“What about you, Leesa?” Noah asked. “Having been in the Army for so long, I imagine you’ve traveled to some different climes as well. We met our Brit, who was a Marine at the time, in Africa.” He picked up his wife’s hand and kissed it. “We’d been searching and searching for her, and there she was in Namibia.”
“Y’all are so sweet!” Brit said.
Of course, that comment earned a round of applause from the Texans at the table, including Leesa. And tons of praise for the perfectly executed “y’all” and many questions as to why her Wyoming-born husbands hadn’t gotten the knack, yet.
When everyone took a breath, Leesa answered Noah’s question. “Oh, absolutely,” she said. “I’ve been to North Dakota in January and Riyadh in the blistering heat of summer. But I was born and raised here in Texas. I found the cold harder to deal with, of course, than the heat.”
“And Kabul?” Jake Kendall asked. “What was that like?”
“Wet and cool in the spring, dry and hot in the summer. And eventually, too many projectiles in the air for this simple Texan cook. After a few different attacks on the base, the last in which I got shot, I listened to my inner voice that told me I’d had enough.”
“Fifteen years is a damn long time to serve,” Greg Benedict said.
“It is.” His husband, Cody Harper, was nodding. “There’s something about the constant barrage of war that can shred the nerves of even the most stalwart person. You did well to serve that long.”
“It’s a challenge to go anywhere that has heightened danger,” Rebecca, their wife, nodded. Sitting right across from Leesa, the beautiful black-haired artist smiled. She and her cousin Penelope had the exact same shade of deep black tresses. They each looked exotic in their own way. “Even if you’re there to oversee aid work, you have to be careful all the time.”
“It would help if you’ve had some training for that,” Leesa said. “I worked as a cook in the army, but I’d gone through basic training and sure as hell knew how to shoot and how to become a combatant if necessary.” Leesa would bet that, until Rebecca and her husbands had taken over the world-renowned charity Maria’s Quest, the young woman hadn’t been in such challenging situations.
“We’re a couple of heavy-handed alpha males,” Greg said. “When we have to go into those kinds of situations, especially if Becca is with us, we take on a couple of special assistants as members of our staff. Their main job is to aid us in protecting our wife.”
It didn’t surprise Leesa that the cousins didn’t rib the two men about needing help for the job. Cousin-speak was to be clever and funny, not mean.
“Even if I’m not with them,” Rebecca said. “As they found out this last trip when they landed in a dangerous part of South America and they were surrounded by personal security.”
Rebecca grinned at both of her husbands. They, of course, grinned right back at her.
“Grandma Kate arranged for two guards, and you arranged for two guards.” Jake shook his head then focused on Greg and Cody. “I swear I didn’t know y’all were so delicate.”
Jake’s shot had been a good one. Leesa covered her mouth just in case she couldn’t hold her laughter in. Of course, neither Jason nor Phillip had that problem. They joined in with the rest of the cousins, all of whom appeared to be consumed with guffaws.
Three newcomers joined their group—Marcus Jessop, along with his husband, Jeremy Bishop Jessop, and their wife, April Bixby Jessop.
“Oh good. I recognize that laughter. Who are we ganging up on?” Marcus asked. He rubbed his hands together, anticipation in his eyes.
“The do-gooder and the paparazzo,” Adam said.
Leesa had learned that all the cousins ended up with monikers that identified each of them individually. Sometimes the information she needed to keep everyone straight made her head spin.
“About damn time.” Jeremy waited until April was seated before taking his own chair. “What did they do now?”
“Besides being Benedicts and breathing?” Jake asked.
“Hey!” Jason leaned forward. “I feel I should protest that line, if only on principle.”
“Protest noted,” Sean said.
“Cousin-speak,” April said. “Ya just gotta love it.”
“I do.” Leesa giggled because all the other women at the table said that at the same time.
“Speaking of cousins,” Jake said, “there are two more Montana Benedicts about to come visit.”
“Yay, more for our side,” Greg said. Then he frowned. “Let me think. I was sure there weren’t more than a couple left up there in Montana that the ones here from there could tolerate…” The table stayed quiet as Greg did his thinking. Then he grinned. “Got it! Lewis, who’s Dale and Parker’s brother, and Randy, Trace and Lucas’s.”
Michaela Powell arrived just at that moment carrying a full tray. “Yes. Jenny was telling me that they’re going to put them up there, at her place, since Laci has Zoe Diane, and is still trying to recoup her strength. The guys, who’ve been referred to as the Mavericks of the family for years now, are just going to visit for a week or two, and then they’re going ranch hunting. They’re set on getting their own place and figured down south, here was as good a place as any to look.”
“I think I’ll start a betting pool,” Adam said. “I’m going to bet that their brothers, and the rest of the ranching conglomerate here talk them into staying.”
“I’ll have a piece of that,” Cody said.
“Me, too.” Josh Benedict grinned. “The more Benedicts, the better.”
Of course, a few of the men who were not Benedicts had to make teenage-boy type gagging sounds, making all the women, even Michaela, just sigh and roll their eyes.
Michaela set down a few bottles of beer, offered menus to the newcomers, which were declined, and took orders.
Once she’d left, Marcus looked over at Adam. “The guy who’s pic you sent me the other day? He’s sitting at the bar, and
