Millie
It was the day after my arrival, and I had not once seen Jesse since he’d left the house. The sad part about that was it meant that Addy hadn’t seen him either.
Thankfully though, by dinner time, after her tearful retreat to her room, Addy seemed to have recovered from her disappointment and played happily with me, showing me around the ranch while Bonnie was busy in the kitchen cooking up a storm, making cakes and pies for the house and bunk house. All of which were especially welcoming now, because it was calving and they were all out with the cattle for long hours.
With Bonnie still busy, Addy and I had made lunch and taken it outside to eat in the pasture opposite the house, under a massive old oak tree for shade.
“Grandpa gets home today,” Addy said excitedly. “I missed him.”
“Where’s he been, somewhere nice?” I asked.
“He’s been to the city to see Uncle Garratt.”
“Oh right, okay.” I hadn’t heard about any uncle. “Is Uncle Garratt mommy’s brother?”
Addy screwed up her face. “No silly. Uncle Garratt is Daddy’s brother. He’s at college but Grandpa says he keeps screwing up.”
“Addy!” I exclaimed. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
“But that’s what Grandpa said,” she replied indignantly.
“Well, maybe so, but you shouldn’t. Okay?”
With a big sigh and heave of her tiny shoulders, she nodded her head and began tucking into her sandwich. Once we had eaten our lunch, I got out one of the reading books that I had brought with me. It was really for age’s six to seven, but I was fairly confident that she would be able to make progress with it. She’d amazed me at how bright she actually was. I’d done some basic arithmetic, or math as she’d called it, with her the night before, not to start teaching, but just to gauge what level of lessons I’d have to give her. She’d flown through it, so I knew that I’d have to keep her constantly engaged with learning. I’d already decided to go online and find some lesson plans, realising that caring for Addy would need far more input than the basic reading, writing and arithmetic that Bonnie had expected. It wouldn’t be a problem for me, I had a teaching degree, but teaching hadn’t been for me and I’d much preferred being a nursery school teacher, but now it would help me to help Addy.
We had been reading for few minutes when a truck rumbled up the track to the house and pulled up where Jesse had parked his truck the day before. This truck, however, was a huge shiny black one, with sparkling wheels, nothing at all like Jesse’s decrepit old girl.
“Grandpa!” Addy cried, and with her book forgotten, she ran as fast as her little legs would take her to her grandfather.
“Sugar pie,” a tall, sandy haired man called, and swept Addy into his arms, swinging her around, making her giggle.
I walked over to them and stopped to watch their happy reunion. When he finally placed her carefully on her feet, laying a hand on her head, I took a step forward.
“You must be Millie,” he said, thrusting out his hand. “Ted Connor, it’s great to meet you.”
I took his proffered hand and shook it. “Hi, Mr. Connor, lovely to meet you, too.”
“Ted, please, Mr. Connor is my dad, God rest his soul.”
I let out a laugh. “That’s exactly what Jesse said when he picked me up at the airport.”
Ted frowned. “Jesse picked you up?”
“Yes.” Was my succinct reply. What else could I say? ‘Yes, he picked me up and acted like an ignorant idiot the whole time’?
“Wow, his mother must have bribed him with something.” As he saw me raise my eyebrows, Ted laughed. “No offense to you, but Jesse doesn’t exactly do anything except work as a rule.”
“So I gather. Anyway, I know one little girl who is glad you’re back.” I nodded down at Addy who was gazing up at her grandfather.
“Oh, hey sweetie pie, I have a surprise for you in the back seat of the truck. I already opened the door for you.”
“Yay,” Addy squealed as she skipped off to the truck.
“Wait for it.” Ted grimaced and put his fingers in his ears, just as a piercing scream of excitement filled the air.
“Uncle Garratt is here, too!” Addy cried excitedly. “Millie, come see, it’s Uncle Garratt.”
“I brought my youngest home, he was sleeping on the back seat. I figured it was time he woke up.”
As we both turned, a pair of black converse appeared out of the truck and planted themselves on the dirt. Long legs clad in dark jeans followed, and then finally, a lithe body in a white t-shirt. The head that appeared was almost as gorgeous as his elder brother’s but he was darker and his features were still slightly boyish, not yet those of a man. The potential was there though and Garratt Connor was definitely going to be a heart breaker, if he wasn’t already.
“Hey beautiful,” he crooned, bending down to pick Addy up. “You miss me?”
Addy rubbed her nose against Garratt’s and then threw her chubby little arms around his neck.
“Yep, I guess you did.” Garratt turned to me. “Hey, Garratt Connor, the prodigal son.”
“Hi, Garratt,” I replied, instantly liking the boy/man standing in front of me. “Millie Braithwaite.”
“The nanny, right?”
I nodded. “Although I like to think of myself as Addy’s new friend.”
Garratt grinned widely and snuggled his face into Addy’s neck, appearing to breathe her in. “I’ve missed you so much, beautiful.”
“Are you staying home now, Uncle Garratt?”
Garratt’s eyes shifted towards his father and then snapped back to Addy. “I think so, for now.”
Ted let out a breath and moved back towards the truck. “Okay, Garratt let’s get your bags inside and let your mom know you’re home.”
Garratt put Addy down on the ground and followed Ted to the covered flatbed of the truck. A few seconds later they both appeared again, carrying various bags.
“Is there anything that I can bring in?” I asked.
“There are some boxes,” Ted said. “If you could bring one of those it would help.”
“Me too,” Addy cried, jumping up and down.
“Okay, sweetie, let’s see what we have.” I peered into the truck and saw about four or five boxes of various sizes. I found the smallest for Addy and placed it in her outstretched arms. Luckily she was still able to see over the top, just about. “Go carefully.”
“I will. Come on, Millie, let’s go and see Uncle Garratt.”
I smiled, glad that Addy seemed truly happy that her uncle was home. Even if her father had no interest in her, at least Garratt appeared to. I picked up a box and followed them inside, and bizarrely felt a little pleased myself that Garratt was home.
Addy was taking a little afternoon nap, and Ted and Bonnie were ‘having a chat’ in the office; a chat that I guessed was about their youngest son. I didn’t know much, but what I had gleaned from Bonnie’s words when he first got home was that he’d been in trouble at college, but for what I wasn’t sure.
With both of us at a loose end, I suggested that we sit on the porch with some of Bonnie’s lemonade. Garratt agreed with a grin, and a warning from his mother to behave.
“So,” he said as we sat on the swing on the porch. “What on earth brings a beautiful woman like you to Bridge Vale? Most can’t wait to leave, believe me.”
I took a deep breath and wondered whether to lie, or just be out there about my humiliation. I’d only known Garratt a couple of hours, but he seemed a genuine, fun loving sort of guy, and it really didn’t worry me about telling him the truth. I didn’t expect him to judge me.
“Long story short, I got dumped at the altar by my gay fiancé.”
Garratt almost choked on the lemonade that he’d taken a swig of. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, unfortunately, I’m not.”
“A sexy Chiquita like you and he prefers dick?”
I burst out laughing at his bluntness. “Firstly, I’m half Spanish not Mexican, and secondly, I’m not sure that statement about Dean’s sexual preference is actually politically correct.”
“I knew it,” he cried. “Those eyes, the black hair, the sexy Jennifer Lopez booty, you had to be a Latino. As for Dean, well, however you wanna dress it up, the guy is a prick!”
I started to giggle. “That’s exactly what my brother calls him. I think you’d get along with Javi, you evidently have the same sense of humor.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Garratt mused. “So, you decided Bridge Vale was the best place to mend your heart?”
“I don’t know about that,” I sighed, thinking about the brooding and handsome eldest Connor son. “But, at least no one here knows what happened. Well, of course you do now.”
“Yeah but you can trust me not to tell.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ve told you something, so now you tell me something about yourself.”
Garratt tilted his head to one side. “Let me see,” he mused. “Okay, I just got thrown out of college for running an escort agency.”
My eyes widened in surprise. Getting thrown out of college was major, no wonder Bonnie and Ted needed privacy to talk about it. But an escort agency? That was practically being a pimp!
“Seriously?”
“Yep,” Garratt replied solemnly.
“You really pimped out women?” I asked in total shock.
“Ah, you see, Millie, that’s exactly the same mistake the college and my dad made. No, I did not pimp out women.”
“Well, what other sort of escort agency is there?”
“The sort where the popular girls in college can earn more in one night than they can waiting tables in an on-campus diner. And, I should stress, without having sex. Sex is totally not allowed. If they liked a guy and wanted to sleep with him, then it was when they were off duty.”
“How on earth can you stop that happening?” I pulled my legs up and turned in my seat, totally engrossed.
“Because they escort the guys to functions, frat parties, football games, that sort of thing. Places where the guy just wants to be seen with a cute, popular girl. The guys who needed my services were usually the ones who struggled to get dates, so sex wasn’t generally on the agenda anyway.”
“Just because you’re shy, or not good looking, doesn’t mean you don’t want sex,” I scoffed. “And I’ve read about your frat parties, don’t tell me that there isn’t opportunity for sex there.”
“Yep there is, but each girl has one of my guys watching over her, so first sign that they’re gonna disappear somewhere alone, my guy steps in. Besides, the guys that pay for the dates don’t tend to know what a vagina looks like, unless it’s tattooed with computer code.”
“Blimey, you really had it worked out, didn’t you?”
Garratt started to laugh. “Say that again. Blimey,” he repeated with a passable English accent.
“Not bad, a little iffy but we’ll make a Brit out of you yet.”
“I am a man of many talents; businessman being the best of them. Plus, I know someone from England.” Garratt looked into the distance, a shadow passing over his boyish handsome features.
“How were you found out?” I asked.
“Ah well, that would be my so called best friend, Tyler. Let’s just say we fell for the same girl and when she chose me, well, Tyler wasn’t happy. He reported me to the Dean and the rest, as they say, is history.” Garratt chewed on his bottom lip and rubbed at his temple.
I could see that he was hurting and wanted to give him a comforting hug, but didn’t know how he’d react. We hadn’t known each other long, despite the details that we had both imparted.
“What about the girl?” I asked quietly. “Is she still yours?”
Garratt shrugged. “Don’t know. She’s an overseas student, from England, like you. The day before I was called into the Dean she got a call to say her sister was sick so she had to fly home. I tried calling her cell, but she’s not answering, so I sent a text and an email explaining everything.”
“You like her a lot,” I surmised.
Garratt smiled, a soft one full of memories. “Yep, she’s really cool. But, we’ve only been together for a month, so I can’t really expect her to wanna do the long distance thing.”
“The city is only four hours away, that’s nothing for you American’s,” I said with humor.
Garratt gave me a stunning smile and poked me in the shoulder. “I’m gonna like having you around, Millie. It’ll be like having a hot, big sister. I can see all my friends are gonna wanna visit, a lot, when they find out I’m back and that you live here.”
“Big sister, hey?” I grinned and poked him back. “I think I like that. So in the last couple of days, I’ve gained another baby brother and a new best friend in Addy.”
“Sounds like a perfect deal to me, sis.”
We both laughed and took sips of our drink, enjoying the summer breeze that had lifted.
“What happens now?” I asked after a few minutes. “I mean, do you apply for another college, or will you work here, with Jesse?”
Garratt shrugged. “Not sure. I didn’t really enjoy school anyway. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I finished, so I’m no worse off. But you’ve met Jesse, right?” I nodded. “Well, you’ll guess that working with him probably isn’t gonna be the easiest job in the world.”
“But you won’t have a degree, surely that will hinder your future.”
Garratt shrugged as he took a swig of his lemonade. “I’m a genius with numbers, it’s where Addy gets it from. I’ll find something.”
He appeared to be so nonchalant and confident that I had to agree he probably would find something.
As we sat in silence, Jesse suddenly appeared from around the side of the house. He pulled off his gloves and, pushing his Stetson back, he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He looked so damn good I felt a shiver run through me and stop firmly between my legs. I quickly pushed my thighs together and took a huge swallow.
“Hey, big brother,” Garratt called, jumping up from the swing. “How you doing?”
“Garratt.” A small smile flashed over Jesse’s face as he strode towards us. “When did you get back?”
Jesse’s gaze moved to me and then back to Garratt, and a look of confusion furrowed his brow.
“We were just getting to know each other,” I explained. “Addy’s taking a nap, but she’s probably due to wake up if you want to go up and see her.”
Jesse turned to look out to the horizon before staring at the floor, with his hands fisted on his hips. “Leave her be. I’ll call in before bedtime.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Garratt beat me to it.
“Still like that, is it?”
“Garratt!” Jesse warned. “I’ve told you before, this has nothing to do with you.”
“But it does; she’s my niece.”
“And she’s my daughter, and I’ll raise her how I see fit.”
“That’s the thing though, Jess. It’s everybody else that’s raising her, not you.”
Jesse removed his hat and pointed it at Garratt. “Addy is perfectly fine with how we do things around here, so drop it, once and for all.”
“Whatever,” Garratt grumbled. “But you’re the one missing out, not us.”
With that, he swivelled around and stormed into the house, slamming the door behind him. I sat perfectly still, watching Jesse as he looked up to the sky and cursed under his breath. Part of me wanted to tell him that Garratt was right, he was missing out, but I got the feeling that he already knew that and he was struggling with his actions, but had no idea what else to do. I just didn’t understand why he would be like that; why couldn’t he simply give his daughter the time that she deserved?
“You got something to add?” he asked. “I mean you’ve been here the sum total of twenty-four hours so you must have an opinion.”
I shook my head. “No, not really. I just think Addy is a beautiful little girl who loves her daddy.”
Jesse took a step forward and then stopped. “Ah, fuck this,” he muttered and disappeared in the direction that he’d come from.
I stayed on the porch for a few more minutes, just in case Jesse came back, but he didn’t, so I finished off my lemonade before going in to wake Addy.