As Cade expressed his emotions to the women, he reached out to enfold Gertie into a loose embrace. “It’s okay, Gert. I’m not gonna break your sister. I’m going to take good care of her because that’s what she needs. She’s tried to be such a rock for all of you these many years, I’m now here to handle her burden instead. So that means y’all can count on me to be your rock as well.” He could see Gertie struggling with his words, as if the thought of unloading her burdens on someone else was unthinkable.
“Seriously, no brothers in your family? Not even a cousin or something?”, Francie jokingly asked to lighten the mood.
Gertie gave Cade a small smile and pat on the chest as if to thank him. Cade took a deep breath and motioned for the women to follow him up the stairs. “Grace, I hope that coffee you’re carrying is for Kresley. She’s going to need it. Birdie, stopped staring at my ass please.”
Birdie snorted at the ass comment, but kept silent.
“Yep, her version of a super sweet, super milky coffee. I didn’t bring any donuts because I didn’t think you’d feel like cleaning up more vomit”, Grace sarcastically stated.
Cade looked back at Grace and smiled, nodding his head in agreement. She winked at him and said, “Has anyone told you that you have an amazing ass that could drop panties with a sway of your hips? Well, not MY panties mind you. You’re not my type, no offense Big Sexy.”
“Yeah? So, what’s your type Gracie? Maybe someone with the word BOOM in his name?”, Cade asked with a lilt in his deep voice, head turned away from the women.
“Shut up, Sasquatch, with your killer blue eyes and kiss me smile”, Grace growled behind him. Francie and Birdie hooted.
“Target acquired and destroyed”, Francie said, laughter in her voice.
“Don’t start with me Francine. I saw you checking that hot firefighter, Ash, out last night before we left the club. So, don’t go there with me”, Grace stated. She made a fanning motion with her hand in front of her face, then cut her eyes back at Francie, mimicking Francie swooning.
“Yeah, well....whatever. Let’s go see our sister, okay?”, Francie begged, a dark blush on her cheeks and neck. The other women cut eyes towards each other, but kept quiet. They knew not to push Francie or she’d clam up for the next year, hot firefighter or not.
Cade silently asked them to wait outside the sliding barn door to his bedroom. He peeked inside and saw Kresley laying in his bed, the covers over most of her except her red hair. “Be easy going in. Her head is still killing her.”
Cade watched all four women head inside, and then he turned to go back downstairs to the kitchen to start making breakfast for everyone. Lord those women were something else. He would need to definitely monitor any guy interested in any of the women and give them vital info before pursuing them. Especially anyone after Birdie.
Kresley was gently woken up by several soft female bodies, snuggled around her, hands gently stroking her hair and legs under the covers.
“Kres, sweetie, we’re here. Time for playing possum is over”, Kresley’s baby sister softly stated near her ear. Birdie usually wasn’t that gentle. Kresley sighed softly and pushed back the comforter from her face, peering up into the four concerned faces of the most important women in her life.
“Hey y’all.” Kresley let out a huge yawn and stretched her arms high above her head. Cade’s bed was the most comfortable thing she’d slept on in a while.
“Hey you. Big Sexy went back downstairs so we could check on you. I think he’s cooking breakfast. That big piece of sex candy really needs to put on a shirt before being around us next time”, Francie stated, laughing. “Birdie compared him to Thor and asked where he was hiding his hammer.”
Kresley looked at Birdie, shook her head, then cleared her throat. “It’s a lot to take in all at once, right?”, Kresley softly asked with wide eyes. “He kind of just smothers you with sexy and sweet at the same time. I’m such a pool of hormones when I’m around him.” Kresley put her hand to her forehead, absently rubbing it, as if that would make the ache go away.
“Head still hurting? Cade mentioned you had a headache”, Gertie asked. She took over for Kres, rubbing her head, fingering her hair at her temples to help ease the ache. “I remember the headache I had lasting for a while”, she softly stated. The other women looked at each other with silent communication, saying without words to be cautious not to stir up stuff for Gertie that would set her back.
“Yeah, it’s still there. Cade said that this would be just like a bad hangover. I just didn’t have the good time before hand”, Kres tried to joke.
“Trust me, there’s nothing fun about being drugged up and losing out on time and memory”, Gertie stated quietly. All of the women became still and quiet, allowing Gertie to talk about her inner demons that she fought on a daily basis.
“Gert, I’m so sorry. I haven’t forgotten you and what you went through. I would never do that. I think I just don’t ever say it out loud and try not to think about it because you don’t like to discuss or think about it yourself”, Kresley stated quietly, looking back at her sister’s face, trying to figure out how upset Gertie was.
“Well, I guess maybe I’m figuring out that it’s time to start talking about it. I made that appointment with the counselor. It’s for next week.”
Kresley sat up and twisted to give Gertie a tight hug and kiss on the cheek. “Gertie I’m so proud of you.
