Chapter 9:
It had only been a couple of days since the twins had turned one, but Jack and Marcy were spending some time together again while the guys worked. Since it was a beautiful sunny day, the two mothers decided to take the kids for a walk.
"I haven't talked it over with Robbie yet, but I was wondering if you and Brent would take care of the horses for us for a few days," Jack said as she pushed Kayden's stroller down the dirt road that they lived on.
Marcy was pushing Chase and Elaine in a double stroller. Even with the extra weight, the stroller was surprisingly easy to push on the dirt and gravel. "I don't see why we couldn't," she said with a smile. "When would you want us to do that?"
Turning around at their normal point, they started the thirty minute walk back towards their houses. "I would say we will leave on Saturday morning and come back Wednesday afternoon," Jack told her; she had made sure Riddick had no deliveries to make during that time.
"Cool. Is this a trip for Robbie's birthday?" Marcy asked as she stopped to cover Elaine's legs since she had fallen asleep and would now leave the blanket on.
Jack smiled, "Yeah. He made my birthday so special that I want to take him back to the cabin that we visited last year. I thought a nice relaxing get away would be fun for both of us."
Giggling, Marcy started to walk again. "The last time you two went to the cabin, you told me that's where you relaxed enough to make Kayden," she reminded Jack.
Blushing, Jack turned her head and looked across the road into the woods. "Trust me, we won't be relaxing that much, Marcy!" she giggled.
Marcy shrugged. "I'm sure you learned your lesson, young lady," both women laughed at that.
They kept walking as Jack described the cabin and how Riddick's friend was nice enough to let them use it when they felt the urge to get away for a while. "We've only been there that one time, but I think it would be good for us to take a little family vacation," Jack said, stopping briefly to make sure Kayden's face wasn't directly in the sun.
As Chase reclined back against the stroller seat, he tipped his juice bottle up and drank the last few sips from the nipple. When he realized it was empty, he did what he always did: tossed it.
Marcy sighed as she stopped walking and bent over to pick it up. "I wish you would learn to say 'done' instead of throwing your bottles," she told her son as he grinned at her.
Jack smiled, "I've never noticed how pretty your wedding rings were until the sunlight just caught them."
Looking down at her rings, Marcy smiled. "Thank you. Brent picked them out for me the day he asked me to marry him," Marcy replied while starting to push the stroller again. "Have you and Robbie ever talked about getting married?"
Glancing over at her friend, Jack thought about the question. "No, but we kind of already are married if you think about it," she smiled. "We live together and already have a baby. Plus you have to remember we actually didn't start dating until about two years ago, so we haven't been together that long."
Shrugging, Marcy looked at Jack. "Time doesn't matter. What matters is if you two love each other enough to commit to being together for the rest of your lives," she told Jack.
"For me and Robbie it's a little more complicated then just getting married," Jack stated, knowing that Riddick would never be able to sign a marriage agreement like normal couples.
"Well, he can still get you a nice shiny ring so that I can tell you how pretty it is in the sunlight," Marcy giggled.
Jack giggled while she shook her head. "Didn't we go over this on our shopping trip? I'm not a big flashy ring type of woman. If anything I would like a ring that has meaning for both me and Robbie," she said and looked at Marcy again.
Marcy nodded and grinned. "Like you would refuse to take a big flashy ring if Robbie brought you home one," Marcy said as they stopped at the end of her driveway.
In the distance, quiet hammering noises could be heard; hard lead against tin from the sounds of it.
It was Jack's turn to shrug. "No I wouldn't turn anything down that Robbie gave to me, but even he knows I don't wear jewelry," she said, smiling because even though she didn't like much jewelry, she still loved the necklace that Riddick had given to her last year for her birthday.
"Okay, so no flashy ring, but what about that vow from Robbie where he tells you that he will forever be faithful and love only you?" Marcy asked.
Jack looked down at Kayden who was lying down in the stroller quietly looking up at the trees that hung over the road above them. "Throughout my life I've learned that sometimes what I have is all that I need. I don't really need to hear that vow from Robbie, because I already know that he will never hurt me and that he will always love me," she said, looking up from Kayden to Marcy. "Besides, he knows that if he ever cheated on me he wouldn't be able to do it again," Jack said, seriously.
Marcy giggled and nodded, she completely understood what Jack was saying.
Turning, Jack started to push Kayden towards her own driveway. "I'll see you tomorrow, Marcy," she called over her shoulder.
Looking back at Riddick, Brent shook his head. "Why haven't you and Jack gotten married yet?" Brent asked as he put the final nail into the barn's new tin roof.
Riddick sighed tiredly as he sat down where he had been pounding in his nails. "What is with you thinking that Jack and I need to be married?"
Brent sat down too; since Riddick had helped Brent get his trackers running, Brent was helping Riddick get a new roof on his barn. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to answer a question with a question?"
Chuckling, Riddick wiped his sweaty forehead with a small hand towel. "No. And to answer your question, why do we need to get married?" he asked as he turned to look up at the sky.
"It's just that from what Marcy and I have seen, Jack's a great woman and mother. Don't you want to let everyone know she's taken, Robbie?" Brent asked while putting the hammer he had used back into the tool kit. "Aren't you afraid some other guy will come win Jack's heart?"
The last question made Riddick laugh loudly. "Trust me, no other guy could handle my Jack," he stated before standing up. "Besides," Riddick started to say as he picked up the boxes of unused nails. "Everyone in town knows that Jack and I are together. You don't need a piece of paper and rings to make it known that two people belong to each other." Riddick thought back to the kid at the grocery store, the one that assumed he and Jack were married. He also didn't feel like reminding Brent that he and Jack could never legally get married.
Brent nodded. "I know that you don't need a marriage agreement to be together, but at the same time I think all women would like to know that their partner loves them enough to make it official. Don't you think?" he asked as he started to climb down the ladder with one tool kit.
Watching Brent disappear down the ladder made Riddick shake his head. "In case you haven't noticed, Jack's not a normal woman," he said with a grin as he started down the ladder with the rest of the tools. "She's…"
"Special!" Jack said, finishing Riddick's sentence for him.
Riddick stepped off the ladder and grinned at her. "Special is the exact word I was going to use," he winked at her.
Jack walked over to Riddick with Kayden leaned backwards against her chest as she carried him. "For some reason I don't believe you," she giggled quietly before kissing his lips. "What were you two talking about anyway?"
Before Brent could answer, Riddick spoke up. "Nothing, just talking about the wonderful women in our lives," he grinned.
Rolling her eyes, Jack looked down at their son, who was looking up at his daddy. "Uh oh, Kayden, I think your daddy is fibbing," she said and smiled when Kayden kicked his little feet that had small white shoes on them.
"Anything else you need help with today, Robbie?" Brent asked as he walked into the barn to put the tools back in their place.
Riddick followed him. "No, I think I'm going to call it a day," he said. "Thanks for the help, I appreciate it," he clapped Brent on the back. "I would have been up there for another five or six hours if I was putting the roof on alone."
Brent nodded. "Well, it's the least I can do since you helped me get my stuff working," he said as they stepped back outside where Jack was still standing. "Thanks for the muffins this morning, Jack. They were excellent," Brent told her.
Smiling, Jack shrugged. "I knew that I had to feed him some type of mid-morning snack or he would have been cranky. I figured that meant I should feed you too, Brent," she giggled as Riddick stepped towards her.
Brent pointed at Riddick. "Now that's funny. She called you cranky," Brent laughed as he started to walk backwards to his truck.
Riddick gently poked Jack's side and called after Brent. "She was talking about the boy getting cranky, not me!"
Opening the door to his truck, Brent shook his head. "Don't lie. I've seen first hand how bad your mood gets when you haven't ate in three hours," he laughed and got into his truck.
Closing the small gap between them, Riddick leaned down and kissed her lips again. "Why do you insist on telling everyone that I'm cranky and moody?" he asked when they broke the kiss for air.
Jack giggled at the coo that came from between them. "I only tell Brent and Marcy that because as Brent stated, he's seen how cranky you get!" she giggled again at the look at Riddick's face. "If you are going to stare me down, can we go to the house so that you can take your goggles off?"
Grinning, Riddick cocked his head to the side a little. "We can head to the house, only if you promise to tell Brent and Marcy that I don't get cranky," he said, trying to give her a pout like she gives him.
Jack laughed and shook her head, "I'll tell them that if you tell me what you and Brent were really talking about."
Riddick leaned down so that Kayden could see him better. He grinned at Kayden and chuckled as Kayden's toothless smile grew bigger. "Tell mommy that Brent wants to marry her," he said in a playful voice to Kayden.
Looking down at him, Jack sighed. "He does not want to marry me. Now what were you two really talking about?" she asked again.
Standing up straight, Riddick crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm serious. I'm beginning to think that Brent is one of those guys that marry like four or five wives," he said.
"I sure hope that if that is the case, then you will fight him off for me," Jack stated as she turned to see Cole trotting towards them, dragging his broken chain behind him. "Oh no, Riddick, he broke another chain."
Riddick groaned. "Cole, how the hell do you do it, boy?" he asked, squatting down to pet the dog when Cole got close to them.
Jack looked at the end of the long chain that Cole had been dragging. "Looks like he might have broken the runner line he was on. Because the chain looks to be the right length and not broken," she said.
Looking up at her from his knelt down position, Riddick smiled. "Ever notice that he only breaks loose when we aren't near him?"
She nodded, "Yeah, but like you said before, if we are both very busy doing something we can't keep an eye on him. I don't want him to wander off and get hurt."
"Maybe we should try not tying him up and see what happens. I don't want him to get hurt either, but the way he keeps breaking loose, I'm afraid he will hurt himself from doing that," Riddick stated as he unhooked the loose chain from Cole's collar.
Jack nodded again. "Let's try it. If it doesn't work then we will figure some other way to tie him up when we can't watch him," she said with a smile.
Cole's tail was stirring up dust as he wagged his tail back and forth against the dirt.
Later that evening, Riddick and Cole came inside from putting the horses away for the night. Cole followed Riddick into the kitchen with his tongue hanging out and his breath coming in pants.
"Get water, Cole," Riddick told the dog and watched him trot over to his food dishes.
Riddick reached into the fridge to get himself a drink. It was then that he noticed how quiet the house was. Taking his glass of juice with him, he headed up the stairs to find Jack and Kayden.
Looking into the nursery, Riddick smiled seeing Kayden lying on the floor on his play mat. The young baby was looking up at the toys that dangled above him; soft coos came from him, as he kicked his legs and watched the toys.
Riddick looked from Kayden over to Jack who was sitting on the floor near the dresser that held Kayden's clothes. He watched her place some of Kayden's outfits into a duffel bag that looked to be partially filled with diapers and other baby things.
"Going somewhere, Jack?" he asked quietly as he leaned against the door frame.
Jack looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. "Possibly," she said and turned back to the task at hand.
Walking into the room, Riddick laid down on his stomach next to Kayden. "Gonna tell me where we're going?" he asked and smiled at Kayden who had turned his head to look at his daddy.
"Possibly," she said, while trying not to smile. "But who said you were going too?"
Riddick looked back at her. He watched the way she unfolded every clothing item she took out of the dresser, held it up to look at, before refolding it and placing it into the duffle bag. "I figure since you seem to be taking Kayden some place that I'd go too. You know, just make sure he was a good boy for you," he told her.
Kayden cooed at his daddy before kicking his legs some more, his arms moving almost frantically.
Moving so she was facing them, Jack zipped up the full bag. "If you insist on going as well, you need to pack what you want to bring with you. We will be gone for about five days," she stated before crawling over to them.
Riddick smirked at her when she lay down in front of him, so that they were face to face. "Where we going, Jack?" he asked again.
Leaning forward a little she kissed his lips. "To the cabin for your birthday, I already called your friend, he said it was cool with him if we went," she informed him.
Licking his lips, he smiled at her. "When were you going to tell me we were going to the cabin?" he asked.
Jack giggled and turned her attention to Kayden, who was now lying on his side. "When we were loading the ship up," she grinned as Kayden rolled fully onto his belly.
Grinning along with her, Riddick reached over and rubbed his son's small back with his large hand. "I'll ask Brent if he can watch the horses for us," he mentioned.
Jack shook her head while moving Kayden's arms out from under his body. "Don't need to. Marcy already said they would watch them for us after we leave Saturday morning," she stated and looked up to see Riddick smiling at her.
"Since you seem to have this all planned out, what else should I know?" he asked.
Shrugging, she placed her hand over his on the floor between them, "All you need to know is that you don't need to worry about anything besides making sure the ship is fueled up and ready for take off." She used her free hand to move Kayden's small mirror toy closer to him so he could look at himself.
Riddick picked up Jack's hand and kissed the back of it. "I'm willing to let you worry about everything, on one condition," he told her as he kissed her hand again.
Jack looked at him and smiled. "What condition is that?" she asked while scooting forward a little so that she could kiss his lips without straining her neck to reach him.
"The condition is that you do your best to keep your hands off me while we are swimming at the waterfall," he said in a serious tone, but was grinning.
She couldn't help but to laugh at him. "As hard as that will be for me, I promise to do my best," she continued to laugh.
Laughing with her he glanced over at Kayden, who was looking at his parents with wide eyes. Riddick looked back at Jack and smiled, "Feel free to take advantage of me any place else, but just not in the water."
Nodding she gave up the laughing and focused more on kissing Riddick again. "And just think, on the way to the cabin this time, I'll be awake more so you don't have to get your cargo pants all gross," she said before licking her lips.
He groaned at the memory of getting her off with his hand and then cumming in his pants just from thrusting against her clothed ass. "As good as it felt, I prefer to keep my pants clean," he smirked.
For Jack, Saturday morning didn't come soon enough. While she was packing their coolers with the food they were bringing, Riddick was feeding the horses and putting them out for the day. The night before Riddick had gone over with Brent what needed to be done with the horses each day; Riddick and Jack both knew their horses were in great hands.
As Jack pushed the coolers onto the front porch, she noticed Cole trying to nose his way into the bag that held some of his toys. "No, Cole," she told the grown dog. "If you take the toys out now then you won't have anything to play with at the cabin."
Cole stopped what he was doing and laid down beside the bag with a loud whine. The loud noise didn't seem to bother Kayden as he relaxed in his moving swing.
Jack giggled as she continued to move the bags to the front porch. "Don't whine, you big baby. I'll give you one to play with when we get onto the ship," she said and heard Cole's tail thump against the wooden floors.
Just then Riddick came walking through the wooded trail which took him to the barn. "The boys are fed and watered. I swear, Jack, they are ignoring me since they know I'm leaving," he chuckled as he stepped onto the porch with her.
She nodded, since she knew they could be very feisty when they knew change was coming. "I won't even say that they act just like you," she giggled. "Everything we are taking, besides Cole and Kayden, are out here." She gestured towards the bags and coolers.
Riddick looked at everything with a sigh. "I don't remember taking this much stuff with us last time," he said as he counted two coolers, one storage container with more food, another container with odds and ends that they would need, five duffel bags, a stroller, a portable play pen and a bouncy seat.
Raising an eyebrow at him, she nodded. "That's because we now have one extra person that we are taking, along with a full grown dog; who thinks he should be able to eat ten pounds of food in four days," she reminded him.
Picking up one heavy cooler, Riddick started to pack the truck bed full of their stuff. "Don't forget about the woman who thinks we need to actually pack clothes," he made a snorting noise like she did. "Can't figure out why she thinks we will actually have time to put clothes on."
As soon as he got the cooler into the truck, Riddick was hit in the back with Cole's stuffed football. He turned just in time to see a happy dog jumping over the duffel bags and racing after his ball. "You are going to pay for that, Jack!"
Jack stuck her tongue out at him. "Don't know what you are talking about, Riddick!" she replied.
A short time later Jack stood in the ship with Kayden sitting in his car seat at her feet; Riddick had gone to park the truck near the office of the ship yard. When Riddick came inside and closed the ship's door, Jack smiled at him.
"I didn't think about this before. Where do we buckle Kayden in at during takeoff and landing?" she asked.
Riddick looked down at the car seat, where Kayden was sleeping. "That's a good question," he smirked, he wasn't about to tell her what remodeling he had already done. "I guess you can hold the car seat on your lap and loop the belt through the handle on the side. That way you are both buckled in," he mentioned.
"Do you know if it would be hard to put in an extra seat in this ship, because he really does need a seat of his own," Jack said as she picked the car seat up and followed Riddick to the front of the ship.
Riddick stopped as they entered the cockpit and let Jack enter the smaller room first. "Did you get Cole's cage strapped down in back?" he asked as he watched her glance around for a moment.
She nodded. "Yeah, he wasn't happy about being left back there alone, but after a couple of whines, he laid down and went to sleep," she told him. "Since you didn't answer my question, I take it that it will be very hard to put in a third seat." Pausing she looked at Riddick. "Why is there this large space here that wasn't here before?" Jack questioned when she gestured towards the area behind the co-pilot's seat
Grinning, Riddick winked at her as he gently moved her closer to the pilot's seat. He moved in front of her in order to press a small green button that he had installed. Immediately after the button was pushed, a hole hissed open in the empty space Jack had noticed and vibrations started to flow through the floor as a third chair began to slowly rise up.
Jack gasped as she watched the sight in front of her. "Holy shit, Riddick," she said, not truly believing what she was seeing.
"That'll be five credits to the swearing jar, Jack!" he chuckled.
She shook her head. "I'll put in ten, because this is crazy. When did you put this in?" she asked, knowing that she hadn't been on the ship since she was about four months pregnant.
Picking up the car seat, Riddick began to strap Kayden into the third chair. "I knew with our child coming, we would need to have a few extra things in the ship. I looked at several ships while on different planets, but I didn't like them," he told her. He stood up from getting Kayden situated and turned to smile at her. "But truth is, I like my girl better."
"You've had her forever and she's treated you wonderfully, so I can understand you not wanting to trade her in," Jack said, still smiling from all the time and effort Riddick had spent to make it possible for them to function normally while having the new addition to their family.
He nodded, "That's right. So I decided to build in a new chair that I can hide out of the way if I need to." Walking over to his chair he sat down and started the ship.
Jack followed his lead and strapped herself into the co-pilot's chair. "You said we needed a few extra things, so else did you do?" she asked.
Riddick winked at her before he radioed the ship yard office to make sure it was clear for him to take off. Once in the air he glanced over to her. "My utility room is now in the engine room and Kayden has a crib that won't move during turbulence," he informed her.
"He has his own room too?" Jack was completely shocked.
Nodding again, he began to set the course for the planet that the cabin was on. "Gotta make sure my family is well taken care of, hun," he told her.
A little over eight hours later, Cole ran through the landing field sniffing everything he could find. Jack looked at the open area around them and smiled at Riddick, "Look at all of the flowers."
Riddick nodded. "Lots more this time than before," he said as he carried a duffel bag over his shoulder and Kayden in his car seat.
Jack had picked up the portable crib along with the baby's duffel bag. They walked over the small hill and down to the cabin. As they neared the cabin Jack noticed something different about it.
"Were those solar lights here last time we were here?" she asked, Riddick. "They look just like the ones we have at home."
Shaking his head, Riddick kept walking. "No they weren't, but you're right, they do look like the ones we have."
Just then Jack looked over towards where they had the fire last time and she looked at Riddick. "That looks like the bench we have near our fire pit," she stated.
Riddick couldn't stop himself from chuckling any longer. "There are quite a few things that are like what we have at the house, Jack," he said with a smile as he unlocked the cabin door.
"Why?" she simply asked, not understanding why Riddick's contact would make things like their house.
Setting the car seat in the middle of the kitchen table, Riddick put the duffel bag down before taking the play pen from Jack to set it up. "Why?" he repeated. "Because I wanted it to feel like a home away from home," he said.
Jack put the bag she had down and placed her hands on her hips. "But why would you do that?" she asked. "Doesn't he want it to seem like his own place?"
Riddick got the play pen up in record time and turned to look at her. "Remember a month or so before you had Kayden and I called to let you know I would be a few days late coming home?" he asked, trying to get her to figure it out on her own.
Nodding, she started to get the sheet for the play pen out of the duffel bag so that Kayden could lay on it. "Yeah," Jack said.
He smirked, "Well, the reason I was late was because I had to go see the owner of this place so that I could buy it from him."
Jack gasped. "You bought the cabin?" she asked as her smile grew. "You mean it? You own this place now?"
Stepping closer to her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lips. "You sure are asking a lot of questions, Jack," he told her with a smile. "And no, I don't own this place…" he started to say.
"But you just said you bought it," she interrupted him.
"Shh," he told her with a wink. "What I was going to say is that I don't own this place, we own it. I made sure to put your name on the deed as well for future reference." Riddick didn't want to say that he put her name on the deed too in case something happened to him, then she could prove that she owned the land if she wanted to sell it or even live there.
Smiling, Jack hugged him. "That is so cool, Riddick!" she told him happily. "But when I called him to ask if we could come here, he didn't tell me you had bought it from him."
Riddick chuckled. "That's because I told him not to say anything to you if you called him. Didn't want someone else to ruin the surprise for me," he said as he pulled away.
Standing there with the sheet still in her hand, Jack watched Riddick open the curtains and windows to their cabin. With a smile, she turned her attention back to getting the play pen ready for their son to use.
To Be Continued...
