Wild Montana Nights (30 page)

lives.”

“Well, first we have to get in to see her. She may have told them

not to let us in,” Marcus reminded him. He grimaced as he turned the

cup up and swallowed every last drop.

Randall stood up and stretched. “Let’s go.”

He’d put it off longer than he should have. It was already eight

thirty. She would have finished her breakfast by now. Surely she

would let them in to talk. They had a lot to talk about. Not the least of it was the baby.

They reached her room without anyone telling them to stop.

Randall held out hope that she would be receptive of their help. If she would, then half the battle would be won. With this thought in mind,

Randall knocked on her door.

A soft voice called out for them to come in. Randall walked in

followed closely by his brother.

“Good morning,” Randall offered.

“Good morning,” she returned.

So far, so good. Marcus walked over and took her hand. He kissed

it. Randall held his breath to see how she would react to that. She

didn’t pull her hand away. Marcus smiled. Randall shoved his hands

in his pockets.

“I’m sorry, Darla,” Marcus said. “I can never say it enough.”

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She didn’t say anything at first. Randall almost held his breath.

They had a long wait as she studied them. He wondered what she was

thinking about. Contemplating whether to forgive them or not?

Finally, she seemed to have made up mind, her face relaxing into and

easy smile. Not a big one, mind you, but a smile none the less.

Unless she was into torture, they had a chance of getting back in

her good graces. She looked as weary as they felt. He looked over at

Marcus. He could tell his brother wanted to grab her and hug her.

They both refrained though. Not only because she was hurt, but also

because they couldn’t be sure how much she wanted to punish them.

The devious smile on her face assured him that they would suffer

before it was over with.

“Darla, you need to rest. Why don’t you let us take you home

where you can recover?” Randall asked.

“They are letting me go tomorrow. I don’t really have a home to

go home to, do I?” she told them, her voice cracking.

They wanted her to come to their home where they could take

care of her. Randall knew better than to push, but she had to know

that they wanted her.

“You have a home with us, Darla. Let us take care of you, please,”

Marcus said.

Randall studied her face and knew the minute she capitulated. Her

face looked so devastated. As if giving in and going home with them

had robbed her of something. She held their happiness in the palm of

her hand, and because there wasn’t a vindictive bone in her body, she didn’t crush them. Instead, she was giving in and going home with

them. He saw it as a major step toward forgiveness. Now he needed to

prove to her she could trust them from now on. It wouldn’t be easy,

but he and Marcus were up for the task.

Marcus beamed at him from across her bed. She looked from one

to the other of them and sighed. She seemed to put everything in that sigh. All her energy and focus seemed to be on them at the moment.

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She was sizing them up to see if she could believe them or not. He

held his breath and knew his brother was as well.

“Fine, I’ll go with you, under one condition.”

“Anything that is mine to give is yours, Darla,” Randall told her.

“We want to make you happy,” Marcus added.

“As soon as I know for sure that I’m getting to go home, I’ll let

you know,” she told them.

“Um, we were hoping to stay here with you in case you need

anything,” Randall began.

Marcus cut in. “That way we’re available as soon as you are ready

to go.”

“There’s really no need for you to spend the night here. I’m

coming home…” She quickly changed it to, “I’m getting out of the

hospital. That will be soon enough, I think.”

Randall decided to let it go. They would pick their battles. One

more night in the motel wouldn’t kill them. He glanced over a Marcus

and could see his own disappointment reflected on his brother’s face.

“I’ll bring something for you to wear out of here,” Marcus said.

“Oh, um, yeah, that would be great.” Darla blushed, and Randall

grinned.

He couldn’t help herself. She was so damn cute when she blushed,

and she blushed at the weirdest things. Like his bringing her

something to wear out of the hospital.

They sat with her for several hours then when she began to nod

off, they said good-bye and promised to be back the next morning to

be there when the doctor came by. Marcus bent over and kissed her

good-bye. Randall squeezed her hand and winked at her. She gave

them a little half smile back.

“That went fairly well,” Marcus said once they were down the

hall.

“Yeah, I think she realizes she has nowhere to go and needs us.

That may be the only reason she is allowing us to take her home,”

Randall warned him.

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“I don’t care what the reason is. She’ll be with us under our roof.

We can work on her there.”

Randall smiled. That was Marcus, forever the optimist. He

checked them in once again. It was decided that Marcus would make

the trip back to the ranch to gather up some clothes for her to wear

home from the hospital. Randall would remain behind. He wanted to

be there in case they asked to see him or she did.

After Marcus left, Randall played their conversation back in his

head looking for any sign of weakness he could exploit. He wasn’t

proud of it, but all was fair in love and war, and they were a little bit in both.

* * * *

As soon as the men left, Darla broke down and cried. She had

something to blame her weeping on now, the baby. She pulled the

covers back a little bit and rolled her gown up in order to see her

tummy. There was nothing there to prove she was pregnant, but

sometimes she got those fluttering feelings in her stomach. She placed a hand over her abdomen and imagined her baby growing there in her

womb. The wonder of it wasn’t lost on her. The truth was she was

secretly happy she was pregnant with their baby.

They should have been open with her from the beginning about

checking into her past. Shoulda, woulda, coulda, it was in the past

now. She had to worry about the future and make plans in case they

couldn’t work things out.

She drew in a deep breath. Fear began to seep inside her. Fear that

she would lose the baby. Fear that the baby wouldn’t be normal. Fear

the brothers didn’t really love her. Saying the words didn’t make it so.

She’d learned that from her ex. She didn’t have to be told twice. It

was why she wasn’t sure she could trust Randall and Marcus. They

had said the words way too soon as far as she was concerned. You

don’t just fall in love at first sight. That was a fairy tale told to young,
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impressionable teenagers. Realistically, you couldn’t fall in love in the snap of the fingers.

Love took time to grow and mature. It was one of the reasons

there was an engagement period before couples got married. They got

to know about each other and discover their partner’s likes and

dislikes. The fact that she pretty much knew theirs since she had

cooked and cleaned for them didn’t go far since they didn’t know

about her.

Sure, they knew all her sensitive places and how to make her

scream, but not what made her laugh and what made her cry. That

was the kind of relationship she wanted. Could she have it with them?

Only time would tell. For now, she would bide her time and watch

them closely to see how they really felt about her. She was convinced they were in love with the idea of being in love.

Darla leaned back in the bed and rested her eyes for a minute.

About the time she was drifting off, the phone rang. She almost let it ring since she didn’t know anyone there who would call her at the

hospital. The ringing grated on her nerves, and she answered it on the fourth one.

“Hello?”

“Darla? Hi, honey.” It was Ann Sanders, Randall and Marcus’s

mom.

“Hey, Ms. Sanders. How are you doing?”

“Doing fine. What about you? When are they letting you go?”

Ann asked.

“Actually, they are talking about letting me leave this afternoon.

I’m going to hold them to it, too.” She waited for her to say

something about Marcus or Randall, but she didn’t.

“Do you need a ride? I’ll be glad to come pick you up. You can

even stay at our house if you think you’ll be more comfortable there.”

Darla felt tears clogging her throat. Ann was being so nice to her

despite that she was causing her boys trouble. She swallowed around

the tears before she could speak.

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“Thank you so much, but Randall and Marcus are picking me up.”

“Oh, that’s great. I sure hope you are able to work things out,

Darla. We only want what’s best for you and the baby,” she said.

“Me, too, Ann. No matter how things turn out between us, I will

always let you see the baby since you will be the only grandparents he will have,” Darla told her.

There was silence on the other end of the phone. For a minute, she

thought Ann must have hung up. Then the other woman spoke.

“Thank you, Darla. You don’t know how happy that makes me.”

Ann‘s smile was evident in her voice now.

“Maybe once you’ve healed up some, you can come to the house

and we can visit some.”

“I’d like that,” Darla said. And she would. She genuinely liked

her. She was not only friendly, but understanding as well. She seemed to have the patience of Job.

They talked for a few more minutes and then hung up. Darla felt

better for her talk with Ann. The other woman hadn’t tried to get her to forgive her sons or change her mind about them.

For the first time in a long time, she didn’t have to go to work at a certain time. She didn’t have a dress code, and she had nowhere to be.

She smiled to herself and decided on a shower. She would have to

keep her shoulder and head dry. The logistics on doing that eluded

her.

A nurse came in a few minutes later, and she explained what she

wanted to do. The nurse knew what to do, and she got her shower and

dressed in a fresh gown when the doctor came by. He tried to talk her into staying just one more day, but Darla insisted she wanted out.

She’d do whatever he said to do if he would let her leave that

afternoon.

Less than ten minutes after the doctor left, Marcus walked in the

room with a small bag that proved to contain some of her things.

“Where’s Randall?” she asked.

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“Parking the truck. It’s hard to find a spot for a rig like we have.”

He smiled and gave her a sweet kiss before flopping down on the

chair.

“I’m going to change clothes. The nurse should be in any minute

now for me to sign my discharge paperwork.”

Marcus smiled. “That’s great! You’ll be home before you know

it.”

Darla couldn’t help but smile back. His smiles were always

contagious.

She picked up the bag with her clothes and walked into the

bathroom, closing the door behind her. She dug through the bag and

realized they’d thought of everything. She had deodorant, toothbrush

and toothpaste, her brush, and a hair clippy as well as several outfits to choose from. She was impressed. They obviously knew their way

around a woman’s needs. She blushed. Needs brought back flashes of

their night together. He and Randall knew all her secrets. They knew

her needs and what she liked and didn’t like with sex. She quickly

shoved aside those lusty thoughts and busied herself getting dressed to leave.

Just as she walked out of the bathroom, there was a knock on the

door and the nurse walked in.

“I see you’re already dressed to leave. Surely we’ve been good to

you,” she said with a smile.

“You’ve all been super. I just don’t like hospitals,” she told her.

Once the paperwork was filled out and explained, Darla was ready

to walk out. The nurse shook her head.

“No you don’t. You don’t get to walk. You have to ride,” she said

with a knowing smile.

Darla figured there was no use in arguing with the woman, so she

capitulated and waited for the wheelchair.

Marcus had been quiet all during the exchange. Now he spoke up.

“You look real nice in that outfit,” he said. “It brings out the color of your eyes.”

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She smiled. “Thank you.”

He picked up her bag and opened the door for the nurse when she

knocked. Darla sank into the wheelchair, suddenly glad to have the

ride. She wasn’t sure her legs would have supported her all the way to the truck. Getting dressed had taken a toll on her. Marcus followed

the nurse while talking on his phone.

“We’re on our way out now. You might want to pull the truck

around to the outpatient entrance,” he told Randall.

Whatever Randall had replied was short since Marcus flipped the