Above Rubies (Rockland Ranch) (38 page)

             
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              When he'd answered his phone to hear her troubled voice telling him how much she missed home, he finally felt some peace in his tortured heart.  Maybe somehow this was all going to work out.  When she spoke of needing oxygen, he knew just what she meant.  Their conversation had been short, and neither one of them had been able to say what was honestly in each other's hearts, but his pain from wondering if he had lost her to the rock star, who was as opposite of himself as night and day, had been eased by that one short taste of her own loneliness in the middle of a dark California night.  He hesitated to hang up the phone after they said goodbye, wishing he'd been able to tell her how much he loved her out loud.  He took his exhausted body to bed to finally be able to rest.

Chapter 22

              Nick woke up from a deep sleep, knowing instantly that someone was trying to break into his front door.  He lived in a high security building and wondered how they'd gotten this far, even as he called that same security to have whoever it was apprehended.  Hanging up his phone, he pulled his own pistol out of the drawer in the table beside his bed and threw a robe over his shoulders, prepared to defend himself if the intruder made it inside before help arrived.  He heard the shouts and scuffle outside and when he heard the head of security call to him through the intercom, he opened the door to find out what was going on. 

He'd had trouble like this before.  Usually it was the jealous boyfriend of an ardent fan or a lovesick female stalker, but this time it was a slovenly, middle aged, heavy set man.  Nick had no idea what to think, until the man asked him where Kit was. 

              It only took about ten more seconds until Nick understood this was the foster father who had been the cause of so much heartache and trouble for the sweet, innocent girl he loved and a deep, hot anger filled his heart instantly.  He wasn't normally short tempered, but realizing that this foul, disgusting man, who had caused so much hurt already, was for some reason trying to find Kit again, made his blood boil.  It was all he could do not to hit the guy as he stood on the elevator landing spewing vulgarity and profanity from his unkempt mouth. 

When the police showed up to take him awa
y, Nick told them to find everything they could dream up to pin on this guy and he would press charges to the fullest extent possible.  He hoped they could put him away for years.  Knowing sweet, pure Kit had been in this man's custody made him want to be sick.

             
Nick had calmed down somewhat by the time he made a phone call to Wyoming the next morning.  He didn't want to call Kit directly and tell her what had happened, but he felt something had to be done to insure her safety, in case the guy got out on bail or wasn't working alone.  Nick didn't know what this guy wanted, but there was no way he was going to let this scum get near her again, if he had anything to say about it. 

He knew
Joey's mother had been trying to have him put away down in Arizona, so he called Joey's home to try and reach either her mom or dad there.  They weren't available, so he talked to the man who answered the phone who was Joey's older brother Rossen.  Nick told him what had happened and knew from this man's reaction on the phone, that Kit would indeed be protected from their end and that the possible threat would be taken seriously. 

After offering to pay f
or security, he was assured it would be handled and was told that when she was home, she was safe behind locked gates guarded twenty-four hours a day.  Together the two of them talked about how to ensure her safety while at school, and by the time he ended the phone call, Nick trusted that Kit would be safe and had gained a respect for this brother of Joey's out in Wyoming.  He was obviously sharp and his quiet, intelligent manner inspired Nick's confidence.    

             
                                          ****                

             
When Rossen got off the phone with Nick he was disgusted.  The thought of Kit's foster father coming in contact with her again was horrific.  The man Nick had described sickened him and made him want to take care of her with a whole new passion.

             
Rossen was also somewhat troubled to find that Nick was such a likeable guy.  He was deeply and honestly concerned for Kit's well being and Rossen couldn't help but appreciate him, as they discussed how to keep her safe and happy on two fronts.  Of course, he just had to be a nice guy.  Rossen tried to put Nick out of his mind again as he began to formulate a plan to safeguard Kit for the next three days until she was safely home in Wyoming for Thanksgiving.  He'd go, but decided to stay with the baby to keep her safe, too. 

He call
ed Joey and together they opted to see if Sean could go to Logan for a couple of days.  They would try to have either Sean, or Treyne, or someone named Matt with Kit twenty-four-seven for the next couple of days. 

             
Kit had talked to Rossen about Matt a couple of times.  He'd never gotten the impression he was anything more to her than the other guys she went out with, but Joey sounded like Matt was a much better friend than the others and now Rossen began to wonder about him too.  He'd sent Kit off to school hoping she would have a good college experience, but some parts of it had become pretty hard for Rossen to deal with.  Not only was he hurt or even jealous about these other guys, but he also felt guilty for wishing they'd go away and leave his Kit alone.  He had to get a handle on what exactly his and her relationship was.  This roller coaster was killing him.

             
                                          ****             

             
Kit walked in the door to their apartment and was surprised to see Sean there, hanging out with Treyne.  Sean was an architect and now had a growing construction company of his own at home, and she knew he had been fairly overwhelmed with keeping up with his projects the last time she'd talked to him.  To see him here, hanging out as if he had nothing better to do than visit, was quite a shift. 

She was even more surprised and pleased when both of them asked if they could come with her to her class that afternoon to hear her play.  As they walked across campus and the two of them made a big deal about checking out the girls, Kit laughed and decided that was the real reason for Sean's visit and their tagging along. 

She never realized over the next three days that she was watched over religiously by the people around her who loved her.  The only time she even wondered what was going on was when Matt insisted he help the two girls get packed and loaded for their trip home.  Then he helped her into the car and told her goodbye with the most unusual look in his eyes.  Kit wondered again if there was a chance that he thought of her as more than just a good friend.

             
Kit and Joey traveled home with Sean and Treyne in the truck in front of them until they reached Evanston, where the guys pulled on ahead, driving much faster in Sean's big truck than the girls wanted to in Kit's little car.  Kit was so excited to get home, but she just wasn't as comfortable on the snowy roads as these guys.

Chapter 23

             
Knowing it was the day before Thanksgiving and the whole family would be home and he wouldn't get much engineering done in the next several days, Rossen was working in his office late, trying to tie up a few loose ends.  He'd almost accomplished all he wanted to, when Mimi began to fuss in earnest, standing at the edge of her playpen and holding out her hands saying, “Dah.”  She finally said, “Dah  epee!” in such a demanding tone that he walked over and picked her up to take her to the kitchen, feeling slightly guilty for letting her play by herself for so long this afternoon. 

He fixed her a bowl of baby cereal and put her in her highchair to feed her with one of her little spoons.  He'd figured out early on to give her one of the tiny ru
bber coated spoons in each hand and then carefully guard the bowl of cereal.  By dodging the other spoons as he gave her each bite, he managed to keep her somewhat clean and the cereal in the bowl from landing upside down on the kitchen floor.

When she was through, he wiped off the odd smears of the porridge from her han
ds, face and hair and picked her back up.  She laid her head on his shoulder and he was cuddling her, knowing she would soon be asleep, when his phone rang.  It was another business call, and he grabbed a pen and was taking notes to himself, occasionally rubbing her back as he talked. 

             
She hadn't been asleep long when the doorbell rang.  It scared her and startled him.  He hadn't heard that doorbell ring more than a handful of times in the last four years since they'd drilled the oil wells and installed the locked gates and guard house.  Nobody but family could get in very easily, so no one rang the bell. 

Mimi
started to cry and he rubbed her back and patted her gently as he walked to the door with his phone still to his ear.  He pulled open the door and tried not to stare as he motioned for the two men standing on the porch to come in as he said into the phone, "Hey, could I call you back on Monday and we'll finalize all the figures?  Something just came up."  He closed the front door, shut his phone and put it in his pocket so he could extend a hand to first one and then the other. 

             
"Nick, Bryan.  Come on in.  Rossen Rockland."

             
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Nick was taking it all in, eyeing the tall, blonde man and looking at the baby that was without a doubt Kit's.  She had Kit's rich dark hair with the same tiny nose and arched brows over thick dark lashes just now lying against her little pink cheeks.  Sporting tiny pink overalls, she rested on this large man's shoulder as he ended what had obviously been a business call.  The two of them stared at each other for just a second like two posturing herd stallions, with Bryan looking on.  Almost immediately Joey’s dad and another man came in from a hallway, and a third appeared up a stairwell. 

             
Nick and Bryan looked at each other.  Joey’s dad and the man with him and Rossen could all have been twins except for the differences in ages.  The man who came up the stairwell was dark and certainly not related, but he acted like he lived here anyway.  There was just a split second of awkward silence and then another door opened to admit a fourth and a fifth blonde twin.  The younger of the two burst out with, "Hey, there's a Maserati out there in the ditch!"  He looked around at the several men oblivious to the drama of the moment.  "Wow!  I know you!  You're Nick Sartori.  I've got all your CDs!  And you're Bryan Cole!  You were on TV just last week with Joey!  What are you guys doing here?"

             
They didn't have a chance to answer to his exuberance before Rossen, still holding Kit's daughter, said to him, "Treyne, mind your manners.  I'm sure they're here to see Kit and Joey."  He turned back to them.  "I'm sorry.  The girls aren't quite here yet.  They're still on their way home from school in Logan.  They should be just a short while behind these two."  He indicated the last two to enter. 

             
Bryan replied, "They uh, don't actually know we're here.  We thought we'd surprise them."

             
Nick added forthrightly, "Actually, we came to find out what Wyoming has that California doesn't." 

             
Bryan glanced at the six men in front of them and he grinned as he remarked dryly, "It didn't take us long to figure that one out."

             
Nick looked around at these men.  All of them stood inches over six feet with heavy shoulders and long legs.  They all wore jeans and even just standing there in their own home; they looked like a whole troop of the Marleboro Man.  If they hadn't all appeared friendly, he would have been extremely intimidated.  Knowing Kit would arrive any second, he came right out and asked, "Which one of you is the one Kit's in love with?"

             
Simultaneously, five of them turned to look at the man with the baby, who looked around in surprise.  He said, "Oh, come on!  Be serious, you guys."  At his outburst the baby startled and began to cry.  He pulled her close under his chin and began to quietly talk to her and rub her tiny back to settle her down while his eyes watched Nick's. 

             
Nick looked across at him and shook his head.  "You don't even know?"

             
Rossen answered, "Of course Kit loves me.  She loves us all.  But she's not in love with me."  To a man, all of the rest of them turned to look at him again without saying a word.  Rossen looked around at them in disbelief as Nick shook his head again, and Bryan grinned.  The baby started to cry in earnest and Rossen took her into the kitchen and began making her a bottle, talking softly to her all the while.