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Lane practically growled at her with his frustration at not having Piper with us, between us. Under us. “We had to resolve the mine issues first. Hell, I had to ride to Denver and back. I want to be able to focus on her with nothing interfering.”
He didn’t tell Lil how Piper was furious with them and she was at the center of it all. Unintentionally, but the cause of it nonetheless.
“Took two weeks, and now we can do it,” I said. While I loved visiting with Lil, I was anxious to start up the mountain to Slate Springs and make things right.
“Then go collect your bride. Bring her to visit when you sign the papers. I want to meet her before I die.” She paused and studied Lane. “Ah, that’s it then. You don’t want her to meet me.”
Lane sighed. I sat quietly, watching them. It was best if I remained silent. No amount of arguing with Lane would change his mind. Piper needed to meet Lil, to know about her, our pasts, so she could understand us, understand where we came from. To fix the argument between us. I doubted she’d believe anything we said. Meeting Lil was the only way to resolve the misunderstanding between us.
Later, when she didn’t hate us, knowing the truth of our pasts would help Piper understand why we would be so prot
ective, so overbearingly doting. Perhaps that was why, deep down, we’d wanted to marry together. We never wanted her or any children to be left alone, to risk any chance that Piper might turn into either of our mothers.
“I want her to know you. I do. But I don’t want her to know my past. It’s dead and buried, like my mother,” Lane admitted.
“You were always a stubborn one. You are ashamed of your past.”
I gazed at Lane, his cheeks flushed, his eyes a little wild. Lil’s talk made him uncomfortable. Good. He had an old wound, one that hurt him far deeper than anything had been inflicted on him from the mine.
“Not ashamed, not of you,” he clarified. “Never of you. You saved me.” Lane moved to sit on the bed beside her, across from me. He took her hand and looked at her so seriously. “You can’t expect me to tell Piper about what happened to me.” He shook his head. “I… I can’t.”
Lil studied him with those perceptive eyes, eyes that saw everything. “So when she meets me, she’ll just know what a monster your mother was?”
He frowned. “No.”
“What will she see?”
“A woman who was more mother than anyone else. A woman I love, and will miss dearly.”
I saw the sorrow on Lane’s face and I felt it in my heart. His vehemence was what made Piper angry with us, believe the worst. If he’d told her to begin with, it never would have happened.
Lil smiled and patted his hand. “Then bring her here and show her that. The rest, well… you both have grown into fine men. Gone far beyond where you came from. You are more, so much more, than your past. While I know you’ll never be able to let it go, you will live on.”
Lane lifted her hand to his lips, gave her a gentle kiss. She was tiring.
“You will live more and that is all she has to see. Now bring this woman to me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Lane gave her a small smile. “We will retrieve her from Slate Springs and bring her back when I sign the mine paperwork.”
As long as Piper hasn’t shot us first.
Lil looked to me. “You’ll come, too?”
“Of course. The doctor I replaced retired. He’s filling in for me while I’m gone, but he only expected me to collect Piper from Pueblo, not get trapped in a mine,” I added. “I’m sure he can keep everyone whole for a few more days. Besides, you’re my favorite patient.”
“Flatterer.” Lil gave a slight nod. “Good boys.”
“Ready for your morphine?” Her mouth was pinched and I could see her muscles were starting to tense with the ache brought on by the cancer. Soon enough, the dose would be so high she would not awaken. Fortunately, at that point, she’d die peacefully.
Filling the syringe, I slid up the sleeve of her nightgown, found her vein and gave her the sweet relief.
We waited the minute it took her to settle into sleep. I looked over Lil’s body to Lane. “You need to make it right with Piper. She’s thought, for two fucking weeks, that we have a mistress. Let’s go get our girl.”
***
Lane
“Pardon me.”
