Burn in Hail(38)

Ariya shook her head. "No."



Six hours later, I arrived at home to find my Grams' car in my driveway, right alongside Hennessy's.

Yesterday Hennessy had gotten word that a young woman, just moving to  the area, was interested in her house and had already signed the lease.  The landlord had asked Hennessy to forgo the usual four-week notice  because the woman sounded like she was in dire straights.

When Hennessey had called me in a panic, I'd solved it all by telling her that she needed to move in with me.

At first, she'd been reluctant, but once I'd talked her around later  that night, she'd come to realize that she wanted to live at her own  house alone about as much as I wanted to live at my house alone.

Now, twelve hours later, my living room was filled with not only power  tools and half-finished projects, but also floor to ceiling boxes.

I pushed through the front door, smiling when a wall of garlic hit me like a battering ram.

Please let it be her lasagna. Please let it be her lasagna. I chanted to  myself as I skirted past the boxes that were now spilling into the  hallway, making my way to the kitchen to find both my Grams and  Hennessey sitting at what was now Hennessy's and my dining room table,  spreading what looked to be garlic butter onto slices of toast.

They both looked up at the same time, and two large smiles graced their faces.

"I invited your grandmother over," Hennessy said, gesturing to Grams. "She showed me how to make your favorite dish."

I grinned. "I can see."

"She also shared a secret with me."

My brows rose.

"What's that?"

"She said that your feet used to be ticklish, as well as the soft skin  right behind your knees." Hennessy turned toward me. "Can we test that  out really quick?"

I shook my head, hopefully showing her that I wasn't scared of her and  her tickles. Though, just thinking about someone touching me behind the  knee-even Hennessy-was enough to make me start sweating.

It wasn't that I was ticklish. It was because I was fucking freaked out by it.

Though, it wouldn't do to tell her that. She'd use it against me.

"You ladies need to find something else to talk about," I informed them  as I walked into the kitchen and reached into the fridge for a beer.  "Oh, and also. The new neighbor is some weird chick that tried to ask me  to take her tire off. With her husband standing right there."

Hennessy snickered.

"That's really not nice to classify them as weird just because someone  asked you to help. You're a big, strapping boy. It's plain to anyone  with eyes that you can likely do things a whole lot better than they  can."

I rolled my eyes.

My grandmother was such a soft soul.

Speaking of which …

"Grams, did you go visit someone in jail today that you weren't supposed to?"

Grams shrugged, and Hennessy turned curious eyes from me to Grams.

"Who did you go … .oh. How was he?"

Her father was an ass, and I couldn't understand why either one of them cared.

It was ironic as hell, though, that Reverend-who wasn't a reverend in town any longer-had to go to anger management classes.

He'd be spending two years in jail, too.

After being arrested for pulling a gun on me-thanks to the multiple  witnesses-IE the entire fucking congregation-witnessing his break down,  there wasn't a shortage of stories that pointed their finger at Hanes.

He was going to be serving another year and eleven months in that place,  with the possibility of four more years if he didn't watch his step.  While he was in there, he was informed he'd be seeing the prison  psychologist, who'd help him get his anger under control.         

     



 

"He was fine, dear," Grams said. "He was angry, though, just like he was last week."

I snorted.

"You're my grandmother. He doesn't like me at all." I paused. "So it's  only understandable that he'd do the same thing to you that he did to  me, and still does to me."

Grams smiled.

"Reverend Hanes was supposed to marry your momma, and then you came along."

My mouth fell open.

"What?"

"What?" Hennessy echoed.

Grams nodded.

"Needless to say, he's never liked you all that much because you signaled the end of his relationship with her."

"Damn," I said.

Finally knowing the reason he disliked me all these years was actually quite freeing.

"Well, I guess he did have a good reason … " I muttered.

"That's not a good reason," Hennessy snapped. "In fact, it's a pretty freakin' bad one."

My heart warmed at her words.

"And you, my dear, are the reason they didn't get married the second time."

My mouth fell open.

"What?"

Grams nodded, seriousness written all over her face.

"When your father left, Tate, your mother and Reverend Hanes got back  together. Only, a week or two later, Hennessy's mother found out she was  pregnant with Hennessy, and the entire process started all over again."

I just shook my head.

"Well, I'll be damned."



As my Grams left that night, she stopped on the walkway leading to her car and turned.

Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small silver pouch.

"I know that you haven't asked, and you never intended to ask since you  seem to think that I need it, but I want you to use this when the time  is right."

I furrowed my brows and took the small silver bag, immediately realizing  what was inside the moment that my fingers closed around it.

"Grams … "

"It was never your mother's."

My brows went up.

"She stole it to hock it at a pawn shop, and I bought it back from Sandy. It was never hers."

Knowing that, I started to smile.

I'd not asked for the ring because I wasn't willing to put something on  Hennessy's finger that had once belonged to my mother. It was as if it  had bad mojo or something, so I never bothered to ask.

But hearing that about the ring, it started to make me understand.

"Thanks Grams," I said, pulling her into a tight hug. "You coming over for the Fourth?"

Grams patted my shoulder. "Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how long I  play Bingo. If I start losing early, I'll come over. If not, then I  might be there all night."

After letting her go with a laugh, she climbed into her car and I watched her drive away.

"What's that?"

I turned to find Hennessy there, staring at my hand-the same hand that had the ring pinched between two fingers.

"This?" I asked, holding it up.

She nodded, her eyes widening.

Knowing what we both wanted, I decided that it was time to stop wasting my life, and start living it.

I dropped down on one knee, held the ring up between my fingers, and said four words. "Will you marry me?"





Epilogue


Tequila doesn't solve problems, but it's worth a shot.

-Taco shop welcome sign

Hennessy

8 months later

I bobbed my head to the beat, then pulled the handle of the mop I was using up to my mouth and belted out the lyrics.

"Hit me baby one more time!" I bellowed.

Britney's voice was drowned out by my god-awful voice, and seconds later the song ended just as abruptly as it had started.

But then, my jam came on.

"Ohhhh, yeah!" I cried out, dropping the mop and twisting around on my sock covered feet.

Putting these hardwood floors into the house was one of the best decisions Tate and I had ever made.

They allowed me to slide around on socks just as easily as I would on slick concrete floors, only they looked ten times better.

"Bye, bye, bye!" I cried out.

Then I danced.

Two days ago, I'd started my mad cleaning frenzy.

During that time, I'd discovered that N'Sync radio on Pandora was the  perfect thing to listen to while you were cleaning. It kept me moving,  never once failed to entertain me, and I didn't have to stop every five  minutes to skip the song.

It was literally the best station since sliced bread.

"It's gonna be MAY!" I cried out. "All that I do!"

I paused to pick up a piece of trash, only instead of bending at the  waist, I squatted down, doing a shimmy shake as I came back up.

Not only because I was dancing to the music, but because I was also six  months pregnant with The Hulk junior, AKA Tate Casey's fat kid, and was  as big as a brick shit house.         

     



 

They say that at six months with your first child, you'd just barely be showing.

I, apparently, was an anomaly.

I, Hennessy Harmony Casey, was so pregnant that it looked like I was carrying twins.

Only, I wasn't.

I only had one baby in there.

One single, fat baby boy who apparently took after his father in the size department.

"Good one."

I froze with my hands on my knees, and looked over my shoulder to see  not just Tate standing there, but Evander, Travis, Baylor, and the two  guys that I didn't see all that much, Parker and Rafe.

They were all staring at me with various shades of laughter on their face.

It was the look on my husband's face that had me turning bright red.

On his face wasn't laughter, but a sexy look that clearly said, "I'd fuck you right now if I didn't have the boys with me."

"Uhh," I paused, then turned.