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“Ruth?”I asked.
The blonde smiled and nodded.
“Brooklyn?”
I smiled and walked toward her, opening my arms for a light hug. I had been talking to Ruth daily for weeks and I felt like I knew the woman. It was wonderful to meet her in person and the perfect distraction. Ruth introduced the man next to her and he held out a hand to shake. He then kissed the top of her head and walked toward a barn across from the house. A second man was there, bringing horses into a small paddock.
A third man came running from the house, almost running over Ruth.
“Oh sorry babe, gotta run!”The man exclaimed, before kissing her temple and running to catch up with the boys and the other cowboys.
I turned to look at Ruth, my eyebrows raised. She smiled in response and invited me into the house. Inside, I was taken by the quaint beauty of the ranch home. It was clear hardworking people lived there, with multiple pairs of boots and sneakers lining the wall in the mudroom. Ruth lead me to the kitchen, where there were stools at a breakfast bar.
“So, are one of them your boyfriend?”I asked.
Ruth’s face colored slightly, but then she straightened her shoulders and faced me.
“All three of them are,”she said, an edge of defense in her voice.
I reached out and laid my hand over hers on the counter.
“No, no, don’t misunderstand. I completely get it. And I’m sorry, that question was probably too personal.”
Ruth shook her head and smiled.
“We’ve never really discussed how to behave around other people. I guess it could be confusing,”she said.
“No, really, I understand,”I said, exaggerating my words.
Ruth’s eyes widened slightly as she stood to pour ice tea for us both. She faced me, standing against the counter. With her hand, she motioned for me to continue. I sighed and gave her a small description of The Knights and how we had ended up together. When I hesitated on Aiden’s name, Ruth stopped me.
“What’s wrong with Aiden?”She asked.
“I don’t know if it’s Aiden or if it’s me. But just when I thought we were getting somewhere, he froze me out. Then there was this other woman,”I said.
“Other woman? Oh no, that’s not ok. I mean, I don’t know about other relationships like ours. Mine is all I’ve ever known. But I would probably do something pretty drastic if some woman came sniffing around my cowboys,”Ruth said.
I sipped my iced tea, trying to picture the small woman doing whatever drastic thing she could accomplish. Her face looked fierce as she said it and at that moment I had no doubt she would go to blows to protect what was hers. With the way the two men I saw looked at her, it was clear they weren’t letting her go anytime soon.
We chatted for the rest of the afternoon, some about her and how she came to be at the ranch. Her story was fascinating and sad. It sounded as if she had escaped a cult like situation andstumbled, literally, across three men that would open their home to her. When she talked about falling in love with them, she got a dreamy look on her face that just made my heart ache painfully.
She asked me more questions about The Knights and I stuck to the good stuff, leaving out the painful pieces. I didn’t want to focus on what was hurting me, instead I wanted to share my heart with someone that I knew would really understand me. And Ruth did.
When the day wrapped up, I met with the boys by the van. They loaded up and Ruth walked to meet me and gave me a tight hug. I waved at the three cowboys standing on the porch beyond her.
“Call me, anytime. I know how stubborn these men can me,”she said.
The drive back to the group home was a different atmosphere. The boys were exhausted, but chatted between themselves about the things they had learned. They even pulled me into the conversation to talk about how the rest of the week was going to pan out. I couldn’t help the bright smile that spread across my face as I thought about how I hoped this gave the boys some peace, at least for a little while.
Chapter
Eighteen
Brooklyn
The week wentby in a flash, with daily trips to Ruth’s ranch. I admitted to her on the last day that I was nervous about not having the daily distractions. She had hugged me tight and wished me luck. Now I was sitting alone in my room again, afraid to fall asleep.
Not all of my nightmares had been as severe as the first night. Sometimes I just woke up in a cold sweat, not knowing what had woken me, but adrenaline filling my body to the point of not going back to sleep. I was going on two days without much sleep and I really just wanted one full night before I headed back into the office for normal work.
