Chapter 2: Chapter Two

An hour and a half later, Lily pulled into her driveway, already weary from the long day at work and shopping for two extra mouths to feed for a few days. Big men with big appetites. Luckily, the grocery store clerk, exhausted and bored, paid her little attention with her overflowing basket of food and items she could hardly afford. Her budget lacked the flexibility to allow for such luxuries. Yet there was no help for the situation. She had to feed them. Besides, everything usually came out in the wash. Usually.

The small two-bedroom stone house looked old and cozy from the road, nothing that people paid much attention to. However, it was home for her. A large covered front porch gave her space for a plant or three during the summer. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a laundry room fit into the small square footage. As the house was over a century old, hardwood floors graced each room. Carson kept it in good condition and repair. After all, it was his home, one he allowed her to rent for a small monthly charge. All the appliances boasted energy efficiency and shiny newness down to the central air and heat. A fireplace made up the west wall of the living room, a necessity when the house was built, but a nicety now in case of power loss during a blizzard or ice storm.

Lily didn’t have much furniture or belongings. A sleeper sofa and a small recliner sat quietly in the living room. Her king-sized bed filled the biggest of the bedrooms, the only real gift she had given herself after her mother’s death. Not having a spare bed, she had turned the second bedroom into a storage room for linens and supplies. On the other hand, the kitchen held tools for baking, cooking, and canning. All the essentials were there. Though not luxurious or fancy, the house gave her comfort and peace, which counted for everything in her book.

Once she had put the car in the garage, she hastily grabbed up bags of groceries out of the trunk, carrying them through the door and into the kitchen while keeping an eye out for small escape artists. Not seeing any fur kids running around, she proceeded with a quick search and find mission, smiling when she found the two kittens curled up asleep with their mother on the living room couch. “Hello, Hope. We have company coming. I hope you don’t mind. It’s not like we had much of a choice, you see.” When the calico lazily opened her eyes, Lily gently brushed her fingers over the cat’s head. One black ear and one orange ear stood out starkly against the pristine white coat while her tail combined all three colors into a pretty blend.

She smiled softly then got busy, her mind still whirling from the earlier incident and the latest monkey wrench in a life seemingly full of the metal troublemakers.

Before this year, she’d lived happily in a suburb, working at a large hospital as a floor nurse and staying in a modest house with her mother. Her sweet, happy-go-lucky mother and best friend rolled into one, who loved life and living. Then, suddenly, her mother had grown ill. An aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, the oncologist had called it. They’d fought it with chemotherapy until her mother—her body thin and frail and racked with pain and nausea—had sadly shaken her head, declining any more treatment, instead wishing to die comfortably. The hospice had taken over her care and a week later, Lily’s only living relative passed.

With her world turned upside down, Lily had made a hasty decision to start over. After all, nothing remained but memories and those had only seemed to drag her mood into the doldrums more often than not. She’d paid off the medical bills with money from the sale of their once-shared home, leaving her with little to survive on. A quick phone call and letter resigned her from her nursing position in the hospital. She’d packed and planned, all the while searching for a new job, a new lease on life.

In Cooperstown, she’d found just that. The small rural area consisted of hard-working farmers and down to earth people, with one family practice doctor in the area. Dr Carson Snider had happened to be searching for an office nurse. Lily’s lucky stars had located the help wanted ad, taken her to his door, and landed her the position. The kind young doctor’s generosity went much further. He’d moved her into his sole rental house at the edge of six hundred acres of prime pastureland where he raised cattle and horses in his spare time. Obviously guessing at her lack of funds, he’d made her a deal, namely low rent in exchange for watching out for the livestock, keeping their water tank full and clean, and checking the fences often for any needed repairs. Insisting she call him by his first name, Carson had become a good friend.

She’d taken a large pay cut compared to what she’d made at the hospital, but she’d felt the decision was right with every ounce of her being. The town, the people, the job—everything had called to her on a basic level. Peaceful and content described her feelings since moving here.

Her thoughts turned to the two men who would show up at her doorstep at any moment. Big and built, they appeared more like present-day warriors—soldiers of fortune, even. She’d read the intelligence in their eyes along with the firm resolve on their faces. They might be in a pinch at the moment, but they were nowhere near ready to toss in the towel. In fact, she doubted they knew the word ‘quit’.

Tiger, the taller one, drew her focus. He’d scared the crap out of her earlier, for good reason, she understood now. Secrecy had obviously been needed in order to help his brother and provide for the safety of all involved. While she might not wish to repeat the scary experience, she could forgive his methods this once.

His image flashed through her mind as she absently unloaded the bags, storing the food in cabinets and the refrigerator, quickly and efficiently making use of the short time span before her company arrived. Tall, dark, and handsome—the old adage fit him. Even the smudged dirt couldn’t take away from the muscular body hidden beneath camouflage fatigues. Hardness poured from Tiger, both in attitude and in sheer presence. The only hint of softness she could see revolved around his feelings for his brother. Externally, his full lips were the only feature that even began to come close. The rest of him made excellent eye candy if one ignored the intense scowl on his face. Predator. Dominant. Determined. Protective. All the words described the man she’d met just over an hour before. If one believed in past lives, she would bet Tiger took after his wild namesake—alpha, fearless, and territorial.

The more she considered Tiger, the more she realized two things. He demanded respect and came across as a bit off-putting. Yet, at the same time, something intrigued her about Tiger who just might snap her neck if she let anything happen to his injured brother.

She bit her lip, already worrying about the man with the gunshot wound. She had never been an emergency room nurse and honestly felt a bit in over her head caring for such injuries completely on her own. Carson had promised to be a phone call away. That certainly helped, but didn’t add to her confidence much. At least she could email him pictures if things started to go downhill with the wound.

“I can do this. Besides, it’s not like there’s much choice.” The spoken words offered her only a smidgen of comfort.

Dillon, they called him. Dillon and Bugle. A nickname, according to Carson. Interesting. She’d watched enough movies to understand that military personnel gave one another monikers on a regular basis—nothing unusual there. Yet, something tickled her curiosity. Ordinarily injured military men would be taken to the nearest military hospital for treatment. Not to mention, one shouldn’t be running around in her quiet neck of the woods with such a wound to begin with. All the facts pointed toward something more.

A chill raced up her spine.

Her first Thanksgiving alone in the world and she’d been saddled with private nursing duty to gun-toting men who could probably snap her like a stick and bury her in the backyard with no one the wiser, with possible exception of Carson who wouldn’t return for a few days. Too late to be of much help. Wonderful.

Once more she glanced at the small feline family and sighed. “It’ll be okay. I promise.” With that said, she scurried back to work, trying to beat the clock on her chores before the new roommates arrived.