Epilogue
"All this fecundity is positively nauseating," Sage commented drolly.
"What the hell's 'fecundity'?"
Lucky wanted to know.
"Oh, that's rich," his sister remarked.
"Especially coming from you."
All the Tylers had gathered at the ranch house to celebrate little Lauren's three-week birthday. Everyone else had gorged on German chocolate cake. The baby was greedily sucking her mother's breast behind the screen of a receiving blanket. The proud papa looked on, ready to assist at a moment's notice.
"Know what I can't wait for?"
"Careful, Sage." Chase, who'd been twirling a strand of Marcie's hair around his finger while whispering bawdy things into her ear, paused in those pleasurable pursuits to caution his sister. "You never learned when to quit."
Ignoring Chase, she continued goading her other brother. "I can't wait till some guy makes a pass at Lauren. I want to be there. I want to rub your nose in it, Lucky."
Lucky took the infant from Devon so she could close her blouse. He glowered at his sister. "I'll kill any's.o.b. who even thinks of laying a hand on my daughter. I'll kill anyone who even looks like he's thinking of laying a hand on her."
"How're you going to explain the origin of your nickname to Lauren?" Chase asked, joining in.
Devon burst out laughing. Lucky stopped cooing to Lauren long enough to consign his brother and sister to hell.
"Lucky, please watch your language," his mother said with a long-suffering sigh. "Remember we have a guest."
Travis Belcher, Sage's beau, had accompanied her home for a weekend visit. He had been sitting quietly, either repulsed or dumbfounded by the frankness with which the Tylers spoke to one another.
Chase had noticed the young man registering shock when he had put his hand over Marcie's tummy and patted it affectionately.
His estimation of Sage's Travis coincided with
Lucky's. The guy was a wimp. Just for the hell of shocking him further, he had leaned over and kissed Marcie's lips.
He got his own shock when she slipped her tongue into his mouth. "Stop that," he had moaned into her ear. "I'm already hard."
Then he had had the pleasure of watching a blush spill into her fair cheeks.
Laurie was jealous of anyone who got to hold her granddaughter longer than she did.
Once Lauren had finished nursing, she crossed the living room, plucked the baby from her father's arms, and carried her back to the rocking chair, recently taken out of storage in the attic. It was the chair Laurie had rocked her three children in.
Lucky had offered to buy her a new one, but she wouldn't hear of it. She had said that the squeaks and groans of the wood in this one were familiar and brought back precious memories.
"My goodness, you're getting fat, Lauren!" she exclaimed to the child.
"No wonder," Lucky said. He placed his arm around Devon, who cuddled against him.
"She's getting some delicious meals."
"How do you know how delicious they are?"
Chase asked with a bawdy wink.
Lucky, not to be outdone, came right back with, "You don't think I'd let my daughter eat something I hadn't sampled first, do you?"
"Lucky!" Devon exclaimed, horrified.
"Lawrence! Chase!" Laurie remonstrated.
Chase threw back his head and roared with laughter, causing baby Lauren to flinch.
Lucky assumed an innocent pose. "But
Devon, you begged me to."
"Agh!" Sage jumped to her feet. "You two are so disgusting. Come on, Travis. I can't take any more of this. Let's go horseback riding."
She took his hand and pulled him from his chair. "Again?" Obviously the suggestion didn't appeal to him.
"Don't be a spoilsport. I'll saddle a more docile horse for you this time." As Sage dragged Travis through the front door, she called back, "Bye, Marcie. Bye, Devon. See y'all later." While at any given time Sage could strangle either of her brothers, she adored their wives. "Bye-bye, Lauren. I love you.
Too bad you've got a reprobate for a father."
"You're a brat, Sage," Lucky hollered after her.
Moments after Sage and Travis's departure,
Pat Bush stepped into the living room. "Hi, everybody. I saw Sage outside. She said to come on in."
He was offered cake and coffee and had just taken his first bite when Chase began sniffing the air.
"What's that smell?"
He sniffed in Pat's direction. "Why, Pat, I
believe it's you!" he said, feigning surprise.
"What are you all spruced up for?"
Pat choked on his bite of cake and shot
Chase a drop-dead look. Laurie's cheeks blos-
somed with flattering color. Chase hadn't spoken a word to anyone, not even Lucky, about seeing his mother and Pat in a heated embrace.
But the temptation to tease them about it was too strong to resist.
Coming to his feet, Chase pulled Marcie up beside him. Ever since the night following Lauren's birth, he'd slept in the same bed with her, holding her close, verbally vowing his love, but prohibited from expressing it physically.
They'd resumed their torturous game of unfulfilled foreplay. It was making him crazy, but it was a delicious craziness. His body was constantly abuzz with desire. He moved around in a rosy haze of euphoria that made his nights magic and his workdays more tolerable.
Apparently the troubleshooter, Harlan Boyd, had given up on him. Once Marcie was out of danger and he'd gotten around to contacting him, the man had moved on, without leaving word of his whereabouts. It was probably just as well, but that meant he and Lucky needed to get real creative if they were going to save their business.
When he got discouraged, Marcie was his staunchest supporter and cheerleader. Placing his arm around her now, he said, "Well, we'd better be going on home."
"What for?" Lucky's countenance was as guileless as a cherub's. He batted his eyelashes.
"Nap time?"
Ignoring him, Chase leaned over his mother where she sat rocking his new niece and kissed her cheek. "Bye. Thanks for the cake. It was delicious."
"Good-bye, son." Their eyes caught and held.
He knew she was searching for the pain that had resided in his eyes for so long. Finding none, she gave him a beautiful smile, then turned it on the woman who was responsible for his newfound happiness.
"Marcie, how are you feeling?"
"Perfectly wonderful, thanks. Chase takes very good care of me. He will hardly let me lift a fork to feed myself."
Once they were in their car and headed home, she said, "They thought I was joking about your not letting me do anything for myself."
"I've got to protect you and baby. I almost slipped up once." He gave her a meaningful look. "Never again, Marcie, will anyone come close to hurting you."
"You're the only one who could hurt me,
Chase."
"How?"
"If you ever decided you didn't love me."
He reached for her hand, laid it on his thigh, and covered it with his own. "That's not going to happen."
The woods surrounding their house bore the virgin and varied greens of spring. Blooming dogwood trees decorated the forest like patches of white lace. The tulip bulbs that Marcie had planted the year before were blooming along the path leading to the front door.
Once inside, Chase moved to the wall of windows and contemplated the view. "I love this house."
"I always knew^you would."
He turned around to embrace his wife. "I
love it almost as much as I love you."
"Almost?"
He unbuttoned her blouse and pushed the fabric aside. His hands moved over the silk covering her breasts. "You've got a few amenities that are hard to beat."
After a lengthy, wet, deep kiss, she murmured,
"I got the go-ahead from the doctor this morning."
Chase's head snapped back. "You mean he said we could—"
"If we're careful."
He swept her into his arms and took the stairs two at a time. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Because we were invited to Lauren's party."
"We wasted two hours over there!"
Once he had deposited her at the side of their bed, he began tearing off his clothes.
Laughing, she helped him. When he was naked, she reached out and stroked him.
He moaned. "You're killing me."
Frantically he removed her skirt and blouse.
She was still in her slip when he lowered her to the bed, laid his head on her belly, and nuzzled her through the silk.
"How's my baby?" he whispered.
"Fine. Healthy. Growing inside me."
"How are you?"
"Deliriously happy, so much in love."
"Lord, so am I." He planted a damp kiss into the giving softness.
"Hmm," she sighed, tilting herself up against his face.
He raised his head and smiled down at her.
"You like that?"
"Uh-huh."
"Hot redhead that you are." He pulled her slip up by the lace hem, over her middle, over her breasts, over her head. Bra and panties and stockings were quickly discarded. Seconds later, he was gazing at her with loving approval of all he saw.
"They change color a little more every day." he remarked, brushing his fingertips across her nipples.
"They do not. You just enjoy inspecting them."
"That's not all I enjoy."
He bent his head and kissed her breasts, raking his tongue back and forth across the delicate peaks until her tummy quivered with arousal. "Chase?"
"Not yet. We've had to wait weeks for this."
He kissed his way down her body, paused to relish the texture and scent of die glossy curls covering her mound, then parted her thighs and kissed her between them.
She sighed his name and clutched handfuls of his hair, but he didn't temper his ardency until his agile tongue had drawn from her a sweet, undulating climax.
Then he rose above her and slowly, consid
erately, buried himself within the snug, moist sheath of her body. Mindful of her condition, his strokes were long and smooth, which only heightened the eroticism and prolonged the pleasure.
The pleasure was immense. Overwhelming.
Ecstasy eddied around him in shimmering waves that matched the tempo of her gentle contractions.
Yet he couldn't totally immerse himself in it. Because in the back of his mind, behind the physical bliss, he was thinking how marvelous life was, how much he loved living it
… how much he loved Marcie, his wife.