(Author Note: As always, I want to thank you for taking the time to read my story and hope you enjoy it. I know I am not the perfect writer, but if you find something that will help me improve or have good or bad comments, please, let me know. Thanks!)
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Harley finished tightening down the valve cover on the old Plymouth and put down the wrench. "Okay Scooter, give it a try..." He wiped his hands on the grease covered rag, and listened as the 325 straight six engine fired to life. It was purring like a kitten and Scooter grinned as he gave him a thumb up.
"Damn, doesn't that sound pretty?" Scooter climbed out and grinned. "I swear Harley; you ain't lost your touch. Of course I should have known that, seeing how Keni is always smiling so much around you. Women and cars, is there anything better in life?"
His life long friend could have said a full time paycheck, but Harley only shook his head. Between what Scooter paid him for the occasional car repair and his folks paying him a wage for working on the farm, he supposed he could be doing worse. Keni was busy helping her mom keep Kate from going to the hospital next two months and he had to do something to keep from dragging her upstairs constantly. God, he had needed her before, but since they were now officially engaged, he found the need for her body to be increasing daily.
What was funny was the way her mom seemed to understand completely. Janie was constantly giving him teasing glances when they were caught hugging or kissing. "Watch it boy, you two will set the house on fire you keep kissing my daughter like that..." She kept telling him to wait till her husband and son got there, then he might have to be a bit more circumspect. "Or maybe John Senior will be giving you kids kissing lessons."
Keni had told him that her parents were a bit more open about sex and loving each other then a lot of people, but he hadn't realized how much until a couple days ago when her dad and brother had both arrived. John Junior and his girlfriend were currently occupying a room at the motel in town and her parents had moved into the intended nursery at Dean and Kate's. He had discovered over the past couple nights that she had been telling the truth, they tended to get as loud if not louder then he and Keni did.
He grinned at the memory of last night and how Keni had began to giggle while they had been making love. She couldn't help it she said, it sounded so funny, hearing her mom and dad grunt and groan while she was doing the same thing as they were. He had needed to admit, he found it just as funny and the two of them had ended up laughing instead of finishing what they had been doing.
A car horn made him look up and he saw Keni, J.J. and Gina pull up in the rented car her brother and dad had driven from Oklahoma City. Gina, a pretty little brunette with big brown eyes and a sunny smile waved as she got out. "Hey big brother brought you a present to make your afternoon sunnier!"
Keni came out of the car and walked over to the garage. "Hey, missed you this morning..."
He hugged her and kissed her gently, "you were sleeping so peacefully, I decided to be nice and let you stay that way for a change."
She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hmm, I missed our usual wake up call." She gave Scooter a smile. "Hey Scooter, is Maggie in the house?"
Scooter nodded. "Yeah, she's cleaning again, as usual, I hope this baby gets here pretty soon, I can't keep track of where anything is at all with her doing that."
Keni gave him another kiss and the three men watched while she and Gina headed for the house. J.J. grinned as he looked at Harley. "You know when I left her in town, I didn't expect to come back and find her all engaged and looking so damn grown up. I should be mad at you, what happened to my baby sister?"
A deep chuckle escaped Scooter. "Hell, you think that's bad, the whole damn town is wondering what happened to its biggest bad boy. From what I hear, half the bars in town are going bankrupt from the lack of Harley's business."
Harley frowned. "Well, from what mom and dad tell me, Waylon is making up mine and Dean's shares. He hasn't been home since Keni and I told everyone we were getting married and from what a few well placed old friends say, he's been tearing though women and booze like there's no tomorrow. He is starting to make me look like an angel." Harley was glad to have the heat off him for a change, but it still bothered him that Waylon was trying to carry on his tradition.
"That's bad bro...well at least he's been leaving you and Keni alone."
That was true, but Scooter didn't know that part of it was from a little visit he had made to the apartment of one of his old friends. He had heard Waylon was shacked up with Anita in that dump she lived in and while he hadn't gone there to fight, he had gone there to set things straight with his brother. It was too bad that Waylon hadn't been sober enough to want to listen to reason and Harley had needed to punch his brother a few times before he finally agreed to leave Keni alone, but somehow, Harley found he knew that once Waylon sobered up and was thinking clear again, it wouldn't matter.
"Yeah, the question is, for how long?" He sighed and went to clean up. He didn't like what was happening in his family. He knew it was hurting his mom and dad, but for once it wasn't his doing. All Waylon had to do was stop what he was doing and life could get back to normal. Keni was feeling a burden over it, feeling like if she hadn't come here none of this would have happened. He didn't agree. What ever was in Waylon's mind had been there a long time, and she had simply caused it to come out in full force.
He didn't like to think what it would be like if she hadn't come to this place, hadn't admitted how she had felt about him all this time. He had done a lot of thinking on the idea of how she had been in the past, and he knew that somehow he had been waiting for this time and place to be. Until now he had never thought about the dreams that had come to haunt him after she had spent the summer, how she had grown and matured in the last ten years. How he had pushed away all thoughts of her until they had erupted that day in her room.
A part of him knew he was as bad as Waylon; that she had gotten into his mind and soul at an age that he shouldn't have been thinking such things but unlike his brother, he had been able to push them away, to bury them in his bad boy persona. He felt as if he had been lifted from the depth of his own private hell the first time they had made so love in that room. As if, while he was buried so deep in her, that all his feelings and emotions had erupted into what he felt now.
Each day he felt them grow more and more, the love he felt for her as strong as any he had ever seen or heard of. And to see her glow with it, god it was breathtaking to a man who had spent so much time in the dark that he had wondered if the sun really existed. Now he knew it was there and he gloried in it.
They went in the house to find the three gals talking about babies and house keeping and all the women stuff men hated. He took a beer from Scooter and leaned back against the counter to watch Keni hold on to Scooter and Maggie's youngest. Her name was Kimber and like her momma, had gorgeous red hair. Kimber had decided that Keni was the favorite of all their visitors and seldom would go even to her mom or dad when Keni was around. Even now she clutched her bottle and teddy bear, and shook her head when Scooter held out his hands to put her down for a nap.
Maggie laughed, as he tried again. "Don't even bother Scooter, she won't go. She has a lap to sit on and a nice cushion for her head. I was teasing Keni that maybe she should take her home with her for a few days, let her be mommy to the broody little rug rat." She reached over and tickled her daughter's belly. "How about it baby girl, you want to go home with Keni and Harley for a while? Let them see what they got to look forward to once they get hitched?"
Harley walked over and squatted down so he was face level with the little knockout. "How about it Kimber, you want to come home with me and Keni for a while?" He held open his arms, not expecting her to come to him. Instead she came willingly.
"Now that is a sight I never expected to see." Scooter grinned. "Damn if you don't look good holding a baby like that Harley. Of course, my Kimber would make King Kong look good. Seriously, if you two would be willing to take her for a couple days, it would be appreciated. Just to give her mom and I a little break."
