Page 42 of Single Mom’s Mountain Men (Mountain Men Reverse Harem #1)

Patty

I swallow and watch Keegan move slowly to close the door behind him. He keeps his gun pointed at my abdomen.

"You know Patty-cake," he croons. "I gave you a chance here. I told you to play by my rules or you would get hurt. But you just couldn't do it could you?"

"You would have killed me anyway."

He shrugs. "Maybe. But then again maybe not.

I loved you, you know? Even after finding out how much you betrayed me, I still loved you.

It's why I escaped from jail. Lottie said he could only buy me a few days before the media got hold of my escape.

I was supposed to use it to get out of the country, but I couldn't leave without you, Patty.

I wanted us to run away together with some fake passports, but you couldn't even give me that. "

I swallow. Despite the genuine hurt in his tone, I don't feel at all guilty for anything I did. Keegan is a piece of shit and deserves to rot in jail. And as long as my daughters are safe, I don't care what happens to me .

I'm glad I was able to have those weeks of happiness with my men. At least, life gave me that.

"So now, I guess we can finally be together. Maybe, the only way we can do that is in death."

My breath catches.

If anyone had asked me if my boyfriend was the murder-suicide type, I would have told them no. Keegan is way too selfish and materialistic for that. But he doesn't even seem like himself. There's a piece of madness glowing in his eyes now that wasn't there before.

He's going to shoot me and them himself.

A strange calm settles over me. I close my eyes waiting for it.

But the shot never comes. Instead, a loud bark followed by a bang that ricochets through the room then Keegan bellows.

When I open my eyes, the door is wide open and Keegan is on the floor with a furious Wes above him, kicking the shit out of him. Wiley, apparently having done his job, is happy to sit back and watch.

"The next time you try to knock me out you bastard, you better make sure I'm out cold!" Wes shouts.

Keegan reaches for the gun, but Wes kicks it out of his hold.

"You like beating on women huh," he spits, looking more furious than I've ever seen. "Get up then. Beat on me. Let's see how you do in a fair fight."

Keegan groans, curling up. Blood is pouring out of his nose, and his eye is swelling up. He tries to crawl back to his feet, but Wes knocks him down again,

"Fucking bastard," he says. "You're lucky, Patty's here, or I would have fucking killed you.

Let me tell you something. You are nothing, you understand?

She was everything and you tried to diminish her light because it only revealed how much of a nothing you are. But it didn't work. She's ours now."

While Wes speaks, Keegan rolls onto his back coughing, sitting up. His arm is trapped underneath his body and it's almost like he can't dislodge it but I know that trick Or at least he's mentioned, when he bragged about getting the upper hand on someone.

He has another gun at his back.

"Wes!" I scream out to warn him but that has the opposite effect of distracting Wes. He turns to me instead at the same time Keegan whips out his gun to point at him.

I scream.

Everything else happens in slow motion.

Wes whips around and sees the gun.

Then Keegan rises and shifts the aim from Wes to me. Wes jumps out into the path to block it.

But the shot never comes.

Instead, glass shatters and Keegan's head snaps back into the air, blood spraying behind him.

I scream again the shock of it all. Wes runs to cover me and together we look at Keegan's dead body dropping to the floor, unable to believe what just happened.

And then finally, Mitch walks through the doors, holding a pistol in his hand.

"You should have done that from the beginning," he says, scolding Wes.

Wes swears. "Yeah I should have. But I just wanted to get my hands on the guy." And then as Wiley approaches us, Wes smiles, reaching out to rub his head. "I guess you’re not so bad are you, little rat?"

Mitch raises an eyebrow and Wes explains. "He acted as a distraction so I could get the drop on the bastard. If not, he might have accidentally shot Patty before I could grab him."

Mitch nods and also rubs Wiley’s back. "Remind me to get him a fat steak for dinner."

I try not to look at Keegan's body as I face Mitch. "My daughters..."

"They're safe," he says, and I nearly fall over from relief, but Wes catches me against his body. "I told Charlie to take them to the hospital to get checked out."

Mitch comes closer, completely blocking out Keegan's body as he cups my cheek. "Are you okay?" he asks.

His gaze tells me it's a loaded question. He isn't just asking about me physically, but also mentally. I just watched him murder a man, a man I used to love.

But truly, maybe there's something wrong with me because I don't care that Keegan is dead. I'm only filled with vague relief. He was a monster and I'm glad he's gone. All I want to do now is get to the hospital to make sure Katie and Maddie are truly safe.

"I am now," I reply to Mitch's question with a smile.

The police come to take our statements at the hospital. It's a long dragged-out endeavor with everyone giving their side of the story, but luckily there are security cameras at the house that show everything that happened and show that Mitch and Wes both acted out of self-defense.

The local officers told us that they likely wouldn't be charged but the FBI would be coming in to clear everything up.

In the meantime, Mrs. Weatherby comes to visit. She's super apologetic about everything and I assure her it's not her fault.

I'm just glad that my daughters are back with me.

They get checked out by the doctor and are physically fine. So is Wes, who sustained a mild head injury. The doctor also insists on running some tests on me and my daughters and we're waiting for the results in one of the hospital rooms while my daughters nap in my arms.

A few minutes after the police leave, the doctor steps in and says, "Well, your lab results are back and you're all doing fine. And the baby is fine too."

All three men and I whip to gape at the doctor.

"Baby?" I gasp.

"Yes," he says, looking bemused. "Or did you not know you were pregnant?"

"I didn't think I could...after my last baby, the doctor said it would be difficult for me to conceive again."

"Difficult but not impossible," he smiles. "Congratulations."

And then when he leaves us I finally face the men who are varying levels of stunned.

"You're pregnant!" Charlie whispers.

I nod still startled. "Yeah, I suppose so. Um... do you want to check who the biological father is?"

"Who cares about the biological father?" A smile splits across Wes' face. We're all going to be dads!"

I’m still in shock and overwhelmed at everything that happened today, but his excitement makes me smile. And as I look at the equally stunned but happy expressions on his brothers’ faces, my happiness only grows and grows.

We’re going to have a child together. It hits me suddenly, a rush of awe and my smile becomes a laugh. We’re really going to have a family .

Wes’ loud exclamation and my laughter wakes up the girls, who stare around bleary-eyed.

“What’s happening?” Katie asks, fear instantly jumping into her face. “Is Dad back?”

“No.” I tell her. “He’s not coming back Katie. And he’ll never hurt any of you again. I promise.”

I don’t want to tell my kids that their father is dead. They don’t need to know that right now. For now, all they need to know is that they’re safe.

They both stare at me and then slowly nod.

We wait till we’re at home to explain the pregnancy to the girls.

While they nap in Mitch’s room, we talk amongst each other, figuring out the logistics of what our relationship is going to be and how much of it we’re going to tell the girls.

And while it’s certainly a complex problem, I’m just so happy that this is a problem that I get to have.

I’m alive. I think constantly, ridiculously happy. I’m alive with my men and my girls. They’re all safe. Nothing else matters.

Eventually, after the girls wake up and we have the dinner I made–I can’t believe it turned out okay despite the stressful circumstances–I start, “So girls. There’s something we have to tell you.”

Maddie pauses. She’s perched in Charlie’s lap as usual with Katie leaning on Mitch and holding Wes’ hand. The sight nearly brings tears to my eyes but I swallow the emotion to speak.

“I’m pregnant,” I start. “Which means that you’re both going to big sisters.”

Their eyes widen.

“You’re pregnant, momma?” Maddie asks.

“Yes I am,”

“We get a brother? ”

“Or a sister.” Katie says beaming. “I want a sister. Another one.”

“I want a brother!”

“Can we name her now? I want to name her Adriana. That’s my new friend’s name that I just met today.”

“No! It’s gonna be a boy and we’ll name him Joey.”

The men chuckle and I roll my eyes while grinning. My daughters’ enthusiasm also gives me strength for the next part. “Wait, girls, before you go off figuring out names, there’s a second thing that I want to…well, I’ll let you guys do it.”

I turn to the men and they glance at each other, then seem to unanimously silently elect Mitch as their spokesperson.

He squeezes Katie’s shoulder, leaning forward to take Maddie’s hand too.

“Well,” he says. “Your mother has decided to marry us and we’re going to be your daddies. How do you feel about that?”

I gasp. I didn’t think he would break it like that. Leave it to Mitch to decide that I’ll marry him without ever even asking the question.

But looking at the determination on their faces, I don’t think any of the brothers are willing to let me go at this point.

And I don’t want them to. I’m giddy at the thought of belonging to them forever.

Both girls have their eyes as wide as glittering coins. “You want to be our daddies?”

“Yes,” Wes says. “All of us.”

Their heads swing between all three men for a silent second.

“We get three daddies and a brother?” Excitement lights up Maddie's voice .

“I’ve never heard of anyone having three daddies before,” Katie says doubtfully. “Stacey M had two but she didn't have a mommy. But we get three daddies and a mommy?”

“It’s unusual.” Charlie admits. “And you don’t have to tell your friends if you don’t want to. But we love you girls. And if you would have us, we would really really like to be your daddies.”

“I want you to be my daddy too!” Maddie responds first hopping up and down Charlie’s lap much to everyone’s delight. “You can be Daddy Charlie! And Daddy Wes! And Daddy Mitch!”

I grin. I was wondering how they would differentiate between each ‘daddy’ but Maddie figured it out in less than a few seconds.

“What about you Katie?” Mitch asks quietly as the girl stares down at her hands, deep in thought, chewing her bottom lip. Even though they hide it well, I can sense their anxiety as they await her response.

“You won’t…” Katie starts and then looks up. “You won’t ever leave us, or hurt us like the other dad. Right?”

“Never Katie,” Mitch answers fiercely, emotion thick in his voice. “We’ll never do that to you. We’d rather die than hurt you, or your sister, or your mother. We love you guys very much and we’ll protect you from all the bad guys in the world. We want to make you and your mommy very happy.”

It’s slow coming but, after Mitch’s speech, the hope begins to glow in Katie’s eyes. And then she offers a smile that breaks the tense atmosphere like the sun flashing through the clouds. Her next words make the tears leak from my eyes, tears of joy at the relationship we’ve established.

“Yes please. You can be my daddy.”

Wes whoops and swings her out of the seat, tossing her in the air and catching her as she squeals and giggles. Charlie grins and kisses Maddie on the cheek, as Mitch’s eyes meet mine. I can see the emotion brimming in there, as well as the gratitude, the same one I feel.

A family. We’ve made a family.