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Heather snorted. “What are they gonna do? Divorce us?” she asked them both in irritation. “Okay, so we fucked up. They were a little less clueless than we imagined. But they still haven’t figured out exactly what we want. I say we tell them straight out and see what happens.”
Marly and Sarah both shot her a look of incredulity.
“Get real!” Marly snapped. “That might work with Sam, and you can go for it if you think it will. But not Cade. You forget his sense of responsibility. His determination to keep this family together. This will break his heart if we do it your way, Heather. I won’t risk that.”
“It’s not like we want to move to another state, Marly,” Heather argued. “For God’s sake, he would be able to see the house outside his bedroom window. Dammit, as much as I love you and Sarah, and the other brothers, I want my own home. I want my own family, too.”
There was a wealth of pain, of growing despondency, in the other woman’s words. There was the dream they all held. Their own homes. Their own families. The freedom to bring children into a full, productive family unit rather than the unconventional lifestyle they had lived.
It had been different when they married. New to the sexual excesses the men provided, they had been flying on sensuality and the freedom to give into the more extreme fantasies they all had at one time or another. But now, with Marly’s pregnancy and Drace’s birth, they had found a core of need inside them that terrified them all. Possessiveness. They wanted their husbands to themselves. They wanted their own homes. Their own families.
“So what do we do?” Sarah asked them both softly. “We can’t destroy them. We can’t hurt them for our needs. Where does that leave us?”
“Damned if I know,” Marly finally sighed bleakly. “But we have to do something now. Because sure as hell they’re all three onto us, and they won’t wait long before they hit us with it. We have to be prepared.”
Damn. Sarah had a feeling the next few days were going to be less than pleasant.
* * * * *
“They’re plotting again.” Cade looked up from the baby he held securely in his arms to Sam as he walked into the nursery.
Brock was already there. He stood at the window, silent, morose. He was letting this affect him too deeply. Feeling too guilty over something that could be fixed. And Cade was certain it could be fixed.
Drace cooed in delight as Cade continued to rock him, his drowsy blue eyes staring up with an innocence that could only be found in a child’s eyes. Eyes so much like Marly’s. Drace’s features more like his father’s. It made Cade wonder what their daughter would look like. And he was damned d
etermined he wanted one. A fiery little bit of temper and beauty like his Marly, driving them all crazy with her less than logical ways. And his Marly could definitely be less than logical.
He smoothed a finger over Drace’s cheek, smiling as the baby giggled and latched onto his fingers. He was already crawling. Put the little imp on the floor and he would be off and struggling to find some kind of adventure that was less than safe. He looked like his daddy. Acted more like his mommy.
“Did you hear me, Cade?” Sam stood by the closed door, and Cade knew his brother’s eyes would be glittering with anticipation and amusement.
“What now?” He winced as Drace bit into his finger, the small, barely visible teeth stinging the hard pad of flesh.
“Well, at least they know we’re onto them.” There was laughter in Sam’s voice. Only God knew how that lightened Cade’s heart.
Drace yawned, his little eyelids drifting down as he gnawed contentedly on Cade’s finger.
Cade snorted. “I was onto them days ago. Sarah just affirmed it.” Brock had been furious with himself when he came to Cade and Sam and revealed the nature of the women’s wishes.
“We should have seen it sooner,” Brock murmured.
“We did, Brock,” Cade reminded him of their conversation months after Marly’s pregnancy had been confirmed. “It was our decision to stop. We just didn’t know how far they wanted to take it.”
A year ago, it would have killed something in him to see his brothers and their wives leave his home. They had been a part of each other for so long, he didn’t know if he could have survived it then. Drace had changed that, though. The thought of the other children Marly had talked about wanting had cemented the decision. He didn’t give a damn what the townspeople gossiped about, but he couldn’t face the pain it could bring his children. Couldn’t face the thought of raising them in any way that wasn’t conventional.
He wanted to take them to Sunday school. He wanted to join the fucking PTA, for God’s sake. He could never do that comfortably as long as their lifestyle continued as it was. Besides, he wanted his wife to himself. As much as he loved his brothers, as exciting, intense, and filled with eroticism as their sex lives had been, he no longer needed that affirming bond that had saved them over the years. He needed Marly. He needed their children.
“She could have said something.” Cade could hear the regret in Brock’s voice. “I should have let her know she had the freedom to do so.”
Cade looked up as Sam snorted. “Come on, Brock, they love driving us crazy. You know it and I know it. And we love it. I’ve called the contractors and they’ll be out here next week. Let’s let them have their fun while they can. Then they can make it up to us for not trusting us as they should have. As soon as I show my sweet little honey what a bad girl she’s been, I’m sure she’ll do just that.”
Cade hid his smile as he looked up from his sleeping son to his brother’s smug expression.
“I think we should push them just a hair bit further.” He leaned back in the rocking chair, lifting Drace to his chest, his heart clenching at the gentle weight of his son resting against him. His hand smoothed over the baby’s back.
“Yeah?” Sam would be all for the game.
“How?” Brock was always more suspicious.
