void left by Adam’s death.

And now there would be two more precious lives to ease the pain, two beautiful little girls who would live and laugh and love because Adam had decided his brother’s life was worth more than his own.

***

“Thank God,” Jessie sighed.

Mitch
frowned, not
quite as happy about
the news
as she was.

“Are you sure, Liz?

Maybe you should do another ultrasound.”

“Sorry, Mitch, but this baby’s flying solo.”

Liz
laughed at the hang dog look he gave her.

“Look, there
is
nothing wrong with having one child at a time, most people do you know.”

“I know, it’s just that…”

Liz arched a brow.

“What?”

Jessie slipped her hand into his.

“He likes having two at a time so he gets to have just as much time feeding and taking care of them as I do.”

“Quite frankly, I don’t know how you two even find the time to…conceive.

Mak and Adam are what, six now?

That makes Jillian and Johanna three, so I know you’ve got your hands full.”

“They have to sleep some time,” Mitch grinned.

“And you have to admit, we make beautiful children together.”

“You won’t get any argument from me on that.

Now, you two know the routine.”

She handed Jessie a prescription.

“Go pick up the pre-natal vitamins, no heavy lifting, get lots of rest, and with any luck you won’t end up on bed rest the last two months of this pregnancy.”

After making a quick stop at the pharmacy, they headed back to the ranch.

She’d gotten so used to taking the SUV because of all the children, it was nice riding in Mitch’s truck and being able to sit right next to him.

She couldn’t help smiling as he nodded and waved to people they knew as they drove through town.

Everyone who knew Mitch liked and respected him, including the two men who
had
once considered him an enemy; Jud and Del.

Jud was still single, still playing the field and making a killing in the cattle industry, but nowadays he also acted as a business consultant
.
Mitch had been his first client.

As for Del, he
had
accepted Mitch’s proposal to move into the old Sinclair ranch and run the place for them shortly after she had Mak and Adam.

Three years later, Del married the local librarian and they now had two children of their own.

As a wedding gift, she and Mitch deeded two hundred acres of the Sinclair ranch to Del so he and his wife could build a house of their own.

They were due to start construction in the spring.

Mitch had pretty much taken over running their own ranch,
although
he never strayed too far from the house if he could help it.

He loved playing Daddy and was in his element whenever he was with her and the children.

And if he did have occasion to leave for more than a few hours, he always made sure Hank was left behind to watch over his family.

Jessie didn’t mind.

She’d gotten used to Mitch’s over-protective nature and the children all adored Hank.

It was actually quite amusing to watch Hank with the kids because a metamorphosis seemed to occur whenever they were around.

Gone was the crotchety old man who barked when he talked and spouted colorful expletives and bawdy stories.

In his place was a surrogate grandfather who played hide and seek and read fairytales and who doted on each and every one of them as if they were the most precious things on earth.

Of course, Jessie was a little prejudiced on that last score
,
because to her they
were
the most precious things on earth.

Her life was just about as close to perfect as it could get.

She had a husband who loved her, four beautiful children and another one on the way, and she
had
been ensconced within the loving circle of Mitch’s family as if she
had
always been there and belonged.

Both ranches were doing well
,
so money was never an issue, and she was doing what she did best; fixing things.

With as many children as they had, there was always someone with hurt feelings that needed to be salved, a boo boo that needed a band-aid or a kiss, a toy that needed to be put back together.

Her life was full and rich and she was blissfully happy
. N
o woman could have ever asked for more.

In her lifetime, Jessie's heart had been entwined with

two extraordinary men; one who had loved her enough to let her go
,
and another who loved her so much he couldn’t.