“Shit,” Rowdy whispered, truly understanding just how crazy Jackson was. “You made it sound like this was bad news, Marcus. Sierra, it all worked out for you, baby. You don’t have to marry me after all if he’s dead.”
“I still want to marry you,” I whispered. “Besides, what about Leia’s mother?”
“You’ll still marry me?”
“Yeah,” I smiled up at him and then felt shy about what I wanted to say, but I continued, “I’d marry you even if she wasn’t part of the equation.”
“I’d marry you, too,” Rowdy whispered.
“As sweet as that is, she’s still in the picture,” Marcus interrupted. “That’s where the really bad news starts.”
I felt Rowdy tense, so I tightened my arms around his waist.
“She was released last Wednesday, a little over a week ago. She used her bus ticket to take her to Lubbock and showed up at the halfway house she was assigned as part of her parole. She registered with her PO and did everything to the letter and now she lives two hours away from you and your little family.”
“Fuck,” Rowdy growled. I let him go and he stomped away. He put his hands on the rail of the corral and bent down, staring at the ground as he got himself together. “She’s never shown any signs of being dangerous, I just don’t want her poison anywhere near my little girl.”
“I completely understand that,” Marcus told Rowdy as he moved a few feet to stand next to me. “I think what she did to you and those other boys shows that she’s dangerous, but she hasn’t shown any violent tendencies. I wouldn’t want her anywhere near my kids either, the boys or the girl. They say they rehabilitate them in prison, but I wouldn’t use any of our kids as a guinea pig to test that theory.”
“Exactly,” Rowdy agreed. “I’ll have to talk to Leia. We’ll need to explain things to Lexi. We’ll teach the girls to be careful and we’ll always have to have an eye on them. No more running through the field alone to Grunt or Nicole’s house, no more letting her run into the store by herself to grab a snack. Fuck, I wish that bitch would have just died in there.”
“We’ll handle it, Rowdy,” I told him as I moved closer to his side. “We’ll do all those things you just said and we’ll do it together. We’ll be married and Marcus can start the adoption proceedings on Monday, just like we talked about.”
“Her being out of prison doesn’t affect that at all. Part of her punishment was to give up all rights to Leia, so if she comes around, you can call the police and have her arrested. She has no business near you or your daughter and since she’s a convicted pedophile, you were her victim, and Leia is a minor child, they’ll take that shit seriously.”
“I’ll show that bitch what it’s like to be the victim if she fucks with my baby girl,” Rowdy growled.
“Just live your life, brother, and enjoy your new family. Go to work everyday and tend that yard of yours like you enjoy doing. Live a life she could only dream of. That’s the best punishment for now. She can deal with the devil when he takes her and get her just rewards then. If she for some reason comes to our town and fucks with one of you, we’ll get her to the devil sooner than she’d like.”
“And marry me,” I told him. “Start with that.”
Rowdy let go of the fence and pulled me into his arms. He held me close and whispered in my ear, “Thank you, baby.”
And the tears in my eyes were from happiness, once again.
13.
SIERRA
I parked Rowdy’s truck in the lot, close to the dress store Kari had told me to meet her. The girls chattered excitedly from the backseat and I had to smile about their conversation.
“We’ll get your daddy to braid our hair and Mom can put some flowers in it to match our boots,” Lexi told Leia. “We’ll make sure our dresses match and wear the same earrings - then we’ll really be twins!”
I glanced at the rearview mirror and watched the girls talk, marveling at how they really did look alike. They could pass for sisters easily - even twins if you considered how close they were in age. Both girls had hair down to their waists and Rowdy had styled it alike this morning before he went to work, giving both girls a loose french braid along their forehead so that the tail of the braid fell down over their shoulder.
I had laughed when he jokingly told them that he was going to put a pink flower in Leia’s hair and a purple one in Lexi’s so he could tell them apart easier. That must have been where they got the idea that they were twins.
“So, you’re wearing your new boots with your dresses tomorrow?” I asked the girls.
“Can we?” Leia asked.
“I don’t see a problem with it,” I shrugged. “Works for me.”
Both girls squealed and bounced in their seats and I just shook my head and got out of the big truck. I waited at the hood for them to join me and then walked between them up to the front doors of the store.
We had picked them up from Grunt’s house last night soon after Marcus left. Rowdy and I had s’mores with Grunt’s family and then the four of us walked together back across the field to his house. Our house.
We sat the girls down and told them what was going on. I saw the relief in Lexi’s face when I told her Jackson was dead and could never hurt us again. And then I saw the worry on Leia’s face when we told her that her mother was out
