“Safe. He’s heading in with the sheriff. I told them we’re pressing all the charges.”

  “I think your significant other will be on board with that. It’s either jail or homicide, and Weldon would look like shit in stripes. Oh, by-the-by, Weldon says there’s swiss steak in the cooker, but you need to make potatoes.”

  Dan laughed, the sound crackling in his throat. “I’ll see how hammered it is. We might order Rio Grande to go pick up.”

  “I bet he’d love that. Just let me know what you want. The truck is totaled. Y’all want us to bring them home?”

  “Yeah.” He wanted to zoom out of there and see his lover, his stepson, but he had a little boy and three daughters who needed him to make things normal again. “I’ll call it in in your name, okay? I’ll pay you back once things settle in.”

  “Yeah. I’m worried. Get enough for us too, man.”

  “I know what y’all like. I love you.” That seemed important, to let everyone know that.

  “Love you, Bubba. We’ll be there soon, and we’ll bring your man.”

  “Thank you.” Dan ached to talk to Weldon, but he might snap in two if he did. So he hung up and went to marshal the offspring.

  “Dan-Dan, where’s Daddy?”

  “Dan-Dan, I’m hungry!”

  “Dan, I got a headache.”

  “Dan-Dan, I gotta go potty.”

  “Dan, what happened to the gun?”

  “Caleb first!” Dan swung Caleb into his arms and charged to the bathroom.

  “The sirens are all gone? Daddy’s better?”

  “Daddy is good. Jakob’s fine. They’re coming home with Mr. Audie and my brother.”

  “Mr. Dix. Okay. I can do it.” Caleb gave him a worried look. “The sirens won’t take you, right?”

  “No, sir. I’m gonna be right in the kitchen, okay?” Dan needed to check on Mel and the girls.

  Mel was cutting cheese and apples for the kids in the kitchen, pulling out Cokes. Maddie was sitting and holding her head with Emma staring at her with a frown. “Is it a bad headache, Maddie?”

  “It’s just stress, honey,” Mel told her.

  “I know, Gran.” She looked like she was fixin’ to cry. “Leave me alone, Em.”

  “Uh-uh. If you explode, I’m going to watch.”

  Kenzie burst into tears. “Don’t explode, Maddie! Sister! Is she going to go boom?”

  “Kenzie, she is not going to explode.” Emma looked to her granny. “Right?”

  Dan stepped into the room. “She is not going to explode. She might have a terrible hormonal attack and then….”

  “Not funny, Dan-Dan.”

  “It’s a little funny.” Mel was about to bust a gut.

  “Not helping, Gran.”

  Emma snorted, then clapped her hand over her mouth.

  “Weird laughter is a perfectly normal reaction to stress, Emma. Have some peanut butter and chocolate chips on an apple, soldier. Helps with the shock.”

  “Peanut butter. Caleb, wash your hands.”

  Dan handed Maddie a Coke and two Advil, then went to secure his sidearm.

  Mel peeked over the porch rail at him. “Oh, good. I was worried.”

  “You okay, lady?”

  “I am. I was sure glad to see you, though. Do I need to feed the kids? I called the Weldons, and they called Abe. They’re in Colorado.”

  “Dix and Audie are bringing Weldon and Jakob back and picking up Rio Grande. I need to call in the food.”

  “Good deal. I’ll get homework started.” She stopped, looked back at him. “Love you, Dan-Dan.”

  “I love you too, Mel.” Pleasure spread through him, because, God knew, she didn’t have to accept him or like him or even approve. He adored Mel right back. That woman was his hero.

  Now he had to call for supper, make sure that Caleb and Kenzie were bathed, check Pepper’s gums as soon as they got home, and warn Maddie that her daddy had stitches in his face.

  Then there would be supper and Dix and Audie and maybe a beer before he got Weldon alone.

  With five kids, there was always something else to do. Dan wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  WELDON MANAGED to make it until eleven fifteen. That was how long it took for Maddie to stop staring at his face, to get Jakob into bed and sleeping, to get Emma to stop sneaking out of her room and pushing into his lap.

  The door closed behind Mel, and he stared at it, blinking slowly as he finally let his hands quake, let himself take a slow, shaky breath.

  Dan stood behind him, close enough for him to feel the heat from that hard body.

  “Are you okay?”

  “No.” He wasn’t any sort of a hero. He was a dad. A dad whose boy had damn near been kidnapped, had lost his truck, and had spent the evening in the ER. “Dinner sat too long, huh?”

  “No. The steak is in the fridge for tomorrow. I just couldn’t cope with making potatoes.” Dan put both hands on Weldon’s shoulders and rubbed gently.

  “Yeah. Did he…? Are you okay?”

  “I am. Barney got to him before I did.”

  “Oh, he totally gets extra sweet feed. Add that to the list.” The tremors got worse, and he fought them, and that just made them stronger.

  Dan turned him around and pulled him close, holding him as if he were spun glass.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  “What for?” Dan whispered too, hushed and careful.

  “I don’t know.”

  “That’s okay, babe. You don’t have to. Just breathe.” Therapy had given Dan this—the ability to periodically find his Zen. Considering everything that had happened today, that was kind of amazing. Dan’s hands were rock steady. “We’re going to bed now. You and me. Alone.”

  “Do you think they’ll let us be alone?” Weldon asked.

  “I think they will. I need to touch you a little bit. Check you out.”

  “Oh. Okay.” He could move, right. One foot in front of the other. They locked up, they got to their room, and Weldon sat on the end of the bed, right under the ceiling fan. He swallowed convulsively, trying not to puke.

  “Breathe.” A cold rag landed on the back of his neck. “I’m right here.”

  “Thank God,” he whispered.

  Dan crawled onto the bed behind him and wrapped around him. “Fucking scared me, babe. I don’t like.”

  “No. Me either. Too. Whatever. God, I thought…. He could’ve killed Jakob, taken him.”

  “You beat the heck out of him. All I did was make him piss his pants.”

  Weldon laughed, wincing as it pulled his bruised ribs. “Oh, you are my hero.”

  “I try. You should have seen Emma. She was like a Marine, barking orders and running interference.”

  “That’s my serial killer in training.”

  “Hey! That’s my beautiful baby girl you’re bad-mouthing.” Dan sounded so affronted, and that tickled the shit out of Weldon, and he started laughing.

  Okay, now Dan might have to hit him to get him to stop.

  “Shh. Shh. Come on, babe. Breathe.” Dan kissed him, the pressure steady, but not hard. They shared breath, everything smoothing out, nice and easy.

  They toppled over and lay together, still fully clothed.

  “Have I mentioned that I’m glad you didn’t go back in the Army, Dan?” He said it a lot—probably once a week—but it stood repeating.

  “Yes. Have I mentioned that I love my life, even as crazy as this frickin’ day was?”

  “Yeah? Did y’all get the sheetrock up today?” He always asked about Dan’s work. Always.

  Just like Dan always stopped by Weldon’s workshop on his lunch hour, if he was in town.

  “We did. Got the slab poured on that medical building too. I had to drop by and check on that. George’s wife went into labor.”

  “Oh, man. How many does this make?”

  They started chatting, Dan slowly getting them both stripped down. Each one of Weldon’s bruises was muttered over, kissed, and explored.

  When Dan suggested they share a shower, he went eagerly. Weldon wanted to touch and feel, to make sure Dan knew how happy he was they were home and safe and together.

  Somehow Dan was under his skin, as necessary as breathing. That was perfectly okay with Weldon.

  He didn’t know how to love halfway.

  Epilogue

  DAN SAT at the picnic table closest to the stage, his boot toe tapping along in time with the music. Two of his favorite people were up there playing—one lead guitar, one rhythm. The other member of their band, Mick, was on dobro, the Three Blind Mice backed up by Mick’s best friend, Jonas, on drums.

  He grinned. God, that was a good name for a mostly blind band.

  Weldon was hopping around like Jacky, their kangaroo, snapping pictures, telling everyone who asked that the young man on stage was his son, the redhead was Dan’s brother.

  Dix looked totally lost in the music, but Jakob was clearly enjoying his first fairly big-time gig. The Salt Lick in Round Rock was a pretty big deal, especially on a Friday night.

  He thought it the perfect venue. October was a damn pretty time of year.

  Dan grinned at his dad, who had Caleb in his arms, dancing him around playfully. Mom was sitting with Mel and Kathy, while Jefferson snapped pictures right along with his son. Maddie leaned against one of the posts, talking to her best friend, trying desperately for casual. Kenzie and Emma stood there, watching him like a pair of starving hawks, closely followed by Randi and Grainger, who sat on the top rail of the little split fence like vultures.

  “Now, Dan-Dan? Are you ready?”

  “Once this song is done,” he said. “They’ll take a break, and Jakob will give me a ching-a-ling.”

  Kenzie’s little heart-shaped face beamed up at him. “Are you so excited, Dan-Dan?”

  “Yeah,” his little Marine in bright purple said. “Is this scarier than bombs and stuff?”

  He spun the ring box in his pocket, gave her a grin. “I’m not scared. I am so tickled, though. I hope he says yes as fast as you two did.” They’d all been conspiring for two weeks. All but Caleb, who still had secret-blurting issues.

  “He’ll say yes, Dan-Dan. I promise. You’re… ours.” Emma patted his hand. “Don’t be scared. We have your back.”

  Theirs.

  Yeah, he guessed he was.

  The song came to a wailing bluesy end, and Jakob smiled.

  It was time to make it official. Dan stood when the band gave him his little thrum of guitar strings, and he took the ring box out of his pocket. He searched the crowd and found his love, the surprise dawning on Weldon’s face.

  Dan felt pride swell in his chest. Five kids, two mothers-in-law, kangaroos, donkeys, and a soon-to-be husband. Looked like maybe he was the kind of guy who settled down, after all.

  Hooah, soldier. Welcome to the real world.

  More from BA Tortuga

  A Love is Blind Novel

  Audie Barrack is in it up to his elbows with a sick calf when his son’s school calls. Seems Grainger has gotten into yet another fight. When he walks into the principal’s office, he’s shocked to find his son has been fighting with a little girl named Randi.

  A little girl with one blind dad and one dad who recently passed away.

  Goddammit.

  Dixon has lost his sight, his career, and his husband. Thank God for his brothers, Momma and Daddy, and his little girl, or he would simply give up. The last thing he needs is for Randi to start trouble at school, especially trouble that puts him in contact with another dad who might expect him to be a functional human being.

  Dixon is struggling to live as a blind man, Audie is terrified someone might see he has a closet to come out of, and everyone from the school to both men’s families is worried for the men and their children. Unless they get themselves together and commit to change, neither of them stands a chance.

  ER doctor Dusty Lowry grew up in a conservative rural Texas family that has never quite forgiven him for staying in New Mexico after his stint in the Army. Paramedic Nate Miller, Dusty’s best friend since their early Army days, has a hippie momma, a tiny apartment, and is in lust with his buddy. When their other Army friend, Kyle, gets married, they start thinking about settling down. In fact, they both know what they want: each other. Too bad they’ve never shared that goofy little fact.

  A trip to visit Dusty’s family in Texas changes everything, and Dusty and Nate aren’t sure where to go from there. Good thing they’re smart guys, and between a series of bombings that target first responders, their friend Kyle’s wife getting pregnant, and more than one bowl of guacamole, they begin to figure out how to have a relationship.

  But as the bombings get closer to home, Nate and Dusty must navigate love and commitment before they lose their chance.

  Four men in need of a helping hand….

  When a cowboy finds he has grit in all the wrong places, what is he to do? Meet the man of his dreams, of course. But what will save two cowboys from getting bogged down in the mire?

  An ex-rodeo cowboy who hates working with Hollywood actors meets a movie star who is looking for something real. Will they get a happy ending, just like in the movies?

  A redneck ends up injured and stranded, and his old friend comes to the rescue. It’s the old story of the one that got away. What will they do to keep each other in their lives—and will it be too late?

  A professional bull rider is starting to feel his age. When he’s injured far from home and his career is threatened, it’s up to his best friend to step in and point out the other options. Both men have plans—but will they include each other?

  Danny Avers is a teacher in small town Colorado. Back in the day, before high-speed Internet, social media, smartphones, or streaming anything, Danny’s just trying to live down his wild teenage years and carry on the only way he knows how: one day at a time. The last person he expects to see back in town is Harlan Quinn, his old best friend and former consummate bad boy. And when he finds out Quinn is the new sheriff and his new neighbor, it’s even more of a shock.

  Quinn knows there’s more to his old hometown than meets the eye. There’s more to Danny than old memories and quiet living too. But as in the past, stirring things up is Quinn’s specialty, and he sets out to do that, in more ways than one, pushing Danny to admit there’s more to life and that their old town just might manage to be new again. That’s if old town thinking doesn’t get them both killed.

  One Aussie. One Texan. One baby. One hell of a fight.

  When his sister and her husband are killed in an accident, Aussie cattle station owner Lachlan McCoughney rushes to Texas to rescue their infant daughter, Chloe. He expects to find his niece living in squalor with the Sheffields, a rodeo family.

  Instead, Lachlan finds Holden Sheffield, a salt-of-the-earth cowboy running a huge business operation. They want to explore their mutual attraction despite the many problems thrown their way, and together, they must find a way to give Chloe a new family and find a love that spans thousands of acres and two continents.

  Readers love Ever the Same by BA Tortuga

  “…a very sweet and sexy read and I easily recommend it!”

  —Top 2 Bottom Reviews

  “This is an amazing story and I loved it from beginning to end.”

  —Rainbow Book Reviews

  “I loved this story… I loved every single character in this book…”

  —MM Good Book Reviews

  “This story was in turns fun and lighthearted to sad and hurtful. You take on so many emotions and yet, you’re pulling for these guys and just are sad when the journey’s over.”

  —Love Bytes

  “…this is the kind of romance that leaves me feeling happy and with that warm and fuzzy feeling that I enjoy so much. Reading is supposed to make me feel good and this one certainly does that.”

  —Hearts on Fire

  BA TORTUGA, Texan to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy’s Girl, spends her days with her basset hounds, getting tattooed, texting her sisters, and eating Mexican food. When she’s not doing that, she’s writing. She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting, and surfing Pinterest in the name of research. BA’s personal saviors include her wife, Julia Talbot, her best friend, Sean Michael, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee.

  Having written everything from fist fighting rednecks to hard-core cowboys to werewolves, BA does her damnedest to tell the stories of her heart, which was raised in Northeast Texas, but has heard the call of the high desert and lives in the Sandias. With books ranging from hard-hitting GLBT romance, to fiery ménages, to the most traditional of love stories, BA refuses to be pigeon-holed by anyone but the voices in her head.

  Website: www.batortuga.com

  Blog: batortuga.blogspot.com

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/batortuga

  Twitter: @batortuga

  By BA Tortuga

  Bombs and Guacamole

  Boys in the Band (Author Anthology)

  Mud, Movies, Bullets, and Bulls (Author Anthology)

  Old Town New

  Refired

  Say Something

  Trial by Fire

  LOVE IS BLIND

  Ever the Same

  Real World

  THE RELEASE SERIES

  The Terms of Release

  The Articles of Release

  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Published by

  DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA