She knew enough to know they’d been heading north after they’d left Benny. If she wanted to go back to her son, she needed to head south. Taking only a moment to put on her shoes, she gave a glance at the car before turning and walking toward the end of the building.
Looking around, she fixed her bearings and began to walk. Nerves told her to run, and so she did. The motel had been on a country road at the bottom of an exit ramp from the highway. She ignored the roads and instead struck out across country. It would be harder walking, but Deke would never be able to follow her where he couldn’t drive.
Frightened, yet determined, Ginny began to run for her life.
* * * *
Kelsey really liked Bernice Benedict. She hadn’t been certain how she would feel sitting face-to-face with the older woman over the kitchen island now that she was sleeping with two of Bernice’s sons. Any fears she might have had about the older woman harboring any animosity toward her vanished within the first few moments of her visit.
“So here’s the little man who’s captured the heart of Lusty.” Bernice’s greeting had made Kelsey smile. It was true. Benny had captured the heart of the entire town. A delivery of clothing and toys had come just after breakfast, and that act had been repeated over and over again ever since.
Kelsey brewed a fresh pot of coffee, then sat across from Bernice as they both watched Benny playing on the floor with his some of his new toy trucks.
“Any word yet from Matthew?” Bernice asked quietly.
“Just that he hasn’t found her yet,” Kelsey responded softly. “That poor woman. Imagine feeling so desperate…”
Bernice shook her head. “I can’t. It’s simply beyond my experience. There’s never been a problem, or an obstacle, that either me or one of my husbands hasn’t been able to surmount. Even during the hardest times, there’s always been a slew of family—Benedicts, Jessops, Kendalls, and Parks—to lend a hand.”
Kelsey tilted her head to one side as she considered the woman and the statement she’d just made.
She opened her mouth to ask a question, then thought better of it. Bernice, however, proved that she was at least as observant as her sons. Reaching forward, she laid a hand on Kelsey’s and squeezed.
“It’s not always easy balancing two men, but in my experience, it certainly is worth it.”
Kelsey sighed. “It still seems surreal to me. As though, I don’t know…”
“As though someone is going to come out of the woodwork at any moment and condemn you for daring to follow your heart?”
“Yes.” Although Kelsey hadn’t said the words to the men the way they had said them to her, she felt love for them within her. Making love with both of them at the same time was following her heart.
“I have to admit that I felt that way at first myself. Outside family can be a deterrent, too. My father never came to accept my lifestyle, although my mother did.” Bernice shrugged. “What I do know is that both Jon and Caleb were meant for me, and I for them. They each meet separate needs in me.” Then she leaned forward. “One day, when you come visit us at the big house, I’ll show you Sarah Carmichael Benedict’s journal. She wrote it not long after her sons courted and then married Madeline Kennedy. I guess in helping her daughter-in-law to adjust to the reality of loving two men, she figured her words and insights could help future generations. By then, their dream, a town where people could live and love as they chose, had become a reality.”
“I’d like that.” Mention of the journal brought to mind the promise she had made Matthew and Steven the night before about a different sort of journal.
Steven came into the kitchen just then, kissed his mother and her, and then looked down at Benny.
“Does anybody here want to go see some horses?” he asked the room in general.
“I do! I do!” Benny jumped up and down in excitement.
Bernice announced she wanted to go out to the barn, too. “It’s been too long since I’ve come out to the ranch to visit.”
“This would be a good time for me to go and get those photo albums,” Kelsey said. She felt no qualms leaving Benny in the hands of the Benedicts. Steven was so good with the little guy, and Benny and Bernice had taken to each other on sight. “I have them in a storage locker off the highway between here and Waco.”
“McCluskey’s?” Steven asked.
“Yeah. I put a lot of my stuff in storage there when I moved from Austin. I should be back in an hour or so,” Kelsey said.
“Take your time, love. We’re going to be busy in the barn.”