(Author's 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!)
*
Hefting Kimber up on her hip, Keni walked out to the mail box and opened it. The usual pile greeted her, but it was the car parked across the road that caught her attention. She didn't need to see Waylon to know he was sitting there, watching her. He was wearing that damn, shit eating grin he wore every time she saw him these days and a shiver of fear ran down her spine. Turning on her heel, she went back up the walk to the house and heard him peel out as she went inside.
"He was there again?" Her mom Janie looked at her as she put Kimber down and handed Kate the stack of mail.
"Yeah, every day for the last three days like clockwork. I don't know if I should tell Harley or not. Last time he went to that gal's house and lost his temper." She knew he had tried to keep his cool, but Waylon was to the point of almost acting like he wanted his brothers to beat him senseless. Phone calls in the middle of the night that when answered were simply hang ups, more whiskey bottles found out by the big oak. "To be honest, I was thinking about calling Maggie and see if she feels up to us bringing Kimber back. I know she isn't feeling too good after delivering so early, but if he is up to something I don't want her daughter in the cross fire."
Kate spoke up softly. "Dean thinks you should call the sheriff Keni. This is as good as stalking in his way of thinking."
"Damn right it is." John James came in the kitchen with his son J.J. "Well, Gina is on her way home, got her to the airport in plenty of time. Damn, that is one long, hot drive."
Keni nodded. It was after Labor Day and life around the farm was moving into the harvest time mode. Dean and Harley were working twice as hard with Henry and their mom was getting ready to do her annual canning and getting ready for the winter ahead. She didn't know a woman more organized then Maggie Barnes, and it was fun to watch her order her grown sons and husband around like little boys. It did bother her to think that her brother would be leaving to go back to school soon, and her dad would be headed back to Portland until the baby was born. This, if they were lucky; would be anytime in the next month, that was if Kate didn't split like a watermelon first.
* * *
A knock on the door revealed Heather and Mike. They had been busy working with her folks and it was clear that they were exhausted. "Hey, can we hide out here for a while?" Heather giggled as she sat on the couch next to Kate. "Mike and I haven't had five minutes alone since we got here before Labor Day."
Keni laughed. "Like you can be anymore alone here, hey Mike..."
The tall, lanky Texan grinned. "Yeah, but you aren't constantly running on about guest lists and being ready for the wedding in November. Maggie is acting like we purposely set the date up three months just to vex her and mom."
"Didn't you?" Keni knew exactly why the wedding had been moved up and she wondered if two 21st century college students could be so careless without it being on purpose.
Mike and Heather exchanged glances, and Harley's sister had the good grace to blush. "It wasn't like we really planned it; we just sort of forgot to take the necessary precautions. She reached down and picked up Kimber. "Tell the truth I'm surprised you and Harley haven't been to the aisle already..."
She wasn't the only one; everyone was asking her why they hadn't done it yet. Even her folks had told her how good they looked together and how clear it was they loved each other so much. Keni did love him, though she knew some people might wonder if it wasn't more the sexual side of the relationship that excited her. He was an older man, the town bad boy, all the most exciting things young girls looked for. It wasn't that way with her. She had felt feelings for Harley back before she had been old enough to really know what she was feeling. From the first time she met him, he had been her hero, her knight in shining armor.
"I think Keni just has more on her mind right now then getting married." Her mom spoke up. "Harley just proves how good of a man he is by being so patient and not trying to drag her to the preacher like her dad did me. The day we met, he told me he was going to marry me and I had six months to plan the wedding or he was taking me to Vegas and the Elvis chapel they have there."
Heather looked at Janie James with wide eyes. "You're kidding..."
"No, she's not, I meant every word of it and six months later, we were on our way to Vegas. She thought I was joking, but I wasn't." John perched on the edge of the chair his wife was sitting in. "She was so angry at me, the night I kidnapped her, she had a date with a big shot from where she worked, and she was so mad because it was a chance at a big promotion. I asked her which was more important, me or a job promotion?"
Kate, Keni and J.J. all answered the same time their mom did. "A job promotion..."
They all laughed and Kimber yawned. Getting off Heather's lap, she went to Keni and held out her arms. Keni picked her up and laid her down on the blanket to rest. She was going to hate it when the little girl went home but she understood that the premature birth of Maggie and Scooter's son had taken a hard toll on her friend and had extended the visit. As it was, Maggie had been told no more, ever.
"You need to have a baby Keni..." Kate spoke softly.
"Not for a couple years. Harley and I want kids, but not for a while."
Her sister smiled. "You know, there are times I forget you're the younger sister Keni, you seem to have your priorities firmly in mind and you don't deter from them. You've always been that way, more so then me and J.J."
It was true, and Keni knew it, her grandmother had once told her that she had been born with an old soul; that she had been born with her future firmly in place and no one would ever keep her from it. Like Harley, she had known him as her future from day one. She just hadn't expected him to want her in his as well.
* * *
As if on cue, Harley, Dean and Scooter came in the back door into the living room. The two brothers looked at Heather and Mike and gave the same grin. "So this is where you're hiding at, mom is looking all over for you two. We strongly suggest you get home right away, or she may become a fire breathing dragon." Dean bent over to kiss his wife after delivering this speech. "Now, they have been warned. I need a shower, back down in a few..."
Keni watched as Harley came over and lowered himself to the floor beside her. "You two are done early."
