“Then we’ll move in next week. I want to talk to Libby about it first, but something tells me she won’t mind. It’s just important to me that she gets to have a say.”
“That sounds perfect.” Brandon’s words brushed her shoulder.
They moved in closer, these men of hers, and Rachel sighed. “I never imagined I could feel like this. Someday, I hope I can convey to you both how freeing it feels that you’re my Doms and I’m your submissive. Because you love me, because you’re here for me, I know I can do anything.”
“You can do anything, sweetheart. You always could.”
“But now, you just don’t have to do it alone.”
“You’re just going to have to accept the truth, gentlemen. You are, both of you, my heroes.”
“Go to sleep, Rachel.” Brandon kissed her shoulder. “We’re only men, but we are your men.”
Yes, they were. They were her men, they would be her husbands, and they most definitely would forever be her heroes.
Reluctant to acknowledge that fact though they may be.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rachel had heard about this celebration, of course she had. But she’d never once imagined that she would be the one being honored in such a way.
A few weeks after that notable day—the day her daughter had been abducted, and the day her men had proposed to them both, and the day that Emily Anne, Mel, and Connor welcomed Melissa Mae into world, the town of Lusty, Texas was holding an engagement party for Rachel, Brandon, and Trace.
Today had certainly been a day to remember. First, she’d asked for and been given the day off, because Brandon and Trace had also taken a day off—and for a very special reason. They’d left early that morning and driven to Divine, Texas, the three of them. There, they made their second visit to a jeweler named Clay Cook. The ring her men had put on her finger, right there in the store, was absolutely perfect for her.
The white gold band held a perfect round diamond, bracketed by two blue sapphire hearts. They’d engraved it with only their initials. Then they’d hinted they had also had the two matching white gold wedding bands engraved with something more personal. She’d wear one ring for each of her wonderful husbands.
Of course, Lily, Clay Cook’s wife, had winked when she’d slipped Rachel a small bag containing a ring box with two masculine wedding bands that matched hers.
The internet was a wonderful facilitator of secret plans.
Rachel had no idea, however, that the day off also meant there’d be a party that night. They’d headed to the restaurant, she’d thought, not just to have supper but to show off her ring as she’d promised she would. And all of her wonderful co-workers—Kelsey and Bernice, of course, but also Leesa and Ginny and Michelle Grant, and even Carrie Benedict who was there just for the occasion, had oohed and ahhed over the ring.
After they’d all shouted “surprise” the moment she and her men stepped into the restaurant.
Libby had declared Rachel’s ring the most beautiful engagement ring, ever.
Looking at her daughter now, the way she was laughing with Bonnie, and even acting chummy with Trace’s brother, Bradley, who was a whole five months younger than her, no one would know the drama she’d endured the month before.
The first guests to approach them had been Trace’s mom and siblings. There’d been one round of hugs already, and Bradley, Trace’s brother, had headed to the buffet and the few other kids he knew who were there.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am for all of you.” Jolene Langley hugged Brandon and then Rachel. “But I’m especially very happy for you. I have a confession to make.” She took Trace’s hand in hers. “When we moved here, when I uprooted all three of you kids, it was for a very selfish reason. Everywhere in Abilene held memories of your father, and I just…the pain of not having him anymore was hard, very hard for me to bear. So, I answered that ad in the Waco paper and brought us here, to Lusty. And for the first little while, I relied on you, when you were not yet even an adult yourself, probably more than I should have done.”
“You didn’t ask of me anything I wasn’t already wanting to give, Mom.” Trace’s tone was always loving when he spoke with or about his mother. It was one of the many things Rachel loved about him.
“It was the same for us kids, too, then, you know. I think your decision to bring us here let all of us begin to heal.”
“We did heal, here. And we found a community that rallied around us and gave us a sense of belonging. I can tell you now, with absolute certainty, that your father would be so damn proud of you, Trace—of the man you’ve become and the family you’re making.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Trace hugged his mother again. And then Jolene turned, once more, to Rachel.
“I can see in your eyes how much you love Trace,” Jolene said. “And that, more than anything, was what I wanted for him. I hope we’ll become good friends.”
“I know we will, as we’ve already started down that road. Would it be all right if I called you Mom?”
Jolene blinked, as if she hadn’t even considered the possibility. “Oh!” Her smile came, slow and soft. Rachel would be the first to acknowledge that she could sure use a mom from time to time. “Yes. I think I’d like that.”
Rachel hugged her soon-to-be mother-in-law again, too. She’d begun a friendship with Jillian, Brandon’s mother, even before she’d fallen in love with the woman’s son. Rachel had wondered how Jolene would feel about Trace marrying her—she was, after all, more than a decade older than her son. But over the last few weeks, especially since the day of the abduction, she’d
